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VYSENS'KYJ'S ШЕА OF REFORM 55explicitly establishes a parallel between the life and thought of the two greatchurch fathers:Similarly, Gregory the Theologian went off to Pontos, 75and Basil the Great escapedinto the desert to cleanse himself of the passions, for he was not satisfied with onlyeloquent learning if his nature was not healed.... And Basil the Great says to Gregorythe Theologian in his epistle, / recognized your letter. For I have abandonedmy residence in the city, which is the cause of innumerable evils, but I have not yetbeen able to forsake myself. For I am similar to seafarers sailing a ship who do notknow how to guide the ship well. They are at a loss and are distressed by the size ofthe boat because much tossing and billowing has affected it (212.19-28).For just as—he says—it is not possible to write or describe something in wax thathas been imprinted earlier without smoothing down the images already engravedupon it, so it is impossible to place or establish the divine commandments in the soulunless someone first expels the passions already existing in it.... Now the desertprovides this great help towards this achievement, quieting our passions and givingleisure to our reason to uproot them completely. For just as beasts are more easilycaught in cold weather, so desires and wraths, and passions, and other venomousevils of the soul, when they have been calmed by silence and not enraged by frequentirritation, they are more easily overcome by reason, and so forth. This issufficient regarding the shameful statement [of the translator] about losing the edgeto virtue by escaping to the mountains. For Basil the Great and Chrysostom offer adefense and trample upon this blasphemy (215.13-35). 76It is possible to observe in these three points a general ideological orientationwhich, in substantial measure, represents the evolution of a messagepresented in VySens'kyj's earlier writings. 77Especially worthy of mention,in this regard, are chapter 3 of the Knyźka, where the monastic ideal isexalted as the only mode of salvation for the Rus' nation; 78 chapter 5 of theKnyika, which affirms that the legitimacy of the rank of the priesthood isdependent on purification as well as consecration "from above by the Holy75While students at Athens, St. Basil and St. Gregory had resolved to retire from the worldand engage in a plan of common life. Finally, after several letters from St. Basil—one describingthe beauties of the place and another discussing the nature of his life and work—St. Gregoryset out to join his friend in Pontus.76Cf. Basil, Epist. II, 1 -2, PG ХХХП, 224-28.77It goes without saying that Vysens'kyj's ideology must be examined not only in the contextof the traditional patristic statements on priests and monks and on the distinction betweenthe contemplative (theoretical) and the active (practical) way of life, but also against the backgroundof the discussions, beginning in the age of Humanism and Renaissance, on the problemof the relationship between action and contemplation. As is well known, these more recentdebates inevitably touched upon the themes of ideal community, the correct formation of Christianman, and the role of monastic life.78See Goldblatt, "Isixasts'ka ideolohija u tvorcosti Ivana Vysens'koho" (see fn. 11).