In 1877, Fr. Basil's wife, Varvara Nikiforovna, died, and from that moment the widowed archpriest devoted himself entirely to serving God — he was tonsured a monk with the name Vissarion, elevated to the rank of archimandrite, and on July 30, 1889, at the age of 67, he was ordained Bishop of Dmitrov, vicar of the Moscow Metropolia.

In 1891, Bishop Vissarion (Nechaev) was appointed ruling bishop of the Kostroma diocese, and in 1894 the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church confirmed him to the degree of Doctor of Theology.

Archpastoral service did not break Bishop Bessarion's ties with his brainchild, "Spiritually Beneficial Reading." Being already elderly and sick, he did not stop writing. A few days before Kostroma's death, Vladyka sent his last article to the editors of Chteniya, with a sad afterword: "I am sending an article for the July book, and it seems to be the last. I'm very sick. I'm going to be unctioned. Farewell, brothers, friends, relatives and knowers. Be the will of the Lord. Peace to all". And it is not only from these lines of the ever-memorable Bishop Vissarion that we learn how dear the work of spiritual enlightenment and education was for him until his very death: on May 15, 1905, the saint celebrated divine services at the Kostroma Ipatiev Monastery and laid the foundation stone for the building of the diocesan women's school, his last undertaking, and on May 30, 1905, Bishop Vissarion peacefully reposed in the Lord.

Bishop Vissarion (Nechaev) was buried in the side-chapel of St. Sergius of the Epiphany Cathedral in the city of Kostroma, next to the grave of Archbishop Platon (Thebes) of Kostroma.

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Bishop Vissarion (Nechaev's) book "Commentary on the Paremia from the Book of Genesis" (Moscow, 1871), which we are now offering for careful reading, is the first of a series of his works devoted to the explanation of the Holy Scriptures. It should be especially noted here that the outstanding hierarch and pedagogue did not set himself the task of interpreting all the biblical books, the purpose of his writings was ecclesiastical and didactic. In other words, Bishop Bessarion makes a detailed analysis of only those passages from the Bible that are offered by the Church during the liturgical readings, that is, the Old and New Testament paremias.

Other, no less outstanding contemporaries of Bishop Bessarion, Bishop Michael (Luzin) and St. Theophan the Recluse, glorified by the Church, were also engaged in the interpretation of Holy Scripture, and in the scope of their work they may have surpassed their fellow hierarch. But it should be borne in mind that Bishop Michael (Luzin) and even more so St. Theophan were never parish priests, so their exegetical works are of a lengthy, abstract nature and can be useful for students of the Bible in a scientific and educational sense. Bishop Vissarion (Nechaev), who served as a priest for more than thirty years, understood like no one else the exceptional significance for salvation in Christ of those passages from the word of God that are heard for the edification of parishioners during the All-Night Vigil or Vespers. Therefore, in compiling their "Commentaries," the priest and then the hierarch "strive to facilitate the understanding of the paremias for those who, hearing them read during divine services, seek spiritual edification in them" (Faith and the Church, 1901, book 2, p. 320).

Let us briefly consider how the "Commentaries on the Paremia" are constructed. At the beginning, the author provides a brief understanding of the content of this biblical book, its title and the writer. Then (and this is especially important) the connection between what we have heard in the church reading and the preceding events of biblical (or evangelical) history is revealed. What follows is the "classical" explanation of the biblical text, verse by verse. And, finally, Bishop Bessarion builds a kind of "bridge" between the paremia and the event celebrated (commemorated) by the Church. The latter is a skillful ecclesiastical pedagogical method: let us ask ourselves: how many of us, even with a good knowledge of Church Slavonic, which makes it easier to understand reading, are able to see through the prism of biblical history the Old Testament prototype of a church feast?

The main principle of interpreting biblical verses for Bishop Bessarion is the explanation of the word of God with the help of the word of God itself, that is, the author not only points to parallel passages in the Bible, but also analyzes them in detail, necessarily attaching patristic interpretations to each verse. And only after that he cites the data of contemporary biblical science, which makes such interpretations the most interesting and complete. "The interpretations are set forth with remarkable simplicity and clarity. There are no unnecessary words. The author's goal to edify readers is fully achieved. A clear, bright thought is conveyed in a transparent, clear, sometimes highly artistic language. With brevity of speech, there is a remarkable fullness and depth of thought" (Tserkovnye Vedomosti, 1894, No 30, p. 1041).

That is why, fully sharing the highest assessments expressed in its time to the book, when preparing the reprint of the "Commentaries on the Paremia" in modern orthography, the editors retained all the main features of the structure and language of the work, correcting the shortcomings of the original of 1871.

"You are a talented church preacher, an interpreter of the word of God, and in general a prolific writer, as the olive tree is fruitful in the house of God (Psalm 51:10), in the vineyard of Christ. What a magnificent monument you have built for yourselves, not from plinths (Gen 11:3), but from the books of the spiritual journal which you have been publishing for a long time." These words of recognition of Bishop Vissarion's merits to the Church were pronounced against him at his episcopal consecration (Korsunsky I. N. The Most Reverend Vissarion, Bishop of Kostroma, Moscow, 1898, p. 31). "Commentary on the Paremia from the Book of Genesis" is his first edifying book on the subject of the Holy Scriptures, which was first published in parts in the "Soul-Beneficial Reading". Let us hope that one hundred and thirty years later, having rediscovered the interpretive works of Bishop Bessarion, we, remembering his labors for the benefit of our salvation, will have a good desire to study the literary and theological heritage of the ever-memorable hierarch.

GENERAL REMARKS ON PAREMIAS

Paremias are readings from the Old Testament and sometimes the New Testament books, placed at Great Vespers on feasts with a polyeleos or vigil, at all-day Vespers on the days of the Forty Days, on the so-called Royal Hours, on the Hours on the days of the Forty Days, at certain molebens (for example, in the rite of the Great Blessing of Water, in the thanksgiving moleben on December 25).

Paremia is a Greek word, meaning a parable, i.e. a teaching in which the truth is contained in secret, either under the cover of allegory, or under the guise of a concise, significant saying. A collection of such parables is represented by the well-known book of Solomon – Proverbs. Readings from this book are offered in church services more often than from other Old Testament books. From the book of Proverbs, by its predominant use, the name of the Paremia could have been extended to church readings taken from other sacred books, just as the psalms in the book of Psalms are sometimes called the Psalms of David, not because it included only the Psalms of David, for in it a whole half of the Psalms belong to other singers, but because no one wrote Psalms more than David. In addition, the readings known under the name of paremia, and are so called because many of them, by their content, whether prophesied or transformative, point covertly, like parables, to the persons or events sung in the church service of which they are a part. We do not consider it necessary to dwell on why the paremias require interpretation. The Word of God, which is brought closer to our understanding by means of interpretation, is more salvific for us than if we heard or read it without proper understanding.