Blessed Basil of Moscow, holy fool for Christ's sake. The miracle worker Saint Basil the Blessed (Sergey Volkov) will help you

Born on September 1, 1468 in the then Moscow village of Elokhovo in peasant family. His parents, Jacob and Anna, only had a child towards the end of their lives thanks to tireless prayers.
God awarded Vasily the gift of clairvoyance from birth, and from the age of seven he began making predictions. Over time, people in the village began to fear him, and his peers beat him, saying that he croaked and brought trouble.

At sixteen, Vasily left his parents and moved to Moscow. He chose for himself one of the most difficult ways of serving God - foolishness.
By this time the young man was short, stocky, he had gray eyes and brown, slightly wavy hair.
His character was gentle and kind. Resignedly endured numerous ridicule and beatings. He never took offense at anyone and accepted everything with a smile, saying at the same time: “If winter is fierce, then paradise is sweet.”
Vasily almost always walked the streets naked, even in the most severe frosts and cold weather. He endured hunger and thirst without complaint.
The blessed one did not have a home, spending the night in a tower in the wall of Kitai-Gorod. I ate only what was served good people. And he always kept all the fasts.
Muscovites always listened to what the holy fool said.
In 1521, Vasily, foreseeing a Tatar raid on Moscow, began to pray frantically to ward off trouble from the city. The prayers of St. Basil and the intervention of the Mother of God diverted the danger from the city walls. In memory of this miraculous deliverance, on May 21, the Orthodox Church celebrates a holiday in honor of the Icon of Vladimir Mother of God- patroness of Moscow and Russia.
Even the king listened to the advice of the holy fool. One day, St. Basil the Blessed was invited to the Tsar’s palace, and as a respected guest, he was given a cup of drink. Unexpectedly for everyone, the holy fool took the drink and threw it out the window. Then he threw the second bowl served out the window, then the third.
After this, St. Basil said to the angry Tsar: “Do not be angry, Tsar, for with this libation of drink I extinguished the fire that was engulfing Novgorod at this hour.”
Having said this, the saint disappeared from the palace so quickly that no one could catch up with him. Ivan the Terrible ordered to send a messenger to Novgorod to find out what happened there. Everything was confirmed - it was on this day and hour, when Vasily was pouring drink out the window, that a terrible fire was raging in Novgorod. According to eyewitnesses, the fire was extinguished from nowhere by a naked man with a bucket of water who doused the raging flames.
When Novgorod merchants arrived in Moscow, they recognized St. Basil as that same naked man.

Here is another case testifying to the foresight of St. Basil. One day, Ivan the Terrible, standing in the temple, mentally thought about building his palace on the Sparrow Hills. After the end of the service, Vasily reproached the tsar for being in the temple and mentally wandering around the construction site on Sparrow Hills.
The chronicles say that Ivan the Terrible was even afraid of the holy fool, who could read human thoughts.
St. Basil the Blessed, wandering through the streets of Moscow, did strange things - at some houses he kissed the corners of the building, at the corners of other houses he threw stones.
It was explained this way: if people “do good and pray” in a house, then stones should be thrown at the corners of this bright house to drive away the demons gathered there. If, on the contrary, indecent things are happening in the house - they drink wine, sing shameless songs, then the corners of this house must be kissed, because angels expelled from the home are now sitting there.
One day, a nobleman gave Vasily a warm fur coat, because there was unheard-of frost outside. Dashing robbers coveted this fur coat. They did not dare to rob the holy fool, because it was considered terrible sin, and decided to deceive him with cunning.
One of them lay down on the ground and pretended to be dead, and his friends began to persuade Vasily, who was passing by, to donate something for the burial. Saint Basil sighed, seeing such deceit, and asked: “Did your comrade really die? When did this happen to him? “Yes, he just died,” his friends confirmed.

Then the Blessed One took off his fur coat and, covering the one lying down, said: “Let it be as they said. For your wickedness."
Vasily left, and when the satisfied deceivers began to stir up their lying comrade, they discovered with horror that he had really died.

Basil the Blessed died at the age of eighty on August 2, 1552. 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, where Tsar Ivan the Terrible soon ordered the construction of the Intercession Cathedral, in memory of the conquest of Kazan, better known as St. Basil's Cathedral.

Since 1588, they began to talk about miracles occurring at the tomb of Blessed Basil; As a result, Patriarch Job determined to celebrate the memory of the wonderworker on the day of his death, August 2.

In 1588, by order of Theodore Ioannovich, a chapel was built in the name of St. Basil the Blessed at the place where he was buried; A silver shrine was made for his relics.

Sarcophagus with the relics of St. Basil

At the tomb of St. Basil, healings of many sick people from various ailments began to occur. The Intercession Cathedral received a second name from this - St. Basil's Cathedral. This name, as a sign of respect for the great saint, has survived to this day.

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

Miracles

Many miracles are attributed to St. Basil, both during his life and after his death.

A man came to Vasily’s owner to order boots and asked to make ones that he would not wear 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 could not wear, since he would soon die, which came true.

