Edessa to Cassino: The Passage of Basil's Asketikon to the West

Abstract

Through the 390s Christians in Palestine were racked by the first phase of the Origenist controversy. Two of those who came to loggerheads in that conflict were the erstwhile compatriots and friends Jerome (c. 347-419) and Rufinus of Aquileia (c. 345-411). In the year 397 at Easter in the church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem Bishop John presided over a reconciliation. Nevertheless, Rufinus left the east soon after and returned to Italy after an absence of some twenty-five years.2As soon as he arrived in the west Rufinus found a keen interest amongLatin-speaking Christians for access to works of the Greek-speaking Church. He was singularly well placed with both the linguistic skills and a private library of Greek manuscripts to address the need. The first Greek work on which he honed his skills as a translator was the Small Asketikon of St Basil the Great, i.e. of Caesarea in Cappadocia (329-379), which was to become known in its Latin dress as the Regula Sancti Patris Nostri Basili orsimply the Regula Basili.Basil's Small Asketikon had followed a long and circuitous trail in order to reach its western destiny as the Regula Basili. The concern of this essay is to trace the geographic trajectory of the Small Asketikon from the east to the west, and follow its fortunes in the west after its publication.