A short message about St. Basil the Blessed. Basil the Blessed - a short biography

Basil the Blessed(1469, the village of Yelokhovo near Moscow - August 2, 1552, Moscow) - Russian saint, holy fool: sometimes he is called "Vasily Nagoy".

Basil the Blessed - Moscow holy fool. He was born in December 1469 in the village of Yelokhovo (now within the city limits of Moscow), on the porch, where his mother came to pray for a "favorable resolution."

His parents, peasants, sent him to be trained in shoemaking. A hard-working and God-fearing young man, - the life tells, - Vasily was awarded the gift of insight, which was discovered by chance. After sixteen years and until his death, he performed the feat of foolishness, without shelter and clothing, subjecting himself to great hardships. The Life of the Blessed describes how he taught the people moral life by word and example. He went about without clothes all year round, spent the night in the open air, constantly fasted, and endured hardships.

He constantly denounced lies and hypocrisy. Contemporaries noted that this was almost the only person whom Tsar Ivan the Terrible was afraid of. Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible honored and feared the Blessed One, "like a seer of human hearts and thoughts." When, shortly before his death, Vasily fell into a serious illness, the tsar himself visited him with Tsarina Anastasia.

Basil the Blessed died on August 2, 1552 (sometimes 1551 is also mentioned). Ivan the Terrible and the boyars carried his coffin, and Metropolitan Macarius performed the burial.

Vasily's body was buried in the cemetery of the Trinity Church in the Moat. Since 1588, they began to talk about miracles taking place at the tomb of Blessed Basil; As a result, Patriarch Job determined to celebrate the memory of the miracle worker on the day of his death, August 2.

Wonders

Basil the Blessed is credited with many miracles, both during life and after death.

• A man came to the owner of Vasily to order boots and asked him to make them that he would not endure until his death. Vasily laughed and cried. After the merchant left, the boy explained his behavior to the master by saying that the merchant was ordering boots that he would not be able to wear, as he would soon die, which came true.
• One day, the thieves, noticing that the saint was dressed in a good fur coat, given to him by a certain boyar, planned to deceive it from him; one of them pretended to be dead, while others asked Vasily for burial. Vasily covered the dead man with his fur coat, but seeing the deceit, he said at the same time: “Fox fur coat, cunning, cover the fox case, cunning. From now on, be you dead for slyness, for it is written: let the sly ones be consumed. When the dashing people took off his fur coat, they saw that their friend was already dead.
• Once, Blessed Basil scattered kalachi in the bazaar at one kalachnik, and he confessed that he had mixed chalk and lime into the flour.
• The Book of Degrees tells that in the summer of 1547 Vasily came to the Ascension Monastery on Ostrog (now Vozdvizhenka) and prayed for a long time with tears in front of the church. The next day, the well-known Moscow fire began, namely from the Vozdvizhensky Monastery.
• While in Moscow, the saint saw a fire in Novgorod, which he put out with three glasses of wine.
• With a stone, he broke the image of the Mother of God on the Varvara Gates, which has long been considered miraculous. He was attacked by a crowd of pilgrims who flocked from all over Russia for the purpose of healing, and they began to beat him with a “mortal combat”. The holy fool said: “And you will scratch the paint layer!”. Having removed the paint layer, people saw that under the image of the Mother of God there was a "devil's mug".

St. Basil's Cathedral

The Moscow Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, on the Moat, began to be built in 1555 by order of Tsar Ivan the Terrible in memory of the capture of Kazan. After the canonization of the saint, by order of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich in 1588, a church in honor of St. Basil the Blessed was added to the Intercession Church - over the burial place of Basil, as narrated by a stylized inscription on the wall of this church. Today, the whole cathedral is better known as "St. Basil's Cathedral".

The memory of St. Basil the Blessed was celebrated in Moscow with great solemnity: the patriarch himself served, and the tsar himself was usually present at the service.

Blessed Basil - quotes

The great turmoil will continue in the kingdom for a long time until it is stopped by the great warrior called by all our people...

