Basil of Caesarea

In his own words on Ezekiel

• Ezekiel 1:1

  We believe that the Spirit is present everywhere, while the rest of the bodiless powers are circumscribed by place.

  ON THE HOLY SPIRIT 23:54

• Ezekiel 1:15

  Whoever is stretching forward, like a wheel, touching the earth with a small part of itself, is really such as that wheel was, about which Ezekiel spoke.

  HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 13:3 (PS 28)

• Ezekiel 3:18

  It is of the greatest importance that the superior [in a religious community] be convinced that if he fails to offer his brother the proper guidance, he will draw on himself heavy and inescapable wrath, for his blood will be required at his hands.

  THE LONG RULES 29

• Ezekiel 9:5

  You have given a sign, the blood itself of a lamb without blemish, slain for the sin of the world. And Ezekiel says that a sign was given on the foreheads of the persons.

  HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 20:3 (PS 59)

• Ezekiel 13:4

  At another time, because of his deceit toward his brother, he makes himself like the villainous fox. Truly, there is in him excessive folly and a bestial lack of reason, because, made according to the image of the Creator, he neither perceives his own constitution from the beginning nor wishes to understand such great dispensations that were made for his sake, so that he could learn his own dignity from them; he does not realize that, throwing aside the image of the heavenly, he has taken up the image of the earthly.

  HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 19:8 (PS 48)

• Ezekiel 18:32

  Remember the compassion of God, how he heals with olive oil and wine. Do not despair of salvation. Recall the memory of what has been written, how he that falls rises again, and he that is turned away turns again, he that has been smitten is healed, he that is caught by wild beasts escapes and he that confesses is not rejected. The Lord does not want the death of the sinner, but that he return and live. Do not be contemptuous like one who has fallen into the depths of sins.

  LETTER 44

• Ezekiel 34:16

  If you are a shepherd, take care that none of your pastoral duties is neglected. And what are these duties? To bring back that which is lost, to bind up that which was broken, to heal that which is diseased.

  HOMILY ON THE WORDS 'GIVE HEED TO THYSELF.'

• Ezekiel 37:5

  There should … be certain bones of the inner person in which the bond of union and harmony of spiritual powers is collected. Just as the bones by their own firmness protect the tenderness of the flesh, so also in the church there are some who through their own constancy are able to carry the infirmities of the weak. And as the bones are joined to each other through articulations by sinews and fastenings that have grown on them, so also would be the bond of charity and peace, which achieves a certain natural junction and union of the spiritual bones in the church of God.

  HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 16:13 (PS 33)