Synaxis Synaxis of the Three Hierarchs: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom

The Synaxis of the Three Hierarchs — Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom — is celebrated on January 30 (February 12). The feast was established in Byzantium in the 11th century under Emperor Alexios I Komnenos: a dispute arose among the faithful over which of the three great hierarchs surpassed the others, with partisans of each citing arguments in favor of their chosen saint. The dispute was resolved by a miraculous appearance: all three hierarchs appeared to Metropolitan John Mauropous of Euchaita and declared that before God they were equal and held no disagreement among themselves, commanding that a joint feast be established for them on a single day to end the disputes over precedence. Since then, on January 30 the Church jointly honors the memory of the three greatest theologians and teachers of the fourth-century Christian East, who left behind a rich legacy of dogmatic, moral, and liturgical writings that became the foundation of Orthodox theology and worship. The day is also observed as a feast of Orthodox education and theological schooling.