1. Fathers of the Church are rightly called those saints who, by the strength of their faith and the depth and richness of their teachings, regenerated and greatly increased it during the first centuries (cf. Gal 4:19; Vincentii Lirinensis "Commonitorium", I,3: PL 50, 641).

Truly "fathers" of the Church, because from them, through the Gospel, she received life (cf. 1 Cor 4:15). And also its builders, because from them - on the unique foundation laid by the apostles, which is Christ (cf. 1 Cor 3:11) - the Church of God was built in its load-bearing structures.

From the life drawn from her fathers the Church still lives today; and on the structures laid by her first builders she is still being built today, in the joy and sorrow of her daily journey and labour.

Fathers, then, were, and remain, fathers forever: they themselves, in fact, are a stable structure of the Church, and for the Church of all centuries they fulfil an everlasting function. So that every subsequent proclamation and magisterium, if it is to be authentic, must be compared with their proclamation and magisterium; every charism and every ministry must draw from the vital source of their paternity; and every new stone, added to the holy edifice that grows and expands every day (cf. Eph 2:21), must fit into the structures already laid by them, and weld and connect with them.

Guided by these certainties, the Church does not tire of returning to their writings - full of wisdom and incapable of growing old - and of continually renewing their memory. It is therefore with great joy that in the course of the liturgical year we meet our fathers again and again: and each time we are confirmed in our faith and encouraged in our hope.

And even greater is our joy when particular circumstances invite us to meet them in a more prolonged and profound way. Of such a nature is precisely the occasion of this year, which marks the sixteenth centenary since the transit of our father Basil, Bishop of Caesarea.

2. The life and ministry of St Basil

Among the Greek fathers called 'great', in Byzantine liturgical texts Basil is invoked as 'light of piety' and 'luminary of the Church'. Indeed, he enlightened her and still enlightens her: no less by 'the purity of his life' than by the excellence of his doctrine. For the first and greatest teaching of the saints is still their lives.

Born into a family of saints, Basil also had the privilege of an elite education from the most reputable teachers in Constantinople and Athens.

But it seemed to him that his life really began only when, in a fuller and more decisive way, he was given to know Christ as his Lord: that is, when, irresistibly attracted by him, he practised that radical detachment that he would later inculcate so much in his teaching (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 8: PG 31, 933c-941a), and became his disciple.

He then set out to follow Christ, wishing to be conformed to him alone: looking to him alone, listening to him alone (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", LXXX,1: PG 31, 860bc), and in all things considering him his only "sovereign, king, physician, and teacher of truth" (S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I,1: PG 31, 1516b).

Without hesitation, therefore, he abandoned those studies that he had loved so much and from which he had drawn immense treasures of knowledge (cf. Gregorii Nazianzeni "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 525c-528c): having decided to serve God alone, he no longer wished to know anything apart from Christ (cf. 1 Cor 2:2), and he considered all wisdom other than that of the cross to be vanity. These are his own words, with which, already towards the end of his life, he recalled the event of his conversion: "I had wasted much time in vanity, losing almost all my youth in the vain work to which I applied myself in order to learn the teachings of that wisdom which God has made foolish (cf. 1 Cor 1:20); until one day, as if waking from a deep sleep, I looked upon the admirable light of the truth of the Gospel, and considered the futility of the wisdom of the princes of this world who are reduced to impotence (cf. 1 Cor 2:6). Then I wept much over my miserable life" (cf. St Basilii "Epistula" 223: PG 32, 824a).

He wept over his life, although even before - according to the testimony of Gregory of Nazianzen, his fellow student - it was humanly exemplary (cf. S.Gregorii Nazianzeni "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 521cd): it nevertheless seemed "miserable" to him, because it was not totally and exclusively consecrated to God, who is the only Lord.

With irrepressible impatience, he therefore interrupted the studies he had undertaken and, abandoning the masters of Hellenic wisdom, he "crossed many lands and many seas" (S.Basilii "Epistula" 204: PG 32, 753a) in search of other masters: those "fools" and the poor who in the deserts practised a very different wisdom.

He thus began to learn things that had never risen to the human heart (cf. 1 Cor 2:9), truths that rhetoricians and philosophers could never have taught him (cf. St Basilii "Epistula" 223": PG 32, 824bd). And in this new wisdom he then grew day by day, in a marvellous itinerary of grace: through prayer, mortification, the exercise of charity, continuous commerce with the holy Scriptures and the teachings of the Fathers (cf. praesertim S.Basilii "Epistula" 2 et 22).

He was soon called to the ministry.

