St. Basil's life story. The non-standard mercy of St. Basil. The chains of St. Basil the Blessed are kept in the Moscow Theological Academy

Basil the Blessed, the most famous of the holy fools with whom Rus' abounded, was born in 1468 in the village of Elohovo, 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 shoots of Divine grace became noticeable 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 so many boots that would last for many years, because this person was supposed to die the next day. His prediction came true. After this, Vasily no longer wanted to stay with the owner or return to his parents and headed to Moscow.

Lost in the noisy city crowd, he chose the ascetic path of feigned madness in order to participate as fully as possible in the suffering 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 maintained silence as strictly as hermits in the desert; forced to speak, he pretended to be tongue-tied. Having no close people, having renounced the world and its attachments, he showed great sympathy for the unfortunate, sick and oppressed. He often visited prisoners in prison who were imprisoned for drunkenness in order to convert them to reform.

In an era when fear and oppression reigned in society, the life of Saint Basil served as a living reproach to the unrighteous boyars and consolation for the disadvantaged. 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 houses whose owners were stuck in sins, he kissed the corners of the walls. When asked about the reasons for such strange behavior, Vasily replied that in houses where holiness reigns, there is no place for demons, and therefore, seeing them outside, he drove them away with stones. On the contrary, kissing the corners of the wicked houses, he greeted the angels who remained outside, unable to enter inside. At the market, he overturned the counters of dishonest traders. One day, having received money from the king, he, contrary to 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 ask for alms and was dying of hunger.

In 1521, when the Tatar army of Mehmet Giray threatened Moscow, Saint Basil, shedding copious 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 away from the city by an army that arrived in time and fled beyond the borders of Rus'.

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

Another time, in 1547, the saint began to cry bitterly in front of the church of the Exaltation Monastery, in the place where, some time later, a great fire began that devastated Moscow. Soon after this disaster, when the king was present at the Divine Liturgy, the blessed one, standing in the corner, looked attentively at him. After the liturgy, he said to the king: “You were not in the temple, but in another place.” The Tsar began to protest, but Vasily repeated: “You are telling a lie. I saw how in your thoughts you went to Vorobyovy Gory 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 the talk of the town.

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. Having learned about this, the king and his family immediately hurried to him to ask for his prayers. On his deathbed, Basil uttered prophecies about the future of the kingdom, then his face lit up because he saw a host of angels who appeared to receive his soul. Having come to admiration, he rested in joy on August 2, 1557.

The whole city was then filled with fragrance, and many people gathered for his funeral. The Tsar 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 temple was built in honor of the Intercession of the Mother of God, in memory of the capture of Kazan. Later, the temple was popularly called St. Basil's Cathedral.

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 received healing at the relics of the saint.

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

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

ykontakte V

Original taken from donetsk_elenka How did St. Basil live and who was he?

On August 2, 1552, the most famous holy fool of Rus', the Holy Moscow Wonderworker Basil the Blessed, died. His popularity was so great that for several centuries the name of the saint has been surrounded by new legends.

Myth one: St. Basil was a fool

The most common misconception concerning many holy fools in Rus'. It was born due to a misunderstanding of the very meaning of foolishness. Of course, there were the so-called blessed from birth, but the majority accepted foolishness and pilgrimage consciously, as a feat in the name of Christ. As far as one can judge from surviving legends, this is exactly what St. Basil was like. In his youth he studied shoemaking, but already at the age of 16 he embarked on the path of asceticism. And until his death he did not change him. All his actions, which at first seemed like the stupid antics of a city madman, had their own explanation and deep meaning. Here is a holy fool walking through the shopping arcades, and suddenly he throws pies off the tray. Noise, din! The merchants beat Vasily mercilessly, but he only thanks them. And then it turns out that cunning merchants mixed all sorts of nasty things into the pies and rolls. Often they themselves admitted this, feeling ashamed before the holy fool who exposed them.
Insight, wisdom, the ability to compare facts - these were the features that distinguished Basil the Blessed, but not the feeble-mindedness that is sometimes attributed to the holy fool. His predictions, presented in the form of parables, were not always clear, but more and more often people became convinced of his wonderful prophetic gift, and his fame spread far beyond the borders of Moscow. Ivan the Terrible himself appreciated and feared the ascetic, and he was not afraid to tell him the truth. So the Tsar invites the Blessed One to his chambers for his name day and treats him to wine. And the holy fool pours three glasses out the window one after another. In response to the king’s anger, he replies that in this way he extinguished the fire in Novgorod. Later, messengers sent to verify these words confirmed: at the very time when St. Basil was in the tents, a man similar in appearance to him appeared in the burning city and helped douse the fire. The Great Fire actually happened in 1547.
The holy fool could only pretend to be a fool, surprising and shocking the public with his allegories. This is a conscious role, a game, a mask behind which hides an exposer of human vices, revealing to people the truth about themselves that they are afraid to admit.

