Saint Basil the Great Hierarch (known as Basil of Caesarea), was the Greek bishop of Caesarea Mazaca in Cappadocia, Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) who with and Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa is referred to as the Cappadocian Father. He was an influential theologian who supported the Nicene Creed and opposed the heresies of the early Christian church. In addition to his work as a theologian, Basil was known for his care of the poor and underprivileged. Basil established guidelines for monastic life which focus on community life, liturgical prayer, and manual labor, and is remembered as a father of communal monasticism in Eastern Christianity.
Gregory the Theologian (known as Gregory of Nazianzus) was a 4th-century Archbishop of Constantinople, and theologian who is widely considered the most accomplished rhetorical stylist of the patristic age. Along with brothers Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa, he is known as one of the Cappadocian Fathers. In the Roman Catholic Church, he is numbered among the Doctors of the Church; in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches, he is revered as one of the Three Holy Hierarchs, along with Basil the Great and John Chrysostom. He is also one of only three men in the life of the Orthodox Church who has been officially designated "Theologian" by the epithet, the other two being St. John the Theologian, and St. Symeon the New Theologian.