Basil the Blessed died on August 2, 1552 (sometimes 1551 is also mentioned). Ivan the Terrible and the boyars carried his coffin, while Metropolitan Macarius performed the burial.

Vasily's body was buried in the cemetery of the Trinity Church in the Moat, where Tsar Ivan the Terrible ordered the construction of the Pokrovsky Cathedral soon, in memory of the conquest of Kazan, better known as St. Basil's Cathedral. Since 1588, they began to talk about miracles taking place at the tomb of Blessed Basil; As a result, Patriarch Job determined to celebrate the memory of the miracle worker on the day of his death, August 2.

Since ancient times, the memory of the Blessed in Moscow has been celebrated with great solemnity: the patriarch himself served and the tsar himself was usually present at the service.

Wonders

Basil the Blessed is credited with many miracles, both during life and after death.

• A man came to the owner of Vasily to order boots and asked him to make them that he would not endure until his death. Vasily laughed and cried. After the merchant left, the boy explained his behavior to the master by saying that the merchant was ordering boots that he would not be able to wear, as he would soon die, which came true.
• One day, the thieves, noticing that the saint was dressed in a good fur coat, given to him by a certain boyar, planned to deceive it from him; one of them pretended to be dead, while others asked Vasily for burial. Vasily covered the dead man with his fur coat, but seeing the deceit, he said at the same time: “Fox fur coat, cunning, cover the fox case, cunning. From now on, be you dead for slyness, for it is written: let the sly ones be consumed. When the dashing people took off his fur coat, they saw that their friend was already dead.
• Once, Blessed Basil scattered kalachi in the bazaar at one kalachnik, and he confessed that he had mixed chalk and lime into the flour.
• The Book of Degrees tells that in the summer of 1547 Vasily came to the Ascension Monastery on Ostrog (now Vozdvizhenka) and prayed for a long time with tears in front of the church. The next day, the famous Moscow fire began, namely from the Vozdvizhensky Monastery.
• While in Moscow, the saint saw a fire in Novgorod, which he put out with three glasses of wine.
• With a stone, he broke the image of the Mother of God on the Varvara Gates, which has long been considered miraculous. He was attacked by a crowd of pilgrims who flocked from all over Russia for the purpose of healing, and they began to beat him with a “mortal combat”. The holy fool said: “And you will scratch the paint layer!”. Having removed the paint layer, people saw that under the image of the Mother of God there was a "devil's mug" hiding.

St. Basil's Cathedral

One of the most beautiful temples in the world. The Moscow Church of the Intercession of the Virgin in 1555, by order of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, began to be built in honor of the victory over Kazan. Another name for the cathedral is Pokrovsky Cathedral, sometimes instead of "cathedral" they say "temple". The cathedral is one of the most beautiful churches in Russia. Its architectural style is completely atypical for Russian churches, just as the life of St. Basil the Blessed is not like the life of most saints, and in memory of the capture of Kazan in 1552 (the capital of the Kazan Khanate, after the collapse of the Golden Horde).

Literature

• K. Yu. Erusalimsky, A. S. Preobrazhensky Basil the Blessed // Orthodox Encyclopedia. Volume VII. - M. : Church-Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia", 2004. - S. 123-131. - 752 p. - 39000 copies. - ISBN 5-89572-010-2
• Life of St. Basil the Blessed // Dictionary of scribes and bookishness of Ancient Russia. Issue. 1 (XI - the first half of the XIV century) / USSR Academy of Sciences. IRLI; Rep. ed. D. S. Likhachev. - L.: Nauka, 1987. - 493 p.

