Olga V. Alieva

The metaphor “paideia is the lesser mysteries” determines both the substantial and structural unity of St. Basil’s Address to the youth. Initially connected to the Eleusinian cult, the notions of the “lesser” and the “greater” mysteries by the time of St. Basil had formed part of the platonizing philosophical koine and had been consistently applied to the various levels of the philosophical progress. In Basil’s Address, as well as in two other epistles to the youth authored by Basil’s fellow Cappadocians Gregory of Nazianz (To Nicobulus) and Amphilochius of Iconium (To Seleucus), this imagery occupies a prominent place and underlies the proposed model of interaction between Christianity and classical paideia.