Nikolai Lipatov-Chicherin: The place of the ‘Commentary on the prophet Isaiah’ within the corpus of works of St Basil the Great.

The place of the ‘Commentary on the prophet Isaiah’ within the corpus of works of St Basil the Great.The paper makes a new contribution to the ongoing debate about the question of authorship of the ‘Commentary on the prophet Isaiah’ attributed by manuscripts to St Basil the Great. It starts with outlining objections raised by Erasmus, Garnier and their followers and proceeds to demonstrate their basic errors. Then the paper evaluates the text in terms of its language, style, theological ideas, historical background and reflections of the author’s personality. From the point of view of the speaker the book not only meets formal criteria for a genuine work of Basil but occupies an important and organic position within his oeuvre. It provides a focal point for the development of many of his ideas reflected in subsequent writings and as such it is indispensable for understanding of the evolution of Basil’s personality and theological thinking.