St. Basil the Great

St. Basil the Great was born in Caesarea in Cappadocia in 330 AD. He came from a very holy family. His paternal grandmother was St. Macrina the Elder, his elder sister was St. Macrina the Younger, and St. Gregory of Nyssa was his brother. Also, one of his other brothers (there were 10 children total) was a bishop.

He received a very good education, aiming for a career as a rhetorician, as his father was. After becoming a Christian, St. Basil toured the eremitical (hermit-like) establishments of monasticism in Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia, and decided to follow such a way of life. Many people flocked to him as a spiritual father, and he wrote the rules of monasticism which most Orthodox monks follow to this day. St. Basil wrote He reposed in the Lord in 379 AD.

St. Basil was a prolific writer. He wrote quite a bit about the Holy Spirit and its relationship in the Holy Trinity. Most of his texts are not on the Internet, though (many haven't even been translated into English yet; they are in Classical Greek).

Some Writings from St. Basil the Great