The holy servant of God, Basil, Bishop of Ryazan, lived during the second half of the thirteenth century. No reliable testimony has survived concerning his origin—who his parents were or where he was born. Yet the hymns of the Church preserve indications that from his earliest childhood St. Basil was a consecrated servant of the Lord, and that from his youth he perfected himself both morally and spiritually, overcoming sinful inclinations through the fear of God and planting within his soul and heart all that is holy.
He began his first ascetic labors in the city of Murom. There he received the monastic tonsure, and when Divine Providence saw fit to appoint him shepherd of the flock of Murom and Ryazan, he was already renowned for his great ascetic labors of self-denial, meekness, and humility. Concerning his election to the episcopate, his Life relates:
“After the city of Murom had been laid waste by unbelievers, the pious Prince George Yaroslavich came from Kiev to Murom. This prince restored the Church of the Annunciation and a second church dedicated to the holy passion-bearers Boris and Gleb, and he appointed there, as before, a bishop named Basil, a man righteous and devout.”
Having received the lofty rank of archpastor, St. Basil immediately devoted himself with all the zeal of a true shepherd of Christ’s Church to the ordering of his flock. Those scattered by barbarian invasions he gathered into one fold; those weakened in spirit he strengthened by faith; he comforted the brokenhearted with firm hope in God’s mercy; and those who had gone astray he brought back to the right path. Through such lofty virtues St. Basil proved himself a good, wise, and vigilant shepherd—merciful and loving, gentle and humble, an immovable pillar of purity and chastity, an example to his flock in prayer, fasting, and the ascetic struggles of the holy Fathers.
Annunciation cathedral of Annunciation monastery, Murom. Photo: wikimedia.org
Such lofty virtues and ascetic achievements became unbearable to the enemy of all good—the devil. Employing all his satanic cunning, he sought to arouse suspicion among the frivolous people of Murom concerning the saint’s purity and chastity. Taking on the appearance of a harlot, he repeatedly entered and left the bishop’s residence and was seen by the townspeople at the bishop’s window. Thus, it seemed that his schemes were succeeding.
One evening, the nobles and townspeople gathered near St. Basil’s residence and saw a young woman running up the steps toward the bishop’s chambers with a pair of boots in her hands. Thus had the devil arranged the deception. Seeing this, the crowd cried out:
“O bishop! It is not fitting for thee to keep women in thy dwelling and upon thy bed!”
In vain did St. Basil assure them:
“I am innocent of this sinful deed of which you accuse me.”
The people, beside themselves, proceeded to judge God’s servant without trial. They neither respected his episcopal office nor felt shame before the dignity of his venerable gray hairs. They slandered him, mocked him, and resolved to drive him out of Murom. Some, in their frenzy, even shouted, “Let us kill him for this!”
Then St. Basil pleaded, “Fathers and brethren, grant me a little time, until the third hour of the day.”
The people, struck by the saint’s meekness, agreed and dispersed to their homes.
The innocent righteous man spent the entire night praying with tears in the Cathedral of Saints Boris and Gleb. He celebrated the All-Night Vigil and, in the morning, the Divine Liturgy. Afterwards he served a moleben before a revered icon of the Mother of God in the Church of the Annunciation. Taking the icon with him, and entrusting himself to the will of God and the protection of the Mother of God, he went to the banks of the Oka River, intending to leave Murom forever.
Photo: blagovesti.ru The people had prepared a boat for him. But St. Basil removed his episcopal mantle, spread it upon the water, stepped onto it with the icon of the Mother of God in his hands, and, borne miraculously by the power of God as though by a mighty wind, swiftly sailed upstream against the current of the river. His mantle became for him a light vessel; Divine Providence and the intercession of the Mother of God served as his rudder.
Astonished by the miracle, all the people of Murom, from the oldest to the youngest, cried out with tears, “O holy Vladyka Basil! Forgive us, thy sinful servants. We have sinned against thee, holy father and bishop. Forget us not, thy servants!”
But St. Basil was taken from the sight of the people of Murom “in the twinkling of an eye.”
Thus God vindicated the innocence of His righteous servant before the people. Thus He confounded the schemes of the devil, who had sought the destruction of the flock.
After the Divine Liturgy, at the third hour of the day, St. Basil departed from Murom, and by the ninth hour of that same day (the hour of Vespers) he was brought to Ryazan (Old Ryazan), a distance of more than two hundred poprishcha (about 172 miles) from Murom.
The marvelous providence of God miraculously informed the people of Ryazan of the saint’s approach. Tradition relates that just before St. Basil arrived, the inhabitants of Ryazan had gathered in the church for the evening service. The deacon, already vested and having come out to begin the service, found himself unable to pronounce the customary opening, despite all his efforts. The people watched in astonishment. At last, as if released from bonds that had sealed his lips, he involuntarily cried out, “I cannot begin! The Bishop has arrived—go forth to meet the Bishop!”
Immediately the entire assembly of clergy, bearing holy crosses, together with the prince, the boyars, and the people, hastened to the bank of the Oka River to meet the God-sent hierarch. Seeing him floating upon his mantle with the revered icon of the Mother of God, they received him with great joy.
But the joy of St. Basil and his flock did not last long. It was an age of sorrows rather than rejoicing. During one devastating barbarian raid, Ryazan was destroyed together with all its churches. Divine Providence appointed another place of refuge and repose for St. Basil—what is now the city of Ryazan. Tradition says that the saint again sailed there upon his miraculous mantle, traveling along the Oka and Trubezh Rivers with the same Murom Icon of the Mother of God, arriving at the Church of Sts. Boris and Gleb. There he established a new episcopal cathedra, and from that time the Church of Sts. Boris and Gleb became the cathedral church.
Church of Sts. Boris and Gleb, Ryazan. Photo: pastvu.com
The pastoral ministry of St. Basil lasted only ten years. The sorrows he endured, his labors and cares, his grief and suffering at the sight of his flock groaning beneath the Tatar yoke, shortened his much-troubled life. On July 3, 1295 (Old Style), St. Basil departed to the eternal mansions. His holy body was buried in the Cathedral of Saints Boris and Gleb.
The removal of St. Basil from one place to another was not without a gracious purpose in the providence of God. For the people of Murom, it served as a lesson, revealing to them the devil’s deception. For the inhabitants of Ryazan and Pereyaslavl-Ryazansky, it brought consolation and strength in a time of profound suffering, while also providing an example of faith and patience.
In order to strengthen and comfort the faithful during another terrible period in Russian history—the Time of Troubles, with its pretenders and Polish invasions—God saw fit to glorify His servant through his incorrupt relics, which had rested in the earth for more than three hundred years.
The holy relics of St. Basil were uncovered by Archbishop Theodoret of Ryazan and solemnly translated to the Dormition Cathedral (now the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ) on June 10, 1609. Because of the unsettled conditions of the Time of Troubles, the relics were placed beneath a crypt at the left kliros of the cathedral.
In 1636 a stone tomb was erected over the relics, and above it was placed an icon of the Mother of God known as “The Prayer of St. Basil.” In 1753 the tomb was reconstructed in the form of a reliquary shrine adorned with an image of St. Basil, and in 1783 it was embellished by Bishop Simon.
At the site where St. Basil’s relics were discovered, near the Cathedral of Sts. Boris and Gleb, a stone chapel was erected in 1712 to replace an ancient canvas shelter. Later, in 1834, the benefactor of the cathedral, Semyon Panov, acting, as the account says, “through a secret inspiration from above,” erected a cast-iron monument at the holy place.