But even in the service of souls, with wise balance he was able to combine tireless preaching with spaces of solitude and ample prayer. In fact, he considered this to be of imperative necessity for the 'purification of the soul' (St Basilii "Epistula" 2: PG 32, 228a; cf. "Epistula" 210: PG 32, 769a), and thus so that the proclamation of the word could always be confirmed by the 'evident example' of life (St Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 43: PG 31, 1028a-1029b; cf. "Moralia", LXX, 10: PG 31, 824d-825b).

Thus he became a pastor and was at the same time, in the most substantial sense of the term, a monk; indeed, he was certainly among the greatest of the Church's monk-shepherds: a singularly complete figure of a bishop, and a great promoter and legislator of monasticism.

In fact, on the strength of his own personal experience, Basil strongly contributed to the formation of communities of Christians totally consecrated to "divine service" (S.Benedicti "Regula", Prologus), and took on the commitment and effort to support them with frequent visits (cf. S.Gregorii Nazianzeni "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 536b): for his own and their edification he entertained admirable conversations with them, many of which, by the grace of God, have been transmitted to us in writing (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", Proemium: PG 31, 1080ab). Various legislators of monasticism drew on these writings, not least St Benedict himself, who considers Basil as his teacher (cf. S.Benedicti "Regula", LXXIII,5); from these writings - directly or indirectly known - most of those who, in the East as in the West, embraced monastic life were inspired.

This is why it is believed by many that the capital structure of the Church's life that is monasticism was laid down, throughout the centuries, mainly by St Basil; or at least that it was not defined in its proper nature without his decisive contribution.

Basil had much to suffer for the evils in which the People of God groaned in that difficult hour (cf. St Basil "De iudicio": PG 31, 653b). He denounced them frankly, and, with lucidity and love, identified their causes, in order to courageously set about a vast work of reform. That is to say, the work - to be pursued in every age, to be renewed in every generation - aimed at restoring the Church of the Lord, "for whom Christ died and on whom he poured out his Spirit abundantly" (cf. St Basilii "De iudicio": PG 31, 653b), to its primitive form: to that normative image, beautiful and pure, that the word of Christ and the Acts of the Apostles convey to us. How many times does Basil recall, with passion and constructive nostalgia, the time when "the multitude of believers were one heart and one soul"! (Acts 4:32; cf. St Basilii "De iudicio": PG 36, 660c; cf. "Regulae fusius tractatae", 7: PG 31, 933c; cf. "Homilia tempore famis": PG 31, 325ab).

His reform efforts turned together, with harmony and completeness, to practically all aspects and spheres of Christian life.

By the very nature of his ministry, the Bishop is first and foremost pontiff of his people - and the People of God are first and foremost priestly people.

He cannot therefore in any way neglect the liturgy - its strength and richness, its beauty, its 'truth' - a Bishop who is truly concerned for the good of the Church. In his pastoral work, indeed, commitment to the liturgy logically stands at the apex of everything and concretely on top of every other choice: the liturgy, in fact - as the Second Vatican Council recalls - is "the summit towards which the action of the Church tends, and at the same time the source from which all its virtue flows" ("Sacrosanctum Concilium", 10), so that "no other action of the Church equals its effectiveness" ("Sacrosanctum Concilium", 7).

Basil showed himself perfectly aware of this, and the "legislator of monks" (cf. S.Gregorii Nazianzenii "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 541c) was also a wise "liturgical reformer".

Of his work in this sphere remains, a most precious legacy for the Church of all times, the anaphora that legitimately bears his name: the great Eucharistic prayer that, recast and enriched by him, is beautiful among the most beautiful.

Not only: the same fundamental ordering of the psalmody prayer had in him one of its greatest inspirers and creators (cf. S.Basilii "Epistula" 2 et "Regula fusius tractatae", 37: PG 31, 1013b-1016c). Thus, above all because of the impetus given by him, psalmody - "spiritual incense", breath and comfort of the People of God (cf. S.Basilii "In Psalmum" 1: PG 29, 212a-213c) - was greatly loved by the faithful in his Church, and became known to the young and the old, the learned and the uncultured (cf.) As Basil himself reports: 'Among us the people get up at night to go to the house of prayer,... and spend the night alternating between psalms and prayers' (St Basil "Epistula" 207: PG 32, 764ab). The psalms, which rumbled like thunder in the churches (cf. S.Gregorii Nazianzeni "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 561cd), were also heard resounding in the houses and squares (cf. S.Basilii "In Psalmum" 1: PG 29, 212c).

Basil loved the Church with jealous love (cf. 2 Cor 11:2): and knowing his virginity and his own faith, of the purity of this faith he was a most vigilant guardian.