Links

• Cartoon about St. Basil the Blessed(TV series Gem Mountain)
• The painting "Basil the Blessed. (Prayer). The third part of the trilogy "Holy Russia" artist S.A. Kirillov. 1994 oil on canvas 140x100
• Painting "Moscow Wonderworker Blessed Basil" artist V.Yu.Grafov. 2006 oil on canvas 170x150

Categories:

• Personalities in alphabetical order
• Deceased August 2
• Deceased in 1552
• Saints in alphabetical order
• Holy fools
• Russian Orthodox saints
• Born in 1469
• Canonized in the 16th century
• Christian saints of the 16th century

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See what "Basil the Blessed" is in other dictionaries:

Basil the Blessed- holy fool of Moscow; died in 1551. The memory is celebrated on August 2. The relics are in the Moscow Intercession Cathedral, popularly called St. Basil the Blessed. Basil the Blessed was born in 1469 in the suburban village of Yelokhovo, Moscow. His parents... ... Biographical Dictionary

BASIL THE Blessed- (? 1569), Moscow holy fool. One of the most famous saints of the Russian Orthodox Church, was revered as a seer. In 1588, in the Pokrovsky Cathedral (on Red Square in Moscow), a chapel of V. B. was built, which gave the temple a second name. Source: ... ... Russian history

BASIL THE Blessed- (late 1468 or late 1462?, c. Elokhovo near Moscow? 2.08.1557?, Moscow), St. Holy fool for Christ's sake (commemorated August 2, Sunday before August 26 in the Cathedral of Moscow Saints). Sources The earliest source reporting on V. B. is “The Book ... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia

Basil the Blessed- holy fool of Moscow; died in 1552. The memory is celebrated on August 2. The relics are in the Moscow Intercession Cathedral, popularly called "Basil the Blessed". Basil the Blessed was born in 1469, in the Moscow suburban village of Yelokhovo.

Basil the Blessed- holy fool of Moscow; mind. 1552 Commemorated on 2 Aug. The relics are in the Moscow Intercession Cathedral, popularly called St. Basil the Blessed. Basil the Blessed was born in 1469 in the suburban village of Yelokhovo, Moscow. His parents are peasants... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Basil the Blessed- (1469 1557) saint (Comm. 2/15 August). Moscow fool. Born in the Moscow suburban village of Yelokhovo. He was given training in shoemaking. The industrious and God-fearing young man was awarded the gift of insight, which was discovered by accident ... Orthodox Encyclopedic Dictionary

Basil the Blessed (I)- Holy fool for Christ's sake, Moscow. miracle worker; † Aug 2 1552. (Polovtsov) ... Big biographical encyclopedia

Basil the Blessed (II)- Monk of the Savior Stone Monastery, commemorated 2 Aug. (Polovtsov) ... Big biographical encyclopedia

Basil the Blessed- (? 1569), Moscow holy fool. One of the most famous Moscow saints, whose gift of providence was revered even by Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible. In 1588, in the Intercession Cathedral (on Red Square in Moscow), a chapel of St. Basil the Blessed was built, which gave the whole temple ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Basil the Blessed- Vasiliy the Blessed ... Russian spelling dictionary

Books

• Basil the Blessed, F. G. Taratorkin, The life of St. Basil the Blessed was replete with exciting stories and vivid details. He predicted the Novgorod fire and the raid of the Crimean Khan, with accusatory speeches he trembled and ... Category:

Basil the Blessed, the most famous of the holy fools with whom Russia abounded, was born in 1468 in the village of Yelokhovo, not far from Moscow, into the family of pious peasants Jacob and Anna.

From childhood, he led an ascetic life, constantly prayed, and even then the first sprouts of Divine grace became visible in him. As a boy, he was apprenticed to a shoemaker. One day a merchant came into the shop and ordered a lot of new boots. Sixteen-year-old Vasily laughed at him. When the customer left, the owner began to ask the young man about the reasons for his behavior. Vasily replied that it was strange to order as many boots as would be enough for many years, because this person should die the next day. His prediction came true. After that, Vasily did not want to stay with the owner anymore, or return to his parents, and went to Moscow.

Lost in the noisy city crowd, he chose the ascetic path of feigned madness in order to partake as fully as possible of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ, completely refusing respect from people. Having no permanent home or even a place to lay his head, he lived almost naked on the streets and in public places, spending his nights in prayer on the church porch. Among the crowd, he kept his silence as strictly as hermits in the desert; forced to speak, he pretended to be tongue-tied. Having no close people, renouncing the world and its attachments, he showed great sympathy for the unfortunate, sick and oppressed. He often visited prisoners imprisoned for drunkenness in order to turn them to correction.

