Basilius die Grote (329–379 nC) is saam met Atanasius een van die leiers van die kerk in die 4de eeu. Hy was die “leier” van die sogenaamde drie Kappadosiërs – hy en sy vriend, Gregorius van Nazianus, en sy broer Gregorius van Nyssa. Hy was biskop van Sesarea. In sy soeke na geestelike volwassenheid en volmaaktheid is hy bekoor deur die asketiese kloosterlewe en hy staan ook bekend as die vader van die Oosterse monastisisme. Hy was ’n teenstander van die Arianisme.

• Engels: Basil of Caesarea
• Lewe: 329-379 nC

Aanhalings

He who is guilty of unseemliness with males will be under discipline for the same time as adulterers.

If you [O, monk] are young in either body or mind, shun the companionship of other young men and avoid them as you would a flame. For through them the enemy has kindled the desires of many and then handed them over to eternal fire, hurling them into the vile pit of the five cities under the pretense of spiritual love. . . . At meals take a seat far from other young men. In lying down to sleep let not their clothes be near yours, but rather have an old man between you. When a young man converses with you, or sings psalms facing you, answer him with eyes cast down, lest perhaps by gazing at his face you receive a seed of desire sown by the enemy and reap sheaves of corruption and ruin. Whether in the house or in a place where there is no one to see your actions, be not found in his company under the pretense either of studying the divine oracles or of any other business whatsoever, however necessary

Andere bronne

• Basil of Caesarea (Wikipedia)
• History of the Catholic Church and homosexuality (Wikipedia)
• Christianity and Homosexuality
• What the Early Church Believed: Homosexuality (Catholic Answers)