For this she had to and knew how to fight with courage: not against men, but against every adulteration of the word of God (cf. 2 Cor 2:17), every falsification of the truth, every tampering with the holy deposit (cf. 1 Tim 6:20) handed down by the Fathers. His impetus therefore had nothing of passion: it was strength of love; and his clarity nothing of punctiliousness: it was delicacy of love.

Thus, from the beginning to the end of his ministry he fought to preserve intact the meaning of the Nicaean formula regarding the divinity of Christ "consubstantial" to the Father (cf. St Basilii "Epistula" 9: PG 32, 72a; "Epistula" 52: PG 32, 392b-396a; "Adv. Eunomium", I: PG 29, 556c); and equally he fought so that the glory of the Spirit should not be diminished, who, "being part of the Trinity and being of the divine and blessed nature of it" (S.Basilii "Epistula" 243: PG 32, 909a), must be with the Father and the Son connumerated and conglorified (cf.)

With firmness, and personally exposing himself to grave dangers, he also watched over and fought for the freedom of the Church: as a true bishop, he did not hesitate to oppose the rulers in order to defend his right and the right of the People of God to profess the truth and obey the Gospel (cf. St Gregorii Nazianzen "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 557c-561c). The Nazianzen, who relates a salient episode of this struggle, makes it very clear that the secret of his strength lay only in the very simplicity of his proclamation, in the clarity of his witness, and in the defenceless majesty of his priestly dignity (cf. S.Gregorii Nazianzeni "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 561c-564b).

No less severity than against heresies and tyrants, Basil showed against misunderstandings and abuses within the Church: particularly, against worldliness and attachment to possessions.

What moved him was, still and always, the same love for the truth and the Gospel; although in a different way, it was still the Gospel, in fact, that was denied and contradicted: both by the error of the heresiarchs and by the selfishness of the rich.

In this regard, the texts of some of his speeches are memorable and remain exemplary: "Sell what you have and give it to the poor (Mt 19:22); ... for even if you have not killed or committed adultery or stolen or borne false witness, it is of no use to you if you do not also do the rest: only in this way can you enter the kingdom of God" (St Basilii "Homilia in divites": PG 31, 280b-281a). For whoever, according to God's commandment, wants to love his neighbour as himself (cf. Lev 19:18; Mt 19:19), "must possess nothing more than what his neighbour possesses" (S.Basilii "Homilia in divites" PG 31, 281b).

And even more passionately, in times of famine, he exhorted "not to show oneself more cruel than beasts,... by putting in your bosom what is common, and possessing alone what is everyone's" (cf. St Basilii "Homilia tempore famis": PG 31, 325a).

A disconcerting and beautiful radicalism, and a strong appeal to the Church of all times to seriously confront the Gospel.

To the Gospel, which commands love and service of the poor, in addition to these words Basil bore witness with immense works of charity; such as the construction, at the gates of Caesarea, of a gigantic hospice for the needy (cf. S.Basilii "Epistula" 94: PG 32, 488bc): a true city of mercy that he named Basiliades (cf. Sozosemi "Historia Eccl." VI, 34: PG 67, 1397a), also an authentic moment of the unique Gospel proclamation.

It was the same love for Christ and his Gospel that made him suffer so much from the divisions of the Church and that with such perseverance, hoping contra spem, made him seek a more effective and manifest communion with all the Churches (cf. St Basilii "Epistulae" 70 et 243).

It is the very truth of the Gospel, in fact, that is obscured by the discord of Christians, and it is Christ Himself who is torn by it (cf. 1 Cor 1:13). The division of believers contradicts the power of the one baptism (cf. Eph 4:4), which in Christ makes us one, indeed one mystical person (cf. Gal 3:28); it contradicts the sovereignty of Christ, the only king to whom all must equally be subject; it contradicts the authority and unifying force of the word of God, the only law to which all believers must unanimously obey (cf. St Basilii "De iudicio": PG 31, 653a-656c).

The division of the Churches is thus a fact so clearly and directly anti-Christological and anti-Biblical that, according to Basil, the way to the restoration of unity can only be the re-conversion of all to Christ and his word (cf. S.Basilii "De iudicio": PG 31, 660b-661a).

In the multifaceted exercise of his ministry Basil thus became, as prescribed for all heralds of the word, "an apostle and minister of Christ, a dispenser of the mysteries of God, a herald of the kingdom, a model and rule of piety, the eye of the body of the Church, a shepherd of Christ's sheep, a compassionate physician, a father and nurse, a co-operator of God, a farmer of God, a builder of God's temple" (cf. St Basilii "Moralia", LXXX,12-21: PG 31, 864b-868b).

And in such work and such struggle - arduous, painful, breathless - Basil offered his life (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", LXXX,18: PG 31, 865c) and consumed himself as a holocaust.

