Basil of Caesarea and Transubstantiation

Q. Did Basil advocate the Roman dogma of transubstantiation?

Basil the Great, Bishop of Cæsarea Mazaca (c. 329/30-379 A.D.):

Of what advantage, therefore, are these words? That both eating and drinking we may be mindful of His death and resurrection for us. …For who eats and drinks, forsooth, to the indelible  remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, Who died and rose again for our sakes, etc. (J. P. Minge, Patrologiæ Cursus Completus, [1857], Patrologiæ Græcæ, Tomus XXXI, Basilii Magni, De Baptismo, Liber I, Caput III, § 2, Col. 1576). Here Trans. (J. H. Treat, The Catholic Faith; Or, Doctrines of the Church of Rome Contrary to Scripture and the Teaching of the Primitive Church, [1888], p. 207). Here

On John 6:

We eat the flesh of Christ, and drink His blood, if we, through His incarnation and human life, become partakers of the Logos and of wisdom 1015. (Epist. viii. c. 4 [or Ep. 141 in the older editions]) see (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 3, § 95. The Sacrament of the Eucharist). Here

 

Footnote 1015: 

Epist. viii. c. 4 (or Ep. 141 in the older editions): Τρώγομεν γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὴν σάρκα καὶ πίνομεν αὐτοῦ τὸ αἷμα, κοινωνοὶ γινόμενοι διὰ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως καὶ τῆς αἰσθητῆς ζωῆς τοῦ λόγου καὶ τῆς σοφίας. Σάρκα γὰρ και αἷμα πασᾶν αυτοῦ τὴν μυστικὴν ἐπιδημίαν [i. e., a spiritual incarnation, or His internal coming to the soul, as distinct from His historical incarnation] ὠνόμασε καὶ τὴν ἐκ πρακτικῆς καὶ φυσικῆς καὶ θεολογικῆς συνεστῶσαν διδασκαλίαν, δἰ ἧς τρέφεται ψυχὴ καὶ πρὸς τῶν ὄντων θεωρίαν παρασκευάζεται. Καὶ τοῦτὸ ἐστι τὸ ἐκ τοῦ ῥητοῦ ἴσως δηλούμενον. This passage, overlooked by Klose, Ebrard, and Kahnis, but noticed by Rückert and more fully by Steitz (l.c. p. 127 ff.), in favor of the symbolical view, is the principal one in Basil on the Eucharist, and must regulate the interpretation of the less important allusions in his other writings.

 

See also:

“He that eateth me,” He says, “he also shall live because of me;” for we eat His flesh, and drink His blood, being made through His incarnation and His visible life partakers of His Word and of His Wisdom. For all His mystic sojourn among us He called flesh and blood, and set forth the teaching consisting of practical science, of physics, and of theology, whereby our soul is nourished and is meanwhile trained for the contemplation of actual realities. This is perhaps the intended meaning of what He says. (Philip Schaff, NPNF2, Vol. VIII, The Letters, Letter VIII.4 [To the Cæsareans. A defence of his withdrawal, and concerning the faith]). Here

~ Soli Deo Gloria