Myth two: St. Basil walked naked both in winter and in summer

Vasily Nagoy is the second nickname of the holy fool. In his life it is described that he walked without any clothes at any time of the year, and there is even a legend about how women laughed at his appearance and immediately went blind. And the saint restored his sight to only one merchant, who repented to him. However, another legend intersects with this legend. In it, the Blessed One accepts a fox fur coat as a gift and wears it in the cold. When dashing people wanted to deceive him and asked him to cover his supposedly dead comrade with a fur coat, the holy fool did just that. But as soon as the robbers took possession of the desired prey, they saw that the imaginary dead man really died.
The nakedness of the Blessed One is rather a symbol of contempt for everything earthly, perishable on the path to the Kingdom of Heaven. He was naked and barefoot, since he had no property, but as we see, he did not refuse alms. This lifestyle was accepted by the majority of Russian holy fools, but, of course, they did not walk around completely naked. A spacious canvas shirt covered the body, which was often visible through holes, hence the concept of nudity.
Of course, no images of St. Basil’s during his lifetime have survived, and on all the icons we see him naked. This iconographic image created another legend about the great ascetic.
Myth three: St. Basil had no corner and lived on the street
He was naked, barefoot, had no property and lived on the street. The holy fool's homelessness complements his image of a holy wanderer. However, this fact can neither be refuted nor confirmed for certain. And yet there is evidence that the holy fool still had a roof over his head. In the Piskarev Chronicle we read: “in the belly of Blessed Vasily, his life was in Kulishki with a widowed noblewoman named Stefanida Yurlova.” The latter is by no means a legendary person; a rich boyar family owned many lands. One of the lists of the saint’s life also mentions that he reposed in the house of a certain widow. It is quite possible that we are talking about Yurlova. The fact that the holy fool lived in a rich house, however, is not a surprising fact and does not in any way contradict the morals and customs of that time. Wealthy widows used to look after the orphans and the poor, gave generous alms and gave shelter to God's people.

Myth four: the temple was named in honor of St. Basil because he acted like a fool near its walls under construction


The further historical events move away, the more fables and conjectures they become overgrown with. Some people believe that St. Basil the Blessed and Ivan the Terrible are one person (yes, yes! there are such people), and even guides tell inconsistencies about the Cathedral on Red Square. They say that it was built by Ivan the Terrible in honor of St. Basil the Blessed. Another option is that the cathedral was built by Ivan the Terrible, and St. Basil the Blessed played the fool next to its walls, so the people called the temple in his honor. Both facts are historically incorrect. And they most likely arose because this saint, who died in 1552 (there is information that in 1551), was buried like no other holy fool in Rus'. The coffin was carried by the tsar himself with the boyars, and the funeral service for the holy fool was conducted by Metropolitan Macarius.
The construction of the temple began only in 1555 in honor of the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible. Its full name is the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Moat or the Intercession Cathedral. The connection with St. Basil is as follows - the holy fool was buried in the cemetery of the Trinity Church in the Moat. And after his death, the Blessed One worked miracles; there is little evidence, but they talk about healings that took place at his grave. Therefore, in 1588 he was canonized. In the same year, by order of Emperor Fyodor Ioannovich, one of the side chapels of the Intercession Cathedral was dedicated to St. St. Basil the Blessed. But the popularity and veneration of the saint were so great that they soon forgot about the true name, and to this day the temple on Vasilievsky Spusk (also a direct connection with the name of the saint) is known throughout the world as St. Basil's Cathedral.