In an era when fear and oppression reigned in society, the life of St. Basil served as a living reproach to the unrighteous boyars and a consolation for the destitute. Almost all of his actions had a prophetic meaning. For example, the blessed one many times threw stones at the corners of houses where pious people lived, and when he passed by dwellings whose owners were slumped in sins, he kissed the corners of the walls. When asked about the reasons for such strange behavior, Vasily answered that in houses where holiness reigns there is no place for demons, and therefore, seeing them from the outside, he drove them away with stones. On the contrary, kissing the corners of wicked houses, he greeted the angels who remained outside, unable to enter inside. In the market, he knocked over the stalls of dishonest merchants. Once, having received money from the king, he, contrary to his custom, did not distribute it to the poor, but gave it to a well-dressed merchant, who, having lost his fortune, did not dare to beg and was dying of hunger.

In 1521, when the Tatar army of Mehmet Giray threatened Moscow, Saint Basil, shedding abundant tears, prayed for his homeland in front of the gates of the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin. Suddenly, a terrible noise was heard in the church, a flame broke out, and a voice from the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God announced that She was leaving Moscow because of the sins of its inhabitants. The saint intensified his prayers, and the terrible phenomenon disappeared. Mehmet Giray, who had already set the city suburbs on fire, was driven back from the city by the army that came to the rescue and fled beyond the borders of Russia.

Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible loved Blessed Basil and treated him with great reverence, just like the holy Metropolitan Macarius. One day the saint, invited to the palace for a royal feast, poured wine out of the window three times. When the tsar angrily asked him what he was doing, he replied that he was putting out the fire in Novgorod. A little later, messengers brought news of a great fire that had actually taken place in Novgorod. The fire, however, did not flare up, because a certain strange-looking man walked naked through the streets and sprinkled the burning houses. Seeing Basil, the messengers recognized in him the man of God who extinguished the flame.

Another time, in 1547, the saint began to weep bitterly in front of the temple of the Vozdvizhensky Monastery, in the place where, after some time, a great fire began, devastating Moscow. Shortly after this disaster, when the tsar was present at the Divine Liturgy, the blessed one, standing in a corner, looked at him attentively. After the liturgy, he said to the king: "You were not in the temple, but in another place." The king began to protest, but Vasily repeated: “You are not telling the truth. I saw how in your thoughts you went to Sparrow Hills to build yourself a new palace there. From that moment on, the king began to fear the saint and respect him even more. But this respect did not prevent him from showing cruelty, which became a byword.

Saint Basil also appeared to people on a ship in distress and saved them from death. He performed many more miracles during the 62 years of his feat of foolishness.

At the age of 88, the saint fell ill. Upon learning of this, the king, along with his family, immediately hurried to him to ask for his prayers. On his deathbed, Basil spoke prophecies about the future of the kingdom, then his face lit up, because he saw a host of angels who had come to receive his soul. Having come to rapture, he reposed in joy on August 2, 1557.

The whole city was then filled with fragrance, and many people gathered for his funeral. The king and his sons carried him on their shoulders to the church, where the metropolitan and the bishops were waiting for them. On the grave of the blessed one, which became a source of healing for the faithful not only from Moscow, but also from other regions, a church was built in honor of the Intercession of the Mother of God, in memory of the capture of Kazan. Later, the temple received the nickname of St. Basil's Cathedral among the people.

Miracles associated with the saint did not stop. And in 1588, under Metropolitan Saint Job, Basil the Blessed was canonized. On this day, 120 sick people were healed at the relics of the saint.

Basil the Blessed is revered as the patron saint of Moscow.

Compiled by Hieromonk Macarius of Simonopetra,
adapted Russian translation - Sretensky Monastery Publishing House

Moscow miracle worker, holy fool for Christ's sake. He had the gift of foresight. Also known as Vasily "Nakoy". Lived during the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible. Canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1588. Memorial Day 2 (15) August.