One day, thieves, noticing that the saint was dressed in a good fur coat, given to him by some boyar, decided to deceive it from him; one of them pretended to be dead, and the others asked Vasily for burial. Vasily seemed to cover the dead man with his fur coat, but seeing the deception, he said: “Fox fur coat, cunning, cover up the fox’s deed, cunning. May you be dead from now on for wickedness, for it is written: Let the wicked be consumed.” When the dashing people took off his fur coat, they saw that their friend was already dead.

One day, Blessed Vasily scattered rolls of bread from a baker at the market, and he admitted that he had mixed chalk and lime into the flour.

The Degree Book tells that in the summer of 1547 Vasily came to the Ascension Monastery on Ostrog (now Vozdvizhenka) and prayed for a long time in front of the church with tears. The next day, the famous Moscow fire began, precisely 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 smashed the image of the Mother of God on the Varvarinsky Gate, which had long been considered miraculous. A crowd of pilgrims, flocking from all over Rus' for the purpose of healing, attacked him and began to beat him to death. 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 “devilish mug”.

Basil the Blessed, Moscow Wonderworker is asked for healing diseases, especially eye diseases, getting rid of fire.

Prayer to Saint Basil

O great servant of Christ, true friend and faithful servant of the All-Creator of the Lord God, blessed Basil! Hear us, many sinners, now singing to you and calling your name holy one, have mercy on us, who fall today before your most pure image, accept our small and unworthy prayer, have mercy on our misery and with your prayers heal every ailment and illness of the soul and body of our sinner, and grant us the flow of this life unharmed from visible and invisible enemies pass sinlessly, and have a Christian death that is not shameful, peaceful, serene, and receive the inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom with all the saints forever and ever. Amen.

From the brotherhood of holy fools

The Moscow holy fool, prophet and wonderworker Basil the Blessed was one of the most unusual Russian saints. Russian Orthodox Church Every year on August 15, his memory is honored, although he was far from the only seer in the Russian capital. In the 16th century, he outshone the fame of many of his comrades who lived in Moscow, and not only in it. Everyone in the capital - from the artisans to Tsar Ivan the Terrible - loved and revered him more than other mendicant holy fools. Perhaps because much less is known about the other blessed ones. For example, Muscovites knew a certain Maxim, the capital’s first holy fool, after whom only a few aphorisms remained: “If they beat you, obey and bow lower...”, “Don’t cry, beaten, cry unbeaten...”, “Let’s endure it - and we will be people. ..”

The prophet who predicted to the pregnant princess Elena Glinskaya that on the birthday of her son a terrible thunderstorm would break out over Moscow and the same would be the reign of this boy - the next Grand Duke of Moscow - remained completely nameless. And so it happened: during a severe thunderstorm, under the peals of thunder, Ivan Vasilyevich was born - Ivan IV, later nicknamed the Terrible.

Few people have heard of John the Great Cap, so nicknamed because he all year round walked around Moscow half naked, with a heavy copper cross on his chest, chains (chains with shackles weighing two and a half pounds), copper rings on his fingers and an iron cap. It was he who, in front of all the people, accused Boris Godunov of all his sins and predicted his difficult fate. By the way, this same John the Blessed was depicted in Pushkin’s drama “Boris Godunov” under the name Nikolka the Iron Cap. His funeral in the summer of 1589 was accompanied by a terrible thunderstorm, the lightning of which caused several fires; many saw this as an omen of the Troubles.

And yet, the most famous and revered Moscow holy fool was St. Basil the Blessed. It was in his honor that popular rumor renamed the Intercession Church on Red Square (near which this beggar begged and prophesied) into St. Basil's Cathedral.

It must be said that there have almost always been blessed ones, or holy fools, in Rus'. This has long been the name given to people who, as they said, were “not right in the head” or, in other words, exhibited oddities. Often these “wretched” people were actually people with mental disabilities. However, in the Middle Ages in Rus' they were considered clairvoyants and soothsayers, whom the Lord himself protects and instructs. Since a madman himself is not able to formulate his thought, it means that God speaks through his lips - this is what believers believed.

In addition, foolishness in Rus' was a form of Christian achievement. It is not for nothing that another name for holy fools is blessed, that is, those who were worthy of blessedness from the Lord: he endowed such people with the gift of healing and prophecy. To overcome the temptations of this world, holy fools renounced family, home, property, even the sight of a decent person. The holy fool went out into the world in rags, behaved like a madman, muttered something unintelligible. And often a blessed insight prompted the blessed one to act, seemingly amusing, but at the same time filled with some, at first glance, unclear, but in fact deep meaning.

Old Russian foolishness, along with the refusal of goods, mortification of the flesh and madness, often imaginary, exposed the sins of everyday life, ridiculed and condemned the passions that overcome people.

However, the holy fools never despised those around them, but on the contrary, they pitied them and tried with all their might to help. So Vasily, barefoot and naked, with chains on his body, spent his days reproaching people for their vices, directing their souls to goodness, and at night he prayed with tears for sinners on the porch.

