Basil the Great, Saint (bă`zĭl, bā`–), c.330–379, Greek prelate, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, Doctor of the Church and one of the Four Fathers of the Greek Church. He was a brother of St. Gregory of Nyssa. In his student days at Athens he knew Julian, later Roman emperor, and began his lifelong friendship with St. Gregory Nazianzen Gregory Nazianzen, Saint (nāzēăn`zĭn), c.
..... Click the link for more information. . Converted to the religious life by his sister, St. Macrina, he withdrew (c.357) to a retreat in Pontus. There he wrote much of the Longer Rule and of the Shorter Rule; on these the life of the Basilian monks Basilian monks (bəzĭl`ēən), monks primarily of the Eastern Church. They follow the Rule of St.
..... Click the link for more information. is based. Through his rules Basil was a spiritual ancestor of St. Benedict. As counselor (365) and successor (370) of Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea and head of most of the church in Asia Minor, Basil established Nicene orthodoxy over Arianism Arianism (âr`ēənĭz'əm), Christian heresy founded by Arius in the 4th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. in the Byzantine East. His revision of the liturgy is occasionally used in the Byzantine rite. His works On the Holy Ghost and Against Eunomius are elegant, acute defenses of the Catholic system. In the West his feast is June 14.

Bibliography

See his letters tr. by R. J. Deferrari (4 vol., 1926–34); studies by G. L. Prestige (1956), E. Amand de Mendieta (1965), and M. G. Murphy (1971).

Basil the Great, Saint

St. Basil, detail of a mosaic, 12th century; in the Palatine Chapel, Palermo, Sicily, Italy.

(credit: Alinari/Art Resource, New York)

(born AD 329, Caesarea Mazaca, Cappadocia—died Jan. 1, 379, Caesarea; Western feast day January 2; Eastern feast day January 1) Early church father. Born into a Christian family in Cappadocia, he studied at Caesarea, Constantinople, and Athens and later established a monastic settlement on the family estate at Annesi. He opposed Arianism, which was supported by the emperor Valens and his own bishop Dianius, and organized resistance to it after 365. He succeeded Eusebius as bishop of Caesarea in 370. He died shortly after Valens, whose death in battle opened the way for the victory of Basil's cause. More than 300 of his letters survive; several of his Canonical Epistles have become part of canon law in Eastern Orthodoxy.