Since the time of the baptism of Russia, the Orthodox faith and traditions have always been alive and deeply revered. For faith they went into battle, suffered hardships, died. The feat of foolishness was especially revered. People who embarked on this difficult path deliberately pretended to be insane, renounced all worldly goods, humbly endured endless ridicule, contempt, and all kinds of punishments. And in an allegorical form, they tried to reach out to the hearts and souls of people, preaching kindness, mercy and exposing untruth and injustice. Few could pacify pride, moderate bodily needs, spiritually rise above the rest. Such a spiritual feat in the entire history of Orthodoxy in Russia has been accomplished by more than 130 people, 36 of them canonized as saints.

One of the most famous and revered Christ for the sake of the holy fools was Basil the Blessed, also called Basil the Naked. His fate is amazing from birth. In December 1469, his mother Anna came to the porch of the Epiphany Cathedral near Moscow in Yelokhovo (now the territory of Moscow) to pray that her child would be born safely and be healthy. The Mother of God heard the prayers of a simple woman, and right there, right on the porch, Anna gave birth to a boy, who was named Vasily. He came into this world with a pure soul and an open heart.

His parents, simple peasants, were very pious, honored Christ, lived according to his commandments, and from early childhood instilled in Vasily respect and reverence for the Almighty. When the boy grew up, his parents, wishing their son a good share, sent him to be trained by a shoemaker. Time passed, Vasily learned the basics of the craft, the shoemaker was pleased with the hardworking and obedient guy. So Vasily would have worked all his life, if not for one incident, during which a diligent and pious 16-year-old apprentice discovered the gift of insight.

A merchant turned to the workshop, wishing to sew boots that would be worn for many years. Disappointed, Vasily promised to fulfill the order, but after the merchant left, he burst into tears, which surprised the shoemaker very much. To the bewildered question of the owner, the guy explained that the merchant was not destined to show off in a new thing, since he would soon die. The shoemaker was surprised, but did not attach any importance to the strange words of the guy. A few days later, that merchant really died, and Vasily decided to leave the shoemaking craft and devote his life to the greatest feat in the name of Christ - foolishness. From that moment until his death, he walked naked and barefoot, having no savings, no protection from scoffers and offenders, except for an invisible amulet - faith and all-encompassing love for the Lord. Of the clothes on him were only chains - iron rings and chains for bodily humility and strengthening the spirit.

After an incident with a shoemaker, Vasily left his parents and headed to. At first, the people marveled at the strange naked guy and mocked him, but soon the Muscovites recognized him as a man of God, Christ for the sake of the holy fool, an exposer of injustice and untruth.

The incomprehensible and strange at first glance, the actions of St. Basil the Blessed annoyed people, but then it always turned out that there was a hidden instructive meaning in these actions. Once, having deliberately scattered kalachi in the bazaar from a merchant, he meekly accepted abuse and beatings. But after the kalachnik admitted that he added lime and chalk to the dough. On another occasion, his advice helped the merchant to complete the construction of the church, the vaults of which had already collapsed three times. The merchant asked the blessed one for advice on how to complete the temple. Vasily sent him to Kiev to poor Ivan. Finding in a poor dwelling a man rocking an empty cradle, the merchant asked why he was doing this. He said that in this way he pays tribute to the mother who gave birth to him. The merchant understood why Vasily sent him to Kiev. It turned out that at one time he drove his own mother out of the house, and without repentance in his act he wanted to glorify God with the built church. But the Almighty did not accept a gift from a low-spirited person. Basil the Blessed helped the merchant to repent, make peace with his mother and beg her forgiveness. After that, God's temple was successfully completed.

Basil the Blessed showed many miracles to Muscovites. Passing by the houses of pious people, he threw stones at their corners, and kissed the corners near the houses where they committed atrocities. When asked about such strange behavior, the holy fool answered that in the houses where the righteous live, there is no place for demons, and they stand on the street near the corners, and he drives them away. And in the houses where vices have settled, demons dance and do not allow angels to enter there, grieving for the souls of people outside the house. And thus Basil invites the angels to enter.

