The doctrinal writings of St. Basil of Caesarea were of key importance at the 1438-9 Ecumenical
Council of Ferrara-Florence. A short time later Bessarion commissioned rhetoric professor
George of Trebizond to translate the texts as a gift to Pope Eugenius IV. In addition to the
three books Contra Eunomium and the book De spiritu sancto the work includes the
pseudo-Basilian books IV and V Contra Eunomium and the short piece De spiritu .
