Basil of Cilicia

Basil Of Cilicia was, according to Photius (Cod. 42, 107), a priest of the Church of Antioch when Flavianus governed that see in the reign of Anastasius, and afterwards became bishop of Irenopolis in Cilicia; for there is no reason to doubt that he was the same with the Basil mentioned by Suidas. He died (after the year 518, and wrote an Ecclesiastical History, in three, books. The first began A.D. 450 and ended 483; the second carried it down to 518; and the third contained the actions of the emperor Justin. "He also," writes Photius, "composed a treatise against John of Scythopolis, whom he loads with many reproaches, accuses him of Manichaeism, of reducing the period of the Lent fast to three weeks, and of permitting to eat birds during that time." Also he charges him with not waiting for the communion till the sacrifice was ended, but taking the holy mysteries immediately after the Gospel, that he might the sooner get home to his own dinner. This treatise was in sixteen books; and it appears, from the summary given by Photius, that Basil decidedly held the views of Nestorius on the subject of the two natures. Suidas asserts that he also wrote a work against Archelaus, a priest of Colonea. See Dupin, History of Ecclesiastical Writers, i, 541; Cave, Historia Literaria, i, 466.