Hieroconfessor Basil, Bishop Of Kineshma And Those With Him 3 of 3

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"... 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 whenthe 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.

On July 29 or 31, 1945 (old style) Basil of Kineshma 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. According to other sources, he died on July 27 or 28, or August 1 or 11 o 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.

Some sermons have been preserved from Basil of Kineshma's writings, as well as most of his "Conversations on the Gospel according to Mark", in which one can clearly hear the voice of the great preacher converting the hearts of thousands of people to Christ.

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.

(Sources: Samizdat MS; Russkie Pravoslavnye Ierarkhi, Paris: YMCA Press, 1986, p. 22; Nicholas Balashov, "Yeshcho raz o 'deklaratsii' i o 'solidarnosti' Solovchan", Vestnik Russkogo Khristianskogo Dvizheniya, 157, 1989-III, p. 201; M.E. Gubonin, Akty Svyateishago Patriarkha Tikhona, Moscow: St. Tikhon's Theological Institute, 1994, p. 968; Lev Regelson, Tragediya

Russkoj Tserkvi, 1917-1945, Moscow: Krutitskoye patriarsheye podvorye, 1996, pp. 535, 606; Hieromonk Damascene (Orlovsky), Blagovest, N 1, 17, 1992; Michael Khlebnikov, "Pravda o Svyatitelye Vasilii Kineshemskom", Pravoslavnaya Rus', N 1 (1574), January 1/14, 1997, pp. 13-14; Bishop Ambrose (von Sievers), "Katakombnaya Tserkov': Kochuyushchij Sobor 1928 g.", Russkoye Pravoslaviye, N 3 (7), 1997, p. 39; "Episkopat Istinno-Pravoslavnoj Tserkvi 1922-1997gg.", Russkoye Pravoslaviye, N 4 (8), 1997, pp. 12-13; Za Khrista Postradavshiye, Moscow: St. Tikhon's Theological Institute, 1997, pp. 224-225; I.I. Osipova, "Skvoz' Ogn' Muchenij i Vody Slyoz", Moscow: Serebryanniye Niti, 1998, pp. 272-273)

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End of part 3
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