He died not yet fifty years old, consumed by fatigue and asceticism.

3. The Magisterium of St Basil

Having thus briefly recalled salient aspects of Basil's life and his commitment as a Christian and as a bishop, it seems right that we should attempt to draw at least some supreme indications from the extremely rich legacy of his writings. Relying on his school may provide light to better face the problems and difficulties of this very time, and thus help us for our present and our future.

It does not seem abstract to begin with what he taught about the Holy Trinity: it is certain, indeed, that there can be no better beginning, at least if one wants to conform to his own thinking.

On the other hand, what can impose itself more or be more normative for life than the mystery of God's life? Can there be a more significant and vital point of reference for man than this?

For the new man, who is conformed to this mystery in the intimate structure of his being and existence; and for every man, whether he knows it or not: for there is no one who has not been created for Christ, the eternal Word, and there is no one who is not called, by the Spirit and in the Spirit, to glorify the Father.

This is the primordial mystery, the holy Trinity: for it is nothing other than the very mystery of God, of the one living and true God.

Of this mystery, Basil firmly proclaims the reality: the triad of divine names, he says, certainly indicates three distinct hypostases (cf. S.Basilii "Adv. Eunomium", I: PG 29, 529a). But with no less firmness he confesses their absolute inaccessibility.

How lucid in him, the supreme theologian, was the awareness of the infirmity and inadequacy of all theologising!

No one, he said, is capable of doing it in a worthy manner, and the greatness of the mystery overcomes all discourse, so that not even the tongues of angels can grasp it (cf. St Basilii "Homilia de fide": PG 31, 464b-465a).

Abyssal and inscrutable reality, then, the living God! But nevertheless Basil knows that he 'must' speak of it, before and more than anything else. And so, believing, he speaks (cf. 2 Cor 4:13): out of an incoercible force of love, out of obedience to God's command, and for the edification of the Church, which "never gets tired of hearing such things" (St Basilii "Homilia de fide": PG 31, 464cd).

But perhaps it is more accurate to say that Basil, as a true "theologian", sings it rather than speaks of this mystery.

He sings of the Father: "The principle of everything, the cause of the being of what exists, the root of the living" (S.Basilii "Homilia de fide": PG 31, 465c), and above all "Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" ("Anaphora S.Basilii"). And just as the Father is primarily in relation to the Son, so the Son - the Word who became flesh in Mary's womb - is primarily in relation to the Father.

This is how Basil contemplates and sings of Him: in the "inaccessible light", in the "ineffable power", in the "infinite greatness", in the "super-splendent glory" of the Trinitarian mystery, God near God (S.Basilii "Homilia de fide": PG 31, 465cd), "the image of the Father's goodness and the seal of form equal to Him" (cf.)

Only in this way, unambiguously confessing Christ as "one of the holy Trinity" ("Liturgia S.Ioannis Chrysostomi"), can Basil then see him with full realism in the annihilation of his humanity. And like few others does he know how to measure the infinite space he covered in our search; like few others does he know how to peer into the abyss of the humiliation of the one who "being in the form of God, emptied himself by taking the form of a servant" (Phil 2:6ff)

In Basil's teaching, the Christology of glory in no way attenuates the Christology of humiliation: on the contrary, it serves to proclaim with even greater force that central content of the Gospel which is the word of the cross (cf. 1 Cor 1:18) and the scandal of the cross (cf. Gal 5:11).

This is, in fact, a habitual pattern of his Christological discourse: it is the light of glory, which reveals the meaning of lowering.

Christ's obedience is the true "Gospel", that is, the paradoxical realisation of God's redemptive love, precisely because - and only if - the one who obeys is "the Only-Begotten Son of God, our Lord and God, the one through whom all things were made" (St Basilii "De iudicio": PG 31, 660b); and it is thus that it can bend our obstinate disobedience. The sufferings of Christ, the immaculate lamb who did not open his mouth against those who beat him (cf. Is 53:7), have infinite scope and eternal and universal value, precisely because he who thus suffered is "the creator and sovereign of heaven and earth, adorable beyond all intellectual and sensitive creatures, he who upholds everything with the word of his power" (cf. Heb 1:3; St Basilii "Homilia de ira": PG 31, 369b), and it is thus that Christ's passion dominates our violence and appeases our wrath.

