Feast of the Three Holy Hierarchs

St Basil the Great, St Gregory Nazianzus (aka the Theologian), and St John Chrysostom. These three figures together embody a veritable powerhouse of uncompromising virtue, philosophical acumen, and spiritually edifying eloquence. St Basil was the oldest of the three, attending his classical studies in Athens alongside St Gregory and also alongside Julian, the eventual apostate emperor (knowledge without virtue is dangerous)! In a treatise dedicated to the topic, St Basil defended the reading of pagan Greek literature as an important part of education for Christians; it prepares them for reading the Scriptures, familiarizing them with images of virtuous (and vicious) living, as well as with literary genres and conventions. Julian, meanwhile, realized this, and during his brief reign he forbade Christians from studying or teaching literature.

St Basil also delivered scathing homilies against greed and the hoarding of wealth, and composed rules for monastic life, which filtered into the West via St. John Cassian, where they eventually formed the basis for the monastic rule of St Benedict almost two centuries later.