Martyr Martyr Basil (Vasily) of Mangazea

Righteous Martyr Basil (Vasily) of Mangazea was the first saint glorified on Siberian soil. Born c. 1588 in Yaroslavl to a pious but poor family, he was taken as a young clerk by a wealthy Yaroslavl merchant to trade in Mangazeya, one of the earliest Russian outposts beyond the Arctic Circle. Known for gentleness and devotion to prayer, he was falsely blamed when the merchant's warehouse was robbed while he was praying in church during the Paschal service.

With the connivance of the local voivode, Semyon Pushkin, the merchant had him brutally tortured to extract a confession; the youth died maintaining his innocence, and his body was buried without proper rites.

Beginning in 1649, healings were reported at his grave, leading to the uncovering and local glorification of his relics (1653), which were later translated to the Holy Trinity Monastery in Turukhansk (1670). He is venerated locally and in the Synaxis of Siberian Saints.