05 — Death and Canonization

Basil’s repose and burial by the Trinity church on the Moat at the site of the new Intercession Cathedral, and the swift glorification of 1588 — a little over thirty years after his death — under Tsar Feodor Ioannovich and Metropolitan (soon the first Patriarch) Job.

Tradition: Russian Orthodox (glorified 1588; feast 2 August O.S. / 15 August N.S.)

Basil’s death date is itself disputed across the sources, but his burial by the cathedral and his rapid glorification are documented events, and they are the hinge between the hidden fool of the streets and the cathedral that bears his name. The first file treats the repose and burial; the second the 1588 glorification, the relics, and the question — often muddled in popular accounts — of whether Job acted as Metropolitan or as Patriarch.

Section Contents

• Death and Burial 1557 — the repose (1552/1557), the funeral under Metropolitan Macarius, and the burial at the Trinity church on the Moat
• Canonization 1588 — the swift glorification under Tsar Feodor and Metropolitan (soon Patriarch) Job; the relics and the reported wonders

See Also

• The Cathedral — the church at whose site he was buried and over whose corner his chapel rose
• Hagiography vs. History — the disputed death date and the documentary status of the glorification
• Basil and Ivan the Terrible — the coffin tradition

References

• Erusalimsky, K. Yu. “Василий Блаженный.” In Pravoslavnaya Entsiklopediya, vol. 7, 123–131. Moscow, 2004. pravenc.ru/text/150789.html.
• Brumfield, William Craft. A History of Russian Architecture. Cambridge University Press, 1993.
• Fletcher, Giles. Of the Russe Commonwealth (1591). Ed. Pipes and Fine. Harvard University Press, 1966.