Blessed holy fool Basil. Blessed Basil, holy fool for Christ's sake, Moscow miracle worker

People deliberately pretending to be insane for the sake of spiritual perfection and preaching kindness and humility lived both in Europe and in Russia. They were called holy fools or blessed. One of them was Vasily Nogoi, who lived in Moscow at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century.

The Life of the Blessed

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

Blessed Vasily of Moscow

Birth and adolescence

In December 1469, a simple peasant woman named Anna was praying on the steps of the Church of the Epiphany in the village of Yelokhovo near Moscow. She prayed to the Mother of God for a successful resolution 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. The grown-up boy was given by his parents as an apprentice to a shoemaker. A hard-working and obedient young man could have achieved great success in shoemaking, if not for a wonderful case.

A rich merchant came to the shoe shop and asked to make a pair of strong boots for him. The young man Vasily, having heard the request of the merchant, was very upset and shed a tear. The shoemaker, puzzled by the behavior of the assistant, the apprentice replied that the rich man would not have time to put on the ordered shoes, as 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 embark on 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 bringing goodness and preaching the commandments of the Lord.

Lifetime miracles

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

Prophecies and insights

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

In 1521, Saint Basil prayed on the steps for the salvation of the Russian lands from the invasion of the 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 zeal, and the terrible picture disappeared. Soon the Tatars were stopped and expelled from Rus'.

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

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The blessed husband helped put out another fire in Novgorod. On 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 had poured wine out of the window three times. Explaining his act, he said that he was extinguishing Novgorod. Soon Novgorodians arrived in the capital, telling about the fire, which was not allowed to flare up by a completely naked man. Seeing Blessed Basil, they pointed to him as the savior of the ancient city.

Icon of St. Basil the Blessed

Tsar Ivan the Terrible both respected and feared the saint. Once Vasily reproached him that, being present in the cathedral with his body and soul, the ruler was on 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 built the church came to the blessed one for advice. He could not finish the construction, as the dome of the building collapsed three times for some unknown reason. Vasily advised him to go to Kyiv and find there a poor man named Ivan. Having done this, the merchant saw that the poor man was rocking the empty cradle as a token 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 had kicked out of the house. The mother forgave the merchant, and the temple was soon completed.

Completion of the earthly journey

Despite an ascetic lifestyle full of hardships, Saint Blessed Basil lived to the age of 88. In the last earthly days, Tsar Ivan visited him, to whom the elder told that his son Fyodor 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. They buried the holy husband in the graveyard near the Trinity Church. The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos was soon erected on this site.

Canonization and veneration

Even during his lifetime, many recognized St. Basil the Blessed as a holy man. On the day of his funeral, a miracle of healing a large number of sick people was revealed. In 1588, the Moscow holy fool was canonized as a saint. In the same year, the Pokrovsky Cathedral was attached, located above the place of his burial, which was covered with a silver shrine.

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

The life of St. Basil the Blessed is an example of renunciation of worldly goods in order to achieve spiritual perfection. The surrounding people respected and listened to his words, despite the apparent madness and incomprehensible behavior to them.

Life of Blessed Basil of Moscow, Christ for the Holy Fool

In my posts, more than once flashed a picturesque image of St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square. It is under this name that the temple is well known, and the fact that it was originally called the Church of the Intercession on the Moat is almost never remembered. But not everyone knows who St. Basil the Blessed was, whose name turned out to be forever associated with the famous building.

Saints Basil the Blessed and Tsarevich Dmitry Uglich

Fool-for-Christ Vasily, "God's man", nicknamed Blessed, was a person well known and loved in the capital city of Moscow during the reign of Vasily III and the reign of his son Ivan the Terrible. The holy fools in Rus' have always been revered in general, although they themselves were not afraid of either insults or ridicule. The essence of foolishness is the complete rejection of all worldly values ​​and the deliberate effort to appear insane in order to incur reproach. It was believed that defiant deeds help bring God's will to people, and the holy fools, no matter what hardships they are subjected to, are constantly under the protection of higher powers. The basis of foolishness was the words of the Apostle Paul: We are foolish for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are in glory, and we are in dishonor. Even to this day we endure hunger and thirst, and nakedness and beatings, and we wander, and we work, working with our own hands. They curse us, we bless; persecuted us, we endure ...»
There were very few real holy ascetics who embarked on the path of foolishness at all times. The Orthodox Church honors only thirty-seven holy fools, who throughout its history have become famous for their exploits and "God's deeds for Christ's sake." And one of the most famous holy fools and seers was St. Basil the Blessed.

