Basil, Fool for Christ

So today I am going in a little different direction with my Saint story. Today's Saint is from the Russian Orthodox tradition - we are going ecumenical.

St. Basil the Blessed is the patron of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. He is also known as Basil, Wonderworker of Moscow or Basil, fool for Christ.

Basil was born in 1468 or 1469 - the son of serfs. According to tradition, he was born on the portico of the local church. He was apprenticed to a shoemaker in Moscow. However, he soon chose the eccentric lifestyle of being a Fool for Christ. He went naked, weighed down with chains, lived on the streets and begged for his food. He would sometimes shoplift from market stalls and give the food to the poor in order to shame the wealthy who should be caring for the poor. He rebuked Ivan the Terrible for not paying attention to the church and for his behavior toward the poor.

Among his strange actions would be to attack a market stall, for no apparent reason, destroying or scattering the food or drink that was being sold. He would not run away, but would submit as the merchants grabbed him and beat him soundly. He would then thank God and go on his way. Upon closer examination, it would be found that the goods being sold were second-rate or of poor quality but were being sold for full price. People began to see Basil as a holy fool, a righter of wrongs.

When he died in 1552 (or 1557), he was not buried in a pauper's grave but in the churchyard of the new church built by Tsar Ivan to commemorate his victories at Kazan and many priests and hierarchs attended his funeral. The church was named Trinity Church, but so many pilgrims came to pray at Basil's grave that it soon became known as St. Basil's.

St. Basil is venerated in the Russian Orthodox Church - his feast day is August 2.