Saint Basil
Saint Basil
Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great, was the Greek bishop of Caesarea Mazaca in Cappadocia, Asia Minor. He was an influential theologian who supported the Nicene Creed and opposed the heresies of the early Christian church, fighting against both Arianism and the followers of Apollinaris of Laodicea. His ability to balance his theological convictions with his political connections made Basil a powerful advocate for the Nicene position...
NationalityGreek
ProfessionSaint
fortune good road smooth troubles
Troubles are usually brooms and shovels that smooth the road to the good man's fortune. . .
belongs bread chest coat gold ground hidden lies lies-and-lying store
The bread that you store up belongs to the hungry; the coat that lies in your chest belongs to the naked; the gold that you have hidden in the ground belongs to the poor.
courtesy gathers kindness plants
He who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.
begets bestowed courtesy deed gathers generally good grateful gratitude mind plants pleasure
A good deed is never lost. He who sows courtesy, reaps friendship; he who plants kindness, gathers love; pleasure bestowed on a grateful mind was never sterile, but generally gratitude begets reward.
thankful kindness tree
He who sows courtesy reaps friendship.
heart men knowing
We men are easily prone to sins of thought. Therefore, He who has formed each heart individually, knowing that the impulse received from the intention constitutes the major element in sin, has ordained that purity in the ruling part of our soul be our primary concern.
inspirational christian religious
As it is impossible to verbally describe the sweetness of honey to one who has never tasted honey, so the goodness of God cannot be clearly communicated by way of teaching if we ourselves are not able to penetrate into the goodness of the Lord by our own experience.
art fall relief
Just as we would have no need of the farmer's labor and toil if we were living amid the delights of paradise, so also we would not require the medical art for relief if we were immune to disease, as was the case, by God's gift, at the time of Creation before the Fall.
light environmental care
Do not, as is usually the case, thrust the care of the common weal upon your neighbor; then, as each one in his own thoughts makes light of the matter, all find to their surprise that they have drawn upon themselves by their neglect a personal misfortune.
christianity found pretext
We must always be on guard lest, under the pretext of keeping one commandment, we be found breaking another.
names clothes giving
When someone steals a person's clothes, we call him a thief. Should we not also give the same name to the one who could clothe the naked but does not?
men flesh way
If men are in a state in which they find it hard to be weaned from their own ways and choose rather to serve the pleasures of the flesh than to serve the Lord, and refuse to accept the Gospel life, there is no common ground between me and them.
life men soul
What is there astonishing in the death of a mortal? But we are grieved at his dying before his time. Are we sure that this was not his time? We do not know how to pick and choose what is good for our souls, or how to fix the limits of the life of man.
stars eye views
All these stupendous objects are daily around us; but because they are constantly exposed to our view, they never affect our minds, so natural is it for us to admire new, rather than grand objects. Therefore the vast multitude of stars which diversify the beauty of this immense body does not call the people together; but when any change happens therein, the eyes of all are fixed upon the heavens.