Vasily was born in the suburban village of Yelokhovo. Now this place, famous for its cathedral, is part of the “old Moscow”. In the fifteenth century, the Yelokhovskaya church, not so majestic, but modest, wooden, was also well known to believers. Vasily was born on her porch - his mother, being in a demolition, came to pray that the birth would be safe and fast. And so it happened. The woman, without even having time to move away from the church, was relieved of the burden, giving birth to a boy. The exact date of birth of the Christian ascetic has been erased from people's memory over the years (researchers roughly determine 1468 or 1469). The gift of prophecy manifested itself in Vasily from childhood, but the boy's predictions sometimes took on such a mysterious form that their meaning was unraveled only after they came true. At that time, nothing foreshadowed the ascetic path of this man - his parents, religious, but poor people, outlined the most ordinary future for their son. Vasily, as a boy, was assigned as an apprentice in a shoemaker's shop. Many of these boys lived with the workshops of artisans as cheap - only for a bowl of porridge and a piece of bread - servants, in the hope of learning the basics of the craft from the owner.
Once a rich merchant came into the shoe shop where Vasily served. He wanted to order new boots for himself. It would seem that the situation is quite normal. But the behavior of the apprentice boy, who met a profitable customer, surprised everyone. Vasily at first laughed, but soon his laughter turned into tears, and the boy began to sob bitterly, afraid even to look into the face of the newcomer.
- What are you crying about, Vasya? - both the owner and the customer asked the boy.
“He came to order funeral boots for himself,” Vasily whispered, pointing to the merchant.
He just spat out of annoyance - here's a nasty boy caught, croaking foolishly knows what. What was the general surprise when the merchant really suddenly died a few days later ...
Growing up, Vasily realized that shoemaking was not for him. This business did not interest him. At the age of sixteen, he left the owner's shop and turned into a beggar vagabond. Not every person, breaking away from his roots, can find himself in a new life. But Basil, having rejected all vain things, dedicated his life to God, found joy in this and became one of those to whom the lines of Scripture are dedicated: blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven... Without shelter and permanent shelter, naked in winter and summer, wearing only chains, he performed what Christians call the feat of foolishness. The gift of prophecy, already inherent in Vasily, literally blossomed in foolishness - his allegorical phrases turned out to be full of deep meaning, everything that he promised or predicted came true. Moscow began to listen to his mysterious words, and to look closely at strange deeds.

It happened that Vasily, approaching the house of a man known for his piety, suddenly threw a stone out of his window, and at the house of a notorious sinner, about whose life gossip and gossip stretched, Vasily knelt down, as before a shrine, and kissed the stones of the walls. And people's eyes seemed to open anew - a hypocrite and a saint, like a biblical Pharisee, performs pious deeds for show, hiding a dark soul behind them, and a city dweller despised by everyone is punished only because rumor has hung labels on him; in fact, he suffers insults from people without any fault.
The ability to see the inner essence of objects helped St. Basil the Blessed to save Moscow from terrible blasphemy. On Varvarka, on the city gates, there was a gate icon, which was considered miraculous by the people - the image of the Mother of God. Every day, crowds of believers flocked to Varvarka to worship the holy image and ask the Virgin Mary for help and intercession. What was the horror and indignation of these people when the holy fool picked up a stone from the ground and threw it at the icon with a flourish, breaking the glass that covered the icon from bad weather. Believers pounced on Vasily and began to beat him "mortal combat". The holy fool took the beatings stoically and only asked: “You will scratch the paint,” pointing to the icon.
Among the crowd of indignant pilgrims there were those who believed him. It turned out that on the icon, under a thin layer of paint depicting the Mother of God, there was a "devil's mug" hiding. An unknown enemy forced the pilgrims to worship the disguised image of the devil, and only the holy fool Vasily managed to stop the blasphemous prayers...

Gate on Varvarka at the end of the 19th century

In the summer of 1521, something happened that was considered a real miracle in Moscow. This event was connected with the name of the holy fool Vasily.
He began day and night in churches and public places to fervently and tirelessly pray for the deliverance of Moscow from the Tatar invasion. But at that time, peace was established with the Tatar khans - both Crimean, and Astrakhan, and Kazan ... the overthrow of Khan Shah Ali (supported by Moscow), and the enthronement of his brother Sahib Giray. But this political drama unfolded far from the Moscow walls. Nobody expected trouble.
What was the general surprise when it turned out that Mohammed-Girey, at the head of the Crimean and Kazan hordes, set off on a campaign to capture Moscow and, unexpectedly, unexpectedly, together with the army, was found sixty miles from the capital of Rus'! Moscow Grand Duke Vasily began to hastily gather an army. It was not so easy, because in the spring sixty-five thousand warriors had already been gathered and sent to guard the borders of the state at distant outposts. Human resources in the Moscow lands were not unlimited. There was practically no time left to organize the defense - what is sixty miles for a fast Tatar cavalry? Residents of the city were horrified that the forward detachments of Mohammed-Girey were about to appear under the walls of the Kremlin. But for some reason, the Crimean Khan suddenly abandoned his own plan. Without engaging in battle, and without making any attempts to take Moscow, he turned his army and went away, taking with him, however, the "rich full", that is, the captives captured in Russian villages along the way. But the capital city was thus saved from invasion. The “authorship” of this miracle was given by the general opinion to St. Basil the Blessed, who began to seek heavenly intercession long before the threat of an enemy attack on Moscow became obvious.

Temple of the Transfiguration in the village of Ostrov near Moscow - a monument to the deliverance of Moscow from the invasion of Mohammed Giray

