From the Prologue of Ochrid
Under Emperor Constantius he endured much from the Arians. During that time he had become renowned as a great defender of Orthodoxy and a true shepherd of the rational flock in Ancyra. And when Julian the Apostate then ascended the throne and began persecution of the Christians, Basil publicly denounced this new impiety and strengthened his people in the faith. For this he was cast into prison. When Emperor Julian came to Ancyra, Basil was brought before the emperor, and the emperor began urging him to abandon the faith of Christ, promising him honors and wealth. Then Basil answered the emperor: "I believe in my Christ, Whom thou hast denied, and Who gave thee this earthly kingdom — but it shall soon be taken from thee. Art thou not ashamed of the altar beneath which thou wast saved from death as an eight-year-old boy, when they sought to kill thee?... Therefore this temporal kingdom shall soon be taken from thee, and thy body shall not be buried when thou dost give up thy soul in bitter torments." Julian was enraged and ordered that seven strips of skin be flayed from Basil's body every day. And the torturers did so for several days. When Basil again appeared before the emperor, he himself took one strip of his own skin and flung it in Julian's face, crying out: "Take it, Julian, and eat it, if such food is sweet to thee — but to me Christ is life!" This event was spread abroad through the city, and the emperor, out of shame, slipped away secretly from Ancyra to Antioch. They continued to torture Basil with red-hot iron until he gave up his soul to the Lord, for Whom he had suffered greatly, in the year 363.
