Sts. Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, January 2

Sts. Basil the Great (about 330–379) and Gregory Nazianzen (about 329–390) met as students in Athens and became lifelong friends, bishops in Cappadocia, in what is now Turkey, and two of the greatest Doctors of the Church. Basil gave the Eastern Church its monastic rule, built a whole city of care for the poor and the sick, and defended the divinity of the Holy Spirit; Gregory, “the Theologian,” preached the great sermons on the Holy Trinity that are still read today. The Church celebrates them together on January 2. Below is their friendship in Gregory’s own words, their lives, what they are patrons of, and a prayer to Sts. Basil and Gregory.

A short prayer to Sts. Basil and Gregory, written for this page:

Sts. Basil and Gregory, friends in Christ and teachers of the faith,
pray that our friendships may lead us to God,
that we may love the truth about the Holy Trinity,
and that we may serve the poor as Christ Himself. Amen.

“One soul inhabiting two bodies”

After Basil’s death, Gregory preached a funeral oration recalling their student years together in Athens (Oration 43, ch. 20):

We were impelled by equal hopes, in a pursuit especially obnoxious to envy, that of letters. Yet envy we knew not, and emulation was of service to us. We struggled, not each to gain the first place for himself, but to yield it to the other; for we made each other’s reputation to be our own. We seemed to have one soul, inhabiting two bodies. And if we must not believe those whose doctrine is “All things are in all;” yet in our case it was worthy of belief, so did we live in and with each other. The sole business of both of us was virtue, and living for the hopes to come, having retired from this world, before our actual departure hence. With a view to this, were directed all our life and actions, under the guidance of the commandment, as we sharpened upon each other our weapons of virtue; and if this is not a great thing for me to say, being a rule and standard to each other, for the distinction between what was right and what was not.

See the patron saint of friendship.

St. Basil the Great

Basil was born about 330 at Caesarea in Cappadocia into a family of saints: his grandmother St. Macrina the Elder, his parents St. Basil and St. Emmelia, his sister St. Macrina the Younger and his brother St. Gregory of Nyssa. After brilliant studies in Constantinople and Athens he became a monk, and the rules he wrote for monks shaped Eastern monasticism and influenced St. Benedict. Made bishop of Caesarea in 370, he stood firm against the Arian emperor Valens, defended the divinity of the Holy Spirit, and built outside the city a great complex of hospitals, hostels and workshops for the poor, the sick and travelers, called the Basiliad. He died on January 1, 379, worn out at about forty-nine. The Divine Liturgy of St. Basil is still celebrated in the Eastern Churches.

St. Gregory Nazianzen

Gregory, the son of the bishop of Nazianzus, was a gentle poet who longed for quiet and prayer, but Basil and the needs of the Church drew him into public life. In 379 he went to Constantinople, where the few remaining Catholics met in a small chapel, and there he preached his Five Theological Orations on the Holy Trinity, which earned him the title “the Theologian.” He presided for a time over the Council of Constantinople in 381, then resigned for the sake of peace and spent his last years writing poems and letters. He died about 390.

What are Sts. Basil and Gregory the patrons of?

St. Basil the Great is the patron of monks in the Eastern tradition, of hospital administrators and educators, and of Cappadocia.
St. Gregory Nazianzen is invoked by poets and theologians, and as a patron of harvests.
Together they are models of Christian friendship.

Feast day

The memorial of Sts. Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and Doctors of the Church, is January 2. Before 1969 St. Basil’s feast was June 14 and St. Gregory’s May 9. In the Eastern Churches, St. Basil is honored on January 1, and the two are honored with St. John Chrysostom as the “Three Holy Hierarchs” on January 30.

Frequently asked questions

When is the feast of Sts. Basil and Gregory?

January 2.

Why are Basil and Gregory celebrated together?

They were close friends from their student days, fought together for the faith in the Holy Trinity, and are both Doctors of the Church.

What is St. Basil the Great known for?

His monastic rule, his care for the poor through the Basiliad, his defense of the divinity of the Holy Spirit, and the Divine Liturgy that bears his name.

More saints

Texts and sources

St. Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 43, ch. 20, trans. C. G. Browne and J. E. Swallow, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, vol. 7 (1894), public domain (Wikisource).