Basil of Caesarea

In his own words on Acts

• Acts 1:6-7

  That is to say, the knowledge of such a kingdom is not for them that are bound in flesh and blood. This contemplation the Father has put away in his own power, meaning by "power" those that are authorized, and by "his own" those who are not held down by the ignorance of things below.

  LETTER 8.7

• Acts 2:20

  these are the signs of the end of the world.

• Acts 2:36

  just as the angel who announced the glad tidings to the shepherds says, 'To you is born to-day a Saviour, Who is Christ the Lord.' (Luke 2:11)

• Acts 3:6

  Faith is superior to rational methodologies when it comes to drawing the soul to assent. It is not the logical necessity of deductive proofs that engenders faith, but the activity of the Spirit. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk! [Acts 3.6]. What followed this command was the work of the Spirit, and those who witnessed this miracle were compelled to admit the divinity of the Only-Begotten. Tell me, what is more compelling for assent, a complicated set of syllogistic premises entailing the logical conclusion, or a clearly seen miracle so great that it surpasses all that is humanly possible? Yet currently such things are not held in high regard. Indeed, what now inspires confidence when discussing God is not the works of the Spirit, but rather elaborate demonstrations which place their hope in the plausibility of the wisdom of the world, not in the powerful and clear revelation of the Spirit. It was through those who believed God in simplicity of heart without engaging in futile investigations that the Spirit gave this revelation for the salvation of many. - "On Psalm 115. Chapter 1."

• Acts 4:32

  For he said that experience was needed in order to distinguish between cases of genuine need and of mere greedy begging. For whoever gives to the afflicted gives to the Lord and from the Lord shall have his reward; but he who gives to every vagabond casts to a dog, a nuisance indeed from his importunity but deserving no pity on the ground of need.

  LETTER 150.3

• Acts 4:32

  The Christian ought to regard all the things that are given him for his use, not as his to hold as his own or to lay up. Moreover, giving careful heed to all things as the Lord's, he should not overlook any of the things that are being thrown aside and disregarded, should this be the case. No Christian should think of himself as his own master, but each should rather so think and act as though given by God to be slave to his fellow brothers and sisters. But "every person in his own order."

  LETTER 22.1

• Acts 5:4

  Peter's words to Sapphira, "How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Ye have not lied unto men, but unto God," show that sins against the Holy Spirit and against God are the same; and thus you might learn that in every operation the Spirit is closely conjoined with, and inseparable from, the Father and the Son. God works the differences of operations, and the Lord the diversities of administrations, but all the while the Holy Spirit is present too of His own will, dispensing distribution of the gifts according to each recipient's worth. For, it is said, "there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and differences of administrations, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all."

  ON THE SPIRIT 16.37

• Acts 8:20

  He who through ignorance wishes to buy is less guilty than he who sells the gift of God, making it a business transaction. And, if you sell what you have received as a gift, you will be deprived of its grace, as if you had been sold to Satan. Furthermore, you are introducing into the church, where we have been entrusted with the body and blood of Christ, the bartering of material for spiritual things.

  LETTER 53

• Acts 9:4

  For it is written, "And when all things are made subject to him, then the Son himself will also be made subject to him who subjected all things to him." Do you not fear, O man, the God who is called unsubjected? For he makes your subjection his own, and, because of your struggle against virtue, he calls himself unsubjected. Thus, he even said at one time that he himself was the one persecuted; for he says, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" when Saul was hastening to Damascus, desiring to put in bonds the disciples of Christ. Again, he calls himself naked, if anyone of his brothers is naked. "I was naked," he says, "and you covered me." And still again, when another was in prison, he said that he himself was the one imprisoned. For he himself took up our infirmities and bore the burden of our ills. And one of our infirmities is insubordination, and this he bore. Therefore, even the adversities that happen to us the Lord makes his own, taking upon himself our sufferings because of his fellowship with us.

  LETTER 8

• Acts 10:4

  Are there even now some who work from the first hour and others from the eleventh, and who are they?Perhaps [the answer to this] is most evident to anyone from the events recounted in the divinely inspired Scripture that while there are many, in the words of the apostle, who have learned the holy Scriptures from childhood, many still, such as Cornelius, although making good use of natural movements, are slow in coming to perfection of knowledge because of a lack of teachers. "For how," he says, "do they believe, if they do not hear?" If, therefore, it happens that some, like Cornelius, are engaged in nothing evil but rather are desirous of perfection and genuinely demonstrate the good that they can and that comes to their knowledge, to these God gives the same blessings as he did to Cornelius by not holding them culpable for the period of idleness, since it was not their fault, as I said, and he is content with their desire that was previously made manifest through their eager actions and what has been more diligently set right in relation to perfection.

