72.  Joseph was a provider of corn,143    Gen. xli. 40. but in Egypt only, and not frequently, and of bodily food.  Basil did so for all men, and at all times, and in spiritual food, and therefore, in my opinion, his was the more honourable function.  Like Job, the man of Uz,144    Job i. 1. he was both tempted, and overcame, and at the close of his struggles gained splendid honour, having been shaken by none of his many assailants, and having gained a decisive victory over the efforts of the tempter, and put to silence the unreason of his friends, who knew not the mysterious character of his affliction.  “Moses and Aaron among His priests.”145    Ps. xcix. 6.  Truly was Moses great, who inflicted the plagues upon Egypt,146    Exod. vii. 8. et seq. and delivered the people among many signs and wonders, and entered within the cloud, and sanctioned the double law, outward in the letter, and inward in the Spirit.  Aaron was Moses’ brother,147    Ib. xxix. 4. both naturally and spiritually, and offered sacrifices and prayers for the people, as the hierophant of the great and holy tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.148    Heb. viii. 2.  Of both of them Basil was a rival, for he tortured, not with bodily but with spiritual and mental plagues, the Egyptian race of heretics, and led to the land of promise149    Ib. xi. 9. the people of possession, zealous of good works;150    Tit. ii. 14. he inscribed laws, which are no longer obscure, but entirely spiritual, on tables151    2 Cor. iii. 3. which are not broken but are preserved; he entered the Holy of holies,152    Exod. xxiv. 8; Heb. ix. 19. not once a year, but often, I may say every day, and thence he revealed to us the Holy Trinity; and cleansed the people, not with temporary sprinklings, but with eternal purifications:  What is the special excellence of Joshua?153    Josh. i. 2.  His generalship, and the distribution of the inheritance, and the taking possession of the Holy Land.  And was not Basil an Exarch?154    Exarch or Metropolitan.  Was he not a general of those who are saved by faith?155    Eph. ii. 8.  Did he not assign the different inheritances and abodes, according to the will of God, among his followers?  So that he too could use the words, “The lot is fallen unto me in pleasant places;156    Ps. xvi. 6. and “my fortunes are in Thy hands,”157    Ib. xxxi. 16. fortunes more precious than those which come to us on earth, and can be snatched away.

Ἰωσὴφ ἐγένετο σιτοδότης, ἀλλ' Αἰγύπτου μόνης καὶ οὐ πολλάκις καὶ σωματικῶς: ὁ δὲ πάντων καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ πνευματικῶς, ὅπερ ἐμοὶ τῆς σιτοδοσίας ἐκείνης αἰδεσιμώτερον. Μετὰ Ἰὼβ τοῦ Αὐσίτου καὶ πεπείραται καὶ νενίκηκε καὶ ἀνηγόρευται λαμπρῶς ἐπὶ τέλει τῶν ἄθλων, μηδενὶ τῶν τινασσόντων πολλῶν ὄντων κατασεισθείς, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ τῷ περιόντι τὸν πειραστὴν καταπαλαίσας καὶ τῶν φίλων τὴν ἀλογίαν ἐπιστομίσας ἀγνοούντων τὸ τοῦ πάθους μυστήριον. Μωϋσῆς καὶ Ἀαρὼν ἐν τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν αὐτοῦ. Καὶ μέγας Μωϋσῆς μὲν Αἴγυπτον βασανίσας, λαὸν διασώσας ἐν σημείοις πολλοῖς καὶ τέρασι, τῆς νεφέλης εἴσω χωρήσας, νομοθετήσας τὸν διπλοῦν νόμον, τόν τε τοῦ γράμματος ἔξωθεν, καὶ ὅσος ἔνδοθεν τὸν τοῦ πνεύματος: Ἀαρὼν δὲ Μωϋσέως ἀδελφὸς καὶ τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα, τοῦ λαοῦ προθυόμενος καὶ προευχόμενος, μύστης τῆς ἱερᾶς καὶ μεγάλης σκηνῆς, ἣν ἔπηξεν ὁ Κύριος, καὶ οὐκ ἄνθρωπος. Τούτων δὲ ἀμφοτέρων ζηλωτὴς ἐκεῖνος, βασανίζων μὲν οὐ σωματικαῖς μάστιξι, πνευματικαῖς δὲ καὶ λογικαῖς, ἔθνος αἱρετικὸν καὶ Αἰγύπτιον: ἄγων δὲ λαὸν περιούσιον, ζηλωτὴν καλῶν ἔργων, ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, πλαξὶ δὲ νόμους ἐγγράφων οὐ συντριβομέναις, ἀλλὰ σωζομέναις, οὐκ ἔτι σκιοειδεῖς, ἀλλ' ὅλον πνευματικούς: εἰς δὲ τὰ ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων, οὐχ ἅπαξ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ, πολλάκις δὲ καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην, ὡς εἰπεῖν, εἰσιὼν τὴν ἡμέραν, ὅθεν τὴν ἁγίαν ἡμῖν ἀνακαλύπτει Τριάδα, καὶ λαὸν καθαίρων οὐ προσκαίροις ῥαντίσμασιν, ἀλλ' ἀϊδίοις ἁγνίσμασι. Τί τὸ κάλλιστον Ἰησοῦ; στρατηγία καὶ κληροδοσία, καὶ γῆς τῆς ἁγίας κατάσχεσις: ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἔξαρχος; οὐ στρατηγὸς τῶν διὰ πίστεως σωζομένων; οὐ κληροδότης τῶν διαφόρων παρὰ Θεῷ κλήρων καὶ μονῶν, ἃς διανέμει τοῖς ἀγομένοις; Ὥστε κἀκείνην δύνασθαι τὴν φωνὴν εἰπεῖν, ὅτι »Σχοινία ἐπέπεσόν μοι ἐν τοῖς κρατίστοις«: καί: »Ἐν ταῖς χερσί σου οἱ κλῆροί μου«: κλῆροι τῶν χαμαὶ ἐρχομένων καὶ ἁρπαζομένων πολλῷ τιμιώτεροι.