St Basil was born in the town of
Yaroslavl around 1587. His father was a merchant, but the family was
very poor. As a child, Basil spent much of his time in church, praying
fervently and participating in the divine services.
When he was
twelve, the boy set out to earn his living. After a difficult journey
through wild forests, he came to the Russian village of Mangazea in
Siberia on the River Taz. This was an area inhabited by Mongols and
indigenous peoples of Siberia.
After stopping to pray in the
village church, St Basil found a job with a local merchant. The merchant
was a person of low moral character and did not believe in God, so
while he appreciated Basil’s work, he did not care for the boy’s
religious inclinations. Soon the cruel merchant came to hate his clerk
and began to mistreat him.
During the Matins of Pascha, thieves
robbed the merchant’s shop. The merchant discovered the theft and went
to the governor, accusing Basil of being one of the thieves. So great
was the merchant’s hatred of Basil that he falsely accused the young
man. The governor did not even bother to investigate the charges, but
had Basil arrested and tortured to make him admit his guilt. In spite of
unbearable tortures, the saint kept saying, “I am innocent.”
Enraged
by Basil’s endurance and meekness, the merchant struck him in the head
with a ring of keys. St Basil fell to the floor and surrendered his soul
to God. The governor ordered that the saint’s body be placed in a
coffin and buried in a swamp.
After several years, the servants
who disposed of the body began to speak about the child’s murder. Soon
all the residents of Mangazea knew that the saint’s relics were in the
swamp. Because of many signs that took place, people began to address
prayers to St Basil. Forty-two years after the unjust murder of the
saint, his coffin was removed from the swamp and his holy relics were
found to be incorrupt. A chapel was built over his grave, and in 1670
the relics were placed in the church of Holy Trinity Monastery near
Turakhanov.
In 1719 the holy Metropolitan Philotheus of Siberia
(May 31) sent a carved reliquary to the monastery. Many miracles took
place there, and St Basil helped Metropolitan Philotheus on many
occasions.
A new stone church was built at Holy Trinity Monastery in 1787, and the relics were transferred there.
In
iconography, St Basil is portrayed as a young man with light brown
hair, bare-footed and wearing only a shirt. He is also depicted on the
Abaletsk Icon “Of the Sign” (July 20, November 27). SOURCE:
We Have no God but Government!
-
“We have no king but Caesar,” the Pharisees and chief priests. This post is
a continuation of the reflection that I embarked upon in my last article,
‘We F...
Fesuri călugărești croșetate (100% bumbac)
-
Până acum am croșetat fesuri groase (cu 25% lână), fesuri subțiri (cu 55
% bumbac) și fesuri cu 100% lână merinos. Acum am lucrat aceste fesuri
pentru ...
What About Me, Says Patriarch of Alexandria
-
Source: spc.rs What about me? Patriarch of Alexandria Theodore responded
with a letter to the appeal of His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Porphyry, in
which H...
Does God Really Care About Me?
-
Have you ever gotten the message that God doesn’t care about you? Logic
tells you this to be true; however, your heart seems unable to accept this
conclusi...
The Catacomb Church (1991)
-
The text below is excerpted from the 2011 book "In the Catacombs" by S.V.
Shumilo:
"Remaining in a position without rights, the Catacomb Church – as in t...
The Experience of Autism from the Inside
-
I write this post with a great deal of caution. I am going to attempt to
flip the script on how autism is often described. Rather than a set of
outward b...
The Four Horsemen of Palamism
-
There are many interesting things taking place in academia right now
regarding Orthodox history and theology, beyond the usual faddish
expressions of “theo...
Moving
-
I started this blog back in late 2005. For a few years, I posted fast and
furiously--138 in 2007. Then gradually it dropped off to the point where I
o...
Ascension and Judgment in the Triumphal Entry
-
One of the key features of the Gospels is the many prophecies of Christ
regarding His own passion, death, resurrection, …
Continue reading →
The circular firing squad on Pope Francis
-
Introduction
I. The pastoral Magisterium
II. When truth functions as law
III. The fence and the circle of orthodoxy
IV. Criticizing Magisterial failures
V. ...
Christmas: the Eternal embraces the Finite
-
The following is a Christmas-season meditation by Susan Anne, who will be
joining me on this blog as a co-author. Beginnings and endings, finite
measures o...
Ben Bernanke Takes Aim at Central Bank Forecasts
-
Central banks the world over failed to predict the surge in inflation that
started three years ago. Now they’re trying to learn from their mistakes.
For th...
Manifest
-
Manifest is a binge worthy 4 season series on Netflix. We are on the last
season and I am impressed by the intelligent and evenhanded treatment of
group pr...
Service Interruption notice
-
You may have noticed rigorousintuition.ca is currently down. We're moving
servers. Drew informs me it shouldn't take too long. Perhaps tonight or
tomorrow....
The truth drew hatred…
-
“Seest Thou what suffer those who censure, O Word of God, the faults of
the unclean. Not being able to bear censure, lo, Herod cut off my head, O
Savior....
The Dynamism of Holy Tradition
-
I. How & Why Traditions Are Created “Be imitators of me, just as I also am
of Christ. Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold
firml...
Apostleship - A Family Affair?
-
Sometimes I amuse myself by imagining Jesus and the Apostles in situations
they might see if they grew up in the America that I know and love. When I
was a...
Moving Day
-
I’m beginning to copy some of the articles on ecumenism over to a new blog
called “Eirenikon“, devoted solely to the topic of Orthodox/Catholic
rapprocheme...
No comments:
Post a Comment