  THE SHORT RULES 2.224

• Acts 10:38

  For the naming of Christ is the confession of the whole, shewing forth as it does the God who gave, the Son who received, and the Spirit who is, the unction. So we have learned from Peter, in the Acts, of "Jesus of Nazareth whom God anointed with the Holy Ghost;" and in Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me;" and the Psalmist, "Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows."

  ON THE SPIRIT, Ch. XII

• Acts 10:38

  Let no one be misled by the fact of the apostle's frequently omitting the name of the Father and of the Holy Spirit when making mention of baptism, or on this account imagine that the invocation of the names is not observed. "As many of you," he says, "as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ;" and again, "As many of you as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death." For the naming of Christ is the confession of the whole, shewing forth as it does the God who gave, the Son who received, and the Spirit who is, the unction. So we have learned from Peter, in the Acts, of "Jesus of Nazareth whom God anointed with the Holy Ghost;" and in Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me;" and the Psalmist, "Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." Scripture, however, in the case of baptism, sometimes plainly mentions the Spirit alone. "For into one Spirit," it says, "we were all baptized in one body." And in harmony with this are the passages: "You shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost," and "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost." But no one on this account would be justified in calling that baptism a perfect baptism wherein only the name of the Spirit was invoked.

  ON THE SPIRIT, Ch. XII

• Acts 14:15

  We find a reason for some illnesses in the saints, such as in the apostle, for, lest he appear to go beyond the bounds of nature and lest anyone consider him to possess, in his nature, something greater and more excellent than is fitting—which was the case among the Lycaonians, who offered him crowns and bulls—he was struck with illness in order to show his nature was human.

  THE LONG RULES 55.4

• Acts 14:22

  We must receive rebuke and castigation as a medicine that destroys disordered passion and restores health. From this it is clear that those who feign goodness out of a disordered desire to please people lose all profit and plot against the true life itself.

  THE MORALS 72.5

• Acts 14:22

  "And he snatched me from all my tribulations." The just person's entire life is tribulation, "both straight and narrow the way," and "many are the tribulations of the just ones." Therefore the apostle elsewhere says that he has been "afflicted in every way," and here, that "we must enter the kingdom of God through many afflictions." God does rescue the holy from affliction, but he does so not by rendering them untested but by blessing them with endurance. For if "affliction brings about endurance, then endurance brings about an approved character." Whoever rejects affliction deprives himself of approval. Just as none is crowned who has no rival, so none can be pronounced worthy except through tribulations. Therefore, "he snatched me from all my tribulations," not by allowing me not to be afflicted but by granting with the test a way out, in order to be able to endure.

  HOMILY ON PSALM 33.4

• Acts 17:21

  "Be at leisure and know that I am God." To the extent that we take our leisure in matters apart from God, we cannot attain knowledge of God. For who, concerned over the things of the world and immersed in fleshly distractions, can pay attention to discourses concerning God and measure up to the rigid discipline of contemplations so long and great? Don't you see that the Word that falls among thorns is choked by the thorns? Now the thorns are fleshly pleasures and wealth and glory and cares of this life. The one who seeks knowledge of God must become separated from all these things, and, being at leisure apart from passions, thus receive the knowledge of God. For how can contemplation about God enter a mind crowded by thoughts that preoccupy it? Even Pharaoh knew that being at leisure is proper to the search for God, and for this reason he mocked the Israelites, "You are idling about, you men of leisure, and you say, 'We will pray to the Lord our God.' " While this leisure is good and profitable for the one in leisure as it brings peace for the reception of the Savior's teachings, the leisure of the Athenians was evil, since "they devoted their leisure to nothing more than saying or listening to something new."

  HOMILY ON PSALM 45

• Acts 28:3

  Beasts bear witness to the faith. Hast thou confidence in the Lord? "Thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk and thou shalt trample under feet the lion and the dragon." With faith thou hast the power to walk upon serpents and scorpions. Do you not see that the viper which attached itself to the hand of Paul, whilst he gathered sticks, did not injure him, because it found the saint full of faith? If you have not faith, do not fear beasts so much as your faithlessness, which renders you susceptible of all corruption.

  HOMILIES ON THE HEXAEMERON 9.6