Are the prophecies attributed to Blessed Basil? Predictions of the monk Abel about the future of Russia

Jesus Christ and Saint Nicholas the Saint/Wonder Worker There is another dark place in the history of Jesus Christ that requires explanation. The fact is that in the Gospel Jesus is presented, on the one hand, as a young man 30–33 years old, on the other hand, there are indications that this

Basil "Royal" (Greek). Vasily is strong and powerful. They know their worth. Usually stubborn. Resilient. They strive for excellence, for primacy, for glory. Hardworking. They are selfish with women, but they also torment them a lot. Nowadays, this name has become almost a household name, even

Chapter 9 The Blessed Devotee and His Cosmic Novel (Master Mahasaya) - Little sir, please sit down. I am talking to my Divine Mother. With great caution I entered the room. The angelic appearance of teacher Mahasaya completely blinded me. With silky

The first Moscow miracle-working saint, Metropolitan Peter, Rejoice brightly, the glorious city of Moscow, having within itself Saint Peter, the dawn of the sun, illuminating the whole Russian land with miracles... From a prayer to Saint Peter, 2nd half of the 12th century. – 12/21/1326, Moscow August 4, 1326 “Reverend

Vasily was born in December 1469 in the village of Elohovo. Until the age of sixteen he was an apprentice to a shoemaker. WITH youth and until his death he performed the feat of foolishness and suffered hardships. Vasily went without clothes all year round, slept in the open air, constantly fasted and wore chains. It is believed that he was the only person whom Tsar Ivan the Terrible was afraid of. Basil the Blessed died on August 2, 1552. He was buried in the cemetery of the Trinity Church, where Tsar Ivan the Terrible ordered the construction of the Intercession Cathedral, in memory of the conquest of Kazan, better known as St. Basil's Cathedral.

Prophecies of St. Basil: “... the Russian people cannot live without a whip. How terrible is my friend and bloodsucker Ivashka the Terrible, how many curses have been poured on his head, like ash from burnt souls, but they will honor him as a great autocrat...

There will be many kings behind Ivashka the Terrible, but one of them, a hero with a cat’s mustache, a villain and a blasphemer, will once again strengthen the Russian state, although on the way to the treasured blue seas a third of the Russian people will fall like logs under carts...
And the third murderer will rule for a long time. And for the sake of the formidable order in the great power, this mustachioed king from the wild mountaineers will put on the chopping block all his comrades, and faithful friends, and thousands of thousands of husbands and wives...
Small and great temples will be burned and destroyed. And then they will rebuild them. But God will not return to them if they serve not Him, but gold. And then the poor people will again turn away from our churches...

And Russia will live without a tsar for a whole century and will shed rivers of its blood. And then they will place an unintelligent young man on the throne, but soon he and his retinue will be declared impostors and driven out of Rus'...
The great unrest will continue in the kingdom for a long time until it is stopped by a great warrior called by all our people...

In the very south of the Black Arab kingdom, a leader in a blue turban will appear. He will throw terrible lightning and turn many countries into ashes. But Great Rus' will come together and destroy this leader...

And the fourth sovereign will come, who will be called the great Horseman. If he is pure in soul and thoughts, he will bring down his sword on the robbers and thieves. Not a single thief can escape reprisal or shame. The Russian people will rejoice, but there will be evil spirits who will silently kill the great Horseman. And there will be a great cry in Rus'...
And when terrible wars pass, turning into different countries all living things will turn to dust and ashes, a truly great Sovereign will reign on the throne, destined for a long and blissful reign, and our long-suffering Rus' will enter its golden age...”

460 years ago, Rus' mourned the passing of this saint. He was buried with great honors, the coffin with his body was carried by Tsar Ivan the Terrible himself, and the service for his repose was conducted by Metropolitan Macarius. During his lifetime he was called Vasily Nagay, because he walked almost naked all year round. He amazed his contemporaries with miracles and the gift of predicting the future.

It was cold in Moscow. Winters in the mid-80s of the 15th century were harsh. Passers-by, trying to quickly hide from the cold in their houses, did not take their surprised eyes off a thin boy who looked about 16 years old. He walked barefoot in the snow, and his body was covered only by a torn shirt. Didn't ask for anything. And if he uttered something, his words seemed mysterious.

In the Kalash row, his appearance caused horror among the traders. He will come in and knock over either a tray of rolls or a jug of kvass. He was beaten more than once for these tricks. He only thanked me in response. And then it turned out that the rolls were made of flour, into which the greedy baker mixed chalk, and the kvass turned out to be poisoned.

