St. Basil: Theologian of the Trinity
Br. Jamie Nelson
A little over one and a half years ago, I entered SSJE and was assigned to a seat in Chapel. During my first few weeks as a wide-eyed postulant, I spent a lot of time looking up at the windows in the clerestory, particularly the ones that face my seat on the south side of the monastic choir, and noticing small details about the figures in the windows.
One thing I noticed about St. Basil, the subject of this talk, is that his head is turned to face the Chapel door that opens out onto Memorial Drive.
The other 15 figures depicted in the clerestory either face the action at the altar or gaze down upon the congregation, but Basil has been watching that door for the last 70 years.
So who is St. Basil? He lived in the fourth century in what was then called Cappadocia and is now the modern-day country of Turkey. He was born to a wealthy and distinguished Christian family. One grandparent had been martyred in a wave of Christian persecution, and his parents and four of his siblings were eventually named saints.
Even the most devout set of parents doesn’t always mean that their children carry on the faith, though, and Basil had other priorities as a young man. He studied to be a classically trained orator and philosopher and began a career as a rhetoric teacher in his late 20s after completing his education in Athens. If he lived today, I imagine him at that age as a young, accomplished law school professor in a tenure track position.
But he experienced conversion, and his priorities turned to God. He decided to learn about monastic living and traveled to the most renowned monastic communities of his day before returned to his hometown to create his own monastic community.
Basil experienced conversion, and his priorities turned to God.
He wasn’t the first one in his family to do so, however. His eldest sister Macrina formed a community for women at the family’s country estate. It was notable for being open to women of different backgrounds while equalizing the status of all, including Macrina’s former servants.
Basil’s vision of monastic community was unique for several reasons. One, he thought that monastic communities should be located in urban areas in order to serve the people. And two, he envisioned a balanced life of prayer with work as a spiritual practice rather than simply something to pay the monastic bills. And three, he wrote a rule for monastic living that is still used today by Orthodox and Eastern Catholic religious communities, which is the accomplishment for which he was added to our monastic history clerestory windows.
However, the reason Basil’s name is most well known in western Christianity is for his contributions to theological debates about the nature of the trinity. You may have heard of him and his two closest friends, known to generations of church history students as the Cappadocian Fathers. Those friends, his younger brother Gregory of Nyssa and Basil’s best friend Gregory of Nazianzus, all became influential bishops and all wrote works on Christian doctrine that are found on SSJE’s library shelves.
I see themes of resurrection present in Basil’s life in several ways. One is through his experience of conversion. Like us Brothers here at SSJE, he left his old life behind to pursue singular devotion to faith. Another way is through the creed we say at Sunday Eucharists, which proclaim the trinitarian formula he advocated for in his lifetime. And finally, as it is written in chapter three of our Rule of life:
As we explore the spiritual legacy of our forebears we remember that they are not dead figures from the past. Risen in Christ, they belong to the great cloud of witnesses who spur us on by their prayers to change and mature in response to the Holy Spirit who makes all things new.
St. Basil the Great, pray for us and for all who walk through that Chapel door!
Questions for Reflection
Basil believed that monastic communities should be in urban areas, actively serving the people.
How does this challenge the common understanding of the contemplative life being separate from the world?
The Chapel window shows Basil looking toward the door.
What might it mean for you to keep watch at the threshold of your faith community, looking outward as Basil does?
