s soon
recognised as a power in Asia. He received the dying recantation of
Dianius, and guided the choice of his successor Eusebius in 362. Yet he
still acted with the Semiarians, and helped them with his counsel at
Lampsacus. Indeed it was from the Semiarian side that he approached the
Nicene faith. In his own city of Caesarea Eusebius found him
indispensable. When jealousies arose between them, and Basil withdrew to
his rustic paradise in Pontus, he was recalled by the clamour of the
people at the approach of Valens in 365. This time the danger was
averted by the Procopian troubles, but henceforth Basil governed
Eusebius, and the church of Caesarea through him, till in the summer of
370 he succeeded to the bishopric himself.

[Sidenote: Basil bishop of Caesarea.]

The election was a critical one, for every one knew that a bishop like
Basil would be a pillar of the Nicene cause. On one side were the
officials and the lukewarm bishops, on the other the people and the
better class of Semiarians. They had to make great efforts. Eusebius of
Samosata came to Caesarea to urge the wavering bishops, and old
Gregory[15] was carried from Nazianzus on his litter to perform the
consecration. There was none but Basil who could meet the coming danger.
By the spring of 371 Valens had fairly started on his progress to the
East. He travelled slowly through the famine-wasted provinces, and only
reached Caesarea in time for the great winter festival of Epiphany 372.
The Nicene faith in Cappadocia was not the least of the abuses he was
putting down. The bishops yielded in all directions, but Basil was
unshaken. The rough threats of Modestus succeeded no better than the
fatherly counsel of Euippius; and when Valens himself and Basil met face
to face, the Emperor was overawed. More than once the order was prepared
for the obstinate prelate's exile, but for one reason or another it was
never issued. Valens went forward on his journey, leaving behind a
princely gift for Basil's poorhouse. He reached Antioch in April, and
settled there for the rest of his reign, never again leaving Syria till
the disasters of the Gothic war called him back to Europe.

[Footnote 15: The father of Gregory of Nazianzus the Divine, who was
bishop, as we shall see, of Sasima and Constantinople in succession, but
never of Nazianzus.]

[Sidenote: Basil's difficulties.]

Armed with spiritual power which in some sort extended from the
Bosphorus to Armenia, Basil