Ivan the Terrible, who as a child succeeded his father Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich on the Russian throne in 1533, sincerely believed that St. Basil the Blessed was capable of performing a miracle, and treated the holy fool with deep reverence. However, Ivan Vasilyevich, in 1547 the first of the Russian sovereigns to be crowned king and proclaim himself the king of All Rus', was a controversial personality. The sublime and the base easily coexisted in his soul. One of his contemporaries, the boyars, who knew Ivan the Terrible well, spoke of him as follows: “A man of wonderful reasoning, in the science of book teaching is pleased and eloquently talkative, insolent to the militia (t.e., in military affairs dared) and stands up for his country. On his servants, given by God to him, he is cruel-hearted, and on the shedding of blood, on killing, he is impudent and implacable; Destroy many people from small to large in your kingdom, and captivate many cities of yours, and imprison many hierarchs and destroy them with a merciless death, and many other deeds over your servants, wives and maidens desecrate fornication. The same Tsar Ivan did many good things, loving the army very much and demanding them from his treasure generously. Such is Tsar Ivan.”
Ivan really did not immediately become famous for his extreme cruelty and tough temper, for which he received the nickname Terrible. The beginning of the reign of the young sovereign inspired in the hearts of his subjects the hope that the period of troubles in Rus' was over, and from now on a worthy husband will sit on the throne, rooting for his state and his people. Ivan carried out a military reform, creating a regular archery and Cossack army, conquered Kazan, and then Astrakhan, saving Rus' from the regular raids of the Horde, raised the importance of the Orthodox Church to new heights. He himself was a man of deep faith ... until an internal breakdown forced him to indulge in sins.

Ivan IV, nicknamed the Terrible

In the traditions of Orthodoxy, treat the holy fools, wanderers and other God's people with mercy and great respect. They were invited to the houses, both the poor and the rich, asked to eat, rest and pray for the owners and their children - it was believed that God's grace comes to the family with them, and their prayers would rather reach heaven. Ivan Vasilyevich was no exception - Vasily the Blessed, the holy fool (who had reached a very respectable age by the time the young sovereign matured), was invited to the royal mansions, where Ivan willingly talked with him and seated him at the table at feasts among eminent people.
At one of these feasts, an incident happened that convinced the sovereign of the prophetic gift of the holy fool. Ivan Vasilievich himself brought Vasily, as a dear guest, a cup of wine. Respectfully accepting the cup, he, instead of drinking, suddenly spilled the wine on the floor. The sovereign, showing rare patience, again held out the cup to the holy fool, and again the wine was on the floor; the same thing happened a third time. Ivan, no matter how hard he tried to be patient, boiled up and demanded an explanation from Vasily.
- What are you doing? he asked sternly. - Why are you pouring out the cup that has been offered?
- Fire in Novgorod carcass! Blessed replied.
The sovereign, confident that the actions of the holy fool contained some hidden truth, immediately sent a messenger to Novgorod. It turned out that there really was a terrible fire that destroyed half of the city, and just at the time when Vasily was spilling wine at the royal feast, the fire began to subside ...
Basil the Blessed succeeded in foreseeing a fire in Moscow no less terrible in its consequences. But unfortunately, Muscovites did not immediately understand his prophecy.

In Moscow, on Vozdvizhenka Street, there once stood the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. She did not appear by chance. In 1540, two miraculous icons were delivered to Moscow from Rzhev - the Mother of God and the Exaltation of the Cross. Ivan, who was then only 10 years old, together with the Metropolitan and other clergy, leaving the Kremlin, met the icons with honor across the Neglinnaya River. Two years before this event, Ivan's mother Elena Glinskaya died, who on behalf of her son ruled the state after the death of her husband; rumor has it that she was poisoned. The juvenile orphan, the Grand Duke and the future ruler, turned out to be a toy in the hands of greedy boyars. As time passed, Ivan IV himself assessed the events of those years as follows: When my brother and I were left without parents, we had no one to rely on. I was then finishing my eighth year; people subject to us rejoiced at the chance that they found a kingdom without a ruler, and we, their sovereigns, were not honored with any care from them: they themselves were looking for only wealth and glory and squabbled with each other. (...) They fed me and my brother like miserable servants. What have we not suffered in clothing and food! We had no will in anything; everything was done not according to our will and not according to our years..
Probably, the grievances suffered by Ivan the Terrible in childhood left a terrible imprint on his character, which will fully manifest itself later. But in childhood, the young sovereign was distinguished by rare religiosity, and the meeting of miraculous icons was a great and very important event for him. One must think that the boy, who felt so unfortunate, lonely and defenseless, expected changes in his fate from the intercession of the Mother of God ... At the meeting place of the icons, a memorial church was erected, at which they founded the monastery of the Exaltation of the Holy Life-Giving Cross beyond Neglinnaya, commonly called Holy Cross. All the years of the reign of Ivan the Holy Cross Monastery was especially revered, and quickly turned from a new building into a beautifully equipped place for the needs of monastics and pilgrims.

Rebuilt Holy Cross Church at the end of the 19th century (not preserved)

