(According to St. Basil the Great)
St. Basil is sometimes thought to have inspired St. Albert the Jerusalemite in the writing of the Carmelite Rule. Although modern research has credibly refuted this claim,1 we can still see St. Basil as a distant friend in our efforts towards a profound life with God. It is no coincidence that he is considered one of the four most significant teachers of the Eastern Church and is called “the Great.” Some time ago, I discovered a passage in his writings that directly mentions the prophet Elijah and Mount Carmel. The text intrigued me, so I translated it amateurishly—first just for myself, then I shared it with a few friends, and now I wish to offer it to everyone.
Basil’s Letter to His Student Chilo2 aims to encourage perseverance in the life of solitude (that is, for someone who has already entered solitude). I would like to point out right away: St. Basil was not an advocate of hermitage but of a communal life connected with service to people—spiritual, charitable, and otherwise.
Therefore, we need not hesitate and let us extend Basil's encouragement to ourselves and to the various forms of solitude in which we find ourselves (we are already in them): whether it is the solitude of someone from a big city struggling to adapt to village life, whether it is the solitude of a person misunderstood by colleagues at work or neglected by parts of their family or parish, whether it is any solitude of someone who seems to have “everything”... It does not even have to be a permanent or desperate state. After all, even from the passages of Scripture which Basil refers to, it is clear that the saint does not mean any absolute solitude: Abraham was not entirely alone at Mamre but with Sarah and a servant. Or in the verse from the Gospel of Matthew: “Where two or three are gathered...,” it does not refer to the solitude of a castaway on a deserted island... At times, we simply feel alone, it comes upon us, we wish for more grounding in others, greater connections, or even more distraction. And then we tend to reject our momentary solitude, trying to escape from it at all costs.
Moreover, from the rest of the text, which has yet to be translated, one would know that the “goods of this world” that Basil's student longs for in solitude do not refer to anything sinful, but to spiritual conversations, the study of theology, etc. St. Basil skeptically notes that even these holy things are hardly used properly by anyone. Over the lines of our excerpt, I cannot shake the impression that the church father lightens the discussion on the usefulness of what one loses in solitude with a hint of irony.
But mainly, Basil's lines remind us again that one can also choose solitude, and when one is already “in it,” one can agree with it. Because retreat from people is not a meaningless vacuum. With examples from Scripture, St. Basil shows situations in which solitude was filled with encounters with God. Openness to such solitude is a school of patience, obedience, and faith. This is the path that Christ himself walked, and it is the path to salvation.
And one last note: the crucial verse from Scripture that St. Basil refers to is not known to us today: “For the words of your lips I have kept to hard paths.” This is because Basil used the Greek version of the Old Testament, the so-called Septuagint, whose text of the psalms does not align with the text we are accustomed to. The cited verse can be found as Ps 17:4 in it. In our liturgical translation of the psalms, the corresponding verse is: “... according to the words of your lips I have been careful about the paths of the law.” This cannot be blamed on the translator; the discrepancy is already present between the preserved Greek and Hebrew texts. Nevertheless, we can pause for a brief thought about Basil's encouragement when we pray this verse in our breviary.
Basil's text:
When evil thoughts tempt you with questions like, “What good is it to live in this (remote) place?”
and “What is the benefit of shunning human society?” (...)
then respond like this:
when an evil thought tries to defeat you with many such various reasons,
devoutly contemplate, set against it practical experience and say:
“You tell me that the things of this world are good;
but that is precisely why I have moved here,
for I consider myself unworthy of the goods of this world.
However, these are mixed with many bad things, and there are far more of those...”
And thus I escape—like a bird to the mountains.
I live in this solitude, where the Lord dwelt.
Here is the oak of Mamre,
here is the ladder that leads to heaven; here are the hosts of angels that Jacob saw.
Here is the desert in which the purified nation received the law, and thus entered the Promised Land and saw God.
Here is Mount Carmel, where Elijah lived and pleased God.
Here is the field to which Ezra went (into solitude) to dictate all the divinely inspired books by God’s command.
Here is the wilderness where John the Baptist ate locusts and preached repentance to the people.
Here is the Mount of Olives, where Christ ascended to pray and to teach us how to pray.
Here is Christ, the friend of solitude; he says, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them.”
Here is “the narrow and hard path that leads to life.”
Here are the teachers and prophets who “wandered in deserts and mountains, in caves and in the clefts of the earth.”
Here are the apostles and evangelists and the life of monks far from the towns.
This I have freely taken upon myself, so that I might attain what is promised to the martyrs of Christ and all the other saints,
and so that I may truly and without deceit say:
“For the words of your lips I have kept to hard paths.”
For I have recognized that Abraham was pleasing to God,
who listened to God's voice and moved to the wilderness,
Isaac, oppressed by power,
Jacob, the wandering patriarch,
pure Joseph, who was sold,
the three youths, who abstained from forbidden foods and fought against the fire,
Daniel, who was thrown once and then again into the lion's den,
Jeremiah, who spoke freely despite being determined to the mire of the cistern,
Isaiah, who perceived hidden things, a prophet bearing iron, taken into the captivity of Israel,
John, who reproached adultery and was beheaded,
the martyrs of Christ taken from the midst of the assembly of the faithful.