His fame spread throughout Moscow as an intercessor for the truth. Soon there were people in the city who recognized the strange boy as Vaska from the village of Elokhov, which was near what was then Moscow. They said that his parents were peasants. The Lord did not give them a child for a long time. Vasily's mother Anna visited holy places. She gave birth to her long-awaited son right on the porch of the Epiphany Cathedral in Yelokhov.

The boy was given as an apprentice to a shoemaker. One day a merchant came into the workshop and ordered boots. He asked to sew him strong shoes. In response, the boy said: “We’ll sew them, and you won’t wear them out at all.” As soon as the door closed behind the merchant, the master asked the student what he meant. He replied: “The merchant will not have time to wear the new thing, because he will soon die.” A few days later the merchant died. And soon Vasily went to Moscow.

One day St. Basil the Blessed smashed with a stone miraculous icon Mother of God at the Varvarsky Gate and muttered, they say, there is a devil hidden under the image. And in fact, under a layer of paint they discovered an image of the evil one. The fame of St. Basil reached Tsar Ivan the Terrible. He called the holy fool into his chambers. He suddenly began to cry in front of the sovereign’s eyes: “The Exaltation on Arbat Street has caught fire...” They were sent to have a look. Everything is quiet. And the next day, June 24, 1547, the great Moscow fire began, destroying half of the city. Another wonderful prediction happened on the name day of Ivan the Terrible. By order of the Tsar, Vasily was served a cup of wine. But he poured it out the window. They served it a second time, a third time, but he again spilled the contents. Grozny became angry, thinking that the holy fool was showing his disdain for him.

“Don’t boil, Ivanushka,” said the Blessed One, “it was necessary to douse the fire in Novgorod, and it was doused.”

Soon the messenger brought the news: on that day it happened terrible fire, but from nowhere a naked man appeared, who, pouring the fire from a waterpot, quickly extinguished the fire.

Vasily came to the aid of those in need, showed condescension towards human weaknesses, but was harsh towards the wicked. One day, a rich boyar took pity on the holy fool for walking around undressed in the bitter cold, and gave him a fur coat.

Thieves saw her on it and decided to lure her out. One of them pretended to be dead, and the other began to ask for money for burial. Vasily guessed their plan. But he took off his fur coat and covered the imaginary dead man with it with the words: “May you be truly dead from now on, since, not fearing God and His Last Judgment, you wanted to accept alms by deception.” Having said this, he walked away.

And the deceivers, taking the fur coat, rushed to their comrade, but retreated in horror: he died.

Despite the hardships, St. Basil the Blessed lived to be 88 years old. On the eve of his death, Ivan the Terrible came to him with the queen and children - the elder Ivan and the younger Theodore - with a request to pray for the family. The holy fool said, turning to Tsarevich Theodore: “All the property of your ancestors will be yours, you are the heir.” This is what happened, although Ivan was the heir. But the king, in a fit of anger, killed him himself, breaking his son’s head with his staff.

His prophecies

*There will be many kings behind Ivashka the Terrible, but one of them, a villain with a cat’s mustache, will strengthen the Russian state, although a third of the Russian people will die. Temples will be burned. And then they will rebuild them. After seven decades of abomination and desolation, demons will flee from Rus'. Those who remain will dress up in “sheep disguises.” Russia will be on the verge of collapse and destruction.

*The “titan Boris” will come, he “will leave in such a way that no one will expect it, leaving behind many unsolvable mysteries.” Then Russia will be ruled by " small man with a black face, sitting on the shoulders of a giant" (in Rus', spies and scouts were called "black-faced"). Afterwards, the reign of ten kings will begin for an hour. In the very south of the Arab kingdom, a leader in a blue turban will appear. He will throw terrible lightning bolts and turn many countries into ashes. But Rus' will gather together and destroy it. “And the sovereign will come, who will be called the great Horseman. If he is pure in soul and thoughts, he will bring down his sword on the robbers and thieves. But there will be evil spirits who will kill him. And when terrible wars pass, turning all living things in different countries into dust and ashes, the great Sovereign will reign on the throne, and Rus' will enter a golden age..."

Reference

The Church commemorates St. Basil on August 2 (15th according to the new style). He is believed to have died in 1552, although the date of his death is still debated. His body was buried near the Trinity Church; in 1554, the Intercession Cathedral was added to it in memory of the conquest of Kazan. Soon the entire Intercession Cathedral began to be called St. Basil's Cathedral.

