NPNF2-08. Basil: Letters and Select Works - Holy Bible Institute

Basil as Archbishop.VI.—Basil as Archbishop.The archiepiscopal throne was now technically vacant. But the man who had practicallyfilled it, “the keeper and tamer of the lion,” 135 was still alive in the plenitude of his power.What course was he to follow ? Was he meekly to withdraw, and perhaps be compelled tosupport the candidature of another and an inferior? The indirect evidence 136 has seemedto some strong enough to compel the conclusion that he determined, if possible, to securehis election to the see. 137 Others, on the contrary, have thought him incapable of schemingfor the nomination. 138 The truth probably lies between the two extreme views. No intelligentonlooker of the position at Cæsarea on the death of Eusebius, least of all the highly capableadministrator of the province, could be blind to the fact that of all possible competitors forthe vacant throne Basil himself was the ablest and most distinguished, and the likeliest tobe capable of directing the course of events in the interests of orthodoxy. But it does notfollow that Basil’s appeal to Gregory to come to him was a deliberate step to secure this end.He craved for the support and counsel of his friend; but no one could have known betterthat Gregory the younger was not the man to take prompt action or rule events. His inventionof a fatal sickness, or exaggeration of a slight one, failed to secure even Gregory’s presenceat Cæsarea. Gregory burst into tears on receipt of the news of his friend’s grave illness, andhastened to obey the summons to his side. But on the road he fell in with bishops hurryingto Cæsarea for the election of a successor to Eusebius, and detected the unreality of Basil’splea. He at once returned to Nazianzus and wrote the oft-quoted letter, 139 on the interpretationgiven to which depends the estimate formed of Basil’s action at the important crisis.Basil may or may not have taken Gregory’s advice not to put himself forward. ButGregory and his father, the bishop, from this time strained every nerve to secure the electionxxii135 Greg. Naz., Or. xliii. 33.136 i.e. the extant reply to his urgent request that Gregory would come to him. Greg. Naz., Ep. xl.137 “Persuadé que, s’il échouait c’en était fait de la foi de Nicée en Cappadoce, il deploie toutes les ressourcesde son dénie, aussi souple que puissant.” Fialone, Et. Hist. p. 85. “Personne dans la ville, pas même Basile, malgréson humilité, ne donta que la succession ne lui fût acquise…il fit assez ouvertement ses préparatifs pour sa promotion.”De Broglie, L’Eglise et l’Empire R. v. 88. “Basil persuaded himself, and not altogether unwarrantably, thatthe cause of orthodoxy in Asia Minor was involved in his becoming his successor.” Canon Venables in D.C.B.“Erselbst, so schwer er sich anfangs zur Uebernahme des Presbyterates hatte entschliessen können, jetzt, wo er sichin seine Stellung hinein gearbeitet hatte wünschte er nichts sehnlicher al seine Wahl zum Bischof. Böhringer theIVth c. p. 24. “Was it really from ambitious views? Certainly the suspicion, which even his friend entertained,attaches to him.” Ullmann, Life of Gregory of Naz., Cox’s Trans. p. 117.138 “Ne suspicatus quidem in se oculos conjectum iri.” Maran, Vit. Bas. “Former une brigue pour parvenir àl’épiscopat était bien loin de sa pensée.´ Ceillier, iv. 354.139 Greg. N., Ep. xl. (xxi.).28