Copyright ©2011 by Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
Distributed under an Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.
Bp. of Caesarea and Greek author. Basil was one of the three great
Cappadocian Fathers, and the brother of Gregory of Nyssa and Macrina. He was
appointed bp. of Caesarea in Cappadocia in 370, and according to the
6th-cent. ‘Life of Ephrem’ he was visited by
The following are the more important works translated into Syriac:
1. ‘Homilies on the Hexaemeron’ (
CPG
2835): ed. with
ET, R. W. Thomson (CSCO 550–1; 1995). This early (and rather free)
translation was in turn translated into Armenian.
2. ‘Treatise on the Holy Spirit’ (
CPG
2839): ed. with
ET, D. G. K. Taylor (CSCO 576–7; 1999). Only the older version is preserved
complete, in three very old mss.; of the later version there are only
quotations.
3. Homilies (
CPG
2845–69): these are mostly preserved
in both an early and a later translation; they remain unpublished. Some of
these homilies were incorporated into the liturgical Homiliaries.
4. Small Asceticon (
CPG
2876): the Syriac version,
which is entitled ‘Questions to the Brethren’, is a particularly important
witness to this work, since the only other witness is the Latin translation
by Rufinus (d. ca. 401), the Greek original having been lost (only the Great
Asceticon survives in Greek). The early Syriac translation, preserved in a
number of early mss., has not yet been published apart from excerpts (by J.
Gribomont).
5. Letters (
CPG
2900). 18 Letters from Basil’s very
large correspondence survive in Syriac translation. Letter 2, addressed to
CPG
3196), by M. Parmentier, in Studien zu
Gregor von Nyssa, ed. H. Drobner and C. Klock (1990), 17–55ARAM 5 (1993), 33–64;
and Letter 160, by A. Vööbus, in The Synodicon in the West
Syrian Tradition (CSCO 367–8; 1975), 189–94 (Syr.), 178–82 (ET).
(An edition of Letter 2 is in preparation).
6. A few texts attributed to Basil in Syriac are unknown in Greek. This
applies to: a. A homily against the Anomoeans (
CPG
2988.14 Suppl.), ed. with LT by A. Van Roey, in
7. Various liturgical texts are ascribed to Basil in Syriac: a. A translation
of the Greek Anaphora of Basil, found in Rum Orthodox liturgical mss.; b. A
(different) Syr.
Besides works by Basil, Syriac also preserves some hagiographical texts concerning Basil.
He is commemorated on 1 Jan.