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St Basil the Great Resources Online and in Print
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130 Pages
Page 78
The excommunication reserved for certain gross sins is represented [525] as a necessary means enjoined by St. Paul to prevent the spread of wickedness. It is said [526] to be an old tradition that on leaving Paradise Adam went to live in Jewry, and there died; that after his death, his skull appearing bare, it was carried to a certain place hence named "place of a skull," and that for this reason Jesus Christ, Who came to destroy death's kingdom, willed to die on the spot where the first fruits of mortality were interred. [527]
On Is. v. 14, "Hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure," [528] it is remarked that these are figurative expressions to denote the multitude of souls that perish. At the same time an alternative literal meaning is admitted, the mouth being the opening through which the souls of the damned are precipitated into a dark region beneath the earth.
It is noted in some mss. that the Commentary was given to the world by an anonymous presbyter after St. Basil's death, who may have abstained from publishing it because it was in an unfinished state. Erasmus was the first to undertake to print it, and to translate it into Latin but he went no further than the preface. It was printed in Paris in 1556 by Tilmann, with a lengthy refutation of the objections of Erasmus. [529]
[525] S: 55.
[526] S: 141.
[527] The tradition that Adam's skull was found at the foot of the cross gave rise to the frequent representation of a skull in Christian art. Instances are given by Mr. Jameson, Hist. of our Lord, i. 22. Jeremy Taylor, (Life of our Lord, Part iii. S: xv.) quotes Nonnus (In Joann. xix. 17): Eisoke choron hikane phatizomenoio kraniou Adam protogonoio pheronumon antugi korses. cf. Origen, In Matt. Tract. 35, and Athan, De Pass. et Cruc. Jerome speaks of the tradition in reference to its association with the words "As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive," as "smooth to the ear, but not true." One version of the tale was that Noah took Adam's bones with him in the ark; that on Ararat they were divided, and the head fell to Seth's share. This he buried at Golgotha. cf. Fabricius i. 61.
[528] LXX. eplatunen ho ;;Ades ten phuchen autou kai dienoixe to stoma autou.
[529] cf. Ceillier VI. viii. 2.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/basil/life-works.asp?pg=78
