Hierarch · c. 330–379
Basil the Great
Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia
New Calendar January 1 Old Calendar January 14
Why they are a saint
One of the Three Holy Hierarchs; wrote the longer Divine Liturgy still used on a handful of days, organized monastic life, and defended the faith against Arianism. The years given for this life are c. 330–379. The faithful ask his prayers as they do of the bishops who shepherded the Church.
Life
Saint Basil was born in 330 at Caesarea in Cappadocia into an illustrious Christian family; his mother, Saint Emilia, was the daughter of a martyr. Of the ten children of Basil and Emilia, five are numbered among the saints, among them Macrina, Gregory of Nyssa and Peter of Sebaste. He studied at Caesarea, where he met Saint Gregory the Theologian, then at Constantinople and Athens.
He was baptized and began an ascetic life, gathering monks around him in a common life; his friend Gregory joined him, and they laboured in strict abstinence and the study of Holy Scripture. When the emperor Valens, a resolute Arian, came to power, Basil returned to Caesarea to defend Orthodoxy. There he preached daily, composed his Liturgy, and wrote On the Six Days of Creation and monastic rules.
In 370 he was chosen Bishop of Caesarea. He used all his wealth and the income of his church for the destitute, building a poor-house in every centre of his diocese and a home for wanderers and the homeless at Caesarea. Worn out by labour and illness, he died on January 1, 379, at the age of 49. His head is kept in the Great Lavra on Mount Athos.
Sources: OCA Lives of the Saints. Retold in our own words.
Traditional patronage
The cited source names no specific patronage. In some countries a special bread, the Vasilopita, is blessed in his honour on his feast.
Patronage / why chosen as patron
Patron of students and teachers, monastics, liturgists, because he lived the monastic life of prayer and asceticism and he taught and wrote in defence of the faith.
Prayer
O holy Basil the Great, pray to God for us.
A short general prayer to a saint, not a liturgical text. No public-domain troparion for this saint is included.
Do not confuse with Basil of Ancyra; other Basils of Russia.