THE LIFE OF BISHOP BASIL. His was a life completely dedicated to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His Holy Orthodox Christian Church.

BISHOP BASIL (RODZIANKO)

05/22/1915 - 09/17/1999

The remembrance of the departed within the Church differs from the worldly remembrance both through the way it is expressed and through the way it exists in time. Its outward expression is not as violent, desperate, and hopeless as expressions of such remembrance in the secular environment; grief itself is bright and filled with hope. Everything that is transient and accidental in human relationships departs; it dissipates through the prayers of the fu-neral service, and no longer comes in the way of the boundless brotherly love in the Lord. Constant prayerful remembrance brings the image of the departed closer to us, enriches our understanding of exalted meaning of his or her life's path, and allows us to sense the outlines of Divine Providence behind the external events...

Enough time has passed since Bishop Basil fell asleep in the Lord to let us see how straight and consequential was the path that the Lord guided him on for over eighty years. That path led from one country to the next, from one profession to another but always toward Him and toward life eternal

Bishop Basil (Vladimir Mikhailovich Rodzianko) was born in Little Russia (Ukraine), in his family's ancestral estate of Otrada, where his father, Mikhail Mikhailovich, graduate of Moscow University was busily managing his estate. In 1920 the family had to emigrate from Russia and settled in Yugoslavia, which at the time had become one of the cultural and religious centers of Russian emigration. In 1925 the young Vladimir entered the First Classical Russian-Serbian High School (Gymnasium) in Belgrade; in school he met Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky) and also a young priest-monk John (Maximovich), who was later glorified as a saint after serving as Bishop of San Francisco. Meeting such people could not but have a decisive impact on his subsequent life. It is remarkable that at the time of grievous disorders and disagreements in the Church, which started in the 1920s and are still continuing, the future bishop was fated to play the role of peacemaker. He served as a courier during the correspondence between Metropolitan Anthony and Metropolitan Evlogy, a correspondence that led to resumption of Eucharistic communion between the two branches of Russian Church in exile. Later, in addition to Metropolitan Anthony and St. John Maximovich, Bishop Basil named among his spiritual masters also the Reverend Justin (Popovic) and Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh.

Upon graduation from high school in 1933, Vladimir Rodzianko enrolled in the Department of Theology of Belgrade University, which he graduated from in 1937. In 1938 he married Maria Kulyubaeva, daughter of a priest. The same year he began working on a dissertation at Oxford, where he stayed also the following year. In 1939 a son, Vladimir, was born to the Rodziankos, and the year after Fr. Vladimir was ordained to priesthood. In 1941 he was about to become dean of a church in a high school where he was teaching religion, but the war started, and he ended up serving his first liturgy as bombs were falling on the city of Novi Sad on April 6, the Eve of Annunciation - a portentous event, but everything in the lives of Christian ascetics is portentous, probably because they open themselves to the Lord and to His holy will.

During World War II Fr. Vladimir was dean of a village church and secretary of the Red Cross. Many people owe him their deliverance from the horrors of war. In our days, as we observe the never-ending war in the Balkans, we are able to appreciate in full measure the spiritual fortitude that was necessary to help those people. In 1949 Fr. Vladimir was arrested by Tito's authorities and spent two years in a labor camp. In 1951 he was exiled to France, and from there moved to England. From 1953 on, Fr. Vladimir served as the priest of the Serbian church in London. In 1955 he organized an Orthodox radio program in Russian on the BBC and hosted that program unwaveringly until 1979.

Thus was Bishop Basil's abiding love for Russia realized. Many years later in a Russian province, as the bishop was driving to a service in a distant parish (he never declined an invitation to come and serve, however difficult the trip promised to be), on a deserted road he came upon a man grieving over the body of an old man. It was a son who had been driving his father in a side car of a motorcycle, and the father had been killed in an accident. The bishop offered to serve the funeral rite over the deceased, if he happened to have been Orthodox. The son replied that there was no church in their locality but that his father had had a spiritual father. He explained how that had become possible: "My father kept listening to the BBC on the radio, and he listened to the priest Vladimir Rodzianko, so he used to say that this was his spiritual father." This incident probably speaks no less eloquently about Bishop Basil's service to the Russian Church in the years of oppression than hundreds and thousands of other similar stories, although they all are just as valuable.

Fr. Vladimir's service as a priest includes an episode that is in itself perhaps run of the mill in a priest's life but which had a certain historical significance: father received A. F. Kerensky's deathbed confession. Through this the Lord seems to have entrusted to him the visible conclusion of a specific phase of Russian history.