Vasily, the future holy fool, was born in 1468, according to other sources in 1469, into a peasant family, in the village of Elohovo, now Elokhovsky there Cathedral and Baumanskaya metro station. And then it was the outskirts, Moscow itself, like a mother, the Kremlin, huddled against the stone walls. And that is to say, those were cool times: the Tatars, their princes, were always dividing something, and dashing people On the roads they indulge in evil deeds.

According to legend, Vasily was born on the porch of the Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. His parents apprenticed him to a shoemaker, as an apprentice. The boy was diligent, but he just kept thinking about something of his own and prayed often.

Once a rich merchant came to the shoemaker, healthy as a barrel, his face shiny, his cheeks rosy, he was happy with himself. The merchant began to order boots from the shoemaker:

“For me,” he says, “such that there will be no demolition!” So that you can wear them for more than a year!

“In three days it will be too late for you to wear boots,” the apprentice suddenly said.

The shoemaker tsked at him, and he bowed to the merchant, promising to make such boots that “they will not be demolished.” They shook hands, the merchant left happy, promising to come for the boots in three days. The shoemaker is happy about the good order, and Vasily sits shedding tears.

- Why are you crying? - asks the shoemaker.

“I feel sorry for the merchant,” answers Vasily. “He asks for boots without taking them down, but he’ll soon wear out and won’t even have time to try on the boots.”

The shoemaker did not understand any of such dark speeches, he spat, scolded the apprentice and went to make his boots.

And two days later the shoemaker found out that his customer had died - this is what Vasily meant when he said his strange words: he foresaw the fate of the merchant, predicted death. Soon the apprentice put aside the wood and the block and went, as he was, from the house where the road would lead.

The shoemaker Vasily left the village of Elokhovo, and the holy fool Vasily the Blessed came to Moscow. On the way, he lost his clothes and entered the city naked, as if he had just been born. Yes, that's how it was. Started with Vasily new life, it was not just iron chains that he took on his shoulders, the feat of foolishness is difficult, oh, difficult.

Vasily prayed day and night and spent the night on the porch: in the rain, in the heat, and in the cold. Occasionally, only in winter, does he spend the night in someone’s hallway, when the frosts are especially severe.

At first, Vasily got lost among the many Moscow holy fools, beggars and simply wretched people. Unless he stood out for his strange actions, but the people of Moscow are accustomed to everything, it is difficult to surprise them: you never know who does what, everyone goes crazy in their own way.

But one day an event occurred, after which Vasily was noticed, people even began to specifically go to Red Square to see St. Basil. Once, in 1521, at night, Vasily prayed in front of the northern gate of the Kremlin Assumption Cathedral. Suddenly a terrible noise arose in the temple, and flames blazed in the windows. The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God moved from its place, a strong female voice was heard from heaven, reproaching Muscovites for living unrighteously, for drunkenness, theft, and other sins. The intercessor of Moscow said that she was leaving the city, there was no place for Her in the haven of sin.

St. Basil prostrated himself and began earnestly, with tears, to pray to the Mother of God not to leave the city without protection, not to leave Moscow. The people, who came running at the sight of the fire in the windows of the temple, began to echo the holy fool. The noise in the temple died down, the fire in the windows went out. The Mother of God had mercy. People remembered who was the first to beg Her to stay. They began to listen to him diligently, to look closely at his actions.

St. Basil the Blessed not only scattered rolls at the merchant Provo. He also poured out sour kvass from others and scattered grains. There were no secrets for him, there was no need for him to look into bags - he already knew everything about everyone, saw everything. He looked into people's hearts.

They noticed that near the houses where they were drinking, rowdying, and making scandals, he cried in enlightenment and kissed the walls of these houses in emotion. He threw stones at the corners of houses in which devout believers and pious people lived.

- What are you doing, holy fool? - they asked him. - Got confused, or what?

“It was the demon who confused you all and deprived you of your sight,” Vasily sighed. - Don’t you see: near the houses where they drink, they curse and blaspheme, there is no place for bright angels, demons live in the house, so the angels stand near the house, huddling against the walls. And in the houses where pious people live, there are demons on the street, they cannot get into the house - the “blasphemers” howl out of anger, but they cannot enter the house, they sit in the corners under the roof.

There was a case when a beggar sat down near the Pokrovsky Gate and began to ask for alms. St. Basil looked and looked at him and began to throw stones at him and drive him away. People stood up to defend the beggar, they reproached Vasily: why, they say, do you miserably offend?