And why dwell on further examples?
After all, the Savior himself was crucified for us,
to give us life through his death
and to prompt each of us towards patience.
To him I hasten, and to the Father and the Holy Spirit.
I strive to be found legitimate,
and I consider myself unworthy of the goods of this world.
Moreover, I am not here for the world, but the world for me.
So think on this and, as you were told, keep it diligently, fight for the truth until death. For Christ became obedient to death. And the apostle says: See to it that none of you has an evil heart, so as to fall away from the living God; but encourage one another, bringing spiritual benefits to one another, as long as it is called “today”. For that “today” means the whole time of our lives.
Thus, brother, as you live this way, you will preserve yourself, you will comfort us, and you will glorify God forever and ever. Amen.
Just for those who like to search in Scripture
I tried to search for the places that St. Basil refers to. In order not to disrupt the unity of the text, I will provide the references in summary here.
Flee to the mountains like a bird: Ps 11:1. – The solitude in which the Lord dwelt: perhaps a reference to Jesus' stay in the desert (Mark 1:12 par.). – The oak of Mamre: Gen 18:1-15; Abraham is very open to meeting God in his solitude, immediately reacting and running to meet him... – Jacob's ladder: Gen 28:10-22. – The people received the Law and saw God: Ex 24. – Elijah on Carmel: 1 Kings 18:19; while Scripture mentions Elijah on Carmel only in connection with this event, later tradition regarded Carmel as the place where Elijah resided permanently. – Elijah pleased God: see Sirach 44:16 about Enoch. – Ezra's solitude: see apocryphal 4 Ezra 14:1-47. – John the Baptist in the wilderness: Matt 3:1-12 par. – Mount of Olives: through the Mount of Olives, David fled Jerusalem before Absalom (2 Sam 15:30). The prophet Ezekiel saw in a vision how the glory of the Lord, when leaving the city, “stood over the mountain east of the city” (Ezek 11:23) and from the east then returned to the temple (Ezek 43:1). According to Zechariah’s prophecy, on the day of the Lord, the Lord’s feet will stand on this mountain (Zech 14:4), the mountain will split in the valley through which the inhabitants of Jerusalem will flee.
This is followed by New Testament mentions of the Mount of Olives: through it, Jesus entered Jerusalem a week before Easter (Mark 11:1 and par.; Luke 19:37 introduces the cries of the crowds with a mention of the Mount of Olives: Hosanna), here—“opposite the temple”—Jesus delivers his discourse on the end times (Mark 13:1 and par.), here his ascension occurred (cf. Acts 1:12). Later Christian tradition connected Jesus’ visit to Martha and Mary’s house (Luke 10:38-42) with Bethany, and the following pericope (Luke 11:1f.: Jesus prayed “in a certain place” and then taught the disciples the Lord's Prayer) with the Mount of Olives, which is why there is also a convent of Discalced Carmelites Pater noster on it. From St. Basil's perspective, the most important thing is that after the Last Supper, Jesus went with his disciples to the Mount of Olives (Mark 14:26 and par.) and there he prayed. According to Luke's Gospel, he did so “according to (his) custom” (Luke 22:39). Even earlier during his week-long stay in Jerusalem: “By day he taught in the temple, but at night he went out and spent the night on the mountain which is called Olivet” (Luke 21:37). Similarly, cf. John 8:1-2. Therefore: solitude is the place where the Lord absents Himself and where he also comes (not just there, of course). Our solitude also represents the expectation of final fulfillment—at the Lord’s second coming. – Jesus’ saying: “Where two or three are...”: Matt 18:20; cf. the mention in the introductory comment: it is evident that the solitude that St. Basil has in mind signifies rather a small community. – The narrow and hard path: cf. Matt 7:14. – The believers who “wandered in deserts and mountains”: Heb 11:38. – “For the words of your lips I have kept to hard paths”: Ps 17:4 (Septuagint). – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, the three youths in the fiery furnace, Daniel, Jeremiah, and Isaiah, as well as John the Baptist are figures whose stories anyone can easily trace in Scripture. St. Basil mentions them not merely as a model of life in solitude but as an example of patiently enduring adversity. – To be found legitimate: this suggests the meaning of being a true heir of God’s promises (cf. Romans 9-10), or rather the connection to 2 Timothy 2:5: “the victor’s crown will not be given to one who does not act (literally: who does not fight) according to the rules.” – “Christ became obedient to death”: Philippians 2:8. – Exhortation: “Take heed”: Heb 3:12: the text does not exactly match our NT wording. – “Encourage one another by bringing spiritual benefits”: cf. 1 Thess 5:11; 1 Cor 14:4, 17.
Compiled by P. Gorazd, O.Carm.