The cross, finally, is truly our "only hope" ("Liturgia Horarum", "Hebdomada Sancta": Hymnus ad Vesperas) - not defeat, therefore, but a salvific event, "exaltation" (cf. Jn 8:32ff et alibi) and stupendous triumph - only because the one who was nailed to it and died there is "our Lord and Lord of all" (cf. Acts 10:36; S.Basilii "De Baptismo", II,12: PG 31, 1624b), "he through whom all things were made, the visible and the invisible, he who possesses life as the Father who gave it to him possesses it, he who from the Father has received all power" (S.Basilii "De Baptismo", II,13: PG 31, 1625c); and it is thus that the death of Christ frees us from that "fear of death" to which we were all enslaved (cf. Heb 2, 15).

"From him, the Christ, there shone forth the Holy Spirit: the Spirit of truth, the gift of filial adoption, the pledge of future inheritance, the firstfruits of eternal goods, the life-giving power, the source of sanctification, from whom every rational and intellectual creature receives power to worship the Father and to lift up to him the eternal doxology" (cf. "Anaphora S.Basilii").

This hymn of Basil's anaphora expresses well, in synthesis, the role of the Spirit in the salvific economy.

It is the Spirit who, given to every baptised person, works charisms in each one and reminds each one of the Lord's teachings (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1561a); it is the Spirit who animates the whole Church and orders and enlivens it with his gifts, making it all a "spiritual" and charismatic body (cf. S.Basilii "De Spiritu Sancto": PG 32, 181ab; "De iudicio": PG 31, 657c-660a).

Hence, Basil went back to the serene contemplation of the Spirit's "glory", which is mysterious and inaccessible: confessing him to be above every creature (cf. S.Basilii "De Spiritu Sancto", 22), sovereign and lord since by him we are deified (cf. S.Basilii "De Spiritu Sancto", 20 ff), and Holy by essence since by him we are sanctified (cf. S.Basilii "De Spiritu Sancto", 9 et 18). Having thus contributed to the formulation of the Church's Trinitarian faith, Basil still speaks to her heart and consoles her, particularly with the luminous confession of her Consoler.

The blazing light of the Trinitarian mystery certainly does not overshadow the glory of man: on the contrary, it exalts and reveals it most of all.

For man is not God's rival, madly opposed to him; nor is he without God, abandoned to the despair of his own loneliness. But he is a reflection of God and his image.

Therefore, the more God shines, the more his light reverberates from man; the more God is exalted, the more man's dignity is elevated.

And in this way, in fact, Basil celebrated man's dignity: seeing it all in relation to God, i.e. derived from him and aimed at him.

Essentially, to know God man has received intelligence, and to live in accordance with his law he has received freedom. And it is as an image that man transcends the whole order of nature and appears "more glorious than the heavens, more than the sun, more than the choirs of stars: for what heaven is called the image of the most high God?" (St Basilii "In Psalmum" 48: PG 29, 449c). 

Precisely for this reason, man's glory is radically conditioned to his relationship with God: man fully achieves his 'royal' dignity only by realising himself as an image, and only truly becomes himself by knowing and loving the One for whom he has reason and freedom.

Even before Basil, St Irenaeus admirably expressed it this way: "The glory of God is the living man; but the life of man is the vision of God" (St Irenaei "Adversus haereses", IV, 20, 7). The living man is in himself a glorification of God, as a ray of his beauty, but he has 'life' only by drawing it from God, in personal relationship with him. To fail in this task would be for man to betray his essential vocation, and thus deny and demean his own dignity (cf. St Basilii "In Psalmum" 48: PG 29, 449b-452a).

And what else is sin if not this? For did not Christ Himself come to restore and restore His glory to this image of God that is man, that is, to the image that man, through sin, had obscured (St Basilii "Homilia de malo": PG 31, 333a), corrupted (St Basilii "In Psalmum" 32: PG 29, 344b), broken? (St Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1537a).

Precisely for this reason - Basil affirms in the words of Scripture - "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (Jn 1:14), and humbled himself so much that he became obedient unto death, and death on a cross" (cf. Phil 2:8; S.Basilii "In Psalmum" 48: PG 29, 452ab). Therefore, O man, "realise your greatness by considering the price paid for you: look at the price of your ransom, and understand your dignity!" (St Basilii "In Psalmum" 48: PG 29, 452b).

Man's dignity, then, is at once in the mystery of God, and in the mystery of the cross: this is Basil's "humanism", or - we might say more simply - Christian humanism.

The restoration of the image can therefore only be accomplished by virtue of Christ's cross: "It was his obedience unto death that became for us the redemption of sinners, freedom from the death that reigned through original guilt, reconciliation with God, the power to please God, the gift of justice, the communion of saints in eternal life, the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven" (St Basil "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1556b).

But this, for Basil, is tantamount to saying that all this is accomplished by virtue of baptism.

