Bishop Basil, in the world Benjamin Sergeyevich Preobrazhensky, was born in 1876.
On the very day of his baptism, when Benjamin was brought home from the church, an old wanderer woman arrived in their house, looked at the boy and said: "He will be a great man."
On September 19, 1921 Fr. Basil was consecrated as Bishop of Kineshma. After his consecration, he redoubled his ascetic efforts. Having renounced all personal property, he settled on the edge of the town in a small bath-house which was in the kitchen-garden of a soldier's widow, Anna Alexandrovna Rodina. The hierarch had no possessions or furniture, and he slept on the bare floor, putting a log under his head and covering himself up with some clothes. He hid his exploit from outsiders, receiving no-one in this place.
The grace-filled words of Bishop Basil's sermon pierced the hearts and drew more and more people into the churches. After his sermons many completely changed their lives. Some, following the example of the hierarch, gave their property to the poor, dedicating their lives to the service of the Lord and their neighbours. The light of faith and grace began to reach even the unbelievers, and Jews began to come to the church so as to hear the hierarch's words about Christ the Saviour.
Like many true God-pleasers, the hierarch had the gift of clairvoyance.
Bishop Basil protected his flock from every kind of evil and error. If he learned that one of his spiritual children was thinking incorrectly, then without wasting any time he hastened to visit this person.
Not far from the town of Vichuga there lived a sick eldress by the name of Martha Lavrentyevna Smirnova. She was a great ascetic. From childhood she had led a God-pleasing life, and the last 22 years she had passed in immobility, ceaselessly giving thanks to God. For this the Lord gave her the gift of discernment, which many of those who came to her for advice profited from.
In exile Bishop Basil learned that the eldress had begun to receive people who were in heresy and were going round everywhere glorifying her as a saint. On returning from exile, Vladyka did not change his rule and set off on foot for Vichuga, visiting the homes of his spiritual children on the way. He arrived at the cell of the eldress in the evening. It was full of people and the hierarch asked everyone to leave so that he could remain alone with Martha Lavrentyevna and her cell-attendant.
"I want to test you," said the hierarch, "to see whether you are in spiritual deception or not. I have learned that you are visited by some people from Ivanovo who have even given you their photographs and glorify you throughout the town as a saint. And yet they are not Orthodox. If you continue to mix with them, I will exclude you from my circle."
Without hesitation the eldress agreed to stop seeing the heretics.
In the home of one of the hierarch's spiritual children, Eudocia, the oil-lamp in front of the icon began to light of itself at midnight.
"It seems that the Lord is calling me to get up and pray," she thought, not sure whether to accept this phenomenon as from God or a deception. But she had already felt the spirit of deception in her heart - you pray so much, she said to herself, that the Lord Himself lights the oil-lamp.
In order to test this phenomenon, she invited an acquaintance of hers to stay the following night. But the oil-lamp lit up in her presence, too. Then she invited another witness to stay the night with her. The same thing happened with her. At midnight the oil-lamp lit up of itself.
This finally persuaded Eudocia to accept this phenomenon as from God. When he had heard her out, the hierarch said to her severely:
"No, this phenomenon is not from God, but from the enemy, and because you have accepted it as coming from God I am laying a penance on you - you are not to have Communion for a year. And the oil-lamp will not light up again." And truly, from that day the oil-lamp did not light up.
In September, 1928, Vladyka Basil was arrested in connection with the Kineshma branch of the True Orthodox Church. If until that time it had been difficult to find a "lawful" way of sentencing the hierarch to prison, now the publication of the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) gave the authorities ample excuse for persecuting the Orthodox. Bishops, priests and laymen were now arrested in their thousands and sent to prison, where hunger, cold, forced labour and death awaited them.
Bishop Basil rejected the declaration, and on November 19, 1928 was sentenced to three years in
exile. Together with him they arrested the priest of the Ascension church, Fr. Nicholas Panov, and Catherine Alexandrovna Knishek. The bishop was sent to prison in Ivanovo-Voznesensk, and in February or March, 1929 was taken under convoy to the small taiga hamlet of Malorechka, twenty-five kilometres from the district town of Taborovo, Sverdlovsk province. Here, too, Alexander Pavlovich (Vladyka Basil's cell-attendant) shared all the difficulties of exile with the hierarch. The two of them set up an altar in the little house, the hierarch consecrated it, and they celebrated Divine services there every day.
exile. Together with him they arrested the priest of the Ascension church, Fr. Nicholas Panov, and Catherine Alexandrovna Knishek. The bishop was sent to prison in Ivanovo-Voznesensk, and in February or March, 1929 was taken under convoy to the small taiga hamlet of Malorechka, twenty-five kilometres from the district town of Taborovo, Sverdlovsk province. Here, too, Alexander Pavlovich (Vladyka Basil's cell-attendant) shared all the difficulties of exile with the hierarch. The two of them set up an altar in the little house, the hierarch consecrated it, and they celebrated Divine services there every day.
