Basil of Caesarea

In his own words on 1 Peter

• 1 Peter 1:2

  May it be granted to us, after we have struggled nobly and subdued the spirit of the flesh, which was at enmity with God, when our soul is in a calm and tranquil state, to be called the children of peace and to share the blessing of God in peace.

  SERMONS 13.8

• 1 Peter 2:3

  Everywhere we notice that the various facets of the soul are designated by outward things. Thus when our Lord is described as the true bread and his flesh as the true food, we must understand this as meaning that the pleasure of right reason is like the taste of bread. Just as it is impossible for someone to know what honey is like simply by being told about it, because he must taste it in order to find out, so too the goodness of the heavenly bread is not properly communicated by teaching alone. We must taste the goodness of the Lord by our own experience.

  CATENA

• 1 Peter 2:24

  By the blood of Christ, through faith, we have been cleansed from all sin, and by water we were baptized into the death of our Lord. We have sworn in effect that we are dead to sin and to the world but alive unto righteousness.

  ON BAPTISM 1.3

• 1 Peter 3:11

  Exhortations and encouragements to godliness are of fundamental importance. It is essential to turn away from the tendency toward evil and from the evil path of acquiescence in wickedness, so as to reach out to what is good. We must first distance ourselves completely from everything evil if we want to enjoy genuine health, free from all disease. The person who seeks peace seeks Christ, for he is our peace, who made us both—Jew and Gentile—one new man, bringing peace by the blood of his cross. He will find it through faith, because our God and Father has called us to this inheritance.

  CATENA

• 1 Peter 4:18

  When I see Moses asking for forgiveness and not obtaining it, when I see him considered unworthy of pardon because of his few words, spoken against the rock in anger, in spite of his many good deeds, I truly realize what the severity of God is like and am persuaded that these words of the apostle are true.

  ON THE JUDGMENT OF GOD

• 1 Peter 5:8

  That the devil wanders over all the earth under heaven and ranges about like a mad dog, seeking whom he may devour, we learn from the story of Job.

  ON RENUNCIATION OF THE WORLD 2