In his funeral oration for St Basil, St Gregory of Nazianzus calls him a "standard of virtue," a "noble champion of the truth," and a "second Joseph" for feeding the hungry in a time of famine. On the Holy Spirit is a classic expression of the Church's faith in the Spirit and a lasting testimony to Basil's Christian erudition. Again in the words of Gregory, Basil's treatise was "written by a pen borrowed from the Spirit's store."