Myth five: Surikov portrayed St. Basil among the characters in the painting “Boyarina Morozova”

Another historical discrepancy, which is often forgotten by visitors to the Tretyakov Gallery when viewing the grandiose painting by Vasily Surikov, dedicated to the schism of the Russian church in the 17th century. But you just need to compare the dates. The holy fool depicted by the artist cannot possibly be St. Basil. The saint lived under two tsars, Vasily the Third and Ivan the Fourth (the Terrible), and died long before the events that began during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich. But there is no doubt that the artist, when creating his holy fool, was inspired by the powerful image of St. Basil.
It can also be argued that the features of the great ascetic and denouncer of unrighteous power were embodied in his blessed Nikolka, nicknamed the Iron Cap, and Pushkin (the drama “Boris Godunov”). It just so happens that turning points in Russian history cannot happen without holy fools, who “are not afraid of mighty rulers. But they don’t need a princely gift. Their prophetic language is truthful and free. And he is friendly with the will of heaven” (A.S. Pushkin “Song of the prophetic Oleg”).

On August 15, Orthodox Christians celebrate Remembrance Day Saint Basil the Blessed- Moscow miracle worker and holy fool.

St. Basil the Blessed was born in December 1468 on the porch of the Elokhovsky Church (now the Epiphany Cathedral in the Basmanny district of Moscow), where his mother came with a prayer for a safe birth.

Parents sent their son to study shoemaking. When the boy turned 16, a merchant came into the workshop and ordered boots. Then Vasily said with tears: “We’ll sew you such that you won’t even wear them out.” He explained to the surprised master that the customer was not putting on boots because he would soon die. A few days later the prophecy came true.

Then Vasily fled from home to Moscow. It was in this crowded city, full of temptations, sins and dashing people, that St. Basil decided by his example to show the ideal of morality and accomplish the feat of foolishness. Literally, the word “holy fool” means “ugly”, “abnormal”. The holy fools deliberately behaved like madmen “for Christ’s sake” in order to correspond to the Christian truth expressed by the Savior: “My kingdom is not of this world.” In Rus', a synonym for the word “fool” was the word “blessed”.

The religious feat of foolishness consists in the rejection of all goods - home, family, money, the rules of public decency and respect for people. It is known that St. Basil walked without shoes and clothes even in winter, for which he was nicknamed Basil the Naked. He exhausted himself with strict fasting, constantly prayed and wore chains. The holy fool tried to guide his fellow citizens on the right path. He did this in a very unusual way. For example, he threw stones at houses where pious people lived. According to the Blessed One, demons stood near the houses of the righteous because they could not enter inside, and the saint of God drove them away with stones.

When St. Basil passed by the dwellings of sinners, he, on the contrary, kissed the corners of the walls. The holy fool said: “This house drives away from itself its guardians - the holy angels assigned to us at the font, for they do not tolerate such indecent acts. And since there is no place for them, they sit on the corners, mournful and despondent, and with tears I begged them to pray to the Lord for the conversion of sinners.”

Or suddenly the Blessed One will knock over a tray with rolls of street vendors or spill a jug of kvass. And then it was discovered that the merchant put chalk mixed with flour into the rolls, and the kvass was spoiled.

For the sake of saving his neighbors, Vasily Nagoy visited drinking establishments and prisons, where he tried to see the good in even the most degraded people, to encourage and support them.

Soon the townspeople began to treat the holy fool with great respect, recognizing him as a fighter against sin and untruth.

What miracles did St. Basil perform?

Legends about many miracles performed by St. Basil have survived to this day.

Basil the Blessed, bas-relief. Photo: Wikipedia

After the death of St. Basil, almost the entire city gathered for his funeral. Ivan the Terrible himself and noble princes carried the coffin to the church, and Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow performed the burial of the Blessed One. His body was laid in the graveyard near the Trinity Church, where the Intercession Cathedral was built in 1554 in memory of the conquest of Kazan. A chapel was built there in honor of St. Basil the Blessed.

Intercession Cathedral. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

In 1588, with metropolitane Saint Job, St. Basil the Blessed was canonized. On this day, 120 sick people received healing at the relics of the saint.

In the Catholic Church, a “blessed” is a person whom the Church considers saved and in heaven, but for whom church-wide veneration is not established, only local veneration is allowed. Beatification is often a preliminary step before the canonization of a righteous person.

The chains of St. Basil's are kept in the Moscow Theological Academy.

