The name of Basil, bishop of Amaseia, appears in two different kinds of source in early Christian history. The first consists of the signature lists of the church councils held at the beginning of the fourth century, together with short notices by contemporary or near-contemporary writers such as Eusebius, Jerome and Athanasius. The second is a Greek "Life" that describes the bishop's martyrdom in detail but whose historical reliability is disputed. Read together, the two records bring into view the Amaseia of a transitional age, when Christianity had become legal in the eastern half of the Roman Empire but could again be endangered at any moment by the attitude of local governors and of the emperor himself.

Amaseia and the Episcopal See

The Amaseia in which Basil served was an old city in a narrow valley of the Yeşilırmak, known for the rock-cut tombs of the Pontic kings. After Lucullus took it in 70 BC it was attached to the Roman province of Bithynia and Pontus, and it survived as a wealthy city described by Strabo. In the second century it earned the titles "metropolis" and "first city", and after Diocletian's administrative reforms it became the capital of the province of Helenopontus. The church of Amaseia grew along with this political weight and, from the third century onward, became one of the principal episcopal centres of the region. Later the sees of neighbouring cities such as Amisos, Sinope, Zela and Ibora would be subordinated to it, and the metropolitan see of Amaseia would remain one of the important offices of Eastern Christianity until the population exchange of 1923.

Basil was bishop of this church in the early fourth century. The sources know nothing of his birth date or his family; it is said that he was born in the third century, but this remains a guess. When he took up the episcopal office is likewise unknown. The earliest reliable datum we have is the name "Basil of Amaseia" in the signature lists of two councils held around 314. The name of a later bishop of the same city, Eutychianus, appears among the signatories of the Council of Nicaea in 325. The two names suggest that Basil died under Licinius and that Eutychianus succeeded him, but no document survives about the handover.

The Councils of Ancyra and Neocaesarea

The wave of repression known as the Great Persecution, begun by Diocletian in 303, had come to an end in the East with the defeat of Maximinus Daza in 313. In 311 Galerius had issued a decree of toleration at Nicomedia permitting Christians to worship, and in 313 Constantine and Licinius met at Milan and settled an arrangement that guaranteed free worship, the return of confiscated property, and the exemption of clergy from municipal duties. The letter Licinius wrote to the eastern governors, published at Nicomedia on 13 June 313, set out the restitution in detail. The agenda of the churches was now less survival than the healing of the wounds that the years of persecution had opened.

The council of Ancyra (modern Ankara) met shortly after Easter, most probably in 314. According to the sources the number of bishops in attendance varies between twelve and eighteen; three signature lists have survived, and Basil's name appears in one of them. Of the council's twenty-five canons, the first nine regulated the readmission to the church of clergy and laity who had abandoned the faith, or wavered, during the persecution. Penances of differing length were laid down according to the rank of the cleric and the circumstances of his fall. The remaining sixteen canons dealt with discipline, limits of jurisdiction, the marriage of clergy and the right of the people to object to the appointment of a bishop. In the following centuries these canons entered the core texts of church law.

The council of Neocaesarea (modern Niksar) met in Pontus immediately after Ancyra. Its date oscillates between 314 and 315, and Hefele leans toward a later one. It adopted fifteen disciplinary canons, which were later accepted by the Council of Chalcedon as well. They include a minimum age of thirty for ordination to the priesthood, the precedence of city priests over country priests, and the rule that every city should have seven deacons. Basil's name occurs in this list too. The bishop of Amaseia thus took part in two gatherings at which the churches of inland and northern Anatolia reconstituted themselves after the persecution, and he was regarded as one of the authoritative voices of a nearby region.

The "Great" Basil in Athanasius

Basil's place in the theological debates before Nicaea rests on a note by Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria. Among those who in the first years of the fourth century held firmly to the equality of the Son with the Father in substance, Athanasius counts "the great Basil of Pontus". Early writers inferred from this that the martyr of Amaseia stood on the side of the doctrinal line that would later be at issue in the Arian controversy. That Athanasius calls him "great" survived in Eastern tradition as an epithet, but the note gives no detail, and no written work of Basil has come down to us.

A further source problem arises in the statement of Philostorgius. This church historian says that Basil attended the Council of Nicaea. Yet among the Nicaean signatories the bishop of Amaseia is Eutychianus, and Basil's martyrdom belongs to a much earlier date. Philostorgius's record is therefore attributed to a confusion, probably a conflation of two different men named Basil, and it does not overturn the other evidence that the martyrdom took place under Licinius.

