Bishop Basil of Amphipolis was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1938, but grew up from the age of three in the United States of America. He was introduced to Russian Orthodoxy in 1957 by Father Michael Gelsinger, Professor of Classics at the University of Buffalo, New York, who also had a small, English-language parish in Buffalo.

He married his wife, Rachel, in 1962, after service in the US Army. They had three children: Jacob, born 1970, Michael 1972, and Mary 1976. While working on a doctorate in Classics, he came to Britain in 1966 to work with Professor Constantine Trypanis, Professor of Byzantine and Modern Greek at Oxford University. He received his doctorate from the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1969. He was ordained deacon by Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh (Moscow Patriarchate) in 1969, and priest in 1973, serving the Russian Parish of the Annunciation in Oxford. In 1980, he became Editor of Sourozh, the Diocesan Journal.

Following Rachel's death in 1991, he was consecrated within the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate Bishop of Sergievo in 1993 to assist Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh. After the death of Metropolitan Anthony in August 2003, he was appointed by the Holy Synod to administer the Diocese of Sourozh. On 9 May 2006, Patriarch Alexis II issued a decree in which he was relieved of his duties as administrator of the Diocese of Sourozh, and sent into retirement. Report on the activities of the Diocese of Sourozh in 2005, under Bishop Basil's administration.

The Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumencal Patriarchate during its meeting on June 8 2006 under the presidency of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, examined the appeal of His Grace Basil, Bishop of Sergievo, to the Ecumenical Patriarch and unanimously decided to accept under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate the above named Bishop, placing him in the Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe. Thereafter the Holy and Sacred Synod proceeded, at the request of Archbishop Gabriel of Komana, head of the above mentioned Exarchate, to elect Bishop Basil with the title of Bishop of Amphipolis, as his auxiliary Bishop, to serve the pastoral needs of Orthodox living in Great Britain who desire to place themselves under the jurisdiction of the Exarchate.