Instead of answering, Vasily grabbed a stick and rushed at the beggar. He got scared and... disappeared, as if he had fallen through the ground, and in its place a pile of coins remained. He really failed, not a beggar, the evil one himself, in the form of a beggar, asked for alms, seduced people into doing a good deed, and sent all sorts of benefits to the one who gave it, leading into temptation. Only Vasily was able to see the evil one.

One day, overseas merchants came to Moscow and walked around the city marveling at its beauty. We wandered into Red Square and admired the Kremlin. And suddenly, to the surprise of all Orthodox people, overseas guests saw St. Basil, began to bow at his feet, thank him for something, the rich tried to give gifts.

It turned out that when the merchants were sailing on the sea, a terrible storm broke out, the wave washed the pilot off the deck, the helmsman in despair leaned his chest on the wheel, but steered straight onto the rocks. Suddenly a strange-looking man appeared on the deck next to him and began to show him where to steer. The merchants swam out and wanted to thank the savior, but he disappeared as he appeared, sailing across the sea as if on dry land. Once on Red Square, the merchants recognized their savior in St. Basil, pointed to him and said:

– We saw this man walking on the sea!

Mischievous girls were walking along Red Square, saw St. Basil, began to laugh at his nakedness, and only one clever one reproached her friends. Vasily shook his finger and said:

– Not everything needs to be noticed that the eyes see. Run away from here before darkness overtakes you. God is my intercessor, he will cover your shameless eyes.

The stupid girls only laughed in response to such words. And then it was as if night itself had fallen on them: it had just been broad daylight, but now they couldn’t see anything, they were pushing, stumbling, colliding with each other. They didn’t immediately realize that they were blind. And when they realized, they burst into tears. Their clever friend, who tried to persuade her friends not to laugh at the holy fool, remained blind; she quickly realized that the Lord Himself had punished her friends for stupid ridicule of the pious holy fool.

The compassionate girl grabbed her girlfriends by the arms, threw herself into the dust in front of Vasily, and began to ask him for forgiveness for her foolish girlfriends. And her friends echoed her with bitter tears, swearing that their ridicule was not out of malice, out of misunderstanding and stupidity. The holy fool took pity on them, begged the Lord for forgiveness for the foolish girls, blew into their eyes, and their sight returned.

One day a very drunk company of young merchants stopped the holy fool, they began to make fun of the holy fool and bully him.

“Let’s make friends, Vasya,” the cockiest one swaggered, “you will predict the future for me, tell me what things await me tomorrow...

“I can’t be friends with you,” the holy fool shook his head, “there’s a black devil inside you, he’s your friend.” And your worries about tomorrow are empty: you won’t have a tomorrow, other black devils will ride towards your black devil.

The young merchants laughed at the holy fool's speeches and moved on, drunkenly singing loud mouths. They entered a narrow alley and guardsmen in black robes on black horses were riding towards them. The tipsy company did not give way to them, word for word, the guardsmen, quick to hand, grabbed their sabers and flogged the intoxicated merry fellows. There was no tomorrow for the merchant who went on a spree.

There were severe frosts in Moscow, and St. Basil walked around in rags, barely covering his body. One conscientious and very pious boyar persuaded him to tearfully accept a fox fur coat as a gift. Vasily walks around, covered with a fur coat over his rags and chains from the frost. Dashing people saw the fur coat on the holy fool and began to think about how to take the fur coat away. Take it away - the holy fool is healthy, and people will intercede. One of the swindlers, the most cunning one, says:

- Let him give the fur coat himself.

- Of course! – his friends grinned. - Who will give away such a fur coat?

- The holy fool is a fool, we will deceive him. The most cunning of the dashing people lay down on the frozen ground, and his friends ran around him, gasped, grabbed Vasily by the sleeves of his fur coat, and pulled him towards the fallen man:

- Look, holy fool, the man died from the cold! Give him a fur coat to cover him!

Vasily looked at the fallen man, immediately saw the deception, but did not admit it, sighed, took off his fur coat and covered the lying man. But at the same time he said this:

- Coat of a fox, cunning, cover up the business of the fox, cunning. May you be dead from now on for your wickedness, for it is written: Let the wicked be consumed.

So I went with that. And the dashing people rushed to praise their cunning friend for his idea, took off his fur coat and gasped: their friend lies dead, it couldn’t be deader.

The Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily was sad about the inheritance - there was no one to transfer the princely throne to, there were no children. He decided to divorce his wife, Solomonia Saburova, with whom he had lived for twenty years. The prince forcibly imprisoned his legitimate wife in a monastery, and he himself married the Lithuanian princess Elena Glinskaya, young and beautiful.

Again the holy fool shed tears, walked and cried:

- When your wife is alive, marrying another is a great sin, it will be a great misfortune.

But the Grand Duke had no children from his new wife either. Once, near the Kremlin, Elena Glinskaya stopped the cart, looked out of the window, called St. Basil, handed him a coin and asked:

- You, holy fool, they say, you know everything in advance, tell me, will I have a son, and will the prince have an heir?

“Your son will be born soon,” Vasily answered, looking into her eyes.

- This is great joy! - exclaimed the princess. - Why are you sad?

“Your son will be strong in mind and cool in character,” the holy fool sighed and crossed the cart, adding: “Whatever the weather happens at his birth, such will be his kingdom.”

A year later, on August 25 (September 3), 1530, the young princess gave birth to a son, John, John Vasilyevich. She gave birth to the sound of thunder, because an unprecedented thunderstorm broke out in Moscow. The Terrible Ivan came to Rus'.

The glory of St. Basil grew, the baby John, the future Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, Ivan the Terrible grew. Grew and grew and grew.

Around the time of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich's maturity and rise, the holiness of St. Basil also came to be recognized. Metropolitan Macarius himself told the king about the holy man, “and they both joyfully glorified God, who had raised up such an ascetic in their time.”

The Book of Degrees records that on June 23, 1547, Vasily the Holy Fool prayed in front of the Vozdvizhenskaya Church in the Ascension Monastery in Ostrog. He prayed and cried and shed bitter tears. People walked by and chuckled - a fool cries for no reason. In great sadness he answered like this:

- Laugh, laugh, today one fool in all of Moscow is crying, tomorrow all of Moscow will be crying.

The next day in Moscow, “a great storm began, and fire flowed like lightning.” It was from the Vozdvizhenskaya Church that a terrible fire began, from which “the old and new town burned down, the palace of the Grand Duke disappeared in flames, the copper melted and spilled like milk.”

The young Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, who had been sitting on the throne for only five months, fled in horror from the wooden Kremlin engulfed in flames and from the Sparrow Hills watched Moscow burn: not a single one wooden house there were no people left in the city, and people died “innumerable.”

Three days later, on June 26, the townspeople left without property and shelter, incited by the boyars, burst into the Kremlin and began to demand the extradition of the “Litvins,” the Lithuanian relatives of the Tsar, the Glinskys. There were persistent rumors among the townspeople that the city was “scorched by witchcraft”, and that “Volkhova” Anna, the Tsar’s grandmother, was to blame for this. Rumors were spread about her that she took the hearts out of people, soaked them in water and flew over Moscow, turning into a magpie, sprinkled the city with witchcraft, fiery water. People also said that St. Basil, who predicted trouble, allegedly flew over the city, driving away the magpie, protecting the city. There were other mentions of seeing the holy fool flying over the Moscow River.

Since then, the holy fool began to be respected even more. But still, it happened, they beat him hard again. And how could he not be beaten when at the church, near the Varvarsky Gate, the holy fool broke with a stone the miraculous image of the Mother of God, written on a board. They beat the blessed one, the parishioners collected the image piece by piece, and took it to the temple - it is a sin for an icon, even a broken one, to wallow in the dirt under your feet. The priests tried to put together the image and gasped - under the most holy image, completely imperceptibly, a small devil was drawn. Only holy patronage gave St. Basil the opportunity to see the devil where no one saw him.

After this incident, no one laid a finger on Vasily again, no matter what wonderful things he did. Unless the boys throw a stone at your back. He doesn’t seem to notice them, he doesn’t know what to take from them. They will serve a pink cake - he will eat the pink cake, he will serve a gingerbread cake, he will eat the gingerbread cake. He will thank you for everything. If they bring clothes, they will distribute them to other beggars. If they give a penny, they will either give it to the beggar or to the rich. And he says:

- Take, lucky one, a penny. You have a lot of things - you don’t get a penny of profit. But I have nothing, I won’t get richer with a penny.

Ivan the Terrible called the holy fool to the palace, caressed him, and talked to him. And before saying goodbye, he asked:

- Tell me, man of God, when will my death happen?

St. Basil frowned and thought, but still answered the truth:

- There will be a sign for you, sir. A fiery cross will burn in the sky above the bell tower of Ivan the Great. As you see, know that your death has come.

