Hierarch Basil the Great

Hierarch Basil was born around 330 in Caesarea of Cappadocia into a deeply devout Christian family — his grandmother Macrina the Elder, parents Basil the Elder and Emilia, brother Gregory of Nyssa, and sister Macrina the Younger are also numbered among the saints. He received a brilliant education in Caesarea, Constantinople, and Athens, where he became friends with St. Gregory the Theologian. After turning to a strict ascetic life, he traveled among the monastic communities of Egypt, Syria, and Palestine, then established his own community on the banks of the Iris River, composing a coenobitic monastic rule that had an enormous influence on all subsequent Eastern monasticism. In 370 he was elected Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia. He zealously defended the Orthodox teaching on the Holy Trinity against the Arian heresy, for which he was pressured by pro-Arian authorities, but remained unyielding. He became renowned for his extensive pastoral, theological, and charitable activity: he founded a vast complex of charitable institutions near Caesarea (the "Basiliad") — a hospital, a hostel for travelers, and a shelter for lepers. He left behind a rich theological legacy: dogmatic works against the Arians ("Against Eunomius"), ascetic rules, letters, homilies on the Hexaemeron, and he also compiled the order of the Divine Liturgy that still bears his name and is celebrated in the Orthodox Church several times a year. He died on January 1, 379. The Church numbers him among the Three Ecumenical Teachers and Hierarchs together with Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom. His memory is kept on January 1/14 (day of repose), as well as January 30/February 12 in the Synaxis of the Three Hierarchs.