David DeMarco - The relationship of Gregory of Nyssa to Basil of Caesarea as seen in their treatments of Genesis 1

The exegesis of Genesis 1 is a very important starting point for discerning the relationship between Gregory of Nyssa and his older brother Basil. This is so not only because Gregory discusses the same subject as Basil, but also because he does so while self-consciously reflecting on his relationship to his brother. In the beginning of Gregory’s In Hexaemeron, he, in fact, calls Basil his father and teacher. He states that the part of the impetus for his work is the fact that there are lingering questions about Basil’s homilies on Genesis 1. He claims that people who have these questions have lost sight of Basil’s aim and audience. Basil had to address the uneducated, while still engaging the educated. By implication, however, Gregory’s primary audience is the educated. Furthermore, Gregory is concerned with demonstrating the coherent logical sequence in the creation account. Gregory feels these two reasons are sufficient justification for him to reach different conclusions from Basil. However, he does not want to compete with Basil, or to be seen as teaching authoritative doctrine for the church, but rather as engaging in an intellectual exercise. He asserts, though, that he will (like Basil) abide by a literal interpretation and not venture into the realm of allegory.

This programmatic material gives us Gregory’s account of his relationship to Basil and puts us in the position of being able to not only compare the works with each other, but also to compare Gregory’s self-presentation with his praxis. While Gregory's text could be largely comprehensible on its own, large sections of Basil's work, of course, lie in the background. What is interesting is that one can often find small sections in Basil that Gregory has significantly expanded upon and reworked. By looking at these sections, the commonalities and differences of assumptions and methods will become clearer. Some examples: The use of Aquila (unnamed) in Basil (GCS 12:2-4) and Gregory (GNO16:14f.) to develop different ideas of the initial creation, as well as Gregory’s further use of versions (GNO 28:12f). In the first homily (GCS 5:9-10) Basil asserts that God created by the decision of his will alone and Gregory expands on this (GNO 14:13f.). Finally, Gregory’s treatment of the upper waters is important in regard to his claim to stick to the literal interpretation, and to observe how he positions himself in relation to Basil.