My paper explores how Basil of Caesarea and the emperor Julian presented speaking, hearing, and seeing—the physical actions of ancient education (paideia)—as means of healing both the body and the soul. Susanna Elm has shown how Gregory of Nazianzus drew on the classical idea of the philosopher as “physician of the soul” to fashion his own role as a priest who healed his Christian community with words (logoi) and the Word (Christ theLogos). Basil and Julian, who studied with Gregory at Athens in 355, also drew upon the idea of the philosopher as physician to construct their roles as educated leaders of communities. In a letter to Gregory written in 358 (Ep. 2), Basil described his life of ascetic retreat at Annisa in Pontus as a purification that would “re-shape” the body and soul through words and images that would lead to God. Julian, meanwhile, in a letter written in 363 (Ep. 89), advised Theodoros, arch-priest of Asia Minor, that priests needed to preserve their purity by controlling what images went into their bodies and what words went out of them. Basil and Julian both drew upon ancient ideas of how words and images entered into the body through the air (pneuma) and regulated a person’s health. For them, however, pneuma regulated not only physical, but also spiritual health. Thus, for Basil and Julian the proper speaking, hearing, and seeing all served as symbols of proper physical health, educated status, and religious affiliation.
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