Basil

CONCERNING S. BASIL, PRIEST AND MARTYR, AT ANCYRA IN GALATIA.

YEAR 363

Preface Basil, Priest, Martyr at Ancyra (S.)

[1] The memory of S. Basil, Priest of the church of Ancyra in Galatia, is celebrated among the Greeks and, following their example, among the Latins. Concerning him, the Menologion of Cardinal Sirleto has the following: "March 22. Of the holy Martyr Basil, Priest of the Church of Ancyra, who, Sacred worship among the Greeks since he constantly persisted in the Christian confession, under Julian the Apostate as Emperor and Saturninus as Governor of Ancyra, after many tortures flew to heaven as a Martyr of Christ." In the Menologion of the Emperor Basil, under the end of the preceding day, only the title is presented—perhaps through the negligence of copyists transferred thither, and its eulogy omitted—which is reported in exactly the same words in the manuscript Greek Synaxarion of the Clermont College of the Society of Jesus, in the printed and manuscript Menaea, in the Anthologion as well, and in Maximus of Cythera, and is as follows.

[2] "Of the holy Martyr Basil, Priest of the Church of Ancyra. This Basil, in the reign of Julian the Apostate and under Saturninus the Governor of Ancyra, with a distinguished description of his martyrdom, flourished as a priest of the Church of Ancyra. Accused concerning his religion, he was brought before the Governor, in the inquiry he was suspended on the rack, his sides were grievously torn, and he was then cast into prison. Drawn out again from prison, he was beaten for a very long time without interruption, and bound with iron fetters, he was again enclosed in custody. After some days, when Julian the Apostate was passing through Ancyra, the holy Basil was led in chains to him; and having confessed that he was a Christian, he was handed over to the Count Flaventius, so that thongs might be cut from his body. This was carried out with all speed. When many thongs had been torn from the skin on every side, both from the back and from the front, and were hanging from his shoulders, the adamantine and unconquered Martyr took one torn from his body and hurled it into the face of the Governor, who then ordered him to be burned with red-hot awls and his belly and back and all the joints of his body to be pierced. Amid these torments the holy Martyr rendered his soul to God." In the appended Odes, his magnanimity amid so many and so atrocious and cruel torments is praised, and a song of victory is raised for the triumph obtained.

[3] and among the Latins. Among the Latins, Molanus included him in his additions to Usuard, citing the Greeks, saying on March 22: "Of the holy Hieromartyr Basil, Priest of the Church of Ancyra." Galesinius reported somewhat more concerning his martyrdom in these words: "At Ancyra, S. Basil, Priest and Martyr. He, under Julian, that most foul enemy of religion, at the command of the Prefect Saturninus, was confined in custody, most grievously and variously tortured, and finally pierced with red-hot awls, rendered his spirit to God." He was also deemed worthy to be inscribed thus in the tables of the Roman Church: "At Ancyra, S. Basil, Priest and Martyr, who, under Julian the Apostate, afflicted with the most grievous tortures, rendered his soul to God." In the Notes, Baronius observes that at the same time there was at Ancyra an Arian Bishop named Basil, who, however, survived Julian and with other Arians presented a petition to the Emperor Jovian, in which he testified that he was a professor of the Nicene faith. Baronius moreover cites part of the second Oration of S. Gregory of Nazianzus against Julian, in which the cruelty of the latter is indicated.

[4] The Syrians and other Eastern Christians venerate various Basils this month; and indeed in their ancient manuscript Calendar, from which the Most Illustrious Risius, Archbishop of Damascus, rendered March into Latin for us, The worship of other Martyrs of this name in Syria on the first day Basil and those with him, on the eighth Basil and companions are commemorated—about whom we have nothing to divine, unless perhaps they are those commemorated in the manuscript Coptic Menologion of our Maronite College at Rome as having suffered martyrdom at Alexandria: Basil, Theodore, and Timothy, and this on the twentieth day of the month Amsuir, which corresponds to the fourteenth of our February. and of the Priest, March 28. The one who appears to be relevant here is Basil the Priest and Martyr, inscribed in the Syriac Calendar before the books of the Ecclesiastical Office printed at Rome around the year 1624, under the second day of the month Barmuda, which is the twenty-eighth day of our March; and indeed in a certain Arabic-Egyptian Martyrology rendered into Latin for us by Gratia Simonius, on this very day of March 22,

there is: "The contest of S. Basil the Martyr and Priest."

