The Three Hierarchs Are The Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus and Last John Chrysostom

The Three Hierarchs are The Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus and last John Chrysostom. The Basil of Caesarea is also known as Saint Basil. He was born on, A.D. 329 and died January 1st 379, this means he lived for 50 years. This was surprising because I thought people back then lived a lot longer. He did a big thing for the Orthodox Church and that was defending the Orthodox faith against the heretical Arians. Arians are people born under the sign of Aries.

Aries is one of the twelve Olympians and he is also the son of Zeus and Hera. Basil of Caesarea also referred to as Basil was born into a wealthy family, The family was called Basil of Elder. His parents were known for piety, piety is a virtue that may include religious devotion, spirituality, or a mixture of both. His pregnant or as they called it maternal grandmother was a Christian martyr. She was eventually executed before Constantine the first conversion to being Orthodox.

After a little while of living his life, he met a man named Gregory also known as Gregory of Nyssa. He was one of Basil’s lifetime friends. He was also known as Basil the Great. Now getting into after his baptism Basil traveled in 357 to Palestine, Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia to study ascetics and monasticism. An ascetic is a person who practices severe self-discipline and abstention. a Monasticism also knew as monkshood is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Basil felt like he was drawn towards a communal religious life and by 358 he was gathering around a group of people who had similar disciples, including his brother Peter. Together they found a monastic place on his family’s property near Annesi. Basil ended up going to The Council of Constantinople as his school. Basil died right before the factional disturbances ended. He died slowly from a liver disease and excessive ascetic practices also contributed to his early health issues. A lot of people and historians are having trouble figuring out and can’t agree on his death date. The most common date of death on websites and it is January first 379 AD.

The next Three Hierarchs saint is Gregory of Nazianzus. Gregory of Nazianzus is also known as Gregory the Theologian or Gregory Nazianzen. Gregory was a 4th-century Archbishop of Constantinople and he was a theologian stated in one of his names. Gregory was born into a Greek family and in the family property of Karbala outside the village of Arianzus. The young Gregory and his brother, Caesarius, first studied at home with their uncle Amphilochios. In 361 Gregory returned to Nazianzus and was ordained a presbyter by his father, who wanted him to assist with caring for local Christians. To be ordained means to make someone a priest or minister; confer holy orders on. A presbyter is an elder or minister of the Christian Church. Gregory found the local Christian community split by theological differences and his father accused of heresy by local monks. Hersey is a belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious doctrine, especially Christian. Gregory spent the next few couple of years fighting against Arianism which threatened to divide the region of Cappadocia. In this tense environment, Gregory interceded on behalf of his friend Basil with Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea. Intercede means to intervene on behalf of another.

Gregory’s most significant and well worked theological contributions came from his defense of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. He really emphasized that Jesus did not go against to be God when he became a man, and he did not lose any of his good attributes when he took on human nature. Gregory thought that Christ was fully human, with a fully human soul. Some of Gregory’s theological writings suggest that, like his friend Gregory of Nyssa, he may have supported some form of the doctrine of apokatastasis, the belief that God will bring all of creation into peace and harmony with the Kingdom of Heaven. The Gregory of Nazianzus died on January 25, 390 AD.

The last saint/member of the Three Hierarchs is John Chrysostom. John Chrysostom was The Archbishop of Constantinople. He was an important Early Church Father. The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church are ancient and generally influential Christian theologians, some of who were great and essential teachers and great bishops. John was born in Antioch in 349 to Greek parents from Syria. John’s father died soon after his birth and he was raised by his mother. He was baptized in 368 or 373 and tonsured as a reader.

Tonsure mean to shave the hair on the crown of. In the autumn of 397, John was appointed Archbishop of Constantinople, after having been nominated without his knowledge by the eunuch Eutropius. He had to leave Antioch in secret due to fears that the departure of such a popular figure would cause civil unrest. The causes of John’s exile are not clear, though Jennifer Barry suggests that they have to do with his connections to Arianism. Other historians, including Wendy Mayer and Geoffrey Dunn, have argued that “the surplus of evidence reveals a struggle between Johannite and anti-Johannite camps in Constantinople soon after John’s departure and for a few years after his death”.