Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia

Basil was born about 330 in Caesarea in Cappadocia; his grandmother Macrina and his mother Emmelia raised him in the faith. He studied in Caesarea, Constantinople and Athens, where he befriended Gregory of Nazianzus, then visited the monks of Egypt and Syria and became a monk. In 370 he became archbishop of Caesarea.

Emperor Valens backed the Arian party, and his prefect Modestus threatened Basil with confiscation, exile and death. Basil replied that he owned only a worn cloak and a few books, and that death would bring him sooner to God. When Modestus said no one had ever spoken to him so boldly, Basil answered that he had perhaps never met a bishop. He founded hospitals and shelters for the poor, wrote rules for monks, and died on 1 January 379, aged 49.