St. Amphilochius of Iconium

Amphilochius was trained in rhetoric and law before withdrawing from public life to a quieter part of Cappadocia. He cultivated a garden and cared for his aged father. His friendships with St. Basil and St. Gregory Nazianzen belonged to this period, though he feared that closer contact with Basil might lead to an ecclesiastical appointment he did not seek.

While travelling through Iconium, he was chosen as its bishop. Butler describes his reluctance and the encouragement Basil sent him. Their correspondence dealt with difficult questions of doctrine and discipline. Amphilochius held a council at Iconium and took part in the Council of Constantinople in 381, defending the faith concerning the Holy Ghost and the Son of God.

Only part of his literary work survives through quotations and fragments. Butler takes care to distinguish these witnesses from later writings wrongly attributed to him, including a legendary life of Basil. The account remembers both a learned defender of the faith and the man who had first sought retirement in order to serve God and attend to his father.