This monastery is mentioned in the Life of St. Basil the Blessed in connection with an amazing fact. On June 20, 1547, on the eve of the terrible Moscow fire, Vasily came to the church of the Exaltation of the Cross Monastery and began to cry bitterly. The people who were in the temple and who witnessed these tears could not understand their cause, but they felt that they promised evil, some kind of grief. All evening the townspeople gossiped about what awaits them, but did not figure out the reason for the sobs of the holy fool. The next day, a wooden church caught fire in the monastery, the same one in which Vasily was seized by an incomprehensible despair. A strong wind quickly spread the fire throughout the city. The buildings of Moscow were predominantly wooden, and the city blazed, engulfed in terrible flames.
According to chroniclers, "... the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross caught fire behind Neglinnaya on Arbatskaya Street ... And there was a great storm, and fire flowed like lightning, and a strong fire carried the fire overnight through all Zaneglimenye, to Vspolya ; and Chertolye burned down to the Semchinsky village near the Moscow River, and up to St. Theodore on Arbatskaya Street. And the storm turned into a big hail, and the Kremlin caught fire at the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Top, and in the royal court of the Grand Duke on the chambers of the roof, and wooden huts, and chambers decorated with gold, and the State Court with the royal treasury, and the Church of the Annunciation with golden domes on the royal yard near the royal treasury - with a deesis of the letter of Andrei Rublev, in a gold setting, and with images of Greek letters of great value<...>collected over many years by the ancestors of the Grand Duke; and the treasury of the Grand Duke burned down, and the Armory was all burned with military weapons, and the Bed Chamber<...>, and the royal stable ".
In addition to the Kremlin and the sovereign's chambers, almost all Moscow churches were damaged by fire (" only two churches God saved”), besides, in Kitai-Gorod, on the Arbat, on Sretenka, on the Yauza, almost all residential yards and merchant shops burned down. The flames of the fire were so strong that iron melted and spread from it, stone walls cracked, and even wooden buildings perished in an instant ... It was then that the reason for the bitter sobs of St. Basil the Blessed, not understood by his fellow countrymen, became obvious.
After the fire, the wooden churches and other buildings of the Exaltation of the Cross Monastery were replaced with plinth (brick) ones that were more resistant to fire. And they began to look closely at what the holy fool Vasily did with even greater trepidation.
Ivan Vasilyevich, together with his young wife Anastasia, asked Vasily for a Blessed blessing and was sure that it was the help of the holy fool that brought him success in business, both family, military, and state. For example, the capture of Kazan in 1552 occurred after the holy fool Vasily, shortly before his own death, blessed the young tsar and the entire Russian army for a feat. Astrakhan was taken without a fight in 1556, and as Tsar Ivan believed, also thanks to the heavenly intercession of St. Basil the Blessed, who had left this world by that time.

Capture of Kazan

At the age of thirty, Tsar Ivan became a widower - his beloved wife Anastasia died after 13 years of a happy marriage. Presumably, she, as Ivan's mother, was poisoned by the enemies of the tsar from the highest boyar circles. Her death had a terrible effect on the king ... Everyone around noticed that the appearance, character, views and the very style of government of Ivan IV began to change rapidly. From a handsome young man, he turned into a bilious, old-fashioned creature with eyes burning with malice. Ivan became more and more cruel and suspicious, he saw only lies and betrayal around him, he was ready to punish the right and the guilty ... He dispersed the "Chosen Rada" (his devoted advisers who had state thinking, whom he himself selected from among close friends) and disgraced and punishment of all those who disagree with his policies.
Anastasia died in 1560, and in 1565 Tsar Ivan, unable to cope with his inner pain, decided on something unprecedented. The tsar created a special detachment of guardsmen (i.e. people who are guards, away from the whole people) in the amount of one thousand people, and quickly increased it to six thousand. It was a kind of guard, the secret police and the punitive service of Ivan Vasilyevich, who guarded the tsar and carried out all his state decisions, and was also responsible for whims, vindictive nit-picking, extrajudicial punishments and executions. By tsar's command, the Russian land, including the one on which the capital of the state Moscow stood, was divided into the "sovereign's oprichnina" and "zemshchina". All those who were not fortunate enough to have houses, estates, land allotments and other possessions in the oprichnina were ruthlessly expelled and moved to the zemshchina. In the sovereign's oprichnina, the tsar was the absolute master, and only faithful and unconditionally devoted people were to live there. Oprichniki became the organizers of unheard of terror, many of them (Malyuta Skuratov, Basmanovs) remained symbols of cruelty embodied in historical legends.

HE. Vishnyakov. Ivan the Terrible interrogates the disgraced boyar

The lands taken by the tsar from the noble boyars and found themselves in the oprichnina were transferred to the disposal of his new favorites. The Arbat up to Dorogomilov, stretching across the Moskva River, adjacent to the Arbat, Chertolye (future Prechistenka) and Semchenskoye (Ostozhenka), during the division of Moscow, ended up in the oprichnina. The chroniclers reported the king's decision as follows: “He also ordered in Posada to take the streets from the Moskva River into the oprichnina: Chertolskaya Street with Semchinsky Village and to Vspolya, and Arbatskaya Street on both sides, and with Sivtsev Vrazhok, and to Dorogomilovsky Vpolye; Yes, half of Nikitskaya Street - on the left side, if you go from the city ... " In these places, the construction of oprichnina courtyards began - stone chambers for the tsar's close associates. Ivan IV himself also began the construction of a new palace to his liking, neglecting the Kremlin towers. According to the chronicler, “... the tsar and the Grand Duke of All Rus' Ivan Vasilyevich ordered to set up a court for himself outside the city ( i.e., behind the Kremlin fortress - E.X .), behind Neglinnaya, between Arbatskaya and Nikitskaya streets, from a hollow place ... "
Part of the royal chambers was hastily erected, and Ivan, driving into the capital from his residence in Alexander Sloboda, stopped in "Beloved Arbat Terem"(as A.K. Tolstoy called this palace in “The Silver Prince”).
In addition to Russian oprichniki, foreign mercenaries were also subordinate to the tsar. Adventurers from Prussia, Saxony, Livonia and other European countries flocked to Moscow to offer their services to the Russian Tsar. One of these mercenaries, the German Heinrich Staden, who served among the guardsmen from 1565 to 1576. left a detailed description of the sovereign's Oprichny courtyard, located in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bmodern Arbat Square: “When the oprichnina was established, all those who lived along the western bank of the Neglinnaya River, without any leniency, had to leave their courtyards and flee to the surrounding settlements ... The Grand Duke ordered to break the courtyards of many princes, boyars and merchants to the west of the Kremlin, on the highest place, within the distance of a rifle shot; clear a quadrangular area and surround this area with a wall; one sazhen from the ground lay it out of hewn stone, and another two sazhens up - from burnt bricks. At the top, the walls were brought together pointedly, without a roof and loopholes,<...>with three gates: one went to the east, the other - to the south, the third - to the north. The north gate... was upholstered in tin. They had two carved painted lions - instead of eyes they had mirrors attached; and also a black double-headed eagle carved from wood with outstretched wings”.
According to this evidence, it is clear that the oprichnina buildings were by no means built “from a hollow place”, as an unknown chronicler emphasized (probably for opportunistic reasons). That is, if the construction site was turned into a hollow place, then only after the population was expelled, and all previously erected buildings were demolished. Well, representatives of the media, to which the ancient chroniclers can be attributed, at all times depended on the mercy of those in power and, by order or at the behest of their hearts, allowed themselves to “lacquer reality” ...
The gloomy buildings of the Oprichny Court caused wild horror among the townspeople - everyone knew what was happening behind these walls ... The Oprichny Court did not last long - during the invasion of Khan Devlet-Girey to Moscow in 1571, it was destroyed and burned.