[5] We have found and transcribed two sets of Greek Acts: one at Rome, Acts from a Vatican manuscript, written by a contemporary, which we give here from Codex 655 of the Vatican Library—the same also exists at the Fathers of the Oratory of S. Mary in Vallicella, in a codex marked B. 14—written, as far as we can ascertain by conjecture, by those who were present at his martyrdom and who testify at the very conclusion of the Acts that they were confirmed in the faith of Christ by it. The other we obtained at Florence, in the Medici Library, shelf 4 on the left, codex 4, near the end, beginning thus: Ἡδὺ μὲν θέαμα ταῖς φιλοσωμάτοις καὶ φιλοκόσμοις ψυχαῖς λοιμὼν πανθοίοις καὶ ποικιλοχρόοις κομῶν φύθοις καὶ ἄνθεσιν. "A pleasant spectacle indeed for souls that love the body and the world is a meadow adorned with all kinds of diverse-colored plants and flowers." But these, although written more elegantly and according to the rules of rhetorical amplification more carefully, another from Florence: this omitted, are nevertheless less ancient; and, as is the case with rivers that depart farther from their source, much less genuine. For whereas those first Acts correspond exactly to the eulogies cited above, these later ones write that Basil was led away to Constantinople, and after enduring a furnace without harm was dragged to Caesarea and there killed by a lioness set upon him—all of which fits another Basil, likewise of Ancyra and who suffered under the same Julian the Apostate, because they confuse two Basils. but who is venerated on the second day of January, under which date we have treated him more fully from the Menaea; and in the supplement to that same month we may later add something from these Acts, since we judge that they should not be given here in their entirety, where they differ from the more ancient ones only in style.

[6] As regards the time of the martyrdom, it is established from the Acts that it was the year the time of the martyrdom, year 363 which Julian held as his last in the Empire and in the persecution of Christians, a little after he had passed through Ancyra and departed for Antioch. For it is not credible that the Governor, fearing for himself from Caesar because he had exposed his majesty to ridicule by Basil, would have delayed his vengeance for many months. Wherefore, since it is established that Julian was at Antioch in the month of February—for from there he dictated the law concerning the non-violation of tombs on the day before the Ides of that month—we believe that the copyists erred when they wrote that Basil's contest was completed on June 28, the day: January 28 and that January should be read instead of June. For the slip is very easy in these matters, since the ancients usually wrote the names of months with only their initial letters: Ιαν., Ιουν., etc. Thus in the Chronography of Theophanes, Julian is read to have been killed τῇ κς᾽ Ιανουαρίου μηνός ("on the 26th of the month January"), where the consensus of all authors, assigning the death of Julian to June 26, proves that Ιουνίου should have been written. That he is venerated in the month of March can be said to have occurred on the occasion of the solemn elevation or translation of his body, when, with the tyrant removed from the living, tranquility was restored to the Church.

ACTS

From the Greek Vatican Manuscript. Basil, Priest, Martyr at Ancyra (S.)

CHAPTER I.

Basil Constantly Preaches the Orthodox Faith; He Is Tortured under the Governor Saturninus.

[1] This Basil, wholly intent on teaching men the Christian truth He warns that, with persecution threatening, and on turning them from the way of the devil and all his works, did not cease preaching that a difficult time was pressing upon them and that the princes of the infernal host were various. For Satan, he said, has certain ministers clothed in the garments of sheep who are inwardly ravenous wolves; and lest a secure life could be led, they go about for the hunting of souls, whose end the approaching time would make manifest to all. Therefore, he said boldly, "I explain the way of attaining the salvation that is in God and in Christ the Son of God, Christians should carefully guard their faith and salvation. and I reveal the error of the impious, if any, forsaking the living God who abides forever, should flee to blind, deaf, and mute idols, seeking as their inheritance from them the flame of unquenchable fire. Wherefore let all of us who have diligently embraced the mysteries of Christ and venerate the author of our faith, and who wish to guard this inviolate treasure in the uncontaminated treasuries of the soul, trample underfoot the festive array of those diabolical deceivers, and let us flee the accursed subverters, relying on Christ our helper, our eternal rewarder."