On another occasion, St. Basil the Blessed walked through the bazaar, where women were sitting selling their needlework. The nudity of the holy fool did not embarrass them - they just laughed. And then they were blind. One of the women, who was not yet completely blind, realized what had happened, rushed after the holy fool and tearfully asked to restore her and her friends' sight. Basil the Blessed agreed on the condition that they repent of their stupidity. The women obeyed him, repented and became sighted again.

Constantly abstaining from earthly pleasures, meekly enduring the hardships of foolishness, living on the streets among crowds of people, enduring severe hardships, St. Basil the Blessed kept his soul pure and bright. The gift of insight manifested itself in him more and more.

The Almighty helped Blessed Basil predict the invasion of Moscow by Khan Mehmed I Giray in 1521. That time, as usual, praying at night at the gates of the Church of the Mother of God, he saw a sign - fire escaping from the windows of the temple, and began to pray fervently. The fire began to fade little by little and soon disappeared completely. Some time after this vision, the Crimean Tatars attacked the Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery and the villages close to it, looted and burned them, but they never reached Moscow.

On July 8, 1543, Vasily the Blessed again had a vision in the church, predicting a terrible fire, during which the Holy Cross Monastery, the Tsar's and Metropolitan's courtyards and several streets burned out: Bolshoy Posad, Neglinnaya and the entire Great Bargaining.

One winter, one boyar, sympathizing with the holy fool, persuaded him to take a fur coat as a gift. Basil the Blessed did not agree for a long time, but in order not to offend a kind person, he accepted this gift. Walking down the street in a donated fur coat, Vasily met a gang of thieves who, not daring to take away the rich clothes from the revered holy fool, played a whole performance in front of him. One of them pretended to be dead, and the rest began to ask for a fur coat to cover the deceased comrade with it. The holy fool himself covered the thief with a fur coat, asking at the same time whether he had really died. The thieves confirmed the death of a friend, and Vasily wished that hypocrisy was punished, and left. Rushing to the "dead", the thieves were dumbfounded - he was really dead.

The whole life of St. Basil the Blessed was aimed at helping people, mercy and sympathy. He helped everyone, but especially those who were ashamed to ask for help. Once he gave all the royal gifts to a foreign merchant who had lost money and had been starving for several days. The merchant himself could not ask for help, because he was wearing rich clothes. Basil the Blessed often visited Kitai-Gorod. There was a penitentiary for drunkards. The holy fool went to them to help them return to normal life with an encouraging word and exhortation.

The king revered the holy fool, but was also afraid of him. He saw in him a man of God who constantly reminded him of the need to live in justice and do good deeds. Several cases convinced Ivan the Terrible that before him was really a pious, holy fool, detached from worldly concerns. Having once invited Basil the Blessed to his palace for a feast, the tsar was very angry when he threw wine out the window three times in a row. The tsar did not believe the explanation of the holy fool that he put out the fire in this way, until a messenger arrived from there with news of the fire and the miraculous intervention of some naked man who poured out the fire from the water carrier. After the Novgorodians, who arrived in Moscow, they recognized that same person in St. Basil the Blessed.

When the tsar decided to build a palace on the Sparrow Hills, all his thoughts revolved around this construction. Even when he came to church on a holiday, he thought about the unfinished building. Basil the Blessed was at the festive service, but the tsar, immersed in his thoughts, did not notice him. After the service, Ivan the Terrible began to reprimand the holy fool for allegedly not being in the church. Basil shamed the autocrat, saying that the tsar was in the church with his body, and hovered around his unfinished palace with his soul. Since then, Ivan the Terrible has become even more respectful and afraid of the holy fool. And when Basil the Blessed became seriously ill, Tsar Ivan and the queen visited him.

Despite a life full of hardships, St. Basil the Blessed lived for almost 90 years, and when he fell ill and could no longer get up, the tsar himself and his family visited him, and for the sake of Christ, the holy fool predicted to the tsar's son that he would rule in Russia.