For what is baptism if not the salvific event of Christ's death, into which we are inserted through the celebration of the mystery? The sacramental mystery, the "imitation" of his death, immerses us in the reality of his death; as Paul writes: "Or do you not know that as many as have been baptised into Christ Jesus, we have been baptised into his death?" (Rom 6:3).

Basing himself precisely on the mysterious identity of baptism with the paschal event of Christ, following Paul, Basil also teaches that to be baptised is nothing other than to be truly crucified - that is, nailed with Christ to his unique cross - to truly die his death, to be buried with him in his burial, and consequently with him to rise from his resurrection (cf. S. Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2).

Consistently, therefore, he can refer to baptism the same titles of glory with which we have heard him extolling the cross: it too is "ransom for captives, remission of debts, death of sin, regeneration of the soul, garment of light, inviolable seal, vehicle for heaven, title for the kingdom, gift of filiation" (S.Basilii "In sanctum Baptisma": PG 31, 433ab). It is through it, in fact, that the union between man and Christ is welded, and that through Christ man is inserted into the very heart of the Trinitarian life: becoming spirit because he is born of the Spirit (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", XX,2: PG 31, 736d; "Moralia", LXXX,22: PG 31, 869a) and son because he is clothed with the Son, in a most lofty relationship with the Father of the Only-begotten who has now also become, truly, his Father (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1564c-1565b).

In the light of such a vigorous consideration of the baptismal mystery, the very meaning of the Christian life is revealed to Basil. Moreover, how else can one understand this mystery of the new man, if not by fixing one's gaze on the luminous point of his new birth, and on the divine power that in baptism has generated him?

"How does one define the Christian?", Basil asks; and he answers: "As one who is begotten of water and the Spirit in baptism" (St Basilii "Moralia", LXXX,22: PG 31, 868d).

Only in what we are is revealed, and what we are for.

As a new creature, the Christian, even when he is not fully aware of it, lives a new life; and in his deepest reality, even if by his actions he denies it, he is transferred to a new homeland, on earth already made heavenly (cf. St. Basili "Moralia", LXXX: PG 31, 868d). Basilii "De Spiritu Sancto": PG 32, 157c; "In sanctum Baptisma": PG 31, 429b): because the operation of God is infinitely and infallibly effective, and always remains to some extent beyond all denial and contradiction of man.

There remains, of course, the task - and it is, in essential relation to baptism, the very meaning of Christian life - of becoming what one is, adapting oneself to the new 'spiritual' and eschatological dimension of one's personal mystery. As St Basil expresses it, with his usual clarity: "The meaning and power of baptism is that the baptised person is transformed in thought, word and deed, and that he becomes - according to the power bestowed upon him - what he is from whom he was begotten" (St Basil "Moralia", XX, 2: PG 31, 736d).

The Eucharist, fulfilment of Christian initiation, is always considered by Basil to be closely related to baptism.

It is the only food suited to the new being of the baptised person and capable of sustaining his new life and nourishing his new energies (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo" I, 3: PG 31, 1573b); worship in spirit and truth, exercise of the new priesthood and perfect sacrifice of the new Israel (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", II, 2 ff et 8: PG 31, 1601c; S.Basilii "Epistula" 93: PG 32, 485a), only the Eucharist fully realises and perfects the new baptismal creation.

Therefore, it is a mystery of immense joy - only by singing can one participate in it (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia",XXI,4: PG 31, 741a) - and of infinite, tremendous holiness. How could one, being in a state of sin, treat the body of the Lord? (cf. St Basilii "De Baptismo", II,3: PG 31, 1585ab). The Church that communicates, should indeed be "without spot or wrinkle, holy and undefiled" (Eph 5:27; St Basilii "Moralia", LXXX, 22: PG 31, 869b): that is, it should always, with vigilant awareness of the mystery it celebrates, examine itself well (cf. 1Cor 11,28; S.Basilii "Moralia", XXI, 2: PG 31, 740ab), in order to purify itself more and more "from all contamination and impurity" (S.Basilii "De Baptismo" II, 3: PG 31, 1585ab).

On the other hand, abstaining from communion is not possible: to the Eucharist in fact, which is necessary for eternal life (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", XXI, 1: PG 31, 737c), baptism itself is ordained, and the people of the baptised must be pure precisely to participate in the Eucharist (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", LXXX, 22: PG 31, 869b).

Only the Eucharist on the other hand, true memorial of the paschal mystery of Christ, is capable of keeping awake in us the memory of his love. It is therefore the secret of the Church's vigilance: it would be too easy for her, otherwise, without the divine efficacy of this continuous and sweet reminder, without the penetrating power of this gaze of her bridegroom fixed on her, to fall into oblivion, insensitivity, infidelity. For this purpose it was instituted, according to the words of the Lord: 'Do this in memory of me' (1 Cor 11:24 ff. et par.); and for this purpose, consequently, it must be celebrated.

