St. Basil was referred to by the people of his day as the Holy Fool. Often seen wandering the streets of the Moscow dressed in rags and draped with chains, he gained a reputation as a prophet for foretelling various calamities that would befall the people of Russia, including a fire that devastated Moscow. Ivan the Terrible invited the ascetic monk to his palace occasionally and was very impressed with the holy man’s spiritual mission and gift of prophesy. The wild-eyed saint was buried in a small cemetery next to what was then referred to as the Church of Protection of the Mother of God (called Theotokos or Bogoroditsa by Orthodox Christians).   It was also often referred to as the New Jerusalem.  In 1588, after Czar Fyodor Ivanovich succeeded Ivan the Terrible to the throne, the tenth and smallest cupola of the group was built over the saint's grave.  Following this the cathedral came to be identified with the Fool for Christ, St. Basil the Blessed.

The Cathedral has survived many wars, fires, and the ill-will of both foreign and Russian despots. During his short-lived conquest of Moscow in 1812, Napoleon tried unsuccessfully to blow up the cathedral.  It was perhaps due to its sturdy construction and his dwindling supplies of gunpowder that the French Emperor gave up the idea.  The brick and mortar walls of the central cathedral, alone, are five to seven feet thick.   Stalin wanted the cathedral torn down because it narrowed the exit from Red Square and interfered with the orderly marching of his soldiers during military parades.  A Russian architect was so horrified by Stalin’s plan that he threatened to cut his own throat on the steps of the cathedral.