Oprichny yard, scenery for P. Lungin's film "Tsar"

Oprichnina left a terrible mark on the history of Russia and Moscow. People were executed by hundreds and thousands, for the slightest fault, on slander, because the king seemed dangerous or simply did not like them, or even without any reason. The tsar personally participated in executions and tortures with great pleasure, believing that in this way he strengthened the autocratic power ... The dead were not allowed to be buried, and the corpses of the executed filled the Moscow streets.
But the king was known for his fickle temper. In 1572, Ivan the Terrible suddenly abolished the oprichnina, its leaders fell into royal disgrace and, in turn, were subjected to cruel executions. The tsar himself attributed his decision to the mystical influence of the holy fool Basil the Blessed, who by that time was no longer alive.
Basil the Blessed died in 1552, many years before the organization of the oprichnina and the terrible terror unleashed by Tsar Ivan. However, the king had the opportunity to be convinced of the complete disapproval of his actions on the part of the late miracle worker. According to the story of Ivan the Terrible himself, the late holy fool appeared before him during the days of another cruel massacre, when the guardsmen, brutalized from spilled blood, dealt with the next "enemies" of the king. At the time of the appearance of the holy fool's spirit, Grozny was alone in his chambers. He generally loved being alone. The ghost of Basil the Blessed approached the sovereign, who was sitting at the meal, and began to insistently offer him to eat watermelon and drink wine. But the king was horrified to see that on the platter lay a huge piece of roughly chopped meat, oozing blood. It wasn't beef, and it wasn't pork; whose mortified flesh arose before Ivan, it was terrible even to think. The jug standing on the table also turned out to be filled with fresh blood instead of wine ... Ivan Vasilyevich, feeling like a bloodsucker and a cannibal, began to push away the terrible treat, and Vasily the Blessed, embracing him, pointed to heaven with his hand. After that, the ghost disappeared, and on the table in front of him the king again saw a dish of watermelon and a jug of wine.
It is not known whether this was a fantasy of a nervous person, or whether Ivan the Terrible really saw the holy fool Vasily, who thus appealed to his conscience and Christian feeling? And how to explain it? Whether the soul of Basil the Blessed managed to convey to the bloody tsar a call for goodness and peace, or the soul of Ivan the Terrible himself was looking for a way out of the impasse into which he had driven himself and his state - God knows ... In any case, the oprichnina was soon dispersed, and its leaders were executed. Perhaps this decision latently matured in Grozny for a long time, but ordinary people were sure that the oprichnina suddenly appeared, shedding a lot of blood, and just as suddenly disappeared when St. Basil the Blessed opened the eyes of the king ...

The interior of St. Basil's Cathedral with images of saints and paintings on the theme of his life

Getting rid of the oprichnina became such a boon for the Russian people that thanksgiving prayers were read in all churches, and the name of St. Basil the Blessed, the heavenly intercessor of Rus', was commemorated in them.
The grave of the deceased holy fool was not far from the Kremlin, in the cemetery of the Trinity Church in the Moat, on the descent from Red Square to the river. Pilgrims immediately reached out to the Trinity cemetery, and rumors spread around Moscow about the miracles that happened here, "at the coffin of holy fool Basil". When Tsar Ivan ordered to build a new majestic cathedral on the site of the old church to commemorate the capture of Kazan, the holy fool's grave was carefully preserved.
Basil the Blessed was canonized as a saint. Patriarch Job in 1588 determined the celebration of the memory of the miracle worker on the day of his death, August 2. In the same year, the son of Ivan the Terrible, Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, ordered the construction of an extension to the church over the burial place of the saint - the chapel of St. Basil the Blessed. The relics of the miracle worker were placed in a silver shrine, and for centuries they became one of the main Moscow shrines.
The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin on Red Square in Moscow is rarely called that - it went down in history under the name of St. Basil's Cathedral. Vasilyevsky is also called the descent from the cathedral to the river. And yet the memory of generations of people weakens over the centuries. Everyone knows this unique architectural structure in the center of Moscow, but, alas, not every modern Muscovite can tell about the personality of the holy fool Vasily and what this man went down in history with.