[2] Thus he did day by day, going about the entire city and strengthening each person to hold to the perfection of faith and to flee the punishments of future evils. although forbidden to preach by the Arians This Basil had been forbidden by ^a Eudoxius and Macarius and Eugenius and many others gathered at Constantinople for a Synod from holding sacred assemblies, because, adhering to piety, he held the faith exactly. But by the two hundred and thirty Bishops gathered in Palestine, he was commanded to act boldly, as one who had holy men and lovers of the Lord as his teachers, he himself being one of the more distinguished members of the Imperial Palace. Therefore, leading an upright life before God, and often accused on that account. he proclaimed the irreproachable word of faith and brought many back from error. For this reason, in those times when every Christian soul was being disturbed, he had been denounced to the Emperors under the charge of sedition, and, examined by each of them on account of the truth, he made many faithful, because he himself appeared steadfast in the faith and tradition of the Fathers and incapable of being bent from the orthodox confession.

[3] When Julian had obtained the Empire and had become an apostate from the Christian religion, He perseveres in doing the same under Julian, he also became a subverter of souls to their perdition. For setting forth deranged doctrines about the worship of sacrifices to be offered to mute, deaf, and senseless things, he established them for an entire year and three months in the regions of Galatia, which received his new deception with reverence. Over Ancyra, the holy Basil, blessing God, said: "O Savior of the world, Christ, inextinguishable light, treasury of eternal riches, who by the will of the Father dispels the darkness and by his Spirit establishes all things: look with your holy and awe-inspiring eye and scatter the abominable superstitions of those who set themselves against your will, so that, with their feeble counsel shattered, they may not impede the soul that abides in you, the God who lives forever."

[4] But those who were carrying out the worship of demons, upon hearing Basil, and rebuked in vain were roused to great fury against him, and one of them named Macarius sprang forward and seized him, saying: "Why do you go about disturbing everyone and dissolving the religion of the gods, laudably established by the Emperor?" To him Basil replied: "May God break your mouth, you slave of the devil! For I do not destroy your religion, but he who is in heaven will himself destroy it by his invisible power; and he who through our Savior Jesus Christ abolished the error of idols will now also scatter and destroy all your counsel, until, reduced to the utmost impotence, you fail and inherit the death prepared for your disobedience."

[5] The impious, therefore, indignant against him, brought him to the Proconsul Saturninus, saying: he is captured and brought before Saturninus; "This man makes our city seditious and, deceiving many, leads them into error. Now he has advanced to such audacity that he presumes to preach perverse things and to overturn altars and to blaspheme the Emperor." Saturninus said to him: "Who are you, that you dare such things?" Basil answered: "What matters more than all else: I am a Christian." "Why then," replied Saturninus, "since you are a Christian, do you not do the things that befit a Christian?" "You advise rightly, Proconsul," said Basil. "For it is fitting that the works of a Christian man be made manifest to all. This, therefore, you have said well." Saturninus added: "Why then do you make our city rebellious and blaspheme the King, everywhere exposing him as a transgressor of good laws?" But Basil said: "I do not blaspheme the Emperor, nor the religion established by him. God is the Emperor, who dwells in heaven, whom our Fathers, his worthy worshippers, adore everywhere in purity of heart. He can in short order dissolve the impiety wrongly established by you."

[6] and exposing the vanity of idolatry, "Does not the religion which our Emperor has established seem true to you?" said Saturninus. "How can that be true, O Governor," replied Basil, "which, carrying meats on its lips before rabid dogs, goes around eating, and before the altars of the demon, raising a barking, places its own flesh around them and pours its own blood around them? How, I ask, can such a thing be held sound and whole?" Saturninus in turn: "Cease your garrulous nonsense and obey the Emperor." "I," replied Basil, "have obeyed the heavenly Emperor until now, and I shall never be drawn away from his faith." To him Saturninus: "What heavenly Emperor do you mention to me, whom you have obeyed?" "Him," replied Basil, "who sits in heaven and beholds all things. For this one whom you praise to me is earthly, and will soon fall into the hands of the great King, being but a man."

