Basil

Holy Hierarch Basil was bishop of Gortyna and thereby archbishop of Crete, successor of Saint Eumenius (18 September).

In 680 and 681 he took part in the Sixth Ecumenical Council at Constantinople, held in the Trullo hall, with the bishops John of Lampe and Gregory of Kantanos. The council condemned Monothelitism and its supporters. During its work Basil's theological training and sharpness were evident. The acts preserve a speech of his addressed to the emperor Constantine IV Pogonatus, in which he shows the error of the heresy, and also his dialogue with the heretical monk Stephen, a disciple of the heretical patriarch Macarius of Antioch, who was considered a great theologian. Basil signed not only as bishop of Gortyna and archbishop of Crete but also as "legate of the whole Synod of the apostolic see of Elder Rome". He also took part in the Quinisext Council of 691 or 692, with the bishops Nicetas of Kydonia, Sissinius of Chersonesos and Theopemptus of Kissamos. That council completed the work of the Fifth and Sixth Councils with 102 canons. Basil signed both as bishop of Gortyna and as holding the place of the whole synod of the Church of Rome.

In 2006 Metropolitan Makarios of Gortyna and Arcadia consecrated a chapel in the name of Saint Basil at the Saint Nicholas dependency of the Koudouma Monastery. He is commemorated on 16 September, in the calendar of the Church of Greece (new style).