- Why should I die? - asked the king. - From a red-hot arrow, from a damask sword, or from human villainy?

“You will die, sir, from deadly poison, and your closest servant will bring it to you in a goblet.” And who it is, don’t be angry, sir, I can’t tell you.

The tsar, whose mere appearance inspired awe and instilled horror in many hearts, forgave the holy fool Vasily all his antics, all his impudent words; the tsar, inclined towards mysticism, revered the holy fool “as a seer of hearts and thoughts.”

And the sovereign was often convinced of the holy fool’s foresight. One day the king was standing at a service in the temple, but he did not listen or perform the prayer, because his thoughts flew away to the Sparrow Hills, where they were building a new palace for him. So the king, instead of praying, was thinking about how to equip and decorate the palace.

The service ended, the Tsar came out of the gates of the temple, and St. Basil the Blessed grabbed the hem of the Tsar’s caftan with his unwashed fingers:

- Why didn’t I see you in the temple, sir?!

-Where am I coming from? - the king got angry.

“You’re coming from the church,” Vasily agreed, “but during the service you weren’t there, but on the Sparrow Hills!”

The king was ashamed Once again I marveled at the holy fool’s foresight, asked him for forgiveness, and from now on promised not to think about everyday things during the service.

The tsar not only welcomed the holy fool with alms, but also did not disdain to invite him to feasts. And then one day at such a feast they brought the royal cup to the blessed one, and he crossed himself and poured the wine out the window. The king saw, frowned, and ordered another glass to be brought to the holy fool. Vasily did the same. And then he poured the third glass out the window.

- What, you fool, do you disdain the royal treat?! – the king hit his staff on the floor.

“Don’t scold, sir,” St. Basil bowed. “I put out the fire in Novgorod with your wine.”

The terrible king decided to check the words of the holy fool and sent messengers to Novgorod. The messengers returned and confirmed that it was on that very day and hour that there was a great fire in Novgorod, half the city burned to the ground, and there was not enough water. The whole city would have burned out, but a naked man appeared, poured out three buckets of water, and the fire went out, as if it had never happened. And the man disappeared, as if he had been a ghost.

One of the lists of the life of St. Basil tells the story of how, after his death, he saved Veliky Novgorod from its defeat by Ivan the Terrible. According to the description, Ivan the Terrible was traveling to Novgorod at the head of the oprichnina army. He did not go to feast, but to pacify the Novgorodians, to punish them for their love of freedom. There would have been great misfortune, tears and blood, but suddenly on the bridge over the Volkhov the surprised Tsar saw the already deceased St. Basil the Blessed. He got off his horse, went up to the holy fool, and he silently took the king by the hand and led him into a cave under the bridge, began to treat Ivan the Terrible with raw meat, and offer blood in a goblet.

The king, in fright, began to spit and wave away such a terrible treat, and the holy fool pointed him to the sky, where through the black smoke the innocent victims of the bloody pogrom were visible. The Tsar got scared and ordered the guardsmen to turn back from Novgorod. And immediately the blood turned into wine, and the raw meat became a sweet watermelon.

True, a similar episode is given in the life of another holy fool, Nikola of Pskov, and is also mentioned in some legends about the holy fools Nikolai Salos and Fyodor of Novgorod. But this is the property of popular rumor - to attribute all the best to your chosen favorites.

St. Basil lived a long time, but in his eighty-eighth year he fell seriously ill, he himself predicted the day of his death and asked for communion. Having learned about his illness, the king himself came to say goodbye to him. He did not come alone, with Queen Anastasia and his sons: the youngest - quiet, timid and sickly Fedr - and the eldest - good fellow Ivan, heir to the throne.

The dying man blessed Anastasia, then Fyodor.

“Bless the elder,” Grozny pushed his son Ivan in the back. - Bless the future kingdom...

“I have already blessed the future king,” said Vasily, “but the eldest will not be in the kingdom.” not to happen. His future is stained with blood.

- You're talking nonsense in your delirium! Will I have your blessing? – the king became stern.

- Don’t be angry, sir, there is no blessing from me to King Herod.

The king left the dying man darker than a cloud. And how was he supposed to feel after such prophecies?

But still, when St. Basil died on August 2, 1556, as the lives of St. Basil the Blessed unanimously testify, Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich himself, accompanied by Metropolitan Macarius, came to the funeral and, together with his relatives and neighbors, carried the holy fool’s coffin on his shoulders to the cemetery of the Holy Trinity Church. But lives testify to this, but the chronicles are in no hurry to agree with them, claiming that it was at that time that the sovereign was on a military campaign, the Kazan Khanate was at war.

