Life
Saint Vasily of Bar — whose real secular name was Vasily Grigorievich Barsky-Plaka-Albov — was born in 1701 in Kyiv, in the family of a merchant. He was educated at the Kyiv Theological Academy, one of the most advanced Orthodox schools of his time. Already in his youth he displayed an unusual thirst for pilgrimage and direct acquaintance with the holy places and living tradition of Orthodoxy.
Around 1723, still a young man, he left Kyiv and set out on a journey that would take him to the most distant corners of the Orthodox world. Over the next quarter century he traveled on foot and on horseback through Galicia, Hungary, Italy (where he stayed in Bari at the relics of Saint Nicholas), Greece, the Holy Mountain of Athos, Palestine, and Syria. He visited Jerusalem several times, living in the local monasteries and gathering spiritual experiences. He visited the Holy Mountain of Athos on several occasions and spent a total of many years in its monasteries, absorbing the hesychastic tradition and monastic wisdom.
What makes Vasily of Bar an exceptional figure in the history of Orthodox pilgrimage is not only the labor of the journey itself — which in his day was extremely arduous and dangerous — but his ability to record thoroughly everything he saw. He kept extensive diaries and descriptions, which he supplemented with his own drawings of monasteries, churches, and geographical localities. His works are gathered under the title “Peregrination” (Peshekhodets), meaning “Journey” or “The Foot-traveler’s Journey,” and represent an extraordinary historical source for knowledge of the state of Orthodox monasteries and communities in the eighteenth century. Especially valuable are the descriptions of the Holy Mountain, Jericho, the Jordan, Bethlehem, and the Crusader fortifications of the Holy Land.
After many years of wandering, Vasily of Bar returned to the Holy Mountain of Athos, where he received the monastic tonsure, and living in ascetic peace continued his literary work. He reposed in 1747, almost immediately upon his return to Kyiv, where he had set out to deliver his writings for safekeeping. He was buried in Kyiv.
The Serbian Orthodox Church proclaimed him a saint in 1962, recognizing in him not only a pilgrim and writer, but a true bearer of the spirit of apostolic faith who, like the ancient monks, abandoned all things for the sake of Christ and the Church. He reposes in Kyiv, but the spirit of Saint Vasily of Bar lives in every Serb who reads his works and gazes at the drawings of monasteries that this pilgrim-monk drew three centuries ago.
Tropar (Tone 4)
O Venerable Father Vasily, who wast an indefatigable pilgrim and didst traverse the Orthodox East on foot — thou didst leave to posterity in thy diaries and drawings an unforgettable treasure; pray to Christ God to guide our steps also toward salvation and love for His Church.
Kontakion (Tone 3)
O traveler of God and servant of the Most High, Vasily of Bar, who didst thoroughly describe the holy mountains, monasteries, and holy places, and didst kindle the faith of Orthodoxy in the hearts of thy readers — cease not to pray for the Church and the people who venerate thee among the saints.