Basil the Great was a Trinitarian who studied with Gregory Nazianzus. He was against what he called "Jewish literalism" (his words), while stressing the need for reserve in interpreting doctrine and the sacraments. He did not embrace allegory to the extent his contemporaries did. He saw them as fantasists. In this way he was virtually a Platonist. The Spirit is a part of the Trinity but not its essence, so he did not wrestle with the apparent paradoxes of later Trinitarians.
