Hieromartyr Basil Bishop of Amasea

Office and Doctrine

Basil was elected to the see of Amasea, a city of Pontus in northern Asia Minor, in the fourth century. He is recorded as a participant in two regional councils of the period, the Synod of Ancyra in 314 and the Synod of Neocaesarea in 315.

He is remembered for his defense of Orthodox teaching during a period of doctrinal dispute. Athanasius cites him among the bishops who maintained that the Son is of like substance with the Father, and later tradition attached an honorific epithet to his name in recognition of this stand.

Martyrdom under Licinius

Basil's death came during the persecution of Christians waged by the emperor Licinius, who ruled the eastern half of the Roman Empire. According to the synaxarion account, the bishop had given refuge to Glaphyra, a young woman in the household of the empress Constantia, sister of Constantine, who had fled to Amasea to escape Licinius. When her correspondence with the empress was intercepted, Licinius ordered Basil brought to Nicomedia.

At his trial Basil was charged with sheltering Glaphyra and was offered clemency if he would sacrifice to the pagan gods. He refused, and was beaten and beheaded, an event placed around the year 322. The disposal of his body and the later recovery of his relics near Sinope are related in the hagiographical account.

Relics and Shrine

Tradition relates that after the execution the bishop's body and severed head were placed in a boat and cast separately into the sea, and were afterward recovered by fishermen near Sinope on the Black Sea coast. The relics were then carried to Amasea and buried in the church Basil had built.

Sources and Historicity

Basil is a historically attested bishop, named in the records of the Synods of Ancyra and Neocaesarea and cited by Athanasius. The surviving narrative of his passion, however, is regarded by historians as a later and largely legendary composition; the details of Glaphyra, the intercepted letter, and the recovery of the relics belong to this hagiographical tradition rather than to contemporary record.