Editing Basil of Caesarea (section)

===Early life and education===
Basil was born into the wealthy [[Cappadocian Greeks|Cappadocian Greek]]<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Perry |first1=Marvin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NIMJzgEACAAJ |title=Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society, Volume I: To 1789 |last2=Chase |first2=Myrna |last3=Jacob |first3=James R. |last4=Jacob |first4=Margaret C. |last5=Von Laue |first5=Theodore H. |publisher=[[Wadsworth Cengage Learning]] |isbn=978-1-111-83170-7 |edition=10th |publication-date=2013 |page=184 |language=en |quote=Saint Basil ({{circa|329|379}}), a Greek who was bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia (eastern Asia Minor), established the rules that became the standard for monasteries in the East.}}</ref> family of [[Basil the Elder]],<ref>Quasten (1986), p. 204.</ref> and [[Emmelia of Caesarea]], in [[Cappadocia]], around 330. He was one of ten children, and his parents were known for their piety.<ref>''Oratio'' 43.4, ''PG'' 36. 500B, tr. p.30, as presented in Rousseau (1994), p.4</ref> His maternal grandfather was a Christian [[martyr]], executed in the years prior to [[Constantine I]]'s conversion.<ref>Davies (1991), p. 12.</ref><ref name =R1994-4>Rousseau (1994), p. 4.</ref> His pious paternal grandmother, [[Macrina the Elder|Macrina]], a follower of [[Gregory Thaumaturgus]] (who had founded the nearby church of [[Neocaesarea]]),<ref>Rousseau (1994), p. 12 & p. 4, respectively</ref> raised Basil and four of his siblings who also are now venerated as saints: [[Macrina the Younger]], [[Naucratius]], [[Peter of Sebaste]], and [[Gregory of Nyssa]].

Basil received more formal education in [[Caesarea (Mazaca)|Caesarea Mazaca]] in [[Cappadocia]] (modern [[Kayseri]]) around 350–51.<ref name=Hildebrand>Hildebrand (2007), p. 19.</ref> There he met [[Gregory of Nazianzus]].<ref>
{{Cite book
 | last =Norris
 | first =Frederick
 | contribution =Basil of Caesarea
 | year =1997
 | title =The Encyclopedia of Early Christianity
 | editor-last =Ferguson
 | editor-first =Everett
 | place=New York
 | publisher =Garland Press
 | edition =second
 }}</ref> Gregory went to Alexandria, while Basil went to [[Constantinople]] for further studies, including the lectures of [[Libanius]]. The two later met again in [[Athens]] and became fast friends. There they met a fellow student who would become the emperor [[Julian the Apostate]].<ref>Ruether (1969), pp. 19, 25.</ref><ref>Rousseau (1994), pp. 32–40.</ref> Basil left Athens in 356, and after travels in Egypt and Syria, he returned to [[Caesarea (Mazaca)|Caesarea]]. For around a year he practiced law and taught rhetoric.<ref name =R1994-1>Rousseau (1994), p. 1.</ref>

Basil's life changed radically after he encountered [[Eustathius of Sebaste]], a charismatic bishop and ascetic.<ref>Hildebrand (2007), pp. 19–20.</ref> Abandoning his legal and teaching career, Basil devoted his life to God. In a letter, he described his spiritual awakening:
{{blockquote|I had wasted much time on follies and spent nearly all of my youth in vain labours, and devotion to the teachings of a wisdom that God had made foolish. Suddenly, I awoke as out of a deep sleep. I beheld the wonderful light of the Gospel truth, and I recognized the nothingness of the wisdom of the princes of this world.<ref>Basil, ''Ep. 223, 2'', as quoted in Quasten (1986), p. 205.</ref>}}