A new saint of the Ural land. St. Vasilisk of Siberia

Icon of St. Vasilisk

A great joy came to our Ural land. A blessing has been received from the Most Reverend Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Aleksiy II for a glorification among the local saints of Ekaterinburg eparchy of the holy monk Vasilisk, a famous recluse and man of prayer who lived in XVIII-XIX centuries. It is a long-awaited event for all the sisters of the abode, since in our monastery, elder Vasilisk and his disciple St. Zosima have been venerated for a long time already.

Relicks of St. Vasilisk

St. Vasilisk (Vasily in the world) was born in the middle of XVIII century in Tver province, in a peasant.s family. Since childhood he was distinguished by simplicity of heart, love of God, and humility. Not daring to oppose his father, Vasily was married, but soon he persuaded his wife to lead a pure life; with her consent he left the family and began to prepare himself for monasticism. He lived as a recluse in the forests of Chuvashia, then among the hermits of Bryansk under the guidance of well-known elder Adrian who tonsured him a monk with the name of Vasilisk. Here he met his future prayer-mate and friend St. Zosima (Verkhovsky). The purity of heart and deep humility before God and neighbors led Vasilisk to the highest spiritual life. More than once he was made worthy of being shone upon with uncreated light and the appearances of the Savior and Most Holy Theotokos. The blessed repose of St. Vasilisk followed on December 29, 1824. He predicted exactly the time of his departure, and on the eve he confessed and partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Until his last breath, Fr. Vasilisk remained in verbal and inner prayer, and with the words: .Lord Jesus Christ.. he gave up his spirit as if falling asleep.

The cover of the book with hagiography of St. Vasilisk

His priceless prayerful experience was described by monk Zosima in the manuscript .The narrative about the effects of inner prayer of the elder-hermit Vasilisk. which is an exposition of revelations of the saint about the marvelous fruits of grace that had been granted to him during his occupation with inner prayer. For a long time this manuscript was being copied by pious people and was being passed from hands to hands. Having learned of its existence, the spiritual father of our abode, abbot Avraam, decided to find it, to familiarize himself with it and, possibly, to make it available for others. Inquiries had been sent out, and soon a copy of the manuscript was received from the Russian National library. The text required serious editing, it had to be made understandable for a modern reader, while preserving not only the style but also the very spirit of this work; it was also not permissible to go beyond the boundaries of precise ascetic terminology. Sisters from the translation group worked on this. Finally, in 2003 “The Narrative” was published as part of collection “Key of understanding”. Not only sisters-translators were working on the preparation to the glorification of the elder. In the iconographic workshop, an icon of St. Vasilisk has been written, as well as an icon for the shrine with his holy relics. The hagiography of the new saint has been published by the monastery’s publishing house.