Patron of hospital administrators
St. Basil the Great was born at Caesarea of Cappadocia in 330. He was one of ten
children
of St. Basil the Elder and St. Emmelia. Several of his brothers and
sisters are honored among the saints. He attended school in Caesarea,
as well as
Constantinople and Athens, where he became acquainted with St. Gregory Nazianzen in 352. A little later, he opened a school of
oratory in Caesarea and practiced law. Eventually he decided to become a
monk and found a monastery in
Pontus
which he directed for five years. He wrote a famous monastic rule which
has proved the most lasting of those in the East. After founding
several other monasteries, he was ordained and, in 370, made
bishop of Caesaria. In this post until his death in 379, he continued to be a
man
of vast learning and constant activity, genuine eloquence and immense
charity. This earned for him the title of "Great" during his
life and
Doctor of the Church after his death. Basil was one of the giants of the early Church. He was responsible for the victory of Nicene
orthodoxy over
Arianism in the Byzantine East, and the
denunciation of
Arianism at the Council of
Constantinople
in 381-82 was in large measure due to his efforts. Basil fought simony,
aided the victims of drought and famine, strove for a better clergy,
insisted on a rigid clerical discipline, fearlessly denounced
evil
wherever he detected it, and excommunicated those involved in the
widespread prostitution traffic in Cappadocia. He was learned,
accomplished in statesmanship, a
man of great personal holiness, and one of the great orators of Christianity. His
feast day is January 2.
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