|
Commemorated on March 4
Holy Nobleborn
Prince Vasilii (Vasil'ko) of Rostov belonged in lineage to the Suzdal'
Monomashichi, famed in Russian history. The saint's great-grandfather was Yurii
Dolgoruky, and his grandfather was Great-prince Vsevolod III "Bol'shoe
Gnezdo" ("Big‑Nest", + 1212), brother to Saint Andrei
Bogoliubsky (+ 1174, Comm. 4 July), who had been heir to and continuer of Saint
Andrei Bogoliubsky's work. From Vladimir-on-Klyazma, which became the capital
of the old Rostovo-Suzdal' principality, Vsevolod "Big-Nest"
single-handedly set the course of affairs of the whole of Great Rus'. The
"Lay of Igor's Campaign" ("Slovo o polku Igoreve") says of
him, that he could "splash the Volga with oars, and the Don with helmets
bail out".
Saint Vasil'ko was
the oldest of the fledglings of the "Big Nest". The oldest grandson
of Vsevolod from his oldest son Konstantin, Saint Vasil'ko (Vasilii, Basil)
was born on 7 December 1208 in Rostov, where his father ruled as prince. He
spent there his childhood, and in 1216, when Konstantin Vsevolodovich became
Great-prince of Vladimir, Rostov was apportioned to Vasil'ko (he was then eight
years old) as his princely appanage-realm to rule himself.
Military valour,
sacred duty of service to country, the sense of justice and the heeding of
one's elders all these are traditional features of a Russian princely
defender of the land, and all were present in Vasil'ko. The saint's father,
Great-prince Konstantin, died on 2 February 1218, when Vasil'ko was not yet ten
years of age. The guide of the young Rostov prince then became his uncle the
Vladimir Great-prince Saint Yurii (+ 1238, Comm. 4 February). For twenty years
Prince Yurii ruled the Vladimir land, and for all these years Vasil'ko was his
closest friend and confidant. The chronicles take note of the vibrantly
handsome figure of Vasil'ko, his bright and majestic glance, his daring in the
trapping of wild game, his beneficence, his mind and deep studiousness,
together with his mildness and good-naturedness in relations with the
boyar-nobles: "For whoever occasioned to serve him, whoever ate his bread
and drank the cup with him, that one moreover could never be the servant of
another prince". In the year 1219 Vasil'ko participated in a campaign of
the Vladimir-Suzdal' forces against the Volga Bulgars, and in 1221 in a
campaign to the mouth of the River Oka, where Nizhni Novgorod then held Saint
Yurii hostage.
In 1223 the first
Tatars (Mongols) appeared on the Southern steppes, "an unknown
people", coming out of the depths of Asia. Their first victims were the
Polovetsians allied with Rus'. The Russian princes, conjointly with the
Polovetsian khans (many of whom had accepted Holy Baptism), decided to give
resistance to the plunderers of the steppes before they reached the Russian
Land. Saint Vasil'ko headed an auxiliary detachment, sent by Great-prince Yurii
for participation in the All-Russian steppe campaign. The enemy showed up
sooner than they expected. And the centuries old division of appenage
principalities proved itself incapable of effective conjoint action in large
scale war. The detachment of Vasil'ko was not in time for the decisive battle,
and from Chernigov came the sad news of the destruction of the Russian forces
at the River Kal'ka on 16 June 1223. This was a bad omen, and from the East
loomed the storm. Vasil'ko with his company returned to Rostov.
In 1227 (or 1228)
Vasil'ko Konstantinovich married, taking as his wife Maria daughter of Saint
Michael of Chernigov (+ 1246, Comm. 20 September). Vasil'ko's uncle, Saint
Yurii, had earlier married the sister of this prince, Saint Michael [i.e.
Vasil'ko's uncle Yurii had married Maria's aunt]. In 1231 was born Vasil'ko's
oldest son, Boris.
Over Rus' the
storm-clouds thickened. On 3 May 1230, wrote the chronicler, "the earth
did shake during Liturgy", and famine and pestilence that year came upon
Rus'. In 1232 the Tatars made winter camp, having barely just reached the
capital of the Volga Bulgars. Life took its course, and Prince Yurii in 1236
married off his sons Vladimir and Mstislav, and Vasil'ko made merry at their
weddings. All of them however had little more than a year yet to live the
Tatars having already taken the Volga-Bulgarian land.
In 1237 the Tatar
whirlwind broke upon Rus'. In December Ryazan fell under the blows of Batu.
Prince Yurii had decided not to throw his forces over to aid it, since he was
faced with the difficult defense of the Vladimir land. The Tatars offered him
peace, and he was prepared to negotiate. But the conditions of the peace
tribute and vassal dependence under the khan, were unacceptable. "A
glorious fight, decided the prince, is better than a shameful
peace". The first battle with the Tatars was at Kolomna, and Vsevolod
Yur'evich commanded the troops, but they were cut to pieces. The enemy turned
then towards Moscow, which they then captured and burned. Another son of Yurii,
Vladimir, leading the defense of Moscow, fell captive.
