Basil, who was a follower of his predecessor Patriarch Thomas I of Jerusalem, was elected Patriarch of Jerusalem in 821. He actively opposed iconoclasm. In 836, he convened a council in Jerusalem that defended the veneration of icons. From the council, Basil sent this position of the council to emperor Theophilus in a letter carried by syncellus Michael. Theophilus, who was a confirmed iconoclast, jailed Michael upon his arrival.
In 841, Basil was able to fend off an attack on Jerusalem by the Arab rebel Abu Harb al-Mubarqa and his army of thirty thousand by buying him off.
Basil died the following year, 842, and was succeeded by Sergius I who was made the patriarch by the Arabs.
