Vasa of Pskov

Venerable Vasa of Pskov was a Russian saint of the fifteenth century, the wife of Saint John the Builder of the Pskov Caves monastery. She died as a nun about the year 1473 and was buried at the Pskov Caves monastery. The Church commemorates her on 18 March, by the old calendar (31 March on the new).

Venerable Vasa, in the world Maria, was full of selflessness in her love for her husband, children and neighbours. After some time Mother Maria fell ill and took monastic vows with the name Vasa. According to the monastery's Chronicle, she was the first person in the history of the Pskov Caves monastery to receive the monastic habit there. The first miracle in this monastery, at the very beginning of its founding, took place over her.

When the nun Vasa died, a grave was prepared for her in the cave. According to her life, the night after the nun was buried an invisible power pulled her coffin out of the ground. The confessor of Father John and of Vasa, thinking that he had missed something in the funeral chants, performed these chants over the dead woman a second time and, after the prayer of absolution, lowered her again into the same grave. But the next night Vasa's coffin was again found on top of the grave. After that John left her coffin unburied and placed it on the left side, at the entrance to the cave, digging out in the wall only the vessel that he needed.

During one of the attacks of the Livonians on the Pskov Caves monastery, a bold knight dared to desecrate the holy tomb with the saint's relics. He tried to open the lid of the coffin with his sword, but he was suddenly struck by divine fire that burst out from within. On the right side of the coffin the mark of the flame remains, which smells and gives off a wonderful fragrance to this day. The relics of Venerable Vasa rest in the caves, beside those of the venerable elder Mark and the monk Jonah.