Life and deeds

In December 1468 or 1469, in the village of Elokhovo near Moscow, a boy was born, baptized by Vasily. According to legend, his very birth was unusual: the baby was born on the porch of the local Vladimir church. His parents, people of a simple class, wanted their son to master some kind of craft. Therefore, when Vasya grew up, he was sent as an apprentice to a shoemaker.

The boy quickly mastered the basics of the profession. But there was some strangeness in his character and behavior: sometimes he would quit work and freeze, as if listening to something inaudible to others. And soon Vasya discovered an unexpected gift of foresight. Once a merchant came into the workshop and ordered boots that would last a long time. When the customer left, the young apprentice suddenly began to cry. The astonished shoemaker asked what happened, and he, crying, answered: “He won’t even put on these boots - he’ll die tomorrow.” The prophecy was completely confirmed.

Since then, visions visited Vasily more and more often, and sometimes he was no longer so much in the earthly world as in the heavenly one. It became clear that God had chosen the young man either for predictions or for spiritual feat. At the age of sixteen, Vasily left his parents and went to Moscow.

Soon the whole capital already knew the blessed one. And how can you not notice young man, who walked through the most crowded places naked, and in the heat and cold did not remove heavy iron chains. However, not everyone liked the foolish truth-teller. For example, a Kalashnik or a kvassnik is standing at the market, selling their goods, praising them, bargaining. When suddenly Vasya the Holy Fool appears and knocks over the trays! The traders are almost in a fight, shouting and cursing. But then someone will try the leftover food and shout: “Good people, but the Kalash flour has chalk and lime mixed in, and the kvass is sour!” It turns out that the blessed one cared for the customers.

Sometimes Vasily did not even prophesy - joy or grief could be predicted by his behavior. One day, approaching the Cathedral of the Virgin Mary, he suddenly began to cry. And at that very moment, the passers-by who surrounded him saw flames bursting from the cathedral windows! But as soon as the blessed one wiped away his tears, the fire disappeared without a trace. “There will be great misfortune, followed by great joy,” whispered those who were already convinced that every action of Vasily carried a secret meaning. And they turned out to be right: soon Moscow was burned by the Tatars of Makhmet-Girey, but then the city was rebuilt and became even more beautiful.

A similar incident, although not with such a happy outcome, occurred in the Ascension Monastery on Ostrog (later Vozdvizhensky). Vasily, passing by, stopped at the door of the monastery church and suddenly began to sob inconsolably. The next day the temple caught fire. The flames spread to neighboring houses and other streets. Almost the entire center burned down - the main bazaar, the royal and metropolitan palaces, even stone houses collapsed. Only later did people remember how Vasily cried, feeling trouble, but not being able to prevent it.

Fate protected the blessed one and warded off ill-wishers from him. Once a boyar who respected Vasily gave him his fox fur coat.

– Do you truly want to give? - the holy fool will ask sternly.

– I truly wish, for I love you from my heart, is the answer.

Having put on his fur coat, Vasily went to the marketplace, where thieves saw him. One swindler lay down on the ground, pretending to be dead, and the second pestered the blessed one, asking for alms for burial.

– Has he been dead for a long time? – Vasily asked without looking at the body.

– Just now,” the thief sighed hypocritically.

Then the blessed one took off his fur coat, covered the “dead man” with it and left, throwing over his shoulder:

– Be dead from now on for your wickedness.

The delighted thief picked up the fur coat... and screamed when he saw his dead comrade underneath it.

At the same time, Vasily, being a beggar himself, invariably gave alms to others in need. So, one day a certain rich man gave him several gold coins. The blessed one accepted the money, approached the decently dressed foreigner and poured gold into his palm. Later, people learned that this visiting merchant had lost his fortune, had not eaten for three days, but was embarrassed to ask for alms.

It should be noted that holy fools in Rus' have always developed special relationship with the rulers. Powerful of the world this was like a magnet drawn to the blessed, despite the fact that even in the rich chambers they felt at ease and fearless. The holy fool could reproach the ruler at the top of his voice, accuse him, without choosing any expressions. And this was not buffoonery at all. The jester is impudent, but careful, for he feeds on crumbs from the table of those whom he insoles. For the holy fool, the prince or the king is the same person as everyone else, only the demand from him is stricter: after all, he bears responsibility for the fate of many.

In this regard, the blessed ones were not afraid of anyone or anything, being confident that they were under the protection of divine protection and popular respect. But the rulers themselves were sometimes afraid - one word from the holy fool could tear away the veil of grandeur and reveal the true essence of their actions.

Such a special relationship developed between St. Basil and Ivan the Terrible. Sometimes a normal desire arose in the cruel sovereign - to listen to the truth about himself from the blessed one. One day he began to build himself a new palace on Sparrow Hills. And he really wanted to move into the new chambers as quickly as possible... One day, returning from a service, the king noticed the blessed one and asked:

– Where were you today, Vasya?

– “In the same place as you, on the Vorobievs,” came the answer.

– “I was in church for the liturgy,” the king was surprised.

– No, you mentally walked along the Sparrow Hills and built your chambers. To stand in the temple and think about everyday things means not to be in it.

