ABSTRACT
While Emperor Valens was engaged at the Danube frontier, St Basil consolidated his position, becoming the most authoritative 'clerical voice' in Cappadocia. In the year 368 Cappadocia was faced with a great famine, and St Basil succeeded in bringing comfort to the poor by selling a part of his fortune. The statement is based both on the theological differences between Valens and Basil, but also on the fact that the persons who presented their meeting were the two Saints Gregory of Nyssa, his brother, and of Nazianzen, friend of St Basil the Great. One of the oldest accounts of the confrontation of Emperor Valens with St Basil is rendered by the latter's brother, St Gregory of Nyssa, in his work, Against Eunomius. The panegyric written by St Gregory of Nazianzus at the death of his friend represents our main source for the life of St Basil.
