Basil of Caesarea

In his own words on Jeremiah

• Jeremiah 2:10-11

  This alone among all evils is without comparison. This is a new act of shamelessness in life. "Go over to the islands of Kittim and see," the Lord says. "Send to Kedar and consider carefully whether anything like this has ever been done—if a nation has changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.)." But the virgin "has changed her glory," and her glory is in her shame.

  LETTER 46, TO A FALLEN VIRGIN

• Jeremiah 2:12

  And not only Paul, but generally all those to whom is committed any ministry of the word, never cease from testifying, but call heaven and earth to witness on the ground that now every deed that is done is done within them, and that in the examination of all the actions of life they will be present with the judged. So it is said, "He shall call to the heavens above and to earth, that he may judge his people." And so Moses when about to deliver his oracles to the people says, "I call heaven and earth to witness this day;" and again in his song he says, "Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak, and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth;" and Isaiah, "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;" and Jeremiah describes astonishment in heaven at the tidings of the unholy deeds of the people: "The heaven was astonished at this, and was horribly afraid, because my people committed two evils."

  On the Spirit 13.30

• Jeremiah 2:13

  "He has opened a pit and dug it." We do not find the name of "pit" ever assigned in the divine Scriptures to something good or a "well" of water to something bad. That into which Joseph was thrown by his brothers is a pit. There is a slaughter "from the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the captive woman that was in prison." In the Psalms, "I am counted among those who go down to the pit." In Jeremiah it is said, "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have dug to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water."

  HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 11:8 (PS 7)

• Jeremiah 2:13

  Is he not one who bewitches the sheep of our patriarch, that they may not drink from the pure water that springs up unto life everlasting but may draw down on themselves the saying of the prophet: "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have dug for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water"? Because they should confess that the Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God, as the divine Word teaches and as they who have pondered it more deeply have taught.

  LETTER 8

• Jeremiah 3:7

  In addition to these things, "when people fall, do they not rise again? If one turns away, does he not return?" Why, then, is the virgin "turned away with a stubborn revolting," even though she heard Christ, her spouse, saying through Jeremiah, "And when she had committed all these fornications, I said, 'Return to me, and she did not return'?" "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?" Indeed, many safeguards against evil would you find in the divine Scripture and many remedies which from destruction bring salvation—the mysteries of death and resurrection, the words of the terrible judgment and everlasting punishment, the doctrines of repentance and the forgiveness of sin, those innumerable examples of conversion, the drachma, the sheep, the son who spent his livelihood with harlots, was lost and found, was dead and alive again. Let us use these safeguards against evil. Through them, let us heal our soul.

  LETTER 46

• Jeremiah 3:14-15

  We should consider our pastor happy in his death because he has laid aside his life at an age rich with years and has gone to his rest with the greatest honors from the Lord. Concerning all else we have this to recommend, that you should cast off all depression, regain self-control and rise to the necessary duty of caring for the church, so that the holy God may give heed to his own flock and provide for you a shepherd according to his will, one who will govern you wisely.

  LETTER 62

• Jeremiah 5:4

  Truly, slander humiliates a person, and slander troubles the poor person. The evil of slander is so great that it brings down both the perfect person … from his height, and the poor person, that is, the one who lacks great learning, as it seems to the prophet, who says, "Perhaps they are poor … therefore they will not hear. I will go to the great ones," meaning by "the poor" those lacking in intelligence, and here, of course, those not yet made orderly in the inner person or having attained to the perfect measure of their age. These, the proverb says, are troubled and made to waver.

  LETTER 223

• Jeremiah 5:8

  Angels do not change. Not one of them is a child, or a young man, or an old man, but in whatever state they were created, in the beginning, in that state they remain. Their substance is preserved pure and inviolate for them. But we change in our body, as has been shown, and in our soul and in the inner person, always shifting our thoughts with the circumstances. In fact, we are one sort of person when we are cheerful and when all things in our life are moving forward with the current. But we are another sort in precarious times, when we stumble against something that is not according to our wishes. We are changed through anger, assuming a certain savage state. We are also changed through our lusts of carnal things, becoming like beasts through a life of pleasure. "They become amorous horses," being madly in love with their neighbors' wives. The deceitful person is compared with a fox, as Herod was. The shameless person is called a dog, like Nabel the Carmelian. Do you see the variety and diversity of our change? Then, admire him who has fittingly adapted this title to us. For this very reason, a certain one of the interpreters seems to me to have handed over beautifully and accurately the same thought through another title. He says, "For the lilies," in place of, "For them that shall be changed." He thought that it was appropriate to compare the transitory state of human nature with the early death of flowers. But since this word has been inflected in the future tense (It is said, "For them that shall be changed," as if at some time later this change will be shown to us), let us consider whether there is suggested to us the doctrine of the resurrection, in which a change will be granted to us, but a change for something better and something spiritual.

  HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 17:1-2 (PS 44)

• Jeremiah 5:8

  Fasting can be utilized as a weapon against demonic armies: "For this kind does not come out except through prayer and fasting." Many good things come from fasting, but being satiated introduces the beginnings of insolence. It immediately rushes in alongside the delicacy you are eating and it accompanies rich sauces. All kinds of licentious behavior begin grazing at its table. After this, men start becoming "lusty horses" toward women because all this luxury begins to start a maddening itch that enters into their soul. Those who get drunk begin perverting themselves against nature, using a male like a female, or vice versa. Fasting, by contrast, reveals the proper boundaries for marriage. It curtails the excesses of even those things that may be permitted by law but that are abstained from by agreement so that the couple can devote themselves to prayer.But we should not limit the goodness of fasting only to abstaining from foods. True fasting, in whatever form, is the enemy of evil. "Loose the chains of injustice!" Forgive your neighbor when an offense occurs against you and forgive his debts. Do not "fast in order to bring about judgment and strife."14 You may not eat meat, but you devour your brother. You abstain from wine but hold on to insolence. You wait till evening to indulge [in a meal] but spend the day in court. "Woe to those who are drunk, but not from wine!" Wrath can also be a drunkenness of the soul, making it senseless, like wine. Grief can also feel like being drunk, weighing down the mind. Fear is another form of drunkenness whenever it fears something where there is no need for fear, because the psalmist says, "deliver my soul from the fear of my enemy." When taken together, each of these passions that allow the mind to be taken over and to go out of control is rightly termed drunkenness.… Guard against this kind of drunkenness, but do not be given over to the kind that comes from wine, either. Do not start being a water drinker just because you have been drinking too much. Do not let drunkenness be what leads you into fasting. The door that leads to fasting is not entered through drunkenness. Neither is greed the entryway into justice, nor is intemperance the way to sound judgment. In summary, evil never leads to virtue. There is another door into fasting. Drunkenness leads to intemperance. Contentment is what opens the door to fasting.

  HOMILY ON FASTING 1:9-10

• Jeremiah 5:8

  Humanity … did not understand and neglected to follow God and to become like his Creator. And becoming a slave of the passions of the flesh, "he is compared with senseless beasts and is become like them." Now he is like an amorous horse that neighs after his neighbor's wife. Now like a ravenous wolf, lying in wait for strangers, but at another time, because of his deceit toward his brother, he makes himself like the villainous fox. Truly, there is excessive folly and beast-like lack of reason that he, made according to the image of the Creator, neither perceives his own from the beginning nor even wishes to understand such great dispensations that were made for his sake. At least, he should learn his own dignity from them, but he is unmindful of the fact, and he throws aside the image of the heavenly, but he has taken up the image of the earthly.

  HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 19:8 (PS 48)

• Jeremiah 5:22

  Through all the story of waters be mindful of that first word, "Let the waters be gathered." It was necessary for them to flow that they might reach their own place. Then, being in the places appointed, they were to remain by themselves and not to advance further. For this reason, according to the saying of Ecclesiastes, "All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea does not overflow." It is through the divine command that waters flow, and it is due to that first legislation, "Let the waters be gathered into one place," that the sea is enclosed within boundaries. For fear that the flowing water, spreading beyond the beds that hold it, always passing on and filling up one place after another, should continuously flood all the lands, it was ordered to be gathered into one place. Therefore, the sea, frequently raging with the winds and rising up in waves to towering heights, whenever it merely touches the shores breaks its onrush into foam and retires. "Will you not then fear me, says the Lord? I have set the sand as a bound for the sea." With the weakest of all things, sand, the sea, irresistible in its violence, is bridled.

  HOMILIES ON THE HEXAMERON 4:3

• Jeremiah 5:22

  When I say "we," I do not refer to human power but to the grace of God, who in the weakness of people shows forth his own power. This the prophet, speaking in the person of the Lord, says, "Will not you, then, fear me? I have set the sand as the boundary for the sea." For by this weakest and most contemptible of all things, sand, the mighty One has bound the great and ponderous sea. Therefore, since our condition is somewhat similar, it would follow that some of the true brethren should be sent continuously from your charity to visit us in our afflictions and that affectionate letters should come more frequently to us, on the one hand to strengthen our zeal, and on the other to correct us if we fail in any respect. Indeed, we do not deny that we are subject to many faults, since we are people and are living in the flesh.