Saint Blessed Basil, the Moscow miracle worker, was born in December 1468 on the porch of the Yelokhov Church near Moscow in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. His parents were simple and sent their son to shoemaking as an apprenticeship. During the teaching of the Blessed, his master had to witness one amazing incident when he realized that his disciple was not an ordinary person. One merchant brought bread to Moscow on barges and went into the workshop to order boots, asking them to make them such that he would not wear them out for a year. Blessed Basil shed a tear: "We will sew you such that you will not wear them out." To the bewildered question of the master, the student explained that the customer did not put on boots, he would soon die. A few days later, the prophecy came true.

At the age of 16, the saint came to Moscow and began the thorny feat of foolishness. In the scorching summer heat and bitter bitter frost, he walked naked and barefoot through the streets of Moscow. His actions were strange: he would overturn a tray with rolls, then he would spill a jug of kvass. Angry merchants beat the Blessed One, but he gladly accepted the beatings and thanked God for them. And then it turned out that the kalachi were badly baked, the kvass was cooked unusable. The veneration of Blessed Basil grew rapidly: he was recognized as a holy fool, a man of God, a denouncer of untruth.

One merchant planned to build a stone church on Pokrovka in Moscow, but its vaults collapsed three times. The merchant turned to the Blessed for advice, and he sent him to Kyiv: "Find wretched John there, he will give you advice on how to complete the church." Arriving in Kyiv, the merchant found John, who was sitting in a poor hut and rocking an empty cradle. "Who are you rocking?" - asked the merchant. "My dear mother, I pay an unrequited debt for the birth and upbringing." It was only then that the merchant remembered his mother, whom he had driven out of the house, and it became clear to him why he could not finish building the church. Returning to Moscow, he returned his mother home, asked her forgiveness and completed the construction of the church.

Preaching mercy, the Blessed One helped first of all those who were ashamed to ask for alms, but meanwhile needed help more than others. There was a case that he gave rich royal gifts to a foreign merchant who was left without anything and, although he had not eaten anything for three days, he could not ask for help, as he wore good clothes.

The Blessed One severely condemned those who gave alms for selfish purposes, not out of compassion for poverty and misfortune, but hoping in an easy way to attract God's blessing to their deeds. Once the Blessed One saw a demon that took the form of a beggar. He sat at the Prechistensky Gates and provided immediate assistance to everyone who gave alms. The blessed one unraveled the crafty fiction and drove the demon away. For the sake of saving his neighbors, Blessed Basil also visited taverns, where he tried to see a grain of goodness even in the most degraded people, to strengthen them with affection, to encourage. Many noticed that when the Blessed One passed by a house in which they were madly having fun and drinking, he hugged the corners of that house with tears. The holy fool was asked what this meant, and he answered: "Sorrowful angels stand at the house and lament over the sins of people, and I begged them with tears to pray to the Lord for the conversion of sinners."

Having cleansed his soul with great deeds and prayer, the Blessed One was also vouchsafed the gift of foreseeing the future. In 1547 he predicted the great fire of Moscow; with a prayer he extinguished the fire in Novgorod; once he reproached Tsar Ivan the Terrible for having been busy thinking about building a palace on the Sparrow Hills during the divine service.

Blessed Basil died on August 2, 1557. Saint Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow, with a council of clergy, performed the burial of the saint. His body was buried at the Trinity Church, which is on the moat, where in 1554 the Intercession Cathedral was built in memory of the conquest of Kazan. Blessed Basil was glorified by the Cathedral on August 2, 1588, which was headed by His Holiness Patriarch Job.

In the description of the appearance of the saint, characteristic details were preserved: "all naked, with a staff in his hand." The veneration of Blessed Basil has always been so strong that the Trinity Church and the attached Church of the Intercession are still called the Church of St. Basil the Blessed.

The chains of the saint are kept at the Moscow Theological Academy.

Holy fools... People who embarked on this difficult path deliberately presented themselves as insane, neglected all worldly blessings, humbly endured the 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 kindness and mercy, exposed deceit and injustice. Not everyone succeeded in suppressing the rudiments of pride in themselves, not taking into account the needs of the body, spiritually becoming higher than 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.

Basil the Blessed: life

His life path is amazing from the very first day. December 1469. Dates vary, and some sources give 1464. On the porch (Epiphany Cathedral in the village of Yelokhovo) appears a simple woman named Anna. She came here with prayers for the safe birth of a child. The words of the woman were heard by the Mother of God. And in the same place, Anna had a boy who received the name Vasily (Vasily Nagoy - that's what he is also called). A pure soul and an open heart is what he came into the world with.

His parents from among ordinary peasants were pious, they revered Christ, they built their lives according to his commandments. From an early age, they sought to instill in their son a respectful and reverent attitude towards God. Blessed Basil was growing up, and, dreaming of a good life for his son, his father and mother decided to introduce him to shoemaking.

Apprentice work

The young apprentice was distinguished by diligence 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 is. Once a merchant appeared in the workshop with a request to make such boots so that they would not be demolished for a whole year. Blessed Basil, 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, death would soon await him. It took quite a bit of time, and these words came true.

Way to Moscow

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

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

Basil the Blessed: miracles

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

Other miracles of St. Basil the Blessed are also known. Once a merchant turned to him: the vaults of the church he was building 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 who was 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 unfortunate "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 by building a temple. The Lord refused to accept a gift from a person who is low in soul. Blessed Basil could help this man: he repented, made peace with his mother, and the woman forgave him. Then the construction of God's temple was successfully completed.