The sovereign had nothing to answer to the reproach, for which anyone except the blessed one would have tasted the lashes. And not only! Anyone who dared to defy the most severe of the Russian tsars could lose his head. But like any tyrant, anticipating imminent heavenly punishment, Ivan the Terrible listened to any statement similar to a prophecy. His fits of half-crazed anger alternated with periods of repentance, and at these moments the king almost curried favor with the clairvoyants. It is not surprising that Vasily was often called to the royal chambers in order to somehow appease the stern crown-bearer.

So, one day, on the day of his angel, the king invited him to a feast. Three times they poured wine for the holy fool, and three times he poured it out the window. The angry king asked why he was doing this.

– “I extinguished the flame that engulfed Novgorod,” the blessed one answered and left the feast.

The next day, Grozny sent a messenger to Novgorod, to whom the residents told that a big fire had actually started in the city, but suddenly the flames went out. At the same time, many

They saw in the sky over Novgorod a bright image of a naked man pouring fire. Thus, Vasily gained fame not only as a prophet, but also as a miracle worker, protector and patron of people. Many began to appeal to him for help, especially after rumors spread about his walks along the Moscow River, as if on dry land.

Once in the Caspian Sea, a storm overtook a Persian ship on which several Orthodox Christians were sailing. The ship lost its course, the deck was flooded with waves - death was approaching. And then one of the Russians said:

– In Moscow there is Blessed Basil, who walks on the waters, and the waves listen to him. He will save us.

The Orthodox began to pray, calling on the blessed one, and soon those who were on the deck saw in the darkness the outlines of a naked man who was leading the ship. Gradually the wind died down and the waves calmed down. The Persian Shah spoke about this miraculous salvation in a letter to Ivan the Terrible. And more than once after this incident, the wonderworker’s prayer saved sailors caught in a storm.

Despite hardships, St. Basil lived long life. In his eighty-eighth year he fell seriously ill, he himself predicted the day of his death and asked for communion. Having learned about his illness, the king came to say goodbye to him. He did not come alone, but with Tsarina Anastasia and her sons: the youngest, sickly baby Fyodor, and the eldest, healthy three-year-old Ivan, heir to the throne.

The dying man blessed Anastasia, then Fyodor.

– Bless the elder,” Grozny pushed his son Ivan in the back. - Bless your kingdom for the future...

– “I have already blessed the future king,” said Vasily, “but the eldest will not be in the kingdom.” His future is stained with blood.

– You're talking nonsense in your delirium! Will I have your blessing? – the king became stern.

– Don’t be angry, sir, there is no blessing from me to King Herod.

The king left the dying man darker than a cloud. And what was it like for him after such prophecies!

On August 2, 1557, Vasily died. All of Moscow mourned his death; thousands of people came to say goodbye to the blessed seer, who was later canonized. The body was buried in the cemetery at the Trinity Church, which was located on Red Square.

The temple was soon demolished, and in its place, by order of Ivan the Terrible, a cathedral of rare beauty, called Pokrovsky, was built. And in 1588, Fyodor Ioannovich ordered the addition of a chapel in honor of St. Basil to the north-eastern side of the cathedral. This chapel, where the relics of the holy fool, by that time officially recognized as a saint, were transferred, gave the cathedral its second name, which stuck for centuries - St. Basil's Cathedral (St. Basil's Cathedral).

For a long time, before the construction of the Ivanovo Bell Tower in the Kremlin, St. Basil's Cathedral was the most tall building Moscow (the height of its central dome is 65 m). Time and people destroyed many Russian churches, but this temple survived the vandalism of Napoleon’s army, Stalin’s discontent, and the sidelong glances of the builders of communism.

Erected in a completely atypical for Rus' architectural style, St. Basil's Cathedral looks like a multi-colored toy or a fairy-tale decoration. Four large and four small churches surround the central Pokrovskaya, and none of them is like the other. All the churches are connected to each other by a system of passages and together they form the multicolored and jubilantly festive St. Basil's Cathedral.

Before the revolution, St. Basil's Day was celebrated with great solemnity. The emperor and his entire family were usually present at the service.

The service to the saint was written by the Solovetsky elder Mikhail even before the canonization of Vasily. And although in Rus' there have always been both cliques and pseudo-holy fools, people have a good sense of who is truly blessed and who is only masked in the guise of a holy fool.

What will happen

Many centuries have passed, but the veneration of Blessed Basil is still preserved, who tried to take on his shoulders the troubles and sins of people and teach them to see God in their souls. To this day, his relics are said to give people the joy of healing, bring happiness and provide intercession.

And the Russian people cannot live without a whip. How terrible is my friend and bloodsucker Ivashka the Terrible, how many curses have been poured on his head, like ash from burnt souls, but they will honor him as a great autocrat...

And Russia will live without a tsar for a whole century and will shed rivers of its blood. And then they will place an unintelligent young man on the throne, but soon he and his retinue will be declared impostors and driven out of Rus'...

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

There will be many kings behind Ivashka the Terrible, but one of them, a hero with a cat’s mustache, a villain and a blasphemer, will once again strengthen the Russian state, although on the way to the treasured blue seas a third of the Russian people will fall like logs under carts...

