Basil or Basilius

Basil Or Basilius some time a physician, was ordained bishop of Ancyra by the bishops of the Eusebian party in the room of Marcellus, whom they had deposed; but Basil was himself excommunicated, and his ordination annulled, in the council of Sardica in 347, though he still retained the see. He was an opponent of the Arians, but was still considered as the head of the Semi- Arians. This opinion Basil procured to be established by a council held at Ancyra in the year 358, and subsequently defended it both at Seleucia and Constantinople against the Eudoxians and Acacians, by whom he was deposed in 360. Jerome (De Viris illust. 89) informs us that Basil wrote a book against Marcellus, his predecessor, a treatise De Virginitate, and some other smaller pieces, of which no remains are extant. Basil is warmly commended by Theodoret for his exemplary life, which was probably the secret of his influence with the emperor Constantius; and Sozomen speaks of him as celebrated for learning and eloquence. See. Cave, Hist. Lit. anno 347; Dupin, Eccl. Writers, cent. 4; Theodoret, Hist. Eccles.2:27; Sozomen, Hist. Eccles.bk. 2; Socrates, Hist. Eccles.bk. 2; Lardner, Works, 3, 589.