St Basil the Great

Born at Caesarea in Cappadocia to a family that produced a whole company of saints — his grandmother Macrina, his mother Emmelia, his sister Macrina, and his brothers Gregory of Nyssa and Peter of Sebaste. He studied rhetoric at Athens beside his friend Gregory the Theologian, then walked away from a brilliant secular career, toured the ascetics of Egypt and Syria, and wrote the rules that still shape Orthodox monastic life. As archbishop of Caesarea from 370 he defended the Nicene faith against Arianism, famously refusing to yield to the emperor Valens' prefect, and built the Basiliad, a vast complex of hospitals and hostels for the poor at the city's edge. His treatise On the Holy Spirit and his Hexaemeron are landmarks of theology, and the Liturgy bearing his name is still served ten times a year, including on his feast.

St Basil the Great is also one of the Church Fathers — read their biography, works, and verse-by-verse commentary.