Letter 186 (374)
Glimpses of Daily Life
BASIL TO ANTIPATROS, PROVINCIAL GOVERNOR,
LETTER 186 (374)
What a beautiful thing, philosophy! Among other qualities it permits everyone to cure himself with an inexpensive food and it makes the same thing good nourishment and sufficient to keep him healthy; for having lost an appetite, as I heard, you found it back with cabbage pickled in vinegar. I could not stand it, because of the proverb and because it reminds me of Dame Poverty, my usual partner.
But I am going to change my mind and to laugh at the proverb, seeing that cabbage is a good agent of rejuvenation, which has brought our arkhon back on top. From now on I will hold that nothing can be equal to it, not only the Homeric Lotos, but even the ambrosia, however excellent, which satiated the Olympians.
ANTIPATROS' ANSWER, LETTER 187
"Cabbage twice, 'tis death," says a malicious proverb.
But I, who have been asking for it to be served often, I shall die only once, and it would still be the same if I had not asked for a dish of cabbage. Anyway, do not shrink from eating this delicious food, decried without reason by the proverb.
Pascha and the Eucharist Basil had been consulted by a patrician lady, Kaisaria, on the subject of frequent communion. His answer throws much light on the practice of fourth century Orthodoxy. It
THE FATHERS SPEAK
belongs to the sole priest, IEpEuC;, to consecrate the sacrifice, 6uola. Normally, the eucharistic celebration took place four times a week, on the four "liturgical" days, namely on Sun· day, Wednesday, Friday. and Saturday. In extraordinary circumstances, such as the absence 0/ the priest, communion could be given to the faithful by a deacon or other altarminister, from the parcels of the consecrated bread set aside and reserved for communion purposes in the interval between two eucharistic celebrations.
BASIL TO KAlSARIA, A PATRICIAN, ON RECEIVING
COMMUNION, LETTER 93 (ca. 372)
To receive communion even daily and partake of the sacred body and blood of Christ is good and beneficial, for He has said clearly: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life" [In 6:54]. Who would doubt that partaking regularly of life is anything else but living continually? We take communion four times a week [at the altar]. on the Sunday. the Wednesday, the Friday [Parasceve], and the Sabbath, and some other days also, when a Saint is memorialized. As for the necessity, in time of persecution. to receive communion from one's own hand in the absence of a priest or of an altar-minister [A.El'toUpyoO], it is superfluous to show that this is not aggravating, since a long custom authorizes precisely this. All the monks who live in the "desert," where there is no priest, keep the communion bread in their cells and partake of communion by their own hand. In Alexandria and in Egypt, everyone in the laity used to keep the consecrated bread at home and to partake of it when he wished. Once the sacrifice has been sanctified and offered by the priest, he who receives it whole, partaking of it every day, should believe that he is partaking and receiving it as if it were from the hand of the priest. For even in