Article,
„All das ist Zierde für den Ort …“. Das diakonisch-karitative Großprojekt des Basileios von Kaisareia
Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum, 13 (3): 452--474 (2010)
DOI: 10.1515/ZAC.2009.31
Abstract
The so-called Basileias, founded by Basil the Great before 370 is characterised as a Wonder of the World by Gregory of Nazianz. The importance of this institution is based on the combination of hospice, poorhouse and hospital in the frame of monastic life. The archetype of the Basileias probably has to be identified as the Pachomian Monasteries in Egypt, which provided a similar combination of various institutions. The former soldier Pachom may have been influenced in creating such a new type of monastery by the layout of Roman military camps. The valetudinarium of Roman military camps has probably been the inspiration for the hospitals of the monasteries. Basil conceived the whole world as a monastery. Therefore, he organised the suburbs of Caesarea in the image of a monastery. However, he did not create new forms of institutions. An interpretation of the Basileias as a Wonder of the World is understandable, since it offered a new combination of old institutional elements with the interpretatio christiana of human nature. The poor, the foreigner and the sick were offered a possibilty to encounter God himself in the Basileias.