Further manifestation of the gift

Basil the Blessed, whose brief biography has come down to us, always abstained from pleasures, dutifully 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 force.

With the help of the Almighty, Blessed Basil, the miracle worker of Moscow, was able to predict the invasion of Moscow. The situation was as follows: he, as usual, prayed at night, when a sign appeared - a flame that escaped from the church windows. Basil's prayers became more fervent. Gradually the fire died out. Some time after this incident, the Crimean Tatars attacked the Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery and the villages nearby, they were looted and burned, but Moscow remained untouched.

The next wonderful event. 1543. July. Basil the Blessed is again visited by a vision that predicted a strong fire: a number of streets turned out to be burned out, the trouble touched the Exaltation of the Cross Monastery, the Royal and Metropolitan courtyards.

Once on a winter day, one boyar managed to persuade the holy fool to accept a gift from him - a fur coat. Vasily, after long protests, agreed. Walking in this fur coat, he met a gang of thieves. Those, fearing to forcibly take away clothes, were not too lazy to play 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 a dead friend. The holy fool, covering the pretender, asked if he was really dead. The thieves assured him of the veracity of what had happened. Basil's wish for their answer was the punishment of hypocrisy. After his departure, the thieves literally froze - their comrade no longer needed to pretend, he actually died.

All his life, the holy fool helped people, sympathized with them. And, absolutely everyone. Especially those who were ashamed to ask for help. So, he gave the gifts 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 because of his rich clothes.

Vasily was a frequent visitor to Kitai-Gorod. He went to the penitentiary for drunkards located there. Encouraging words and exhortations are what he helped the fallen people to return to a normal way of life.

The attitude of Ivan the Terrible to the holy fool

Basil the Blessed, we continue to consider his life, lived under two autocrats. Reverence and fear - with such feelings one of them treated him - Ivan the Terrible. The man of God, whom he saw in the holy fool, was for the king a constant reminder that it is necessary to live justly and not be stingy with good deeds and deeds.

Faced with several cases, Ivan the Terrible became convinced that it was in fact a pious, estranged fool from the affairs of the world. Once Basil the Blessed was invited by the king to a feast. The sovereign was angry when, in front of his eyes, the holy fool threw out the wine served to him three times. Ivan the Terrible until then doubted the explanation of the holy fool about, they say, 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 put out the fire. The same person was recognized by the Novgorodians who arrived in Moscow in a holy fool.

Having conceived the construction of a palace on the Sparrow Hills, the tsar only thought about this. Once at the church festive service, he behaved just as thoughtfully and inattentively to what was happening around him. Basil the Blessed, who was there, the king simply did not notice, being immersed in his own thoughts. At the end of the service, Grozny began to blame the holy fool for his absence from the church. To these words, Basil the Blessed admonished the king, answering that his body was in the service, and his soul was hovering near the palace being built. From that time on, Grozny had even more respect and fear in relation to the holy fool. When the latter fell ill from a serious illness, the king came to visit him.

The end of the path of St. Basil the Blessed

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

The date of the death of St. Basil the Blessed is August 2, 1557 (according to the new style, this 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 of Moscow and All Rus' Macarius. When the burial was carried out, 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. In it they built a chapel in honor of the holy fool. He was revered with such force that since that time one common name has been fixed for the Trinity Church and the Intercession Cathedral - St. Basil's Cathedral. Moreover, its history is interesting not only by its name.

Basil's Cathedral: a combination of different styles

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

The temple was not once tried to destroy. But he somehow miraculously continues to rise in his place. In 1812, during the escape from the capital, Napoleon ordered the destruction of the Intercession Cathedral along with the Kremlin. But the hurrying French could not cope with the required number of tunnels. The Pokrovsky Cathedral turned out to be unscathed, as during the rain the wicks lit by them went out.

In the post-revolutionary years, the cathedral also avoided demolition. Its last rector, Archpriest John Vostorgov, was shot in 1919, and in 1929 St. Basil's Cathedral was completely closed, its bells were melted down. In the 1930s, Lazar Kaganovich, who succeeded in destroying many Moscow churches, proposed to demolish the Pokrovsky Cathedral as well. He put forward a good reason: supposedly this made it possible to free up space for holding solemn parades and demonstrations.

There is a legend that he made a model of Red Square with a removable Intercession Cathedral. With his creation, he came to Stalin. Convincing that the temple is a hindrance, he suddenly ripped off his seat for the leader. At the same time, the stunned Stalin escaped with the historical phrase: “Lazar, put it in its place!”. The well-known restorer P. D. Baranovsky sent telegrams addressed to Stalin with an appeal to save the temple. It was said that Baranovsky, who was invited to the Kremlin to solve this problem, did not hesitate to kneel before the members of the Central Committee and begged to save the temple. They listened to him. St. Basil's Cathedral (the story could have ended there) was left alone. Only later Baranovsky was awarded an impressive term.

Saint Basil's Day

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

Let's digress a little and remember another story. Basil the Blessed, whose prophecies have come down to our time, once behaved not in the best way 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 stand it, the pilgrims beat Vasily. He endured everything humbly. And then he gave advice to remove one of the layers of paint from the image. They listened to him, and it turned out that a devilish image was hidden under him.

