GARF. F. 10035, d. 21010.

Archive of the FSB of the Russian Federation for the Tula Region. No P-3003.

Damascene (Orlovsky), abbot. Martyrs, confessors and ascetics of piety of the Russian Orthodox Church of the XX century.

Kn. 6. Tver, 2002.

September 10 (23) Hieromartyr Vasily (Maximov)

Compiled by Hegumen Damascene (Orlovsky)

Hieromartyr Basil was born on January 28, 1887, in the village of Babka, Pavlovsk District, Voronezh Province, in the family of a peasant named Nikita Maximov. The family lived poorly, and in addition, Nikita fell seriously ill and became blind. Vasily grew up as a pious and obedient boy, and the local priest blessed him to serve in the altar. Once, on the patronal feast day, a visiting bishop performed a service in the church; he liked the pious boy, gifted with musical abilities, and he took him with him to the place of his service in Shadrinsk and sent him to a religious school. Vasily was then fourteen years old.

In Shadrinsk, he met his future wife Julia, who was studying at a music school at that time. Her father, priest Alexander Konev, served in the church at the Mysovaya station in the Irkutsk province.

In 1914, Vasily Nikitich was ordained a priest to one of the churches in the city of Shadrinsk, then transferred to a church in the city of Petropavlovsk. In 1923, Fr. Vasily moved to Moscow and was assigned to the Church of the Great Martyr Nikita in the village of Kabanovo, Orekhovo-Zuevo District, Moscow Province. For his impeccable and zealous service to the Church, Fr. Vasily was elevated to the rank of archpriest and subsequently awarded a mitre and appointed dean.

In Kabanovo there were several houses belonging to the church: the houses of the priest and the deacon, the parochial school and a small gatehouse, where the pious maiden Euphemia Vishnyakova lived with her father, the watchman. A rope from the bell tower was stretched into their room, so that in case of thieves entering the temple, the watchman could ring the bell. Of the church buildings, by 1923, only the priest's house and the gatehouse remained behind the church.

Archpriest Vasily settled with his family in a large priest's house. Father Vasily often served; At each service he delivered sermons, for which he always carefully prepared the day before, using his large library. Father Vasily knew that his sermons reached the hearts of parishioners and therefore were not liked by the civil authorities, but he considered the education of his flock to be his inalienable duty. The people understood that the priest was in a dangerous position, and appreciated that he did not tire of preaching the truths of Christ. The parishioners trusted their priest and knew that in this difficult time they were not alone and not abandoned and could always turn to him for help and support. And he, in turn, tried to fully serve the people of the church, and at every request he went to unction and communion those who could not come to church.

In 1927, the priest suffered a misfortune – on June 10, his wife Julia, who was only thirty-two years old, died. She pricked a pimple on her chin, blood poisoning began, and without being sick for a week, she died. Father Vasily was left with three children - daughters Maria and Nina, ten and four years old, and son Nikolai, who was not even two years old. For Father Vasily, this was a difficult test, because he and his wife lived soul to soul and she was his first assistant. At first after the death of his wife, he could not sleep, and sometimes, as soon as the children fell asleep, he went to his wife's grave and prayed for a long time. It happened that the children woke up, but the father was not there, he was at the grave of the mother. These experiences subsequently had a heavy impact on the priest's health.

In the late twenties, a fire broke out in the village, several houses burned down at once. Father Vasily ceded the large church house to the families of the victims of the fire, and he moved to a small house on the outskirts of the village, the owners of which invited a priest with children. Later he went to live in the church gatehouse, where Euphemia lived with her father on one half, and Father Vasily and his children settled on the other. Euphemia took upon herself the care of the children and tried to replace their mother.