Thousands of townspeople flocked to the funeral of the blessed one, everyone tried to at least touch the coffin of the deceased saint. The air was filled with an unearthly fragrance; the sick and maimed who managed to touch the coffin were instantly healed, testifying to the holiness of the deceased.

A few years later, after the conquest of Kazan by the Terrible Tsar, in honor of this victory on the spot old church A new temple was built on the Moat, called the Intercession Cathedral. This temple, combining Gothic and Oriental architecture, turned out to be of unprecedented beauty, which gave rise to the legend of how Ivan the Terrible ordered the eyes of the architect who created this miracle to be gouged out so that he would not build anything like it again. This is a legend, and the temple was built by the architects Barma and Postnik, we bow to them for their man-made beauty.

Already under Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, a chapel of the Intercession Cathedral was erected over the grave of St. Basil the Blessed, and the people began to call the temple the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed - and so this name stuck. Over the relics of the holy fool, by order of Fyodor Ioannovich, a shrine made of pure silver with gilding was installed. On the silk cover there was an image of St. Basil in a frame made of precious stones and pearls. And on top of all this luxury, which the holy fool despised during his lifetime, lay heavy chains, rusty in places, that he wore on his shoulders. The silver tombstone and cover have not been preserved, and the relics of St. Basil are now hidden in the ground.

Saint Basil died, but his predictions continued to come true. On November 9, 1581, in a fit of reckless anger, Ivan the Terrible killed his son and heir, Tsarevich Ivan. He bitterly regretted what he had done, but his heart was hardened, so he did not stop doing evil until the end of his reign. Although he was aware of his sins, which he himself wrote about in an address to the monks of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery: “And for me, a stinking dog, who should I teach and what should I punish, what should I enlighten? He himself is always in drunkenness, in fornication, in adultery, in defilement, in murder, in robbery, in theft, in hatred, in all kinds of villainy.”

The fulfillment of the terrible prophecy of St. Basil the Blessed became the reason for the morbid fascination of the sovereign, already prone to mysticism, with all kinds of predictions. Under him, the first royal astrologer Elisha Bomeley was brought to Moscow. A doctor by profession and an astrologer by vocation, he quickly became a special confidant of the sovereign. Bomeley not only compiled horoscopes himself, but also taught the king astrology. And along the way, on the instructions of the king, he prepared poisons to treat the courtiers displeasing to the sovereign. Some, they say, he sent to the next world with his own hands.

Bomeley was drawn into endless palace intrigues, became entangled in them and decided to run away from Russia out of harm’s way, sewing the gold obtained through unrighteous labors into the lining. But in Pskov he was detained, pulled out of the carriage for inspection, he immediately fell, could not stand under the weight of the metal hidden in his dress, perhaps for the first time regretting the royal generosity.

Out of fear or out of evil despair, but under torture, an overseas astrologer slandered the Novgorod bishop Leonid and many other noble people. On August 2, 1575, by order of Ivan the Terrible, the “fierce sorcerer” was roasted alive on a huge spit. But astrologers and soothsayers of all stripes lived in large numbers around the palace until the king’s death.

And in the winter of 1584, an unprecedented miracle happened: a huge comet in the shape of a cross hovered over Moscow, right above the bell tower of Ivan the Great. The streets were as bright as day, people crowded in fear and curiosity. The Emperor saw the fiery cross and turned pale, remembering the prophecy of St. Basil the Blessed.

But the murderer tsar desperately clung to life, hoping, what if the holy fool had made a mistake? This is how I described it last days Ivan the Terrible, the Englishman Jerome Horsey in his famous notes: “The Tsar, in anger, not knowing what to decide, ordered that many magicians and sorceresses be immediately brought from the North, brought from the place where they are most numerous, between Kholmogory and Lapland. Sixty of them were taken to Moscow and placed in custody. Every day they were brought food, and every day they were visited by the tsar's favorite Bogdan Belsky, who was the only one whom the tsar trusted to learn and convey to him their fortune telling or predictions about what he wanted to know about. This favorite of his, tired of the devilish actions of the tyrant, of his atrocities and of the malicious plans of this Heliogabalus, was indignant at the king, who was now busy only with the revolutions of the sun. The sorceresses informed him that the strongest constellations and powerful planets of the heavens were against the king, that they predicted his death on a certain day, but Belsky did not dare to tell the king all this; The king, having learned, fell into a rage and said that it was very likely that on that day they would all be burned. The king's genitals began to terribly swell - a sign that he had sinned continuously for fifty years; he himself boasted that he had corrupted a thousand virgins, and that thousands of his children were deprived of their lives by him ... "

The king was so seriously ill that he could hardly move; he was taken to the treasury, where he boasted to foreign guests about the placers of diamonds, gold and other valuables.

