From the life of his sister St. Macrina, composed by their brother St.
Gregory of Nyssa; and from St. Gregory Naz. Or. 20. See also Theodoret,
Hist. Eccl. l. 4, c. 30. Rufin, l. 2., c. 9, and the judicious
compilation of Tillemont, in his life of St. Gregory of Nyssa, art. 6,
t. 9, p. 572.
About the year 387.
THE family of which St. Peter descended, was very ancient and
illustrious; St. Gregory Nazianzen tells us, that his pedigree was made
up of a list of celebrated heroes; but their names are long since buried
in oblivion, while those of the saints which it gave to the church, and
who despised the world and its honors, are immortal in the records of
the church, and are written in the book of life; for the light of faith,
and the grace of the Almighty, extinguishing in their breasts the sparks
of worldly ambition, inspired them with a most vehement ardor to attain
the perfection of Christian virtue, and changed their family into a
house of saints; three brothers were at the same time eminently holy
bishops, St. Basil, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. Peter of Sebaste; and
their eldest sister, St. Macrina, was the spiritual mother of many
saints and excellent doctors; their father and mother, St. Basil the
Elder, and St. Emolia, were banished for their faith in the reign of the
emperor Galerius Maximian, and fled into the deserts of Pontus; they are
recorded together in the Roman Martyrology, on the 30th of May: the
grandmother of our pious and fruitful family of saints, was the
celebrated St. Macrina the Elder, who was instructed in the science of
salvation, by St. Gregory Thaumaturgus. St. Peter of Sebaste was the
youngest of ten children, and lost his father in his cradle, some think
before he was born; and his eldest sister, Macrina, took care of his
education, in which it was her only aim to instruct him in the maxims of
religion, and form him to perfect piety; profane studies she thought of
little use, to one who designed to make salvation the sole end of all
his inquiries and pursuits, nor did he ever make them any part of his
employment, confining his views to a monastic state. His mother had
founded two monasteries, one for men, the other for women; the former
she put under the direction of her son Basil, the latter under that of
her daughter Macrina. Peter, whose thoughts were wholly bent on
cultivating the seeds of piety that had been sown in him, retired into
the house governed by his brother, situated on the bank of the river
Iris; when St. Basil was obliged to quit that post, in 362, he left the
abbacy in the hands of St. Peter, who discharged this office for {115}
several years with great prudence and virtue. When the provinces of
Pontus and Cappadocia were visited by a severe famine, he gave a
remarkable proof of his charity; human prudence would have advised him
to be frugal in the relief of others, till his own family should be
secured against that calamity; but Peter had studied the principles of
Christian charity in another school, and liberally disposed of all that
belonged to his monastery, and whatever he could raise, to supply with
necessaries the numerous crowds that daily resorted to him, in that time
of distress. Soon after St. Basil was made bishop of Caesarea in
Cappadocia, in 370, he promoted his brother Peter to the priesthood; the
holy abbot looked on the holy orders he had received as a fresh
engagement to perfection. His brother St. Basil died on the 1st of
January, in 379, and his sister Macrina in November, the same year.
Eustathius, bishop of Sebaste, in Armenia, a violent Arian, and a
furious persecutor of St. Basil, seems to have died soon after them, for
St. Peter was consecrated bishop of Sebaste in 380, to root out the
Arian heresy in that diocese, where it had taken deep root; the zeal of
a saint was necessary, nor can we doubt but God placed our saint in that
dignity for this purpose. A letter which St. Peter wrote, and which is
prefixed to St. Gregory of Nyssa's books against Eunomius, has entitled
him to a rank among the ecclesiastical writers, and is a standing proof,
that though he had confined himself to sacred studies, yet by good
conversation and reading, and by the dint of genius, and an excellent
understanding, he was inferior to none but his incomparable brother
Basil, and his colleague Nazianzen, in solid eloquence. In 381, he
attended the general council held at Constantinople, and joined the
other bishops in condemning the Macedonian heretics. Not only his
brother St. Gregory, but also Theodoret, and all antiquity, bear
testimony to his extraordinary sanctity, prudence, and zeal. His death
happened in summer, about the year 387, and his brother of Nyssa
mentions, that his memory was honored at Sebaste (probably the very year
after his death) by an anniversary solemnity, with several martyrs of
that city.[1] His name occurs in the Roman Martyrology, on the 9th of
January.
* * * * *
We admire to see a whole family of saints! This prodigy of grace, under
God, was owing to the example, prayers, and exhortations of the elder
St. Macrina, which had this wonderful influence and effect; from her
they learned most heartily and deeply to imbibe the true spirit of
self-denial and humility, which all Christians confess to be the
fundamental maxim of the gospel; but this they generally acknowledge in
speculation only, whereas it is in the heart that this foundation is to
be laid: we must entertain no attachment, says St. Gregory of Nyssa,[2]
to any thing, especially where there is most danger of passion, by some
sensual pleasure annexed; and we must begin by being upon our guard
against sensuality in eating, which is the most ancient enemy, and the
father of vice: we must observe in our whole life the most exact rule of
temperance, never making the pleasure of sense our end, but only the
necessity of the use we make of things, even those in which a pleasure
is taken. In another treatise he says,[3] he who despises the world,
must also renounce himself, so as never to follow his own will, but
purely to seek in all things the will of God; we are his in justice, his
will must be the law and rule of our whole life. This precept of dying
to ourselves, that Christ may live in us, and all our affections and
actions governed by his spirit, is excellently inculcated by St. Basil
the Great.[4]
Footnotes:
1. St. Gr. Nyss. ep. ad Flav. t. 3, p. 645.
2. St. Gr. Nyss. de Virg. c. 9.
3. St. Basil, in Ps. 34, de Bapt. l. 1, et interr. 237.
4. Id. de perfecta Christi forma.
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