  LETTER 203

• Jeremiah 8:4

  Have the strength to rise up from the earth. Remember the good Shepherd and how he will pursue and deliver you. And if there are but "two legs or the tip of an ear," leap back from him who has wounded you. 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 who falls rises again, and he who is turned away turns again. He who has been smitten is healed, and he who is caught by wild beasts escapes. He who confesses is not rejected. The Lord does not wish the death of the sinner but that he return and live. Do not have contempt for yourself, like one who has fallen into the depths of sin.

  LETTER 44

• Jeremiah 8:22

  "Shall not he that falls rise again, and he that is turned away, shall he not turn again?" Why, then, is the virgin "turned away with a stubborn revolting," even though she heard Christ, her spouse, saying through Jeremiah: "And when she had committed all these fornications, I said: Return to me, and she did not return?" "Is there no balm in Gilead? Or is there no physician there? Why, then, is not the wound of the daughter of my people closed?" Indeed, you will find many safeguards against evil in the divine Scripture, and many remedies which from destruction bring salvation. There are the mysteries of death and resurrection, the words of terrible judgment and everlasting punishment, the doctrines of repentance and the forgiveness of sin and those innumerable examples of conversion. There are the drachma, the sheep and the son who spent his livelihood with harlots, who was lost and found, was dead and lived again. Let us use these safeguards against evil. Through them, let us heal our soul.…While we can, let us lift ourselves from the fall. Let us never despair of ourselves, if only we depart from evil. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. "O come, let us worship and fall down; let us weep before him." The Word who invited us to repentance calls aloud, "Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." There is, then, a way of salvation, if we want it. "Death in his might has swallowed up, but again the Lord has wiped away tears from off all faces" of those who repent. The Lord is faithful in all his words. He does not lie when he says, "Though your sins are scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." The great Physician of souls who is the ready liberator, not of you alone, but of all who are enslaved by sin, is ready to heal your sickness. From him come the words, it was his sweet and saving lips that said, "They who are whole do not need a physician but those who are sick.… I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." What excuse have you, what excuse has anyone, when he speaks in this way? The Lord wishes to cleanse you from the trouble of your sickness and to show you light after darkness. The good Shepherd who left those who had not wandered away is seeking after you. If you give yourself to him, he will not hold back. He, in his love, will not disdain even to carry you on his own shoulders, rejoicing that he has found his sheep that was lost. The Father stands and awaits your return from your wandering. Only come back, and while you are yet far off, he will run and fall on your neck, and, now that you are cleansed by repentance, will enfold you in embraces of love. He will clothe with the chief robe the soul that has put off the old person with all his works. He will put a ring on hands that have washed off the blood of death and will put shoes on feet that have turned from the evil way to the path of the gospel of peace. He will announce the day of joy and gladness to those who are his own, both angels and human beings, and will celebrate your salvation far and wide. For "truly I say unto you," he says, "there is joy in heaven before God over one sinner who repents."

  LETTER 46:5-6

• Jeremiah 9:23-24

  No sensible person, then, will be proud of his wisdom or of possessing the other goods I have mentioned but will follow the excellent advice of blessed Anna and of the prophet Jeremiah: "Let not the wise person glory in his wisdom, and let not the strong person glory in his strength, and let not the rich person glory in his riches." But what is true glory, and what makes a person great? "In this," says the prophet, "let him that glories, glory that he understands and knows that I am the Lord." This constitutes the highest dignity of humankind, this is his glory and greatness. Truly it is to know what is great and to cleave to it, and to seek after glory from the Lord of glory.

  HOMILY 20, ON HUMILITY

• Jeremiah 16:16

  In this great household of the church not only are there vessels of every kind—gold, silver, wooden and earthen—but also a great variety of pursuits. "The house of God, which is the church of the living God," has hunters, travelers, architects, builders, farmers, shepherds, athletes, soldiers. To all of these this short admonition will be appropriate, for it will produce in each proficiency in action and energy of will. You are a hunter sent forth by the Lord, who says, "Behold, I send many hunters, and they shall hunt them on every mountain." Take good care, therefore, that your prey does not elude you, so that, having captured them with the word of truth, you may bring back to the Savior those who have been made wild and savage by iniquity.

  HOMILY ON THE WORDS 'GIVE HEED TO THYSELF.'

• Jeremiah 17:6-7

  One who puts his trust in humankind or is buoyed up by some other concerns of life, such as power or possessions or any of the things considered by the many to be glorious, is not able to say, "O Lord my God, in you have I put my trust." In fact, there is a command that we should not put our trust in rulers, and "cursed is the one who trusts in humankind." As it is proper not to worship anything else besides God, so also is it proper not to trust in any other except God the Lord of all things. "The Lord," it is said, "is my hope and my praise."

  HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 11:2 (PS 7)

• Jeremiah 17:6-7

  One thing you must flee, sin. One refuge from evil must be sought, God. Do not trust in princes. Do not be exalted in the uncertainty of wealth. Do not be proud of bodily strength. Do not pursue the splendor of human glory. None of these things save you. All are transient. All are deceptive. There is one refuge: God. "Cursed is the one who trusts in humankind" or in any human thing.

  HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 18:1 (PS 45)

• Jeremiah 17:6-7

  A person who relies on himself, however, or even on the person whose duty it is to provide for his needs, and thinks that his own activity or that of his associate is a sufficient resource for his livelihood runs the risk, as he places his hope in humankind, of falling under the curse that reads, "Cursed is the one that trusts in humankind and makes flesh his arm and whose soul departs from the Lord." Now, by the words "that trusts in humankind" the Scripture forbids a person to place his hope in another, and by the words "and makes flesh his arm" it forbids him to trust in himself. Either course is termed a defection from the Lord. Further, in adding the final issue of both, "He shall be like tamarisk in the desert, and he shall not see when good shall come," the Scripture declares that for anyone to place his trust either in himself or in anyone else is to alienate himself from the Lord.

  THE LONG RULES 42

• Jeremiah 18:13

  Who would not grieve over such things and say, "How is the faithful city become a harlot?" How would not the Lord say to some of those who are now walking in the spirit of Jeremiah, "Have you seen what the virgin of Israel has done to me?" I betrothed her to me in trust, in purity, in righteousness, in judgment, in pity, and in mercy; as I promised her through Hosea the prophet. But she loved strangers, and while I, her husband, was yet alive, she is called adulteress and is not afraid to belong to another husband.

  LETTER 46:3

• Jeremiah 23:23

  He also observes the rule, "Whether you eat or drink or whatever else you do, do all to the glory of God." But one who departs from the strict observance of the commandment in performing his actions clearly shows that he has given small thought to God. Mindful, therefore, of the voice of him who said, "Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord" and again, "Am I a God at hand and not a God afar off?" Also, "Where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." We should perform every action as if under the eyes of the Lord and think every thought as if observed by him. Thus, fear will abide constantly within us who hate iniquity, as it is written, insolence, pride, and the ways of the wicked, and love will be made perfect, fulfilling the words of the Lord: "I seek not my own will but the will of him that sent me."

  THE LONG RULES 5

• Jeremiah 37:15

  Thus there is the expression in Exodus: "From the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the captive woman who was in the pit." But they even threw Jeremiah also into a pit. His brothers through jealousy confined Joseph in a pit without water. Each act, therefore, either draws us downward by oppressing us with sin or lifts us upward by raising us on wings toward God. Therefore, you have saved me, I who formerly lived a wicked life, and have separated me from those who go down to the dark and frigid region. The meaning of the words "you have upheld me" is to say, "you have led me back from my downward course, so as not to give my enemies an occasion to rejoice over me."

  HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 14:3 (PS 29)

• Jeremiah 48:10

  Elsewhere, he expresses his condemnation more vividly: "Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire that was prepared for the devil and his angels." Then he alleges not the commission of any forbidden act but the omission of commended ones, saying, "For I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink," and so on. There are many passages like that that one might find to prove that not only are those who do wicked things worthy of death—for whom has been prepared the inextinguishable fire as well—but that along with these those are condemned who leave good works undone or who perform them negligently. For it is written, "Cursed is every person who does the work of the Lord negligently."

  CONCERNING BAPTISM 2:6

• Jeremiah 48:10

  Do not allow another to do the work that is rightly yours, so that the reward as well may not be taken from you and given to another and he be enriched with your wealth while you are put to shame. Perform the duties of your ministry decently and with care as if you were serving Christ, for "cursed," says the prophet, "is everyone who does the work of the Lord negligently." Fear, as if the eye of the Lord were on you, the perversity that arises from fastidiousness and contempt, even though the task in hand seems to you a menial one. The work of the ministry is an exalted work and leads to the kingdom of heaven.

  ON RENUNCIATION OF THE WORLD

• Jeremiah 48:10

  What condemnation, then, ought we to expect to fall on those who are frivolous and irresponsible in the management of goods that are already consecrated to the Lord? Are they not liable to the sentence of doom pronounced on the negligent, as it is written, "Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord negligently"?

  THE LONG RULES 9

• Jeremiah 48:10

  It is hazardous for a superior to be delinquent, since he holds the position of arbiter in everything. It is both injurious and detrimental for those under their charge when they are disobedient. It is especially perilous if, in addition, the one who is in a superior position is scandalous. Each one who shows in his own place a tireless zeal, fulfilling the apostle's precept, "in carefulness not slothful," merits praise for his promptness. But for negligence he deserves the opposite, that is, unhappiness and woe. For the prophet says, "Cursed is the one who does the work of the Lord negligently."

  THE LONG RULES 24