Basil does not tire of repeating it: "To remember" (S.Basilii "Moralia", XXI, 3: PG 31, 740b); indeed, to remember always, "for the indelible remembrance" (S.Basilii "Moralia", XXI, 3: PG 31, 1576d), "to keep unceasingly the memory of him who died and rose again for us" (S.Basilii "Moralia", LXXX, 22: PG 31, 1869b).

Only the Eucharist therefore, by God's design and gift, can truly keep in the heart "the seal" (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 5: PG 31, 921b) of that memory of Christ that, clasping as in a vice, prevents us from sinning. It is therefore particularly in relation to the Eucharist that Basil takes up Paul's text: "The love of Christ grips us, at the thought that one died for all and therefore all died. And he died for all, so that those who live may no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again for them" (2 Cor 5:14 ff).

But what then is this living for Christ - or "living wholly for God" - if not the very content of the baptismal covenant? (cf. St Basilii "De Baptismo", II,1: PG 31, 1581a).

Also in this aspect, therefore, the Eucharist appears to be the fullness of baptism: it alone, in fact, allows one to live it faithfully and continually actualises it in its power of grace.

This is why Basil does not hesitate to recommend frequent, or even daily, communion: "Communing even daily by receiving the holy body and blood of Christ is a good and useful thing; for he himself says clearly: 'He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life' (Jn 6:54). Who then will doubt that to continually communicate life is not to live to the full?" (St Basilii "Epistula" 93: PG 32, 484b).

True "food of eternal life" capable of nourishing the new life of the baptised person is, like the Eucharist, also "every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Mt 4:4; cf. Dt 8:3; S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 3: PG 31, 1573bc). 

It is Basil himself who strongly establishes this fundamental link between the table of the word of God and that of the body of Christ (cf. Dei Verbum, 21). Although in a different way, in fact, Scripture too, like the Eucharist, is divine, holy, and necessary.

Truly divine, Basil affirms with singular energy: that is, 'of God' in the most proper sense. God himself inspired it (cf. S.Basilii "De iudicio": PG 31, 664d; S.Basilii "De fide": PG 31, 677a; etc.), God validated it (cf. S.Basilii "De fide": PG 31, 680b), God pronounced it through the hagiographers (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 13: PG 31, 1092a; "Adv. Eunomium", II: PG 29, 597c; etc.). - Moses, the prophets, the evangelists, the apostles (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 1: PG 31, 1524d) - and above all through his Son (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1561c); he, the only Lord: both in the Old and the New Testament (cf.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 47: PG 31, 1113a), certainly with different degrees of intensity and different fullness of revelation (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 276: PG 31, 1276cd; "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1545b), but also without a shadow of contradiction (cf.)

Of divine substance although made up of human words, Scripture is therefore infinitely authoritative: the source of faith, according to the words of Paul (cf. Rom 10:17; S.Basilii "Moralia", LXXX,22: PG 31, 868c), it is the foundation of a full, undoubted, unwavering certainty (S.Basilii "Moralia", LXXX,22: PG 31, 868c). Since it is all of God, it is all, in every smallest part, infinitely important and worthy of extreme attention (cf. S.Basilii "In Hexaem.", VI: PG 29, 144c; "In Hexaem.", VIII: PG 29, 184c).

And for this reason, too, Scripture is rightly called holy: for just as it would be terrible sacrilege to profane the Eucharist, it would also be sacrilege to attack the integrity and purity of the word of God.

It cannot therefore be understood according to human categories, but in the light of his own teachings, almost "asking the Lord himself for the interpretation of the things he said" (S.Basilii "De Baptismo", II, 4: PG 31, 1589b); and one can neither "take away nor add anything" to those divine texts delivered to the Church for all time, to those holy words pronounced by God once and for all (cf. S.Basilii "De fide": PG 31, 680ab; "Moralia", LXXX, 22: PG 31, 868c).

It is of vital necessity, in fact, that the relationship with the word of God should always be adoring, faithful, and loving. Essentially, the Church must draw from it for her proclamation (cf. S.Basilii "In Psalmum" 115: PG 30, 105c 108a), allowing herself to be guided by the very words of her Lord (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1533c), so as not to risk "reducing the words of religion to human words" (S.Basilii "Epistula" 140: PG 32, 588b). And every Christian must refer to Scripture "always and everywhere" for all his choices (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 269: PG 31, 1268c), making himself before it "like a child" (cf. Mk 10, 15; S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 217: PG 31, 1225bc; S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1560ab), seeking in it the most effective remedy against all his various infirmities (cf. S.Basilii "In Psalmum" 1: PG 29, 209a), and not daring to take a step without being enlightened by the divine rays of those words (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 1: PG 31, 1081a).

