FEAST OF THE THREE HOLY HIERARCHS (JAN. 30TH)

Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom, Confessors, Doctors of the Church, and Teachers of the Divine Mysteries

Edited by Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West) 

In the days when the Church yet contended openly with the errors of heretics and the pride of emperors, God in His mercy raised up three luminaries, equal in faith though diverse in gift, whose harmony of doctrine preserved the unity of the Apostolic confession. These are Basil, Gregory, and John; bishops of the holy Church, defenders of the consubstantial Trinity, and preachers whose words yet sound in the assemblies of the faithful.

St. Basil, called the Great, was born in Cappadocia of a family sanctified by confession and suffering. Trained in the wisdom of the Greeks yet humbled by ascetic discipline, he united the rigor of the desert with the order of the Church. As bishop of Caesarea, he defended the Godhead of the Holy Spirit against those who dared to number Him among creatures, teaching with clarity that the Spirit is worshiped and glorified together with the Father and the Son. He ordered the common life of monks not as fugitives from the world, but as witnesses to the Kingdom within it, and adorned the Church with liturgical prayers full of awe and majesty. His mercy to the poor, the sick, and the forgotten was itself a living theology, proclaiming that right belief must issue in right love.

St. Gregory, called the Theologian, was St. Basil’s companion in study and in soul, yet his calling was of a gentler fire. Reluctant to rule yet compelled by obedience, he bore the burden of episcopal office in times of strife and misunderstanding. In Constantinople, amid a city divided by false doctrine, he proclaimed the mystery of the Trinity with poetic precision and trembling reverence, teaching the Church how to speak rightly of God without presumption. He confessed that God is known truly, yet never exhaustively; clearly, yet never casually. His sermons on the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit remain a rule for all Christian speech about the Divine Nature, and his humility in withdrawing from honor preserved the peace of the Church more surely than many triumphs.

St. John, called Chrysostom, the “Golden-Mouthed”, was formed by ascetic labor and inflamed with love for the Scriptures. As presbyter and later as Archbishop of Constantinople, he opened the Word of God with such clarity that the people heard in him the voice of the Apostles themselves. He rebuked injustice without fear, called both rich and poor to repentance, and proclaimed the Eucharist as the fire that consumes sin and restores the image of God in man. For his boldness he was exiled, worn down by hardship, and finally offered his life in patience and hope, sealing his preaching with suffering. Even in death, his last words were praise to God.

Though differing in temperament and labor, these three were one in faith. St. Basil taught the order of the Church, St. Gregory the mystery of God, and St. John the living application of the Gospel. Together they form a single voice: orthodoxy confessed, doxology proclaimed, and charity embodied. For this cause the Church, guided by the Spirit, established one common feast for them, that no party might divide their witness nor elevate one against the others, but that all might learn harmony in truth.

Their teaching remains the measure of Christian theology: Trinitarian without confusion, pastoral without compromise, eloquent without vanity, and holy without severity. In them the East and the West recognize not strangers, but Fathers, and pillars of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

COLLECT

O Almighty and everlasting God, who didst raise up thy servants Basil, Gregory, and John to be faithful bishops, wise teachers, and fearless preachers of thy holy Word; grant, we beseech thee, that, following their doctrine, example, and godly discipline, we may hold fast the faith once delivered to the saints, confess thee rightly as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and proclaim thy truth with both charity and courage; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.