Blessed Saint Vasilii (Basil), Moscow Wonderworker
Commemorated on August 2
Blessed Saint
Vasilii (Basil), Moscow Wonderworker, was born in December 1468 on the
portico of the Elokhovsk church in honour of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy
Mother of God, outside Moscow. His parents were common folk and sent their son
for training in the cobbler's (shoemaker's) craft. During the time of teaching
his apprentice the master happened to be a witness to a certain remarkable
occurrence, wherein he perceived, that his student was no ordinary man. A
certain merchant had brought grain to Moscow on a barge and then went to order
boots, specifying to make them such and so, since he would not pick them up for
a year. Blessed Vasilii uttered weeping: "I would thee leave them such,
since thou will not wear them out". To the perplexed questioning of the
master the apprentice explained, that the man making the order would not put on
the boots, but rather would soon be dead. After several days the prediction
came true.
At age 16 the saint
arrived in Moscow and began the thorny exploit of foolishness. In the burning
Summer hear and in the crisp harsh frost he walked about bare-legged and
bare-foot through the streets of Moscow. His actions were strange: here he
would upset a stand with kalachi, and there he would spill a jug with kvas.
Angry merchants throttled the blessed saint, but he took the beatings with joy
and he thanked God for them. But then it was discovered, that the kalachi were
poorly cooked, the kvas was badly prepared. The reputation of Blessed Vasilii
quickly grew: in him they perceived a fool, a man of God, a denouncer of wrong.
A certain merchant
was intent to build on Pokrovna in Moscow a stone church, but thrice its arches
collapsed. The merchant turned for advice to the blessed saint, and he pointed
him toward Kiev: "Find there John the Cripple, he will give thee the advice,
how to construct the church". Having journeyed to Kiev, the Merchant
sought out John, who sat a poor hut and rocked an empty cradle. "Whom dost
thou rock?" – asked the merchant. "My beloved mother I do beweep,
long indigent for my birth and upbringing". Only then did the merchant
remember his own mother, whom he had thrown out of the house, and it became
clear to him, why he was in no wise able to build the church. Having returned
to Moscow, he brought his mother home, begged her forgiveness and built the
church.
Preaching mercy, the
blessed saint helped first of all those, who were ashamed to ask for alms, but
who all the while more were more in need of help than others. There was an
instance, where he gave away a rich imperial present to a foreign merchant, who
was left without anything at all and, although for three days already the man
had eaten nothing, he was not able to turn for help, since he wore fine
clothing.
Harshly did the
blessed saint condemn those, who gave alms for selfish reasons, not from
compassion for the poor and destitute, but hoping for an easy way to attract
the blessings of God upon their affairs. One time the blessed saint saw a
devil, which took on the guise of a beggar. He sat at the gates of the All-Pure
Virgin's church, and to everyone who gave alms, he rendered speedy help in
their affairs. The blessed saint exposed the wicked trick and drove away the
devil. For the salvation of one's neighbours Blessed Vasilii visited also the
taverns, where he endeavoured, even in people very much gone to ruin, to see a
grain of goodness, and to strengthen and encourage them by kindness. Many
observed, that when the saint passed by an house in which they madly made merry
and drank, he with tears clasped the corners of that house. They enquired of
the fool what this meant, and he answered: "Angels stand in sorrow at the
house and are distressed about the sins of the people, but I with tears entreat
them to pray to the Lord for the conversion of sinners".
Purified by great
deeds and by the prayer of his soul, the blessed saint was vouchsafed also the
gift of foreseeing the future. In 1547 he predicted the great conflagration of
Moscow; by prayer he extinguished a conflagration at Novgorod; one time he
reproached tsar Ivan the Terrible, that during the time of Divine-services he
was preoccupied with thoughts about the construction of a palace on the
Vorob'ev hills.
Blessed Vasilii died
on 2 August 1557. Saint Metropolitan of Moscow Makarii with an assemblage of
clergy made the funeral of the saint. His body was buried at the Trinity
church, in the trench where in 1554 was being annexed the Pokrov cathedral in
memory of the conquest of Kazan. The glorification of Blessed Vasilii was by a
Sobor-Council on 2 August 1588, which His Holiness Patriarch Job
proclaimed.
In a description of
the appearance of the saint characteristic details were preserved: "All
bare, in the hand a staff". The veneration of Blessed Vasilii was always
so strong, that the Trinity temple and the attached Pokrov church are to the present
named the temple of Blessed Vasilii [i.e. the famous Saint Basil's in Moscow].
The chains of the
saint are preserved at the Moscow Spiritual Academy.
© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.