Authentically Christian, all of Basil's magisterium is, as we have seen, 'gospel', the joyful proclamation of salvation.

Is not the confession of God's glory radiating on man in his image full of joy and a source of joy?

Is not the proclamation of the victory of the cross, in which, "through the greatness of God's mercy and the multitude of God's mercies" (S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 10: PG 31, 1088c), our sins were forgiven even before we committed them? (cf. St Basilii "Regulae bravius tractatae", 12: PG 31, 1089b). What more consoling proclamation is there than that of baptism that regenerates us, of the Eucharist that nourishes us, of the Word that enlightens us?

But for this very reason, so as not to have silenced or diminished the saving and transforming power of God's work and of the "energies of the future century" (cf. Heb 6:5), Basil can ask everyone, with great firmness, for total love for God, unreserved dedication, perfection of evangelical life (cf. St Basilii "Moralia", LXXX, 22: PG 31, 869c).

For if baptism is grace - and what grace! - those who have attained it have indeed received "the power and strength to please God" (S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 10: PG 31, 1088c), and are therefore "all equally bound to conform to that grace", that is to "live in conformity with the Gospel" (S.Basilii "De Baptismo", II,1: PG 31, 15980ac). 

"All equally": there are no second-class Christians, simply because there are no different baptisms, and because the meaning of the Christian life is all intrinsically contained in the one baptismal covenant (S.Basilii "De Baptismo", II,1: PG 31, 1580ac).

"To live in conformity with the Gospel": what does this mean, concretely, according to Basil?

It means tending, with all the longing of one's being (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 157: PG 31, 1185a) and with all the new energies one has at one's disposal, to achieve "God's pleasure" (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", I, 5: PG 31, 704a et passim)

It means, for example, "not to be rich, but to be poor, according to the word of the Lord" (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", XLVIII,3: PG 31, 769a), thus realising a fundamental condition to be able to follow Him (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 10: PG 31, 944d-945a) with freedom (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 8: PG 31, 940bc; "Regulae fusius tractatae", 237: PG 31, 1241b), and manifesting, in comparison to the prevailing norm of worldly living, the newness of the Gospel (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1544d). It means submitting oneself totally to the word of God, renouncing "one's own will" (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 6 et 41: PG 31, 925c et 1021a) and becoming obedient, in imitation of Christ, "unto death" (cf. Phil 2:8; St Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 28: PG 31, 989b; "Regulae brevius tractatae", 119: PG 31, 1161d et passim).

Truly, Basil did not blush for the Gospel: but, knowing that it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes (cf. Rom 1:16) he proclaimed it with that integrity (cf. St Basil "Moralia", LXXX, 12: PG 31, 864b) that makes it fully the word of grace and the source of life.

Finally, we like to note that St Basil, although more soberly than his brother St Gregory of Nyssa and his friend St Gregory of Nazianzus, celebrates Mary's virginity (cf. S.Basilii "In sanctam Christi generationem", 5: PG 31, 1468b): he calls Mary "prophetess" (cf.Basilii "In Isaiam", 208: PG 30, 477b) and with a felicitous expression thus justifies Mary's betrothal to Joseph: "This was done in order that virginity might be honoured and marriage might not be despised" (cf. S.Basilii "In sanctam Christi generationem", 3: PG 31, 1464a).

St Basil's anaphora, quoted above, contains lofty praise of the "all holy, immaculate, ultra-blessed and glorious Lady Mother-of-God and ever-virgin Mary"; "Woman full of grace, exultation of all creation...".

4. Conclusion

Of this great saint and teacher all of us, in the Church, glory to be disciples and children: let us therefore reconsider his example, and listen with veneration to his teachings, with intimate readiness to let ourselves be admonished, comforted and exhorted.

We entrust this message in a special way to the numerous religious orders - male and female - that honour themselves with the name and tutelage of Saint Basil and follow his Rule, committing them on this happy anniversary to resolutions of new fervour in a life of asceticism and contemplation of divine things, which then overflow into holy works for the glory of God and the edification of holy Church. For the happy attainment of these ends, we also implore the maternal help of the Virgin Mary, as an augury of heavenly gifts and pledge of our benevolence, with great affection we impart to you our apostolic blessing.

Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on 2 January, on the memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church, in the year 1980, the second of my Pontificate.

JOHN PAUL II

[Patres Ecclesiae; Apostolic Letter for the XVI Centenary of the Death of St Basil]