And the third murderer will rule for a long time. And for the sake of the formidable order in the great power, this mustachioed king from the wild mountaineers will put on the chopping block all his comrades, and his faithful friends, and thousands of thousands of husbands and wives...

Small and great temples will be burned and destroyed. And then they will rebuild them. But God will not return to them if they serve not Him, but gold. And then the poor people will again turn away from our churches...

In the very south of the Arab kingdom, a leader in a blue turban will appear. He will throw terrible lightning and turn many countries into ashes. But Rus' will come together and destroy him...

And the fourth sovereign will come, who will be called the great Horseman. If he is pure in soul and thoughts, he will bring down his sword on the robbers and thieves. Not a single thief can escape reprisal or shame. The Russian people will rejoice, but there will be evil spirits who will silently kill the great Horseman. And there will be a great cry in Rus'...

And when terrible wars pass, turning into different countries all living things into dust and ashes, a truly great Sovereign will reign on the throne in 7517 from the Creation of the World, destined for a long and blissful reign, and our long-suffering Rus' will enter its golden age...

Icon of Saint Basil

Basil the Blessed. Icon. Prayers.

St. Basil the Blessed was born in the village of Elohovo near Moscow in 1469 (now it is city ​​limits capital) on the porch, at the moment when his mother came to pray for a safe resolution. St. Basil the Blessed is the Moscow holy fool, sometimes we can hear him as St. Basil the Naked.

His parents sent Vasily to study shoemaking. He was a God-fearing and hardworking young man. By chance he discovered the gift of insight. From the age of sixteen until his death, he subjected himself to hardships without clothes and shelter, performed the feat of foolishness, and by his example and word taught the people to live in morality. It didn’t matter to him what time of year it was, he was always without clothes, suffered hardships, fasted and spent the night in the open air.

This was probably the only person whom Tsar Ivan the Terrible honored and feared. Even when, shortly before his death, Saint Basil became seriously ill, Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible himself and Tsarina Anastasia visited him. The holy fool Vasily died on August 2, 1552, and the tsar himself and the boyars carried the coffin with Vasily’s body, and the burial was performed by Metropolitan Macarius. St. Basil was buried in the Trinity Church cemetery.

After some time, namely from 1588, they began to say that miracles were performed at the tomb of St. Basil, and Patriarch Job determined to celebrate the memory of St. Basil on August 2, the day of his death.

The miracles attributed to St. Basil occurred both during his life and after his death.

So, one day a man came to the shoemaker for whom Vasily worked and ordered boots that he would not wear until his death. At this moment, Vasily laughed and cried at the same time. After the merchant left, Vasily explained his behavior to the master, saying that the merchant had ordered boots that he would not wear because he would soon die. This came true.

Also, a certain boyar gave Vasily a fur coat. The thieves saw that the holy fool was dressed in a beautiful fur coat and decided to lure her out by deception. One thief pretended to be dead, and the others asked Vasily for a fur coat for burial. Vasily covered the pseudo-dead man with a fur coat, but seeing the deception, he said: “The fur coat of a fox, cunning, cover up the deed of the fox, cunning. May you be dead from now on for wickedness, for it is written: Let the wicked be consumed.” And so, the thieves took off their dashing friend’s fur coat and realized that he was in fact dead.

At the bazaar, the Holy Blessed One, who was selling rolls of bread, scattered them, and the kalachnik himself admitted that he mixed lime and chalk into the flour.

There is an entry in a sedate book that St. Basil the Blessed came in the summer of 1547 to the Vozdvizhensky Monastery on Ostrog and prayed for a long time in front of the church with tears. And the next day, grief happened: the famous fire began in Moscow, and it started from the Vozdvizhensky Monastery.

One day, Vasily was in Moscow, but saw a fire in Novgorod, and he put out the fire with three glasses of wine.

One day Vasily threw a stone at the image of the Mother of God, which was located on the Varvarinsky Gate and broke it. The people considered this image miraculous. The pilgrims attacked Vasily and began to beat him, because he had broken the shrine to which they had prayed and asked for help in healing. But Vasily told them to scrape the paint off the image. When people scraped off the paint layer, they saw that under the face of the Mother of God there was a “devilish mug.”

People who deliberately presented themselves as insane for the sake of spiritual improvement and preaching goodness and humility lived both in Europe and in Russia. They were called holy fools or blessed ones. One of them was Vasily Nogoi, who lived in Moscow at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century.

Life of the Blessed

Blessed Basil lived long life, most of which he tried to lead people on the path true faith and pious life.

Blessed Basil of Moscow

Birth and adolescence

In December 1469, a simple peasant woman named Anna prayed on the steps of the Church of the Epiphany in the village of Elokhovo near Moscow. She prayed to the Mother of God for a successful release from the burden and health for the child. The prayer was heard - the woman gave birth to a son. This event took place here, on the steps of the temple.

The boy, named Vasily, grew up as a kind and sympathetic child. His family led a pious, righteous lifestyle. When the boy grew up, his parents gave him an apprenticeship to a shoemaker. The hardworking and obedient young man could have achieved great success in the shoemaking business, if not for a miraculous incident.

