Basil the Great: Lessons in Value

On June 14, we gave thanks for the life of Basil the Great. Basil is called “the Great” because of the importance and the revolutionary nature of his teaching.

Basil had initially planned to go into law. He came from a very well-to-do family in Cappadocia, present-day Turkey.

But at 28, his younger brother unexpectedly, tragically died. That brought Basil home, which brought him in contact with his sister, Macrina. Macrina had already committed herself to the monastic life and invited her brother to come into the Christian faith, because he was still not yet baptized. After he was baptized, he was quickly ordained. 

Two things happened in Basil’s life that would mark him for the ages. They are, in fact, two lessons he learned and passed on to others, including us.

Father and Son Are Equal in Value

As Basil began to study the scripture as well as theology, he knew that the prevailing view of the Trinity in his era, which was called Arianism, was dead wrong,

Arias said that the Father was greater than the Son; the Son was subservient, therefore, to the Father. And therefore the Son was of an inferior order to the Father, because to be under, to be subservient in every stratum, implies and assumes inferiority.

That was the social construct of the day. If I’m at the top of the heap, say a king, I’m really of a different order of human being. It’s not that somehow I’m the same human being but I’ve been elevated on the basis of accomplishment. That’s a totally modern idea that had no place in the fourth century. If you were doing well in any area of your life, you got that way because of your genes, because you were a better order of person.

Basil said, “That’s just not true of God at all.” He said, “The Father and the Son are of the same substance, and that hierarchy does not mean a different order of inferiority to those under.” This is why we say, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are co-equal in substance, even though they exercise different functions.

Now, that’s not esoteric. It’s extraordinarily important. If the heartbeat of the Trinity is co-equality, but difference in function, and Father, Son and Holy Spirit operate together relationally, co-eternally, that means the ideal way for Christians to operate, to live and to learn is communally.

This idea actually cuts off at the knees the idea of the Lone Ranger Christian. So it is no surprise that Basil founded Eastern monasticism. He wrote an order of how it should be, which is actually true to this day. And most Eastern Orthodox, particularly in the several centuries after Basil, were considered Baselites. 

Every Human Being Has Value

Basil’s other revolutionary idea came from the fact that his understanding of the Trinity actually changed his view of humanity.

In the midst of a huge famine, he had assembled food to serve to the people in need. And at the time, it would have been assumed that the only people who would receive help from a local church would be Christians. 

And Basil said, “Certainly not. Anybody who’s hungry comes here. Because the internal organs of the Jews are the same as the internal organs of those who are Christians, both are hungry.” In other words, his understanding of the common substance within Father, Son and Holy Spirit, caused him to see humanity in the very same way.

Those are the truths we inherit from Basil. Not just an important idea that set the pace for Trinitarian theology, but our understanding that we are one in Christ, which means even though we have different functions – bishop, priests, deacons, laypeople – no one is better or of a different order than someone else. And that the best way we operate is within the context of a collegiality where we learn to listen, work and serve together. 

Yes, all that’s laid out in First Corinthians, but it’s what we celebrate when we think about Basil. It was shocking in the first century. If you were a king, you were considered a different kind of person than the slave. But the scripture says no. And the person who really gave legs to that teaching in a very clear way was Basil.

So we are in his debt, to remind us of the things that the Scripture plainly teaches and are called to live out our lives a way that reflects that kind of understanding of the common humanity we share in Jesus, and that all of us, regardless of who we are in him, are not subservient, but joint heirs. Forever. 

How do you think Basil’s teaching can or should affect us today? Share this blog and your response on Twitter. Please include my username, @revgregbrewer. 

(This post is an adaption of Bishop Brewer’s sermon on June 14, 2018, in the Bishop’s Oratory of the Diocesan Office, Orlando.) 

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.