St. Basil the Blessed
St. Basil the Blessed was born in 1468 near Moscow and, leaving his work as an apprentice shoemaker at sixteen, took up the ascetic feat of foolishness for Christ, walking barefoot through the streets of Moscow in summer heat and winter frost.
Through his seemingly strange deeds he exposed injustice and hypocrisy, foretold the great Moscow fire of 1547, and fearlessly rebuked Tsar Ivan the Terrible himself. He reposed on August 2, 1557, and was glorified in 1588 by Patriarch Job; his relics rest in the Protection Cathedral on Red Square, known ever since as St. Basil's Cathedral.
Angels stand in sorrow at the house and are distressed by the sins of the people, but I entreat them with tears to pray to the Lord for the conversion of sinners.
Troparion · Tone 8
Your life, O Basil, was true and your chastity undefiled. For the sake of Christ you exhausted your body with fasting, vigil, with frost and the scorching sun, in snow and in rain, yet your face was radiant like the sun. And now the people of Russia come to you, glorifying your holy falling asleep. Therefore, pray to Christ God that He may deliver us from pagan captivity and from civil war, and grant peace to the world, and great mercy to our souls.
Kontakion · Tone 1
Led by the Spirit of God, most blessed Basil, you renounced the turmoil of the world, and despised the anxieties of life. You stripped yourself of your earthly clothing, and were clothed in the garment of dispassion. You fled from the temptation of false worldly power, and were a stranger among your own people. Having chosen the treasure of Heaven instead of earthly wealth, you won a crown of patience. And now, most blessed Basil, pray to Christ God for us who celebrate your holy memory, that we may cry: "Hail, most blessed Basil."
Saints around August 2
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