Saint Yurii and his
faithful companion Saint Vasil'ko were resolute to fight "for the Orthodox
Christian faith" against the "godlessly vile Tatars". Having
organised his defenses and leaving at Vladimir his sons Vsevolod and Mstislav,
Prince Yurii went off beyond the Volga to gather new troops to replace those
annihilated by Batu.
With him were his
nephews Saint Vasil'ko of Rostov and his company and his brothers, Vsevolod
and Vladimir Konstantinovich. The great-prince awaited the arrival of his
brothers Yaroslav and Svyatoslav with their forces.
On Meatfare Saturday,
3 February 1238, quickly and without hindrance upon the wintry roads, the Tatar
army came nigh to Vladimir. Despite heroic defense, the fate of the city was
sealed. Bishop Mitrophan for spiritual strength tonsured into the angelic form
all the princes and princesses remaining in the city. On 7 February the city
fell. The final outpost of the Vladimirites became the Uspenie cathedral,
repository of the chief most holy thing in the Russian Land the
wonderworking Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. The Tatars piled wood and
kindling around the cathedral and made a tremendous blazing bon-fire. In the fire
and in the smoke, together with the thousand defenseless women and children,
perished also Bishop Mitrophan and all the family of holy Prince Yurii: his
wife Agathia, daughter Theodora, daughters-in-law Maria and Christina, and the
infant grandson Dimitrii. His sons Vsevolod and Mstislav, together with the
earlier captured Vladimir, were subjected to tortures and then slaughtered
"before the eyes of the khan". (In several of the old Mesyatseslav
Saint-accounts, all these are listed among the Saints).
Saint Yurii had been
with his forces near Yaroslavl'. Learning about the destruction of the capital
and the death of those near and dear to him, in the words of the chronicle,
"he did lament in a loud voice with tears, bewailing as becometh the Orthodox
Christian faith and Church". "Better were I dead, than to live yet in
this world, said he, ‑- since I alone do remain". Saint
Vasil'ko, arriving timely with the Rostov company, encouraged him to continue
on with the military effort.
On 4 March 1238 occurred
the decisive battle at the River Sita. The Tatars managed in an unexpected
manner to encircle the Russian army. A slaughter ensued. Few Russian warriors
came out alive from this terrible battle, but the enemy paid an expensive price
for its victory. Saint Yurii was cut down in distinguished combat, and the
wounded Vasil'ko they brought to the headquarters of Batu.
The Tatars demanded
that he "follow their vile customs, be subject to their will and fight for
them". With anger the holy prince refused the thought of betraying his
Rodina ("Native-Country") and Holy Orthodoxy. "In no way can ye
take from me the Christian faith", said the holy prince, reminiscent of
the ancient Christian confessors. "And much they did torture him, and then
did kill him, felling him in the Shernsk woods". Thus did holy Prince
Vasil'ko commit his soul to God, resembling in death the holy Passion-Bearer
Boris, that first of the Rostov princes, whom he had copied in life. And just
as with Saint Boris, Saint Vasil'ko was not yet even thirty years of age.
The Rostov bishop
Kirill, going out on the field of carnage, gave burial to the fallen Orthodox
warriors, and he sought out the body of holy Prince Yurii (they did not succeed
in finding his cut-off head in the mass of broken bodies). And he conveyed the
venerable remains to Rostov to the Uspenie cathedral. The body of Saint
Vasil'ko was found in the Shernsk woods by a priest's son and conveyed to
Rostov. And there the wife of the prince, his children, bishop Kirill and all
the Rostov populace met the body of their beloved prince with bitter wailing,
and they buried him beneathe the arches of the cathedral church.
Describing the burial
of Prince Vasil'ko, the chronicler characterised him thus: "The multitude
of Orthodox people did weep bitterly, in beholding a departed father and
nourisher of orphans, a great comforter of the saddened, and for the begloomed
the setting of a luminous star. For with all the church clergy God did grant
him remission in heartfelt eyes, and all the church people, and the poor, and
the grieving were as with a beloved father... By his martyr's blood was
washed away his transgressions together with that of his brethren".
The people saw an
especial sign of God's mercy in this, that the two princely comrades-in-arms
were buried side by side in the Rostov cathedral church: "For behold the
wonder, that in death God hath put together their bodies". (Later on, the
relics of holy Prince Yurii were transferred to the restored Vladimir Uspenie
cathedral).
The Church venerates
Saints Vasil'ko and Yurii as ascetic Passion-Bearers, and heroic defenders of
the Russian Land. Their holy example has inspired Russian soldiers in the fight
against hostile invaders. The most detailed account about the life and deeds of
holy Princes Vasil'ko and Yurii is preserved in the Lavrent'ev (Laurentian)
Chronicle, written by the monk Lavrentii with the blessing of Sainted Dionysii,
Archbishop of Suzdal', in the year 1377 three years before the Kulikovo Pole
battle.
© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.
|
Close window |