On the Human Condition #30

Publication Data: Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2005
Format: softcover
Number of Pages: 126
Dimensions (l × w × h): 18.4 cm × 12.7 cm × 0.9 cm
ISBN: 978‒0‒88141‒294‒9

   
St Basil the Great
Translation and Introduction by Nonna Verna Harrison

Number 30 of Popular Patristics Series

“The first two homilies included in this volume are clearly written together and comment on the human creation accounts in the first two chapters of Genesis, and they are preserved together in the manuscript tradition. [...]Like the two homilies on the human creation, the third text in the book is translated into English here for the first time[...]. The Homily Explaining that God Is Not the Cause of Evil discusses, among other things, the account of the Fall in Gen 3. [...]The rest of the book provides new translations of works that complement the first three texts. The next three focus on the roles played by different human faculties in our experience, moral discipline, and spiritual praxis. [...]Finally, we have included excerpts from the beginning of Basil’s instructions to his ascetic communities, commonly known as the Long Rules or the Great Asceticon[...]. Here he discusses the communal dimension of human identity, an issue of great contemporary interest and theological significance.”
—“Introduction”

CONTENTS

Preface
Introduction
1. First Homily
   On the Origin of Humanity, Discourse 1: On that which is according to the Image
2. Second Homily
   On the Origin of Humanity, Discourse 2: On the human being
3. Homily Explaining that God Is Not the Cause of Evil
4. Homily against Anger
5. Homily on the Words “Be Attentive to Yourself”
6. Letter 233, to Bishop Amphilochius, Who Has Asked a Question
7. Long Rules, Selections
Select Bibliography