Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume VIII/Prolegomena/Works/Liturgical

VI.&#8212;Liturgical.

It is beyond the scope of the present work to discuss at length the history and relation of the extant Liturgies, which go by the name of St. Basil.&#160; St. Basil&#8217;s precise share in their composition, as we possess them, must be conjectural.

(i)&#160; The Liturgy, which St. Basil himself used and gave to his clergy and monks, preserved the traditional form in use in the archdiocese of C&#230;sarea. &#160; It is mentioned in the xxxii$nd$ canon of the council &#8220;in Trullo&#8221; of 692.&#160; This is no doubt the basis of the Greek Liturgy known as St. Basil&#8217;s, and used in the East as well as the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom.&#160; The form in use is contained in Neale&#8217;s Primitive Liturgies (1875).&#160; Dr. Swainson (Greek Liturgies chiefly from Oriental Sources, p. 75) printed an edition of it from the Barberini in 1884.

(ii)&#160; There is an Alexandrine Liturgy in Coptic, Arabic, and Greek form, called St. Basil&#8217;s, and used on fast days by the Monophysites (Renaudot, Lit. Orient. Collectio, i. 154).&#160; This differs entirely from the first named.

(iii)&#160; Yet again there is a Syriac Liturgy called St. Basil&#8217;s, translated by Masius, and given by Renaudot in his second volume.