*** Between Varvarka Street, Old Square, Kitaygorodsky Proezd and Slavyanskaya (Varvarinskaya) Square in 1534-1538, a wall of Kitay-Gorod and a tower with a gate were built, which were called Varvarsky (Varvarinsky).

**** Ascension Monastery is a convent destroyed in 1929 in the Moscow Kremlin. It was located near the Spasskaya Tower on the left and almost closely adjacent to the Kremlin wall.

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 a long life, most of which he tried to guide people on the path of 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.

Lives of other Orthodox saints:

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 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.

Other articles about Orthodoxy:

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 the savior of the 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, his soul and soul were on the Sparrow Hills, where new royal chambers were being 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 of a large number of sick people was revealed. In 1588, the Moscow holy fool was canonized. In the same year, it was added to the Intercession Cathedral, located above the place of his burial, 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, until 1917, the memorial service was held by the Moscow Patriarchate 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

St. Basil the Blessed

St. Basil the Blessed

Born on September 1, 1468 in the then Moscow village of Elokhovo into a 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 the age of 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 good people served. 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 the Vladimir Mother of God - the patroness of Moscow and Russia.
Even Tsar Ivan the Terrible 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.

St. Basil the Blessed

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 a terrible sin, and decided to deceive him by 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.

St. Basil the Blessed

Then the Blessed One took off his fur coat and, covering the lying person, 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, 2 (15 new century) August .
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 wearing a good fur coat, given to him by some boyar, planned to deceive him out of it; 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 the rolls of a kalachnik at the market, and he admitted that he 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”.

St. Basil the Blessed, the Moscow miracle worker, is asked for the healing of diseases, especially eye diseases, and for deliverance from 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 on your holy name, 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 disease of the soul and body of our sinner , and make us worthy to pass through the course of this life unharmed from visible and invisible enemies without sin, and to receive a Christian death, shameless, peaceful, serene, and to receive the inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom with all the saints forever and ever. Amen.

St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow

Another name for the cathedral is Intercession Cathedral; sometimes instead of “cathedral” they say “temple”. The cathedral is one of the most beautiful churches in Russia.

The Intercession Cathedral was built in 1555-1561. by order of Ivan the Terrible in memory of the capture of Kazan and the victory over the Kazan Khanate. There are several versions about the creators of the cathedral.
According to one version, the architect was the famous Pskov master Postnik Yakovlev, nicknamed Barma.
According to another, widely known version, Barma and Postnik are two different architects, both involved in the construction; this version is now outdated.
According to the third version, the cathedral was built by an unknown Western European master (presumably an Italian, as before - a significant part of the buildings of the Moscow Kremlin), hence such a unique style, combining the traditions of both Russian architecture and European architecture of the Renaissance, but this version is still I never found any clear documentary evidence.
According to legend, the architect(s) of the cathedral were blinded by order of Ivan the Terrible so that they could not build another similar temple. However, if the author of the cathedral is Postnik, then he could not have been blinded, since for several years after the construction of the cathedral he participated in the creation of the Kazan Kremlin.
In 1588, St. Basil's Church was added to the temple, for the construction of which arched openings were laid in the northeastern part of the cathedral. Architecturally, the church was an independent temple with a separate entrance.
In con. XVI century figured heads of the cathedral appeared - instead of the original covering, which burned down during the next fire.
In the second half. XVII century Significant changes took place in the external appearance of the cathedral - the open gallery-promenade surrounding the upper churches was covered with a vault, and porches decorated with tents were erected above the white stone stairs.
The external and internal galleries, platforms and parapets of the porches were painted with grass patterns. These renovations were completed by 1683, and information about them was included in the inscriptions on the ceramic tiles that decorated the façade of the cathedral.
Fires, which were frequent in wooden Moscow, greatly damaged the Intercession Cathedral, and therefore, from the end. XVI century renovation work was carried out on it. Over the more than four-century history of the monument, such works inevitably changed its appearance in accordance with the aesthetic ideals of each century. In the documents of the cathedral for 1737, the name of the architect Ivan Michurin is mentioned for the first time, under whose leadership work was carried out to restore the architecture and interiors of the cathedral after the so-called “Trinity” fire of 1737. The following comprehensive repair work was carried out in the cathedral by order of Catherine II in 1784 - 1786. They were led by the architect Ivan Yakovlev. In the 1900s - 1912 The restoration of the Temple was carried out by the architect S.U. Solovyov.

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