In 1931 Bishop Basil was again given the choice: accept the declaration or go to prison. He refused, and was subjected to tortures for the hierarch refused to sign the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius and recognize it as Orthodox. At that the enraged torturers set about beating him with the buckles of their soldier's belts. But they could not shake his resolute, pure and Orthodox confession of Christ, which could not be deflected by any worldly enticement.
In 1931, in a brochure called Ryasniki and published by the local section of the militant atheists in Ivanovo, the following was written about Bishop Basil's followers:
"Among the Old Tikhonites of our region there is a branch of the so-called Basilites. They received this name after the name of the founder of this group, Bishop Basil (Preobrazhensky). We already know that this ryasnik was in the group of Ryashentsev. The Basilite programme differs in no way from the programme of the Old Tikhonites, but this group is distinguished by its activism. In those places where the priests belong to the sergianists, the Basilites leave the membership of the religious communities, cease to go to the church and organize house prayer-centres, giving as the reason for their departure the fact that the priests have changed their stripes and forgotten the true God. 'Once I went into the church,' says the profiteer Mazina, leader of the group, 'and I felt a pang in my heart, my head went dim and a voice told me to leave and pray at home' (village of Semenovskoye, Kineshma district)."
Three years passed in isolation, prayer and work, and the fourth was already coming to an end. The hierarch's thoughts began to incline towards the idea of staying forever there, where they had acquired a desert. But it turned out that it was impossible to choose exile voluntarily. He only decided to ask the local authorities for permission to stay when they themselves had begun to demand his departure. "Give us permission to stay," he asked. But the answer was given: "No, you can't stay here. Leave. You can go to any town except the forbidden ones."
The hierarch eventually re-entered his native diocese, where he had sown so many good seeds. Although physically separated from his flock, he had never been separated from it spiritually, and by prior agreement they even prayed at the same time.
This was the last time that Vladyka Basil beheld his native town, because immediately after his arrival he and his cell-attendant were thrown into prison and brought to trial in connection with the Kineshma branch of the True Orthodox Church.
This time it was the atheists' intention to kill them. But the Lord judged otherwise. The schoolchildren who had been called to the trial to witness against Vladyka Basil and his cell-mate refused to give evidence, saying that they did not know the men in the dock and were seeing them for the first time. After the failure of the prosecution, the judge sentenced Bishop Basil and his cell-attendant to five years in a hard labour camp for “creating a net of counter-revolutionary circles whose aim was the anti- Soviet education of the religious masses and the overthrow of the existing order”. This was in July, 1933.
He served his term not far from the town of Rybinsk, in a camp whose inmates worked on the construction of a canal. Alexander Pavlovich was exiled to the vicinity of Murmansk. Some priests who were summoned for interrogation after him were told by the torturers: "That Preobrazhensky is not like you, he's straight, he's not for turning, while you are for us to our face and against us behind our backs."
In January, 1938, Vladyka Basil settled in Rybinsk, and then, after a short period, he moved to the village of Kotovo, near Uglich, where he had the intention of ending his days. At the invitation of the choir director of the church in Kotovo, he went to live with her, serving in a church secretly constructed in a bath-house in a kitchengarden. Soon a circle was formed in the village.
In 1943 the Sergianist metropolitan of Yaroslavl offered him a see. "I don't recognize Sergius as Orthodox," wrote Basil to him in reply. "And I ask you not to offer me any other sees, because I am old and too worn out by exiles." The metropolitan promised.
But the very thought that a hierarch who was faithful to God and His Holy Church was still at liberty terrified the torturers, and on November 5, 1943, three months after this correspondence, Vladyka Basil was again arrested, in Kotovo. From November 7, 1943 to January, 1944 Bishop Basil was in the inner prison of the NKVD in Yaroslavl. Although he had heart problems and the doctor said he
should go to hospital, he was subjected to constant interrogations and tortures. On January 26 he was taken, scarcely alive, to the inner prison of the NKVD in Moscow. On July 13, 1944 he was transferred to the Butyrki prison.
