Our venerable and God-bearing Father Arsenius the Great was born in the year 354 at Rome into a pious Christian family, which provided him a fine education and upbringing. He studied rhetoric and philosophy, and mastered the Latin and Greek languages. St Arsenius gave up philosophy and the vanity of worldly life, seeking instead the true wisdom praised by St James "pure, peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits" (Jas. 3:17). He is commamorated by the Church on May 8.