In 1979 Fr. Vladimir encountered a difficult trial: his wife, Maria, and his grandson, Igor, both passed away. Those who knew him at that time say that his grief was full of spiritual courage. He incessantly turned to the Lord with that amazing combination of boldness and humility that strikes everyone who meditates over the pages of the Book of Job. Vladyka begged for spiritual consolation, he pleaded unyieldingly, yet with awe, and he finally received it. In 1980, after he had become a monk he was ordained Bishop of Washington of the Orthodox Church in America. The same year Bishop Basil became Bishop of San Francisco and California. Already a bishop, he visited Russia in 1981 and was warmly greeted by those who had for many years admired him as an Orthodox evangelist.

From 1984 on, the retired Bishop Basil devoted all his strength and all his extraordinary spiritual learning and experience to serving Orthodoxy. At St. Nicholas Cathedral in Washington, DC, he cared for the needs of the parish and of individual believers, yet the center of his attention was now transferred to Russia. He visited the country often and stayed there for lengthy periods of time. He became the Honorary Dean of the Church of the Ascension on Nikitskaya ("the Minor Ascension"), and in his last years, Dean of the Department of Theology and Philosophy at Natalya Nesterova's private university - a school that aims to prepare young people for advanced professional careers in the contemporary world while basing its educational system on the traditional cultural and moral values. Finally, with the blessing of Alexy II, the Most Holy Patriarch of Moscow and of All Russia, spent almost half a year at the Trinity Sergius Monastery, where he conducted research at the library and delivered a course of lectures. As a result of this stay, he completed his book The Theory of the Big Bang and the Faith of the Holy Fathers (published in 1996). This book considers the relationship of Orthodoxy and scientific knowledge, a topic that is extremely relevant in our day. Above everything, the book attracts the reader by a rare combination of qualities displayed by its author: erudition and youthful enthusiasm for knowledge, archpastoral seriousness of diction and profound humility.

Such was the remarkable life of the one who dedicated himself to serving the Orthodox Church, a pastor and confessor, mentor and scholar... Looking back at the 20th century we can only thank the Lord with joy and amazement that in the midst of historical catastrophes He sent us so many luminaries of faith, both in Russia and in the Diaspora. They are all one in their ascetic service - although each of them was given that service according to his or her strength - and they all differ by their own personal traits, which are especially touching. The archive that remained after Bishop Basil requires studying; clearly it contains much valuable material, which is waiting to be published. After this publication we will be able to know his life better. But there was one character trait that delighted everyone who met with him in his last years, the trait that we can name already today - Vladyka's particular non-possessiveness.

Bishop Basil was not what we call a wealthy man, and he would come to Russia not like a "rich foreigner" - no, he would arrive rather like a bishop of the first centuries of Christianity, like a pilgrim who conquers the distance and the hardships of travel for the sake of delivering his archpastoral words to the faithful, the words inspired by his spiritual zeal and his warm love for Christ and for his neighbor. Vladyka's feeble health and his advanced age served to enhance this similarity with early Christian bishops. With all that, he was far from despising everyday human needs (even though he himself was satisfied with little). With joy and love he would thank his hosts for taking him in, caring for him, even for any attention shown to him. Here is a detail that is very characteristic of the Vladyka. In the preface to his book he thanks a long list of people, beginning with the name of the Most Holy Patriarch and including the names of bishops, priests, librarians, seminary students, and readers, i.e., everyone involved in the creation of the book in some way - those who lent him a computer and those who sheltered him, as well as those who sewed him a klobuk and a cassock. The beautiful image of the elder is etched in the background of these touchingly detailed and ingenuous expressions of gratitude - an elder who greeted every instance of kindness toward him as a precious divine gift. One becomes aware that the love that issues from God, which in itself is already the highest gift, makes people themselves capable of gift-giving. One becomes aware that through this simple human act of giving gifts people give a gift of themselves to one another and to the Lord, and the Creator's goodness is multiplied in the world.

The prayerful remembrance of Bishop Basil will never run dry in those to whom the Lord gave the joy to see and hear him. One hopes that his spiritual exploit will become known, through books and films, to those who had not met him in his earthly life, and that this meeting with Bishop Basil will give them comfort and strengthen their faith and will ultimately lead to an increase in love.

"Alpha and Omega" magazine, 1[23] 2000.

This text was translated by Svetlana Grenier, edited by Joel Kalvesmaki.