[7] When Saturninus heard such things, he was indignant and ordered the saint to be hung up and torn; he is cruelly tortured: but as soon as he was raised up, he began to pray in this manner: "I give thanks to you, Lord God of the ages, because you have made me worthy through these torments to find the way of life, by walking in which I may behold the heirs of your promises." While he was being torn apart, the Proconsul said to Basil: "What do you think, Basil? Can the Emperor immediately punish those who are disobedient to his commands with a fitting punishment? Come now, taught by the very experience of evils, learn to obey." "I have said, O witless one, devoid of Christian hope," said Basil, and led back to prison "I have said that I have believed in him who is truly King, and that I cannot be moved from my resolve." Again Saturninus, having commanded the ^d torturers, who were failing from weariness, to cease for a while from the torture, said to Basil: "Believe us and sacrifice." To him the Saint replied: "I have never sacrificed to such vain deities, nor have I partaken of the victims of those who kill souls."

[8] he is tempted by Felix and reproaches him for his apostasy. Then the Proconsul ordered the Saint to be taken to prison. As he was departing, a certain impure man named Felix met him and said: "What is the matter, Basil, that you go to your own ruin? Rather become a friend of the gods, so that you may obtain the Emperor's promises; for if you refuse, you will be punished severely, and indeed most deservedly." But Basil said: "Away with you, perverse and unclean one, utterly devoid of true promises and unworthy! For how, existing in darkness, could you attain to the truth and perceive the gloom surrounding you?" And having said these things, he entered the prison.

to distinguish from the orthodox) was held in Palestine, the Council here consequently indicated, we have found nowhere else up to now. Baronius refers these things to the preceding year.

CHAPTER II.

Solicited in Vain by Julian's Command, Basil Confounds the Emperor Present, Victor over the Torments.

[9] Julian sends men to persuade him to defect; The Proconsul reported to Julian what had been done concerning Basil; and Julian, upon hearing these things, sent a certain Elpidius, a master of perdition, together with Pegasius, himself also cast out from the heavenly treasuries. When they had arrived at ^a Nicomedia, they found there Asclepius, a priest of Aesculapius; and having taken him with them, the three leaders of the diabolical army, proceeding together on their journey, as soon as they reached Ancyra, inquired concerning S. Basil, what was his situation. They learned that he was held in prison, where he did not cease day and night praising and glorifying God.

[10] On the next day, therefore, Pegasius, guilty of having shamefully deserted the truth, went to the prison, and greeting the Blessed one, said: among whom the apostate Pegasius "Greetings, Basil." But he replied: "There is no salvation for you, transgressor and betrayer of the truth—for you, I say, who once drank from the fountain of Christ but now are filled with the filth of sewers; once a partaker of the divine mysteries, now of the table of demons; once a teacher of the truth, now a leader of perdition; once celebrating festivals with the Saints, now leading dances with the army of Satan; is confounded by Basil: once leading by the hand those wandering in darkness to the light, now yourself enveloped in gloom. How have you gone and lost your hope? And been stripped of the treasure of your soul? What will you do when the Lord visits you?"

[11] Having said these things, he prayed to the Lord, saying: "Glory be to you, O God, who are known by your servants and who lead to the light those desiring to behold your divinity; who glorify those hoping in you and bring confusion upon the haters of your commandments; who, having promised eternal salvation, make blessed the happy inhabitants of heaven and are adored on earth by men. Deign, O most high God, his companions spur on the Governor, to tear away from the soul of your servant all the chains of the devil, that I may be able to escape those who hate righteousness and to overcome the powers of those who threaten me." Pegasius, hearing such things, went out of the prison grieved; and returning to his companions, he set forth to them everything that Basil had said. They, however, moved to anger because they saw Pegasius mourning, approached the Proconsul and reported to him what they had heard from Pegasius.