Basil the Blessed died on August 2, 1557 at the age of 88. Tsar Ivan the Terrible with the boyars carried his coffin, and the funeral service and burial was conducted by the Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia Macarius. During the burial of St. Basil the Blessed, many patients recovered. The holy fool was buried in the cemetery of the Trinity Church in the Moat, where shortly before that, in 1554, the tsar ordered to erect in memory of the conquest. In the cathedral, a chapel was built in honor of St. Basil the Blessed. The veneration of St. Basil the Blessed was so strong that since then the Trinity Church has been called by one common name - the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed.

With the death of St. Basil the Blessed, miracles did not end. They also took place near his coffin. Therefore, in 1588, during the reign of Fyodor Ivanovich, son of Ivan the Terrible, the Moscow Patriarch at the Local Church Council canonized the saint and established the day of memory of the miracle worker on the day of his death - August 2.

Other Miracles of Saint Basil the Blessed

Once a holy fool smashed with a stone the image of the Mother of God on the gates of the temple, which for many years was considered miraculous. A crowd of pilgrims attacked him with fists and beat him severely. Having meekly withstood the beatings, St. Basil the Blessed advised to scrape off a layer of paint on the image, and when they did, they saw that under the face of the Mother of God was hiding the image of the devil.

A Persian ship with many people was sailing along the Caspian Sea. Among them were Orthodox Christians. A strong storm began, the ship began to rock violently, water poured onto the deck, it became so dark that the helmsman could not see where to direct the ship. Death seemed inevitable. But the Christians told the Persians that they had a miracle worker in Moscow who walks on water as on earth and pacifies the biggest waves. At this time, a naked, bearded old man appeared in front of the ship and guided the ship on the right course right through the storm. The waves subsided, and the old man disappeared, but everyone was saved. After some time, the Persian merchants who were on that ship came to Moscow on business and recognized the holy fool Basil the Blessed as a naked old man who saved them from inevitable death. More than once, a prayer to St. Basil the Blessed saved ships from certain death in a raging sea.

On August 2, 1588, in the presence of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, Metropolitan Job of Moscow and All Russia, and numerous Moscow residents, his image appeared over the burial place of the saint. After this event, a shrine adorned with precious stones for relics was placed over the burial, praying near which many patients were completely healed.

Memorial Day of the saint 2 (15) August. Before the revolution of 1917, the celebration of the memory of St. Basil the Blessed was solemn. Usually the emperor and his family were present, the service was conducted by the patriarch, the higher clergy and Muscovites gathered, treating the miracle worker with great reverence.

Sacrifice to God and people is considered in Christianity to be the highest wisdom. And for the sake of Christ, the holy fools, rising above the sinful world with their spiritual purity, did not despise this world, but carried out uncomplaining service for the benefit of all living. Basil the Blessed is an ascetic of faith, a man of amazing fortitude, who showed with his whole life that earthly blessings are not eternal, and faith in goodness and justice helps a person in the most difficult times.

The biographical information about St. Basil the Blessed that has come down to our time is extremely scarce and is largely saturated with the aroma of a legend. It is believed that the future saint was born around 1464 in the village of Yelokhovo near Moscow (at the moment it is, in fact, the middle of the capital). Father Jacob and mother Anna, as a boy, gave him as an apprentice to a shoemaker, and already at this early time, as the life tells, the gift of foolishness erupted in him. Vasily first of all laughed at the merchant who ordered boots from his owner, and then burst into tears about the imminent death that awaited him. The prediction soon came true. Thus, those around him were convinced that the thin, unprepossessing teenager, which the future ascetic was at that time, was endowed with the ability to foresee human fate. The heavens directly gave a sign of what his destiny was, and from the age of 16 Vasily chose a field for his whole life, leaving his parental building and starting a wandering existence.

For over seven decades, the same man performed the heroic act of foolishness, deserving, moreover, the veneration of Metropolitan Macarius. Like all the beggars of that era, he did not have any permanent shelter, he lived mostly on the streets, only rarely agreeing to spend the night in the houses of elderly lonely old women, and went almost naked. It is no coincidence that initially he was nicknamed Vasily Nagoy.

