Lives of the Serbian Saints

tr. Yanich and Hankey, 1921

17. The Life of Saint Basil

Tradition has it that this new hierarch, of the same name as the great Basil of Cappadocia, was born in Herzegovina in the village of Popovo, of godly parents whose names are not known. He grew up in the house of his parents and suffered grievous things from the evil Turks who ruled that country by force of arms and persecuted the Church of God for our sins. This saint, taught by his parents, grew in the Spirit of the Lord. From his youth he loved the Church of God, increased in virtue and lived the life of the pure and life-giving Spirit. When he came to man’s estate this blessed young man gave no thought to the vanities of this sinful world, but chose to go to the house of the Lord rather than to walk in the counsel of the ungodly. Wherefore he left the house of his parents and came to the monastery of Trebinza, where is the church of the Falling Asleep of the All Holy Mother of God; there he was made monk and followed “the angel way of life.” But alas! for our sins this monastery was destroyed by the thrice accursed Turks. Ah! we must needs weep for our holy places where dwelt the monks like angels, following the holy Orthodox life of the Spirit, but now sacrilegiously overthrown by the evil Turks. These destroyed the havens of our ancient love of God and multiplied our tears, for we lay at the mercy of our enemies. Oh! Thou Son and Word of the Lord, unite us all into one, as we were of old time, that we may confess Thy grace and praise Thy most Holy Name, through the prayers of Thy Holy Mother.

The All Merciful God, seeing the good-will of Basil’s heart and his pure life adorned with virtue, did not purpose to hide this candle under a bushel but to set it in a high place to give light to all, and to give him the high office of bishop, when he had passed through all the needful steps. So the saint became shepherd of the faithful in Zahumlia and Scanderia. In this high calling of the Lord the blessed Basil multiplied his zeal for the benefit of the Orthodox Church. Who can tell his praises and prayers, his deep sighings of the heart, his petitions offered up with tears? The saint longed to shepherd this flock entrusted to him after God’s own way, and to lead them unchecked along the road of salvation. And the Lord furthered his teaching with manifold miracles, so that all marvelled at this glory of the saints, Basil the newly manifest, who comforted his children in sorrow and perplexity.

Now we must make known to all, far and near, who speak evil of our Holy Orthodox Church, pure Bride of Christ, how that the Lord visited us in His saints, so that they must shut their mouths who speak so many things and so often. These our foes must know that to-day the Church bears saints of God and is adorned with glorious martyrs under the hard and grievous yoke of the Turks, even as it was in old time during the cruelty of the persecutions under the Roman Empire. Let us call to mind the martyr of Beret in Albania, who suffered fearful martyrdom for the faith from the cruel Turks. These have persecuted the Christians on all sides, multiplied the number of the martyrs, through whom the faith in the hearts of the orthodox was strengthened, as it was through the relics of holy Basil, owing to their miracles. But behold the sinful lust and terrible envy of those who are of the Pope’s heresy: hating the truth they blaspheme holiness and defile their tongues with evil words proceeding from their hearts, hateful to the Lord: yea, they slander the saints of the Lord, who are the life of the Holy Ghost. Oh, the devilish blindness which destroyed the Church! Why received they the pieces of silver like Judas and betrayed the Bride of Christ, persecuting the holy Church with the enemies of Christ. These Papists, who cut themselves off from the holy Church and, despite the miracles, would not perceive the signs of Heaven, may the Lord give them hearts desirous of truth, so that they may return with love to their mother the Orthodox Church, which is of the East! We await their conversion, desiring for them that they leave the darkness of the Western heresies and cease from attacking with the vile and poisonous bite of the serpent the faithful children of the Lord, destroying the womb of their mother. After confession of the true dogmas let them come to us and take their place in the Church of our God, with heart and soul confessing the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity, in that form in which it has been written by the God-fearing Fathers in the Nicene-Constantinople Creed, which speaks so firmly against their heterodoxy. If they so came to us they would rejoice the hearts of their teachers of the West, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory and many others who taught and believed as we believe to-day by the grace of God.

But to return to our history of St. Basil. This newly manifest worker of miracles was long-suffering with all who troubled him, gentle and patient, forgiving those who did evil to him, merciful to the poor and the stranger, brave in the defence of his flock against the wolf. By journeys to the Holy Mountain he rejoiced his heart and enriched it with the wisdom of the monks, like the old saints of the Serbian country, Sava and Simeon: and the Lord did not desert his flock, but gave them back their holy shepherd, and gave rest to his body in the land of his labours, so that after his death also his body, still uncorrupt, healed the sick and guarded the Orthodoxy which he served so gloriously during his life.

St. Basil lies in peace at Ostrog, where he is made glorious of the Lord by many wonders and the healing of all who come to the tomb and his relics with faith and love. As in his life he was merciful to the weak and ill in body or spirit, so after his death is he merciful and helps not only the faithful but also the sinful-hearted Mussulmans who come to him seeking aid and the healing of their sick and those who are possessed.

Through the prayers of the newly manifest Basil, may the Lord, Who glorified His saint, give power and might to all of us, that we may walk in his footsteps, keeping the commandments of the Lord and preserving the Orthodox Faith undefiled, that we may die in uprightness, delivered from our sins, saved from the everlasting pains and granted the heavenly reward. Amen.

Notes

The date of this life is uncertain. He was a Montenegrin saint.