A rich merchant came to a shoemaker's workshop and asked him to make a pair of strong boots for him. The young man Vasily, hearing the merchant’s request, became very upset and shed tears. To the shoemaker, puzzled by the assistant’s behavior, the apprentice replied that the rich man would not have time to put on the ordered shoes, since he would die in a few days. When the young man’s prediction came true, the master realized that the difficult young man was helping him in the workshop.

After this incident, Vasily decided to take the path of foolishness and went to Moscow. In winter and summer, Blessed Basil remained naked, wearing only chains on his body. All the townspeople mocked and made fun of the strange guy, but soon they recognized him as a man of God, pretending to be insane for the sake of doing good and preaching the commandments of the Lord.

Lifetime miracles

For ordinary townspeople, the actions of Blessed Basil were incomprehensible. Their meaning is revealed only after a conversation with the holy fool or after some time. Information about many of the deeds of this holy man has reached our time:

Prophecies and epiphanies

The Lord gave Blessed Basil the gift of insight and foresight. The saint foresaw many troubles, many of which he was able to protect from.

In 1521, Saint Basil prayed on the steps of the Assumption Church for the salvation of Russian lands from the invasion of Tatar troops. During the prayer, he had a vision of flames escaping from the windows of the cathedral. He began to pray with even greater fervor, and the terrible picture disappeared. Soon the Tatars were stopped and expelled from Rus'.

The day before the start of the great fire that destroyed most of the capital, the blessed one shed bitter tears on the threshold of the Church of the Exaltation Monastery, from which the terrible disaster began.

The blessed man helped put out another fire taking place in Novgorod. That day in Moscow, Vasily was invited to a feast by the Tsar, who respected and loved the holy fool. During the feast, the ruler noticed that the blessed one poured wine out of the window three times. Explaining his action, he said that he was extinguishing Novgorod. Soon Novgorodians arrived in the capital, talking about a fire that was prevented from burning out by a completely naked man. Seeing Blessed Basil, they pointed to him as a savior ancient city.

Icon of St. Basil

Tsar Ivan the Terrible both respected and feared the saint. One day Vasily reproached him that while he was present in the cathedral in body, the ruler was at peace with his soul. Sparrow Hills, where new royal chambers were built.

Knowing about Saint Basil’s gift of insight, many people came to him for help and advice.

The merchant who was building the church came to the blessed one for advice. He could not complete the construction, since the dome of the building was destroyed three times for some unknown reason. Vasily advised him to go to Kyiv and find a poor man named Ivan there. Having done this, the merchant saw that the poor man was rocking an empty cradle as a sign of respect for his mother. A wealthy Moscow citizen realized that he would not be able to complete the church until he asked for forgiveness from his parent, whom he kicked out of the house. The mother forgave the merchant, and the temple was soon completed.

Completion of the earthly journey

Despite his ascetic lifestyle full of hardships, Saint Blessed Basil lived to the age of 88. In his last earthly days, Tsar Ivan visited him, to whom the elder told him that his son Fedor was destined to rule the state.

The Moscow holy fool died on August 2 (15), 1557. The coffin with his body was carried to the burial place by the tsar and noble boyars, and the funeral ceremony was conducted by Metropolitan Macarius. The holy man was buried in the graveyard near the Trinity Church. The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary was soon erected on this site.

Canonization and veneration

Even during his lifetime, many recognized St. Basil as a holy man. On the day of his funeral a miracle of healing was performed large quantity sick people. In 1588, the Moscow holy fool was canonized. In the same year, a chapel in honor of St. Basil, located above the place of his burial, was added to the Intercession Cathedral, which was covered with a silver shrine.

Important! The day of remembrance of St. Basil - August 2 (15) - was established by Patriarch Job. On this day before 1917 memorial service The Moscow Patriarchate served in the presence of Russian rulers. The annual patriarchal prayer service on St. Basil's Day was resumed on August 15, 1991.

The life of Saint Basil is an example of renunciation of worldly goods for the sake of achieving spiritual perfection. The people around him respected and listened to his words, despite the apparent madness and behavior that was incomprehensible to them.

The Life of Blessed Basil of Moscow, Christ for the Fool's Sake

Fools... People who embarked on this difficult path deliberately presented themselves as insane, neglected all worldly goods, humbly endured a hail of endless ridicule, contemptuous attitude, and various punishments from those around them. Using an allegorical form, they tried to find a way to people's hearts and souls, preached the ideas of goodness and mercy, exposed deception and injustice. Not everyone was able to suppress the beginnings of pride, ignore the needs of the body, and become spiritually superior to those around them. One of those who managed to do this is Blessed Basil, the most famous and revered holy fool. Our material is about him.

Saint Basil: life

His life journey is amazing from day one. December 1469. Dates vary, and some sources give 1464. Appears on the porch (Epiphany Cathedral in the village of Elohovo) simple woman named Anna. She came here with prayers for the safe birth of the child. The woman’s words were heard by the Mother of God. And in the same place, Anna gave birth to a boy who received the name Vasily (Vasily Nagoy - that’s what they also call him). A pure soul and an open heart are what he came into the world with.