In the same month he was sentenced to five years’ exile in Krasnoyarsk district, and was sent under convoy, first to prison in Krasnoyarsk, and from there to the remote village of Birilyussi. The little Siberian village was in a remote area surrounded by boundless woods and a network of rivers. The young people had already been deeply corrupted by atheism and made cruel by the war. Even young
children became savage in the surrounding cruelty. For a long time the bishop was not able to find a suitable flat for himself, and finally he settled in the house of a widow who had three young children. When he was praying, they used to gather little balls of horse manure and throw them at him, saying:
"There you are, granddad, eat."
Soon the Lord gave him some alleviation from his sufferings: some believing women found another flat for him. The landlady was single, and an exiled nun was living with her at the time. In Birilyussi Vladyka suffered a partial paralysis, and it was now difficult for him to walk and he needed nursing.
The war was coming to an end, and the authorities were establishing a concordat with the Church whereby from the Church was demanded everything while the authorities promised in exchange not to kill bishops and priests or subject them to imprisonment, and to open a certain number of churches and seminaries. Once again the authorities tried to compel Vladyka Basil to recognize Sergius' Synod. "You know why you're in exile. Recognize the Synod and we will immediately free you and take you by air to Moscow, where you will be treated and will be able to live."
The hierarch refused and was told, "then stay where you are, we have no right to let you go."
Seeing that the bishop was seriously ill, the believing women asked the local bishop to send a priest with the Holy Gifts. This was done. But Vladyka refused to receive communion from the sergianist priest.
At Pascha, 1945, he wrote to one of his spiritual daughters, congratulating her on the feast and saying: "My child! Once more I congratulate you on the feast. Christ is risen indeed!... I met Pascha very well. The Lord has blessed me with all good things - all your wishes were fulfilled. Glory to the Creator for His mercies and kindnesses... My child! Do not be upset, everything is in the will of God, I have already reached the term of human life, 70 years, and from now on life has little of interest to offer me. Of one thing I am certain, that I will not last five years in Birilyussi. I am not frightened of death. I would like to die surrounded by children and relatives, so that I can talk with and bless them all. Or at least have one person who is close to me by my side, someone to whom I can entrust my will and instructions with regard to my burial. Alas! There is not one such person. Complete isolation is a heavy burden. I am being treated, I am taking iodine, but I received the most precious medicine on Great Thursday. I thank the Maker for all these joys and consolation. I am choking with a cough, it's difficult to breathe, I lie down most of the time. But I shouldn't lie down too much. Still, complete immobility helps my breathing, I can inhale with my whole chest... Farewell, my child! Don't be downcast that I'm too tired to go on writing. Be healthy. Entrust yourself entirely to the will of God. Bow your head and say: Thy will be done. Pray. I believe in the prayers of children, they often help me. You will find consolation in prayer. I wish you good health and a long and happy life.
Bishop Basil of Kineshma, who sincerely loves you. Send my greetings and best wishes to the children. I ask forgiveness of all and bow to the earth."
At the same time, in spring, 1945, he wrote to Alexander Pavlovich, inviting him to come. Alexander Pavlovich replied that he would come when the haymaking was over. But the hierarch knew that he would not live to the autumn. However, Alexander Pavlovich did not hasten to come, and when he did arrive the hierarch was already dead.
Shortly before his death, Bishop Basil asked the nun who was living with his landlady to read the canon for the departing of the soul. Having read the canon, she began to read the final prayer. The hierarch listened attentively, and when the prayer was over said "Amen" in a firm voice and quietly passed away. He died on July 31 / August 13, 1945 (according to another source, August 18, 1947).
When the news of his death came to his spiritual children, by common agreement of those close to him the funeral service was performed in another place by the hierarch's spiritual son, Hieromonk Benedict of Lukhsky monastery, who was living in hiding at that time near Kineshma.
In July, 1993 the holy relics of St. Basil of Kineshma were translated to the women’s monastery of the Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple in Ivanovo. In August the hierarchy of the Moscow Patriarchate glorified the bishop who had rejected them all his life. A part of his relics are now to be found in the cathedral in Kineshma.