[12] The Proconsul, therefore, wishing to gratify Pegasius, ordered the Saint to be brought; who, when he stood before the tribunal, made the sign of the cross and addressed the Proconsul: who again tortured him, "Do whatever you wish," he said. But Elpidius, hearing that he spoke so fearlessly, said to the Proconsul: "The most wicked man has gone mad. Now, therefore, if he will allow himself to be persuaded by torments, he will have saved his soul; but if not, let him be reserved for the Emperor." The Proconsul therefore, once more angered, ordered him to be hung up and stretched forcefully by the sinews, "until," he said, "unable to bear the punishment, he is persuaded to sacrifice." To him Basil replied: "Do whatever you wish, impious one, he orders him reserved for Julian: having with you the leaders of the opposing power. For you will accomplish nothing against me, neither you nor your counselors." Then Saturninus said: "Take heavy irons and fasten them around his neck and hands, so that he may be delivered thus to the Emperor; ^b but now let him go to custody."

[13] After a few days, it happened that the Emperor set out for the regions of the East. When he came to Ancyra, the ministers of the devil met him bearing the idol of Hecate, he arrives at Ancyra, and entering the palace, he convened the priests of the gods and bestowed money upon them. On the following day, while spectacles were being held, Elpidius reported to the Emperor concerning Basil. After he had risen from the theater, therefore, he ordered the Saint to be brought to the palace. He came, his face wondrously handsome and radiant, and Julian said to him: "What is your name?" To whom Basil replied: "I will reveal to you in order who I am. First indeed I am called a Christian, he holds an inquiry concerning Basil, and the name of Christ is eternal and surpasses human thoughts; then I am called Basil by men. But if I shall have kept the name of Christ inviolate, I shall receive from him on the day of judgment the reward of immortality."

[14] Julian said: "Do not err, Basil; for I am not ignorant of your mysteries. You believe in him who suffered death under the Governor Pilate." "I do not err at all, Emperor," replied Basil. and, rebuked by him for his apostasy, "You indeed, having become an apostate, have renounced the heavenly kingdom; but I believe in my Christ, whom you have abjured when he conferred the empire upon you, which he is also shortly going to take away from you, that you may know what God you have offended." To this Julian replied: "You are mad, most demented one; it will not be as you wish." Basil answered: "You remember neither his retributions nor have you reverenced the altar by which you were saved; nor have you kept the law which you have so often preached with your own mouth. Wherefore neither will the great Emperor Christ himself remember you, but will immediately take this temporal empire from you, and your body will be ^c deprived of burial when you breathe out your soul amid the greatest pains."

[15] Then Julian said: "I was indeed, impious one, willing to release you; but since, with repeated shamelessness, he orders thongs to be cut from his back: you reject my counsels and even heap many insults upon me, my majesty commands that seven thongs be cut from your [e] body every day." And he commanded Frumentinus, Count of the Shield-bearers, to cut his skin. When the Saint had been thus cut and had bravely ^d endured that monstrous torture, he said: "Now indeed I would wish to approach the Emperor which being done, Basil asks to be brought to Julian, and speak with him." The Count, cheered by these words and thinking that he wished to sacrifice, entered to the Emperor and, signifying this, said: "Lord Emperor, Basil, unable to endure the torment inflicted upon him, wishes to appear before your majesty."

[16] Julian therefore went to the temple of Aesculapius and ordered the Saint to be brought thither. When Basil had come to the same place, and to him, who supposes that he wishes to sacrifice, he said to Julian: "Where are your priests and your prophets, who are accustomed to attend you, Emperor? Have they perhaps told you for what reason I have come to you?" "I suppose," replied Julian, "that, being prudent, you have come to your senses and wish to join us, henceforth acknowledging the gods." To him Basil replied: "Rather, that you may know, Emperor, that those you call gods are nothing; for they are deaf and blind idols, which lead those who believe in them to hell." he hurls a thong cut from his skin into his face. And having said this, he took one of the thongs cut from his body and hurled it into Julian's face, saying: "Receive this, Julian, since you delight in such food; but for me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. He himself is my help, in whom I believe and for whom I suffer." When this was spread among the Christians, they called the Saint blessed for so illustrious a confession.

