A saint's day
The Three Holy Hierarchs
The Church keeps together three great hierarchs, teachers of the whole Church: St Basil the Great, St Gregory the Theologian and St John Chrysostom. Basil, Archbishop of Caesarea, was a father of monastic life who built a city of care for the poor and the sick; Gregory, Archbishop of Constantinople, was the poet of the Holy Trinity; and John, the “golden-mouthed” preacher, also served as Archbishop of Constantinople. St Basil's Liturgy is served on great days, and St John's is the Divine Liturgy the faithful hear most often.
The dates
- Kept on
- 30 January (12 February on the Old Calendar)
- Next, New Calendar
- Next, Old Calendar
The New Calendar (the Greek, Antiochian, Romanian and Bulgarian churches, the OCA and most converts) keeps fixed feasts on the church date; the Old Calendar (the Russian, Serbian and Georgian churches, Jerusalem and Mount Athos) keeps them 13 days later. Pascha and the feasts that follow it are kept on the same day by both.
How the day is kept
Greek schools keep the day as the feast of letters and learning.
Greek students keep the Three Hierarchs as their patrons of learning, while Slavic students pray to St Sergius of Radonezh before exams.
Name days
These names keep their name day on this feast: