A Tale of Two GOATs: Basil the Great and Nerses the Great

 Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” -Mathew 20:26-27 ESV

When we think about the beginning of Armenian Christianity, St. Gregory the Illuminator usually comes to mind. According to Armenian tradition, Gregory converted King Trdat, and Armenia became the first nation to officially accept Christianity at the beginning of the fourth century. But Armenian Christianity did not develop all by itself. Armenia was surrounded by other important Christian centers, and one of the most important was Cappadocia.

Cappadocia was located just west of Armenia and became one of the great centers of Christianity in the fourth century. It gave the Church Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa, the three theologians we now call the Cappadocian Fathers. These men helped shape Christian theology, monasticism, education, and the way Christians understood the responsibility of the Church toward the poor. They established the first hospitals and made the earliest claims of universal human rights by faithfully teaching the Holy Scriptures. Armenia was right next door to all of this.

The connection went back even further. Gregory the Illuminator had strong ties to Caesarea, the major city of Cappadocia, and Armenian tradition says that he was consecrated there before returning to Armenia. So Cappadocia was not some distant theological influence that Armenians discovered hundreds of years later. It was part of the Christian world that surrounded the Armenian Church from its earliest days. One of the best ways to see this connection is through two fourth-century church leaders who were both given the same title: Basil the Great and Nerses the Great.

Basil the Great

Basil was born around A.D. 330 in Caesarea. He came from a wealthy Christian family.

His grandmother, Macrina the Elder, was remembered for her Christian faith. His sister, Macrina the Younger, became an important Christian teacher and ascetic. His brother, Gregory of Nyssa, became one of the greatest theologians in the early Church. Basil did not discover Christianity later in life; he grew up surrounded by it.

Basil was also very well educated; he studied in Caesarea, Constantinople, and Athens. While studying in Athens, he became close friends with Gregory of Nazianzus. With his education, Basil could have pursued a successful career in the Roman world. Instead, his life began moving in another direction. He became interested in the ascetic life and traveled to observe different Christian communities before returning to Cappadocia.

What I find interesting about Basil is that he did not understand monasticism as simply running away from society. For Basil, Christians needed community. It is one thing to talk about patience, forgiveness, humility, and love. It is another thing to actually practice these virtues while living with other people. How do you practice forgiveness if there is no one around to forgive? How do you love your neighbor if you have removed yourself from every neighbor? Basil believed that Christian community was one of the places where the teachings of Jesus Christ became real.

That same thinking shaped his concern for the poor. Basil eventually became bishop of Caesarea, and he became famous for caring for people who were sick, hungry, poor, or forgotten. He strongly criticized wealthy Christians who had plenty while their neighbors had nothing. Basil became associated with a large charitable complex outside Caesarea, later called the Basiliad, that cared for the sick, the poor, travelers, and others in need.

Basil was also one of the great theologians of the fourth century. He defended the faith of the Council of Nicaea and helped the Church better explain the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. His writings on the Holy Spirit became especially important.

But Basil is interesting to me because he did not separate theology from Christian living. The same man who wrote about the Trinity also worried about whether hungry people were being fed. He did not believe that getting theology right gave Christians permission to ignore their neighbor. If Christian beliefs were true, then those beliefs had to change the way Christians lived.

Nerses I the Great  

At around the same time, Armenia had its own church leader who would be remembered as “the Great.” Nerses I, better known as Nerses the Great, became Catholicos of the Armenian Church in the fourth century.

Nerses came from the family of Gregory the Illuminator. That connection mattered. Gregory represented the conversion of Armenia to Christianity. Nerses represented the next question: What does a Christian Armenia actually look like?

There is a difference between calling a nation Christian and having people live according to the teachings of Jesus Christ. Nerses seems to have understood this. His ministry was not limited to conducting worship services or maintaining churches. He wanted Christianity to shape Armenian society.

Nerses became known especially for his concern for people in need. Armenian tradition associates him with institutions that cared for the poor, the sick, widows, orphans, and travelers. He also encouraged monasteries and Christian education. The Church, in his understanding, had a responsibility to care for the whole person. 

This is where Nerses starts to sound a lot like Basil.

Both men cared about monasticism. Both cared about education. Both believed the Church had a responsibility toward the poor and suffering. Both believed Christianity needed to be more than something people confessed with their mouths. It had to be lived.

Of course, Nerses should not simply be called an Armenian version of Basil. Armenia had its own history, traditions, and Christian identity. Nerses also stood in the spiritual tradition of Gregory the Illuminator. But the similarities between Nerses and Basil tell us something important. Armenia and Cappadocia were not two isolated Christian worlds. They were neighbors, and they were participating in many of the same Christian developments taking place during the fourth century.

A century later, Armenia was able to engage this heritage in a brand-new way. Mesrop Mashtots invented the Armenian alphabet in the early fifth century, allowing the Bible and patristic writings to be translated directly into Armenian. This sparked a golden age of Armenian Christian literature and culture. Armenians were no longer dependent on Greek or Syriac to read and explain the faith; they could read Scripture, preach, and write theology in their own tongue. Notably, the writings of the Cappadocian Fathers were among the earliest works translated into Armenian.

This is why the lives of Basil the Great and Nerses the Great are worth putting next to one another. Basil gives us a picture of Christianity in one of the great Christian centers of the fourth century. Nerses gives us a picture of Christianity taking deeper roots in Armenia. But their lives also help us understand why both men came to be remembered as “the Great.”

Their greatness was not simply found in their titles, their education, their theological knowledge, or the authority they held in the Church. It was found in how they used those things to serve others. Both men believed Christianity had to make a difference in the way people lived. Theology mattered. Worship mattered. But so did the hungry person, the sick person, the orphan, the widow, and the traveler.

That brings us back to the words of Jesus: “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant.” Basil the Great lived out this vision in Cappadocia, and Nerses the Great lived it out in Armenia. They became great not because they sought greatness for themselves, but because they understood greatness as service.