Hieromartyr
Archbishop Basil (Bogoyavlensky), Archbishop of Chernigov
1 февраля 1867 — 27 августа 1918
Also known as: Василий Черниговский, Василий Дмитриевич Богоявленский
Hieromartyr Basil (Vasily Dmitrievich Bogoyavlensky), Archbishop of Chernigov and Nezhin — while leading Patriarch Tikhon's investigative commission into the murder of Archbishop Andronik of Perm, he was seized and killed by Red Army soldiers on a railway bridge over the Kama River on August 14/27, 1918; canonized among the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in 2000.
The Hieromartyr Basil was born on February 1, 1867, in Tambov province, the son of a priest. Widowed around 1904, he took monastic vows (1908), was raised to the rank of archimandrite, and was consecrated bishop in 1909. From 1911 he was Archbishop of Chernigov and Nezhin (raised to the rank of archbishop in 1916); he founded a number of educational and charitable institutions in the diocese.
In July 1918, at Patriarch Tikhon's commission, he led an investigative delegation sent to Perm to investigate the circumstances of the murder of Archbishop Andronik (Nikolsky) of Perm. On August 14/27, 1918, Red Army soldiers stopped the commission's train beyond a bridge over the Kama River and killed its members — according to various accounts, Archbishop Basil was shot and/or bayoneted, and the bodies were thrown into the river or burned.
He was canonized by the Jubilee Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in August 2000, among the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.
IMPORTANT IMAGE NOTE: the original image was an icon of the Synaxis of Pskov Hieromartyrs — a regional group of saints unrelated to Archbishop Basil of Chernigov (his ministry and martyrdom were connected exclusively to Chernigov and Perm, not Pskov); the mismatched image has been removed.