Feast Day: August 2nd
The Life of Saint Basil: The reputation of Saint Basil quickly grew, and people saw him as a Holy Fool, a Man of God, and a denouncer of wrong…
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Prayers
Apolytikion: Your life, O Basil, was true and your chastity undefiled. In fasting, vigilance and exposure to heat and frost, you subdued your flesh for the sake of Christ, therefore your countenance shone with the brilliance of the sun. Today the faithful glorify your Holy falling-asleep. Implore Christ to deliver us from all bondage, dissension and war, and to grant great Mercy to our Souls.
Apolytikion: Thou didst live a Venerable and chaste life, O Basil. For Christ’s sake didst thou vanquish thy flesh by fasting, vigil and darkness and heat of the sun and slush and rainy clouds, and thy countenance has become as bright as the Sun; and now peoples of Russia approach thee, tsars and princes and soldiers among them, and we sing thy Repose in Christ. Pray Christ Our God for us to be saved from enslavement by enemies and from all civil strife. Pray God to grant us peace and His great Mercy to our Souls.
Kontakion: Thou didst receive revelation from Heaven, and go forth from the world’s turmoil. Thou didst live a Venerable life as a Monk, and wast given Grace to work Miracles, and to heal diseases, O wise, Blessed and Holy Basil.
Saint Basil wept and said, “I wish you would cancel the order, since you will never wear them.”
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When he was sixteen years old Saint Basil began to live as a Fool for Christ in Moscow.
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“Be truly dead from this moment, for the evil that you have done, for it is written – the evil doers shall be consumed.”
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Saint Basil would asked for alms for those who were ashamed to, and he would tell people to not give alms for the selfish reason to attract the Blessings of God, but rather to give out of care and compassion.
Once, the blessed one saw a devil in the guise of a beggar. He sat at the gates of the All-Pure Virgin’s Church, and he gave speedy help in their affairs to everyone who gave alms. The Saint exposed the wicked trick and drove the devil away.
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Saint Basil would visit taverns to encourage people in their goodness, in order to assist them in their Salvation. Many people noticed that when Saint Basil would pass by a house in which people were drinking and partying, he would week, clutching the corners of the house. When the people asked Saint Basil why he did this, he replied…
“Angels stand in sorrow at the house and are distressed by the sins of the people, but I entreat them with tears to Pray to the Lord for the conversion of sinners.”
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Saint Basil would spend his nights on the Church porch in Prayer, and was often treated badly and beat up by people. God granted Saint Basil the gift of discernment and Wonderworking.
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Saint Basil rebuked Tsar Ivan the Terrible for not paying attention in Church, and for his violent behaviour towards the innocent people. It was said that Basil was the only man Ivan feared, for he was “a seer of hearts and human thoughts.” Shortly before his Blessed Repose, Saint Basil fell seriously ill and the Tsar and Tsarina visited him.
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By the Prayers of Saint Basil before the Vladimirskaya Icon of the Theotokos, Moscow and all of the Russian lands were saved from an invasion. Also, Saint Basil, the Holy Fool, was crying inconsolably because he foresaw the fire of Moscow which almost completely destroyed the City.
Some time later at the reception in the palace of Tsar Ivan Terrible, the Saint three times poured some wine out of the window saying that he is putting out a fire in Novgorod. Indeed at that very time there happened a fire in Novgorod, but it did not spread to the entire City because, according to the Novgorod citizens, some unknown person was pouring water over the houses that had caught flames. On arriving to Moscow those Novgorod citizens recognized that person to be Saint Basil.
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Saint Basil Reposed in the Lord and Ivan the Terrible was a pallbearer with his boyars and carried his coffin to the cemetery.
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