The Latin 'Regula Basili' and the Syriac 'Questions of the Brothers': A Preliminary Enquiry

Abstract

The Christian tradition surnamed Basil of Caesarea 'the Great', with good reason. He was the model of an apostolic minded bishop who toiled to repair the ills not just of his own church by all the churches. Firstly by encouraging and teaching ascetic communities as exemplars of total Gospel praxis for all Christians, and secondly, through his doctrinal work. From the late 360s he was a major player in organizing the 'Neo-Nicene' front in Central-Eastern Anatolia and Syria. In this context he came to know and admire Eusebius of Samosata on the Euphrates, who travelled to Caesarea in September 370 to co-ordain Basil a Bishop. The two became the greatest friends and confidants throughout the 370s, sharing many letters. Eusebius could well have been a conduit of Basil's writings into a Syriac speaking area of upper Syria. An even better conduit may have been Basil himself. In his work for the churches certainly visited Armenia and it seems safe to say, the Syriac speaking regions of upper Syria.