Icons of the saint

A wealthy Muscovite who went blind at the age of twelve (her name was Anna) knew that blind men who prayed to Vasily could see. She found an icon painter and turned to him with a request: the woman wanted the icon of St. Basil the Blessed to be painted. This icon was donated by Anna to the temple. It is known for sure that it was St. Basil's Cathedral. The story doesn't end there. Every day she went there to pray. According to legend, after some time, Anna was completely cured: her sight returned to her.

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

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

He predicted a fire in 1547, when a third of the capital's buildings were destroyed, the Kremlin and a number of churches were damaged; miraculously extinguished the fire in Novgorod, foresaw the ascension to the throne of the next prince - Fedor, and not Ivan. He predicted the destruction of temples and their subsequent restoration, accompanied by human obsession with gold, as well as the onset of a golden age for Russia after 2009.

In the year of the canonization of the holy fool (1558), one of the chapels of the Intercession Cathedral, built to commemorate the conquest of the capital of the Kazan Khanate, was dedicated to him, and soon this one of the most beautiful architectural monuments began to be called by the people after him - St. Basil's Cathedral. He is considered the main Orthodox symbol of the Russian capital and even the whole country.

Childhood and youth

The couple did not have children for a long time. In the hope of finding the happiness of motherhood and fatherhood, they prayed earnestly, fasted, went on pilgrimage, and tried to live according to the commandments of God. And the Almighty heard them, gave the long-awaited child.

The boy grew up in an atmosphere of love and reverence for the Lord that reigned in their family. He was not taught literacy, but was sent to learn shoemaking. He studied diligently, diligently and soon mastered the manufacture of various kinds of shoes.

Once a visiting bread merchant came into their shop and ordered to sew boots. In response to his request, the young man suddenly laughed, and then wept bitterly. Later, he explained to the owner his spiritual impulse by saying that the merchant would allegedly not have time to put on new boots - he would die.

Madness for Christ's sake

He despised everything earthly, abandoned the rules of decency, home, family, tortured himself with fasting, wearing chains (chains now stored in the capital's theological academy), constantly prayed, wandered without shoes and almost without clothes even in the cold. Muscovites began to call him Vasily the Nagy, and on the icons he was subsequently depicted naked.

For example, he kissed the corners of the walls of houses where the atheists and the wicked lived, explaining this by the fact that there are mournful angels, driven into a corner from the sinful deeds of the owners. At the same time, the saint of God threw stones at the dwellings of respectable people, claiming that demons were standing at their walls, unable to enter inside.

Or suddenly the holy fool took and overturned trays with bread, kvass and other goods in the market. Then, with gratitude, he accepted the beatings for what he had done. However, later it turned out that the baker, who suffered from his antics, mixed chalk into baking flour, kvass was sour, and other products scattered by him were also not of good quality.

Cartoon about the life of St. Basil the Blessed

According to legend, once he seemed to go completely mad - he threw a stone at the icon of the Virgin at the Varvarsky Gates of Kitay-gorod, which was considered miraculous. Angry believers attacked the holy fool, scolded and beat the unfortunate. When, on his advice, a visible layer of paint was removed from the surface of the icon, then under the holy image, everyone was horrified to find a painted devil. It was an hellish icon. Believers, standing in front of her, without knowing it, worshiped the devil himself, and their prayer did not lead to the desired, but to the opposite result.

Over time, most of the townspeople began to treat the pious ascetic with due respect, recognizing the complete uniqueness of his altruistic personality as a fighter against injustice and sin. But there were also those who did not take him seriously. There is a known case when the merchants, laughing at the nakedness of a wanderer, suddenly became blind, but then repented. He forgave them and healed them.

Another time, crafty people wanted to take advantage of his kindness and take away a luxurious fur coat, presented to him in the cold by a compassionate boyar. One of them lay down and said he was dead, while others began to ask for help, allegedly for burial. The homeless and barefoot wanderer did not spare his only valuable thing, covered the imaginary dead man with a fur coat. When they lifted it up, they saw that their friend had indeed died.

For more than 70 years of asceticism, Vasily Nagoy performed miracles by the power of God, predicted the future, and preached mercy. He went into dungeons, taverns, taverns, supported and instructed even criminals and degraded people, often helped those in need. There was a case when he gave the gifts received from the king not to the poor and the poor, contrary to custom, but to an outwardly prosperous merchant. In reality, this man was in a desperate situation, ruined, starving, but he was ashamed to ask for alms.

A special place in the legends about the Moscow blessed is occupied by his relationship with Ivan IV. The formidable autocrat loved the holy fool, valued him for his insight, respected him for his wisdom. He was even afraid of him as a person who could read minds, and called him "the seer of hearts." God's saint once pleased him by predicting the capture of the capital of the Kazan Khanate. But on another occasion, he boldly shamed the king when, during the Divine Liturgy, he was distracted and thought not about the subject of prayer, but about building a new palace. Repeatedly, he also denounced the various vices of the cruel monarch.

Death

In August 1557 (according to other sources, 1552), he reposed in joy, because he supposedly saw angels who had come for his soul. Almost the entire city came to the funeral. The blessed one was escorted with unprecedented honors: the tsar himself mourned the deceased and carried his coffin, and His Grace Metropolitan Macarius performed the repose service. The body was buried in a churchyard near the Trinity Church.

Memory

Great predictions of the prophecy of St. Basil the Blessed

The memory of the miracle worker, who brings people the joy of healing and help, is still alive today. It is celebrated on the day of the death of the saint on August 2.