Saint Basil the Great summary

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Below is the article summary. For the full article, see St. Basil the Great.

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

Saint Basil the Great, (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.

Saint Gregory of Nyssa Summary

Saint Gregory of Nyssa ; feast day March 9) was a philosophical theologian and mystic, leader of the orthodox party in the 4th-century Christian controversies over the doctrine of the Trinity. Primarily a scholar, he wrote many theological, mystical, and monastic works in which he balanced Platonic

saint Summary

Saint, holy person, believed to have a special relationship to the sacred as well as moral perfection or exceptional teaching abilities. The phenomenon is widespread in the religions of the world, both ancient and contemporary. Various types of religious personages have been recognized as saints,

asceticism Summary

Asceticism, (from Greek askeō: “to exercise,” or “to train”), the practice of the denial of physical or psychological desires in order to attain a spiritual ideal or goal. Hardly any religion has been without at least traces or some features of asceticism. The origins of asceticism lie in man’s

canon law Summary

Canon law, body of laws made within certain Christian churches (Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, independent churches of Eastern Christianity, and the Anglican Communion) by lawful ecclesiastical authority for the government both of the whole church and parts thereof and of the behaviour and