to use his talents against the Arians, who were
numerous in that part of the country and were favoured by the Arian
emperor, Valens, who then reigned in Constantinople. In 370 Eusebius,
bishop of Caesarea, died, and Basil was chosen to succeed him. It was then
that his great powers were called into action. Caesarea was an important
diocese, and its bishop was, _ex officio_, exarch of the great diocese of
Pontus. Hot-blooded and somewhat imperious, Basil was also generous and
sympathetic. "His zeal for orthodoxy did not blind him to what was good in
an opponent; and for the sake of peace and charity he was content to waive
the use of orthodox terminology when it could be surrendered without a
sacrifice of truth." He died in 379.

The principal theological writings of Basil are his _De Spiritu Sancto_, a
lucid and edifying appeal to Scripture and early Christian tradition, and
his three books against Eunomius, the chief exponent of Anomoian Arianism.
He was a famous preacher, and many of his homilies, including a series of
lenten lectures on the _Hexaemeron_, and an exposition of the psalter, have
been preserved. His ascetic tendencies are exhibited in the _Moralia_ and
_Regulae_, ethical manuals for use in the world and the cloister
respectively. His three hundred letters reveal a rich and observant nature,
which, despite the troubles of ill-health and ecclesiastical unrest,
remained optimistic, tender and even playful. His principal efforts as a
reformer were directed towards the improvement of the liturgy, and the
reformation of the monastic orders of the East. (See BASILIAN MONKS.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Editions of his works appeared at Basel (1532); Paris, by J.
Garnier and P. Maranus (1721-1730), and by L. de Sinner (1839). Migne's
_Patrol. ser. graec._ 29-32; _De Spiritu Sancto_, ed. C. F. H. Johnston
(Oxford, 1892); _Liturgia_, ed. A. Robertson (London, 1894). See also the
patrologies, _e.g._ that of O. Bardenhewer, and the histories of dogma,
_e.g._ those of A. Harnack and F. Loofs.

[1] The name Basil also belongs to several other distinguished churchmen,
(1) Basil, bishop of Ancyra from 336 to 360, a semi-Arian, highly favoured
by the emperor Constantine, and a great polemical writer; none of his works
are extant. (2) Basil of Seleucia (fl. 448-458), a bishop who shifted sides
continually in the Eutychian controversy, and who wrote extensively; his
works were published in Paris in 1622. (3) Basil of Ancyra, fl. 787;