His parents, from among simple peasants, were distinguished by their piety, revered Christ, and built their lives according to his commandments. WITH early years they sought to instill in their son a respectful and reverent attitude towards God. Blessed Vasily was growing up, and, dreaming of a good life for his son, his father and mother decided to introduce him to shoemaking.

Work as an apprentice

The young apprentice was distinguished by his hard work and obedience. He would have worked for so long if not for one amazing incident, after which his master realized what an extraordinary person Vasily was. One day a merchant appeared in the workshop with a request to make boots so that they would not be demolished. whole year. Blessed Vasily, shedding tears, promised him shoes that he would never wear out. The student later explained to the bewildered master that the customer would not even be able to put on the ordered pair; he would soon die. Very little time passed and these words came true.

The way to Moscow

After this incident, Vasily decided to part with shoemaking and spend his life following the thorny path foolishness. Until his death, he lived without any savings, unprotected from ridicule or insults, having only an invisible amulet - faith and all-encompassing love for God. All his clothes were chains.

Vasily, leaving his parents, went to Moscow. At first, the people perceived the strange naked guy with surprise and ridicule. But soon Muscovites recognized him as man of God, For Christ's sake, holy fool.

Saint Basil: miracles

People, usually not understanding his strange actions, became angry. Only later did their secret meaning become clear. Once, having deliberately scattered the rolls at one of the merchants, Vasily meekly endured the curses and beatings rained down on him. Later, the unlucky kalachnik confessed to adding lime and chalk to the dough.

Other miracles of St. Basil's are also known. One day a merchant approached him: the vaults of the church he was building had collapsed three times for unknown reasons. The Moscow holy fool advised him to find poor Ivan in Kyiv. Having done this, the merchant found a man in a poor house rocking an empty cradle. The merchant asked what this meant. The poor man explained that in this way he decided to pay tribute to his mother. It became clear to the unsuccessful “builder” why Vasily sent him here. After all, even earlier he drove his mother out of his home. Without repenting of what he had done, he dreamed of glorifying the Almighty with the built temple. The Lord refused to accept a gift from a person who was low in soul. Blessed Vasily was able to help this man: he repented, made peace with his mother, and the woman forgave him. Then construction God's temple was completed successfully.

Further manifestation of the gift

Basil the Blessed, short biography which has reached us, always abstained from pleasures, humbly endured the hardships of his existence, lived on the street among a large number of people, patiently endured all hardships. At the same time, his soul remained innocent and bright. Over time, his gift manifested itself with increasing power.

With the help of the Almighty, Blessed Basil, the Moscow miracle worker, was able to predict the invasion of Moscow. The situation was like this: he, as usual, was praying at night, when a sign appeared - flames that burst out of the church windows. Vasily’s prayers became more zealous. Gradually the fire died out. Some time after this incident, the Crimean Tatars attacked the Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery and the villages nearby; they were plundered and burned, but Moscow remained untouched.

The next wonderful event. 1543 July. St. Basil is again visited by a vision that predicted a strong fire: a number of streets were burned out, the disaster affected the Holy Cross Monastery, the Tsar's and Metropolitan's courtyards.

One winter day, one boyar managed to persuade the holy fool to accept a gift from him - a fur coat. After much protest, Vasily agreed. Walking in this fur coat, he met a gang of thieves. Those, fearing to take away their clothes by force, were not too lazy to put on a real performance in front of the revered holy fool. One pretended to be dead, others began to beg for a fur coat, supposedly to cover their deceased friend. The holy fool, covering the pretender, asked if he was really dead. The thieves assured him of the veracity of what had happened. St. Basil's wish in response to their response was to punish hypocrisy. After he left, the thieves literally froze - their comrade no longer needed to pretend, he actually died.

All his life the holy fool helped people and sympathized with them. Moreover, absolutely everyone. Especially those who were ashamed to ask for help. So, he gave the gifts he received from the king to a foreign merchant. He lost money and went hungry for more than one day. He did not ask for help - he was ashamed of his rich clothes.

Vasily was a frequent visitor to Kitay-Gorod. He went to the correctional prison for drunkards located there. Encouraging words and exhortations are what he used to help depressed people return to a normal lifestyle.

The attitude of Ivan the Terrible to the holy fool

St. Basil, whose life we ​​continue to consider, lived under two autocrats. Reverence and fear - these were the feelings with which one of them, Ivan the Terrible, treated him. The man of God, whom he saw in the holy fool, was for the king a constant reminder of the need to live fairly and not skimp on good deeds and business.

Having encountered several cases, Ivan the Terrible became convinced that we were actually talking about a pious holy fool, detached from worldly affairs. One day, St. Basil the Blessed was invited by the Tsar to a feast. The Emperor became angry when, before his eyes, the holy fool threw out the wine served to him three times. Ivan the Terrible until then doubted the holy fool's explanation of the extinguished fire in Veliky Novgorod, until a messenger appeared from the city. He brought news of the incident and that a naked man had intervened and lit the fire. The Novgorodians who came to Moscow were recognized as holy fools by that same man.