March 18, 1584 arrived. And this is what happened to the king on this day, according to the description of the same Horsey: “At noon he revised his will, without, however, thinking about death, since he had been bewitched many times, but each time the spell subsided, but this time the devil did not help. He ordered the chief of his doctors and pharmacists to prepare everything necessary for his entertainment and bath. Wanting to find out about the omen of the constellations, he again sent his favorite to the witches; he came to them and said that the king ordered them to be buried or burned alive for their false predictions: the day has come, and he is in perfect health as never before. The sorceresses answered: “Sir, do not be angry. You know the day will only end when the sun sets.”

Belsky hurried to the king, who was preparing for a bath. About three o'clock in the afternoon the king entered it, entertaining himself with his favorite songs, as he was accustomed to do; came out about seven, well refreshed. He was taken to another room, he sat down on his bed, called Rodion Birkin, his favorite, and ordered him to bring chess. He placed his servants around him, his main favorite Boris Fedorovich Godunov, as well as others.

The king was dressed in an open robe, a linen shirt and stockings; he suddenly weakened and fell backwards. There was great confusion and shouting. Meanwhile, the king was seized by an attack of suffocation, and he became numb.”

It came true last prediction holy fool.

Prophecies about the future of Russia

Many prophets and clairvoyants, from different countries and eras, spoke in their prophecies, predictions about the future of Russia. Foreseeing the future, clairvoyants in their prophecies general outline are unanimous in their opinion: it is behind a new civilization that will arise on the basis of the revival of religion and spiritual knowledge. Consumer society is a temporary dead end in human history. And many of them associate the way out of such a dead end and hope for spiritual development with Russia and its as yet unrevealed spiritual potential. Below are some of these prophecies...

Saint Basil the Blessed

Saint Basil the Blessed, the Moscow wonderworker, was born in December 1468 on the porch of the Yelokhovsky Church near Moscow in honor of the Vladimir Icon Holy Mother of God. Having purified his soul through great deeds and prayer, the Blessed One was also granted the gift of foreknowledge of the future. 1547 - he predicted the great fire of Moscow; extinguished the fire in Novgorod with prayer; somehow reproached Tsar Ivan the Terrible, that during the service he thought about building a palace on the Sparrow Hills.

Prophecy of St. Basil the Blessed:

“And the Russian people cannot live without a whip. How terrible is my friend and bloodsucker Ivashka the Terrible, how many curses have been poured on his head, like ash from burnt souls, but they will honor him as a great autocrat.

There will be many kings behind Ivashka the Terrible, but one of them, a hero with a cat’s mustache, a villain and a blasphemer (Peter I - note), will once again strengthen the Russian state, although on the way to the treasured blue seas a third of the Russian people will fall like logs under carts.

And the third murderer will rule for a long time (Stalin - approx.). And for the sake of the formidable order in the great power, this mustachioed king from the wild mountaineers will put on the chopping block all his comrades, and faithful friends, and thousands of thousands of husbands and wives.

Small and great temples will be burned and destroyed. And then they will rebuild them. But God will not return to them if they serve not Him, but gold in the new temples. And then the poor people will again turn away from our churches...

And Russia will live without a tsar for a whole century and will shed rivers of its blood. And then they will place an unintelligent young man on the throne, but soon he and his retinue will be declared impostors and driven out of Rus'.

The great unrest will continue in the kingdom for a long time until it is stopped by a great warrior called by all our people.

In the very south of the black Arab kingdom, a leader in a blue turban will appear. He will throw terrible lightning and turn many countries into ashes. But Great Rus' will come together and destroy this leader.

And the fourth sovereign will come, who will be called the great Horseman. If he is pure in soul and thoughts, he will bring down his sword on the robbers and thieves. Not a single thief can escape reprisal or shame. The Russian people will rejoice, but there will be evil spirits who will silently kill the great Horseman. And there will be great mourning in Rus'.

And when terrible wars have passed, turning all living things in different countries into dust and ashes, a truly great Sovereign will reign on the throne, destined for a long and blissful reign, and our long-suffering Rus' will enter into its golden age" (With)