Basilian monks
order of Catholic monks
Basilian monks are Eastern Christian monks who follow the rule of Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea (330–379). The term 'Basilian' is typically used only in the Catholic Church to distinguish Greek Catholic monks from other forms of monastic life in the Catholic Church. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, all monks follow the Rule of Saint Basil, and so do not distinguish themselves as 'Basilian'.
The monastic rules and institutes of St. Basil are important because their reconstruction of monastic life remains the basis for most Eastern Orthodox and some Greek Catholic monasticism. Benedict of Nursia, who fulfilled much the same function in the West, took his Regula Benedicti from the writings of Basil and other earlier Church Fathers.
Rule of St. Basil
All religious who follow the Rule of St. Basil are embraced within the term "Basilians", although the "Rule" is not a singular document like various Western monastic rules; rather, it is a collection of Basil's responses to questions about the ascetic life: hence a more accurate, original name is Asketikon.
Attribution of the Rule and other ascetical writings to St.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q948392. The Library of Congress control number is sh85012097. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Basilian monks” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.