Having conceived the construction of a palace on the Sparrow Hills, the king only thought about this. Finding himself at a church holiday service, he behaved just as thoughtfully and inattentively to what was happening around him. The Tsar simply did not notice St. Basil, who was there, being immersed in his own thoughts. At the end of the service, Grozny began to blame the holy fool for his absence from the temple. To these words, St. Basil rebuked the king, answering that his body was in service, and his soul hovered near the palace being built. From then on, Ivan the Terrible developed even more respect and fear for the holy fool. When the latter fell ill from a serious illness, the king came to visit him.

The end of St. Basil's journey

Despite the fact that his life was full of hardships, Vasily lived to be almost ninety years old. He made another prediction to the Tsar and his family who came to visit him: the Tsar’s son Fedor would in the future become the ruler of Rus'. And he was not mistaken in this either. After all, we all know that the angry Tsar himself raised his hand against Ivan (his eldest son).

The date of death of St. Basil is August 2, 1557 (in the new style it is August 15). The Tsar and the boyars carried the coffin with the body of the holy fool. The funeral and burial ceremony was conducted by Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow and All Rus'. When the burial took place, many patients recovered. The cemetery of the Trinity Church (in the Moat near the Kremlin) was chosen as the burial place. A little later, the Intercession Cathedral was erected here. A chapel was built in it in honor of the holy fool. He was revered with such strength that from that time on, one thing was fixed for the Trinity Church and the Intercession Cathedral common name- St Basil's Church. Moreover, its history is interesting not only by its name.

St. Basil's Cathedral: a combination of different styles

This temple combines Gothic and Oriental architecture. Its unprecedented beauty gave rise to a real legend: supposedly, on the orders of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, the architect’s eyes were gouged out so that he could no longer build similar structures.

They tried to destroy the temple more than once. But somehow miraculously he continues to rise in his place. In 1812, during his escape from the capital, Napoleon gave the order to destroy the Intercession Cathedral along with the Kremlin. But the hurrying French were unable to cope with the required number of mines. The Intercession Cathedral turned out to be unharmed, since the wicks they lit went out during the rain.

In the post-revolutionary years, the cathedral also avoided demolition. Its last rector, Archpriest Ioann Vostorgov, was shot in 1919, and in 1929 St. Basil's Cathedral was completely closed, its bells were melted down. In the 30s, Lazar Kaganovich, who succeeded in destroying many Moscow churches, proposed to demolish the Intercession Cathedral. He put forward a compelling reason: supposedly this would free up space for ceremonial parades and demonstrations.

There is a legend that he made a model of Red Square with a removable Intercession Cathedral. He came to Stalin with his creation. Convinced that the temple was a hindrance, he suddenly tore down its places for the leader. At the same time, the stunned Stalin burst out with the historical phrase: “Lazarus, put him in his place!” The famous restorer P.D. Baranovsky sent telegrams addressed to Stalin with an appeal to save the temple. They said that Baranovsky, who was invited to the Kremlin to solve this problem, did not hesitate to kneel before members of the Central Committee and begged to preserve the temple. They listened to him. St. Basil's Cathedral (the story could have ended there) was left alone. Only later was Baranovsky sentenced to an impressive sentence.

St. Basil's Memorial Day

After Vasily's death, miraculous phenomena did not stop. We wrote above that people encountered them near the coffin. For this reason, in 1588 (this is the time when Fyodor Ivanovich reigned), the Moscow Patriarch Job canonized the saint. The day of his memory was also established - August 2 (the day of his death). Until 1917, Vasily's Memorial Day was always celebrated solemnly. The presence of the emperor with his loved ones was common. The service was conducted by the patriarch. Present senior clergy, as well as the residents of Moscow, who sacredly revered the miracle worker.

Let's digress a little and remember another story. Basil the Blessed, whose prophecies have reached our time, was once not the most in the best possible way behaved in relation to the image of the Mother of God. Taking a stone, he broke it. Miraculous properties were attributed to this image. Unable to bear it, the pilgrims beat Vasily. He endured everything meekly. And then he gave advice to remove one of the layers of paint from the image. They listened to it, and it turned out that a devilish image was hidden under it.

Icons of the holy saint

A wealthy Muscovite who became blind at the age of twelve (her name was Anna) knew that blind people who prayed to Vasily received their sight. She found an icon painter and turned to him with an order: the woman wanted an icon of St. Basil to be painted. This icon was given by Anna to the temple. It is known for sure that this was St. Basil's Cathedral. The story doesn't end there. Every day she came there to pray. According to legend, after some time, Anna experienced a complete recovery: her vision returned.

In early works, Vasily was presented naked; in later works, the saint began to be depicted surrounded by a towel. Often the Blessed One was depicted against the background of the Kremlin and against the backdrop of Red Square, because this is where he lived. Such an icon is kept today in St. Basil's Cathedral. Other Russian churches also have icons depicting the saint.

So, before us is the story of St. Basil. This man with amazing fortitude showed through his deeds and life that everything earthly is not eternal. That if you remember goodness and justice, you can survive in any difficult situations.