St. Basil was justly admired, not so much for his extraordinary learning and eloquence as for his profound humility and eminent zeal and piety. This is the only true greatness.

St. Gregory last days were spent in solitude and austerity. He wrote religious poetry, some of it autobiographical, of great depth and beauty. He was acclaimed simply as “the Theologian.”

SS Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen

Feast Day is January 2nd

Basil the Great (d. 379) Doctor of the Church. He was born in Caesarea, Cappadocia (modern Turkey), one of ten children of St. Basil the Elder and St. Emmelia. His grandmother was St. Macrina the Elder. While studying in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) and Athens, Greece, Basil was a classmate of St. Gregory Nazianzus and Emperor Julian the Apostate (r. 361-363). Baptized, Basil toured Palestine, Syria, and Egypt and established a hermitage on the Iris River in Pontus (modern southern Black Sea area). He was ordained in 363 in Caesarea and returned to Pontus. St. Gregory Nazianzus asked him to return to Caesarea in 365, and Basil became archbishop there in 370. Emperor Valens (r. 364-378), an Arian heretic, persecuted Basil, but he continued his opposition to the sect. He was responsible for the victory of the Nicene Creed, and when the Council of Constantinople was convened in 381, he set in motion the condemnation of Arianism. A man of great personal holiness, his works demonstrate his scholarly ability and deep spirituality. Among his writings are On the Holy Spirit, three books against Eunomius, and passages from Origen, a work he compiled with St. Gregory Nazianzus. Emperor Valens died in 378, and Emperor Gratian (r. 367-383) helped put an end to the spread of Arianism. Basil died soon after, on January 1, 379, and was buried in Caesarea. He is patron of the Order of St. Basil, a Doctor of the Church in the West, and a Holy Hierarch in the East. In liturgical art he is depicted as a bishop. Feast day: January 2.

from Saint of the Day Lives, Lessons and Feast, By Leonard Foley, O.F.M.; revised by Pat McCloskey, O.F.M.

Two Hearts – One Love