CHAPTER III.

Basil Dies, Torn to Pieces by Red-Hot Awls.

[17] The Count, confounded, hastened to leave, for he had perceived the indignation of the Emperor aroused against himself on account of the insult committed by Basil. Frumentinus, having more cruelly cut the Saint, Therefore, kindled with even greater fury against him, he considered by what death he might most wretchedly destroy him. Ascending therefore to the praetorium, when he had taken his seat, he ordered his skin to be cut much more cruelly than was customary to be done daily, so that even his innards could be seen. Thus tortured, the Saint prayed to the Lord: "Blessed are you, Lord God, hope of Christians; who strengthen the fallen and raise up the prostrate; who redeem from corruption those who hope in you, who know our afflictions, gracious and merciful and compassionate and long-suffering. Look down from the exalted throne of your glory, and grant me to faithfully complete my course, and, persevering in the faith of the Fathers, to be made worthy of your eternal and immortal kingdom."

[18] When evening came, the Count ordered him to be thrust back into prison. Julian, however, departed for Antioch the next morning, not admitting the Count into his presence, after Julian's departure, who, more gravely disturbed on account of the Emperor, ordered the Saint to be brought by the executioner and said to him: "Will you, most demented of men, sacrifice, as the Emperor has commanded, or not? Do you choose to obey us, or to die amid tortures?" To him Basil replied: "O stupid and impious one, even though he more steadfastly refuses to sacrifice, do you not know how many thongs you cut from my back yesterday, so that all who beheld pitied and mourned me, seeing the torments inflicted on me by you, the sacrilegious one? And now, by the will of Christ, behold, I stand before you again sound, you who have been fattened by the devil, cruel and inhuman one. Report to your tyrant Julian how great is the power of the God whom he has forsaken, and he has lost his soul, deceived by the devil. He has not remembered how God rescued him from death through his holy ^a priests, hiding him under the holy and admirable altar of the holy Church—of which benefit forgetful, he cast himself out and fled from her. But I trust

in my Christ that he too will be cast out by her, who, rendering satisfaction to herself, will repay him as his deeds have merited; and he shall be extinguished in his tyranny.

[19] Frumentinus said: "You are raving, madman! For the most invincible Julian, lord of the entire world, bears with you, he orders him to be pierced with burning awls: as I say. For having shown much kindness toward you, he commanded you to feast with us on cooked meats and the sweet fragrance of incense. But you refused to be persuaded, and on the contrary first heaped no small insult upon the Emperor, and then brought me also into condemnation. Wherefore I shall repay you as you deserve through such a punishment by which I shall shortly expel you from this life. For behold, I command that your vitals be pierced with iron points vehemently heated, most demented one." Basil replied: "I did not fear your Emperor, as you yourself are my witness; and do you suppose that you can strike fear with your words?"

[20] The Count, therefore, vehemently angered on account of Basil's constancy, ordered iron instruments to be sharpened and heated to a glow, and with them thus glowing, his back to be pricked through. in which torment Basil offers a prayer, While the Blessed one was thus being tortured, lying prostrate on the ground, he prayed to the Lord with a loud voice and said: "My light, O Christ, and my hope, O Jesus, tranquil harbor for those imperiled in the tempest: I give thanks to you, Lord God of my Fathers, because you have rescued my soul from the lowest hell. Guard in me your inviolable name, that, bearing the victory and completing my course toward you, I may become an heir of eternal rest, by reason of the promise made to my Fathers by the great High Priest, and dies peacefully. Jesus Christ, our Lord; through whom receive in peace the spirit of one persevering in this confession, for you are merciful and long-suffering and of great mercy, who live and abide forever and ever. Amen."

When this prayer was completed, as though seized by a sweet sleep, he surrendered his spirit, pierced through with the iron instruments. The Blessed Basil was perfected in the confession of martyrdom under the apostate Julian, on the twenty-eighth day of the month of *June; whose martyrdom strengthens us all in the faith of Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom to you be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

* Rather January.