THREE HIERARCHS – The Orthodox Church considers in particular three bishops (hierarches) of the Church as Her most important Teachers and Fathers, who contributed to the development and the spiritual growth of the Church. They are St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian, and St. John Chrysostom. Their feast day is observed on January 30.
During the eleventh century, disputes raged in Constantinople about which of the three hierarchs was the greatest. By the will of God, the three hierarchs appeared to St. John Mauropous (‘Black-foot’), Bishop of Euchaita (June 14 or October 5), in the year 1084, and said that they were equal before God: “There are no divisions among us, and no opposition to one another.” St. John chose one feast day for all three, January 30, thus peacefully ending the controversy.