Licinius and the Renewed Pressure in the East

Licinius had borne the title of Augustus since 308, and in 313 he defeated Maximinus Daza and became sole master of the eastern provinces. In the same year he married Constantia, Constantine's half-sister. The relationship between the two emperors broke down with the battles of Cibalae and Mardia in 316 and 317, after which came a tense peace. In 321 it was shaken again when Constantine crossed the Danube in pursuit of Sarmatians and Goths and entered territory regarded as Licinius's. According to Eusebius and the pro-Constantinian tradition that follows him, it was at this stage, while preparing for war against his former ally, that Licinius also changed his stance toward the Christians.

The eighth chapter of the tenth book of Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History is the principal testimony for this period. The author writes that Licinius first drove Christians from his household, that soldiers in the cities were ordered to sacrifice to the idols on pain of losing their rank, and that feeding those in prison was forbidden, with those who showed mercy to suffer the same punishment. As for bishops, Licinius, fearing the emperor Constantine, could not attack them openly and instead acted secretly and by guile through his governors. Eusebius names Amaseia explicitly in these lines: what Licinius did "at Amaseia and in the other cities of Pontus" surpassed every excess of cruelty; some churches were razed to the ground and others closed to worship. Some governors, wishing to please the emperor, punished certain bishops like common criminals, and had some of them cut to pieces with the sword and thrown into the sea. The same chapter notes that the faithful again fled to fields, deserts, forests and mountains.

Two points need to be kept in mind in weighing this account. Eusebius wrote after Constantine's victory with the intention of blackening Licinius, and for that reason the whole of Licinius's religious policy is presented in a single tone. Modern scholars recall that Licinius was for a time tolerant toward Christians, that he put his name to the Milan arrangement, and that he even used a common prayer for his army. The persecution may have taken shape mostly as a question of loyalty and security in the years when Licinius was approaching political defeat by Constantine. Suspecting that the Christians were praying for Constantine, the emperor appears to have targeted church leaders in the eastern provinces. The second point is that Basil's name does not occur in Eusebius's lines. Amaseia is reported as a place of persecution, but to attach the passage directly to one bishop is an interpretation. Basil's name enters through the additions of Jerome, who translated Eusebius's Chronicle into Latin.

Jerome's Entry and the Dating

When Jerome translated Eusebius's Chronicle into Latin he added contributions of his own. In the section assigned to the 275th Olympiad (321-324) of this work there is an entry that "Basileus, bishop of Amaseia in Pontus, was martyred in the reign of Licinius". This line is regarded as the earliest and soundest dating of Basil's martyrdom. Kirsch, the author of the Catholic Encyclopedia article, says there is no reason to doubt the reliability of the information. Orthodox sources place the event at about 322 and give Nicomedia, the seat of the emperor's eastern court, as the place of death.

The range of dates covers the years in which Licinius's relations with Constantine deteriorated and pressure in the East increased. In the summer of 324 Constantine defeated Licinius at Adrianople on 3 July and then at Chrysopolis on 18 September; Licinius was held under guard at Thessalonica and executed in the spring of 325. Basil's death is accordingly regarded as a typical example of the last years of Licinius's rule and of the hardening of his religious policy. Even so, the year is not certain; 321, 322, 323 and 324 can all be defended.

The Narrative of the Martyrdom

The text that describes Basil's martyrdom at length is attributed to a priest of Nicomedia named John. According to this text John visited the bishop in prison, witnessed his execution, and gathered information from the other persons involved. The form of the story that became widespread in tradition runs as follows. In the retinue of Licinius's wife Constantia was a young and devout girl named Glaphyra, from a noble Italian family. When she rejected the emperor's advances she appealed to the empress for help. Constantia dressed her as a man and sent her secretly out of Nicomedia with gold, silver and precious stones, telling the palace that the girl was mad and on her deathbed. After a long journey Glaphyra reached Amaseia and took shelter in the house of a pious Christian.

Basil visited the girl and advised her to live in seclusion so as not to draw the anger of the local governor. The bishop was at that time having a church built. Glaphyra gave all her money to the construction and sent word to Constantia asking for more gold to finish it. The empress gladly complied, but Glaphyra's letter fell by accident into Licinius's hands. The emperor ordered the governor of Amaseia to send Basil and Glaphyra to Nicomedia. Glaphyra had died before the order arrived; Basil was sent together with two deacons, Parthenius and Theotimus. At Nicomedia he was thrown into prison, while the deacons lodged in the house of a Christian named Elpidophorus.

According to the narrative, on the night before his trial Basil told the deacons that the Lord had appeared to him and revealed how he would die, and asked them not to grieve and to return to Amaseia. At the hearing Licinius accused him of hiding Glaphyra and offered forgiveness and honour in return for sacrificing to the idols. When the bishop refused, the emperor ordered that he be beaten and then beheaded. According to the Life, the execution took place on 28 March. Soldiers put the body and the head into a boat, put out to sea and threw the remains into the water in different places. That same night an angel appeared three times to Elpidophorus and said that Basil was waiting for his friends at Sinope. Elpidophorus set out, the angel showed him where in the sea to look for the body, fishermen drew it up in their nets, and the head was miraculously attached to the trunk. On the neck was the mark of the sword, and a pleasant fragrance came from the remains. The Christians carried the relics to Amaseia and buried them in the church the bishop had built.

The Reliability of the Narrative

As a matter of source criticism the historical value of this story is low. In the words of the Catholic Encyclopedia, the "Acts" attributed to John, the supposed eyewitness, are not the work of a genuine eyewitness, and the narrative is entirely legendary. Elements such as Glaphyra's flight, the empress disguising the girl as a man, the announcements received in dreams, the angel appearing three times and the head rejoining the body are stock motifs of Christian martyr literature. The empress's disguise plan and Licinius's passion may be products of a tradition inclined to defame the emperor. The existence of Glaphyra, Parthenius, Theotimus and Elpidophorus, whose identities cannot be confirmed elsewhere, likewise remains undocumented for this reason.

On the other hand there is no need to regard the text as wholly invented. That Basil was in fact bishop of Amaseia, that he suffered martyrdom under Licinius, and that bishops in the eastern cities were subject to repression, is supported by contemporary records. The date at which the narrative was written down is unknown, but it appears that the memory of a martyr bishop lived on in regional tradition and was gradually expanded in epic fashion. The verifiable core is that a bishop was executed during the reign of Licinius. That the cause was his sheltering of Glaphyra remains at the level of tradition; indeed neither Eusebius nor Jerome gives any such detail.

There are also differences among the sources over dates. The execution date of 28 March given by the Life differs from the feast day of 26 April commemorated in the Eastern and Roman calendars. The tradition explains that the relics were found in the sea after twenty-five days, reached Amaseia around 21 or 22 April, and were buried five days later, that is on 26 April. This explanation serves to connect the two dates but is not supported by any separate source. A second commemoration, for the translation of the relics, falls on 30 April.

Cult, Commemoration and Relics

Basil's name is commemorated on 26 April in the Greek synaxaria and menaia and also in the Roman martyrology. The Orthodox calendar marks 30 April as well, for the translation of the relics. Thus both the Eastern and the Western churches honour him on the same day, which points to a recognition wider than a limited regional cult. In the Orthodox tradition he is called a hieromartyr, a priest-martyr in the episcopal rank.

Today relics believed to be Basil's are kept in the monasteries of Mount Athos. His skull is said to be at the Docheiariou Monastery and his hands at the Iviron Monastery. At the Dionysiou Monastery there is a fresco showing his martyrdom. No reliable document survives on how the relics passed from Amaseia to Athos. The later fate of the church and tomb in the city is also unknown.

Basil in Amasya's Christian Memory

Basil is not the only figure of Amaseia's early Christian history. The soldier-martyr Theodore Tiro is also associated with the city (his story is the subject of a separate article), and a number of the carefully composed homilies of Asterius, bishop of Amaseia, who died in the early fifth century, have survived. The city's rise over two centuries as capital of Helenopontus and a metropolitan centre also made it easier to preserve the memory of such people. Basil's memory lives today chiefly through the Orthodox calendar and the tradition of the Athos monasteries.

Chronology

311: Galerius issues at Nicomedia the edict of toleration granting Christians permission to worship.

313: Constantine and Licinius agree at Milan on freedom for Christians and the return of their property; the letter Licinius writes to the eastern governors is published at Nicomedia on 13 June. Maximinus Daza is defeated.

314 (probably): The council of Ancyra meets; the name of Basil, bishop of Amaseia, appears in the signature lists.

314 or 315: The council of Neocaesarea meets in Pontus; Basil's name occurs in these records as well.

316-317: The battles of Cibalae and Mardia mark the first conflict between Constantine and Licinius.

321: Tension between the two emperors rises again when Constantine enters territory regarded as Licinius's.

321-324 (about 322): According to Jerome's Latin Chronicle, Basil, bishop of Amaseia, is martyred under Licinius; according to the Life, the execution takes place at Nicomedia on 28 March.

26 April: Basil's feast in the Eastern and Roman calendars; a second commemoration for the translation of the relics follows on 30 April.

324: Constantine defeats Licinius with his victories at Adrianople (3 July) and Chrysopolis (18 September).

325: Eutychianus appears as bishop of Amaseia among the signatories of the Council of Nicaea. Licinius is executed at Thessalonica in the spring of the same year.

Sources

Primary sources

  • Jerome's Latin version of Eusebius's Chronicle (ed. Schoene, Berlin 1875, p. 191).

Other sources

Online sources