Vasilisk the Fool for Christ

Vasilisk (1790-1863) was a fool for Christ and spiritual elder in the Uglich district, Yaroslavl region. He is venerated by the faithful, without synodal canonization; he died on 8 March 1863.

He was born on 2 May 1790 in the village of Konishkino, Kalyazin district, Tver province, to Makarios and Euphemia, and had a brother and two sisters. At three he was paralysed and lay motionless for twelve years. At fifteen he grew stronger, learned to read and often read Holy Scripture. In 1811, not wishing to be a burden to his family, he left home and moved to Zaozerye, near Uglich, where he taught children to read. In 1815 he left Zaozerye pretending to be mute and set out on the road. About 1822 he reached Kostroma and settled in a cave at the edge of the town with two hermits. He wore chains, a hair shirt and a belt with sharp spikes and spent day and night in prayer. After the police drove the hermits away, a pious man of Kostroma sheltered him, and people began to come to him for counsel and healing. To escape human glory he settled about 1825 at the Saint Nicholas Monastery in Staraya Ladoga, where he spent seven years in a solitary cell, then eight years lived at the chapel of Saint Nicholas in Saint Petersburg, helping to adorn it.

Life in the capital began to weigh on him, and he moved to Uglich, first into a merchant's house, then into a cell beside the church of the Archangel Michael, three versts from the village of Zagainovo. The place pleased him so much that he declined the offer of Abbot Varsonuphius of the Yuga Hermitage to enter a monastery. He cared for the church of the Archangel Michael and for the churches of the surrounding villages, many of them renewed and adorned with gifts he gathered in various towns. He taught peasant children to read, spoke, prayed and counselled the pilgrims who came to him. He took great care of the sick and the possessed, who lived with him for long periods, and many were healed. He had the gift of foresight and rebuked hidden sins. He was very abstemious in food. He kept a notebook in which he wrote down his confession and extracts from the writings of the Holy Fathers.

In 1861 he went blind; in December 1862, feeling better, he made a pilgrimage to Kashin. He fell asleep on 8 March 1863 and was buried beside the altar of the church of the Archangel Michael. A memorial service is served for him in the church, and the parish community is gathering materials for his glorification.