SOURCE: "The Church in the Life and Works of Basil of Caesarea" in The Church and the Charisma of Leadership in Basil of Caesarea, Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1979, pp. 1-201.

In the following excerpt, Fedwick explains Basil's concept of the church as a community of believers drawn together by love of God and each other, and spiritually secluded from those who reject the teachings of Christ. The critic traces the expressions of this idea in Basil's ascetic writings, in the treatises Against Eunomius and On the Holy Spirit, and in several of the homilies.

The term by which Basil of Caesarea most commonly addresses the communities of Christians is "church," "churches of God."¹ Obviously referred to are not simply liturgical gatherings but established bodies of Christians living in a locality.² It would be inappropriate to ask whether Basil employs the term [Ekhanoia] with reference to the universal...