Letters and Selected Works (incl. Hexaemeron, De Spiritu Sancto)
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Selection or partial work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~370,000 words · 1,744 passages
Cite this work
- APABasil of Caesarea. (n.d.). Letters and Selected Works (incl. Hexaemeron, De Spiritu Sancto). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/basil-of-caesarea/letters-and-selected-works-incl-hexaemeron-de-spiritu-sancto
- MLABasil of Caesarea. "Letters and Selected Works (incl. Hexaemeron, De Spiritu Sancto)." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/basil-of-caesarea/letters-and-selected-works-incl-hexaemeron-de-spiritu-sancto.
- ChicagoBasil of Caesarea. Letters and Selected Works (incl. Hexaemeron, De Spiritu Sancto). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/basil-of-caesarea/letters-and-selected-works-incl-hexaemeron-de-spiritu-sancto.
What it is about
Basil's letters together with the Hexaemeron, the homilies on the six days of creation, and the treatise on the Holy Spirit.
Context and history
The Hexaemeron is nine homilies preached over a single Lent, and it shows: Basil stops to talk about fish, birds and trees with whatever the science of his day knew. On the Holy Spirit served to establish the divinity of the Spirit, which Nicaea had left undefined. And the letters, usually passed over, are among the best sources there are for how a fourth-century church actually worked.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
This translation of a portion of the works of St. Basil was originally begun under the editorial supervision of Dr. Wace. It was first announced that the translation would comprise the De Spiritu Sancto and Select Letters, but it was ultimately arranged with Dr. Wace that a volume of the series should be devoted to St. Basil, containing, as well as the De Spiritu Sancto, the whole of the letters, and the Hexaemeron. The De Spiritu Sancto has already appeared in an English form, as have portions of the Letters. The De Spiritu Sancto was presumably selected for publication as being at once the most famous, as it is among the most valuable, of the extant works of this Father. The Letters, comprise short theological treatises and contain passages of historical and varied biographical interest, as well as valuable specimens of spiritual and consolatory exhortation. The Hexaemeron was added as being the most noted and popular of St. Basil's compositions in older days, and as illustrating his exegetic method and skill, and his power as an extempore preacher.
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