As befits the holy fools, he continuously committed deeds that caused a loud social resonance, insane from the point of view of worldly morality, but imbued with deep philosophical meaning, in the spirit of the well-known sayings of the Apostle Paul from his First Epistle to the Corinthians: God chose the foolishness of the world to shame the wise; We are foolish for Christ, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are in glory, and we are in dishonor.

What was so unusual that Vasily Nagoy allowed himself?

He can constantly reveal the Devil in any form and pursues him everywhere.

FIRST of all, that same holy fool often behaves in the market like an unbridled pogromist destroying bread, kvass and other benign goods, because they belong to unscrupulous merchants who rack up extortionate prices. In the houses of seemingly virtuous townspeople, he throws stones and, moreover, kisses the corners of dwellings in which blasphemy is committed, that is, all kinds of indecency. The life of the saint makes it clear that if the former have a crowd of demons outside, eager to please the monastery, then the latter have angels crying inside

The tsar gives gold to Vasily the Nagoy; he does not distribute it, as one should expect, to the poor, but gives the entire amount to the merchant in clean clothes, the one who has lost his fortune, but does not dare to bother with alms. The tsar gives him a goblet of wine, he pours it out the window, in order, as it turns out, to put out a fire that raged over a pile of versts in distant Novgorod. Finally, the holy fool decides, moreover, to smash the miraculous image of the Mother of God in the church at the Barbarian Gates; it turns out that on this board, under the holy image, a demon is drawn. He can always reveal the Devil in any form and pursues him everywhere, writes about Basil the only historian of the church. So he recognized him as a beggar, the one who collected money in bulk from people, sending temporary happiness as a reward for alms. It is not difficult to think that in the reprisal against the beggar-demon, perpetrated by the Blessed, there is morality, directed with a sharp edge against the boundless selfishness, masked by ostentatious piety: You gather Christian souls with happiness, you catch them in an avaricious disposition.

Through the prayers of the sinful Basil

From the life of the saint, we learn that Tsar Ivan the Terrible, together with his wife Tsarina Anastasia, visited him shortly before the death of the Blessed One and received a blessing. However, the legends paint the foolish Basil as an irreconcilable fighter against the royal despotism, denouncing her cruelty, tyranny, commitment to luxury. For example, during the Divine Liturgy in the temple, Vasily reproaches the Terrible for the fact that his thoughts were not at the service, but on the Sparrow Hills, where the newly-made highest palace was being built. Although the temple is full of people, the holy fool says, turning to the king, that there was no one at the liturgy, but only three: the paramount metropolitan, the second right-believing queen, and the third he, the sinful Basil.

The holy fool's predictions concerned not only individuals, but at times were of a national nature, affecting the fate of many compatriots. So it was in the early summer of 1521, when Vasily prayed incessantly for the salvation of Moscow from the Tatar invasion. A few weeks passed, and the Crimean Khan Mohammed Giray really approached the walls of the Russian capital and stood in the field. However, he did not take the city and went back to the steppe. Muscovites considered this curiosity the result of the intercession of St. Basil the Blessed. But at times the naked sage felt a near impotence to change the course of events. On June 23, 1547, 5 months after the wedding of Ivan Vasilyevich (who had not yet received the sad nickname Grozny), Vasily came to the Vozdvizhensky Monastery and prayed in front of the icons on his knees for a single day, then wept heavily in the temple. The next day, a terrible glow engulfed all of Moscow. Half the city burned out, covering the royal mansions. A lot of other testimonies about the miraculous prophecies of the holy fool Vasily have been preserved.

The funeral of the Blessed in the 88th year of his life gathered a great crowd on Red Square, and Macarius himself, Metropolitan of Moscow, buried him in the presence of the tsar and the boyars. They buried the seer, famous throughout Russia, approximately the Church of the Holy Trinity, which stood on the moat, in the very place where, after the capture of Kazan, the architects Barma and Postnik, by order of the tsar, created a cathedral of such wondrous beauty that Russia had not yet known.