[6] In 1920, Rodziankos were forced to leave Russia and settle in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, first in Pančevo, then in Beodra (now Novo Miloševo, Vojvodina), where his grandfather died.

In 1925 to 1933 Vladimir studied at the 1st Russian-Serbian Classical Gymnasium in Belgrade; he enjoyed the special patronage of Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), with whom he was distantly related.

In August 1937, after completing his education at the Faculty of theology, he married Maria Kolyubaeva, the daughter of a priest who managed to leave the USSR illegally with his family.

The priest Vladimir Rodzianko took part in the Serbian resistance and rescued the Serbs from concentration camps, adopted an orphaned Ukrainian girl.

[6] After Communist Party led by Josip Broz Tito came to power in the Yugoslavia, Russian emigrants began to leave to other countries, many of them returned to the USSR.

On April 3, 1945, he sent a letter to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexius I, in which he informed about his desire to serve the Russian Orthodox Church.

Vladimir, who cared two parishes, was arrested and sentenced to eight years of correctional labor for "illegal religious propaganda" (he was charged with a certificate of miraculous renewal of icons in his church).

[7] Thanks to the personal petition of Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher of Canterbury to the Yugoslav authorities and the change in Tito's policy towards the West in 1951, Fr.

Vladimir moved to the UK and became the second priest in the Cathedral of St. Sava of Serbia of the Western European Diocese of the SPC (Notting Hill district in London).

At age sixty-three, called to serve as a bishop in the United States after the death of his wife, Rodzianko accepted monastic tonsure from Metropolitan Anthony Bloom with the new name Basil.

The research topics of Priest Vladimir concerned such issues as the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the difference in approaches to understanding the exodus of the Holy Spirit in the Eastern and Western Churches, the doctrine of the Kingdom of Heaven, apologetics, the meaning of the Divine Liturgy, Russian spirituality, the place of prayer, especially Jesus prayer, in the life of a Christian, creation and evolution, creativity of Fyodor Dostoevsky, the Shroud of Turin, etc.

[7] Then, on January 12, 1980, after his arrival in the United States, Hieromonk Basil was consecrated Bishop of Washington as auxiliary to Metropolitan Theodosius (Lazor), the primate of the OCA.

He served the San Francisco diocese until his retirement on April 25, 1984, which was forced as a result of what Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) has described in his chapter on the bishop's life in his book Everyday Saints as opposition to him by a clique within the jurisdiction.

Bishop Basil and his pilgrims returned, first stopping in Constantinople for the blessing of the Ecumenical Patriarch, then traveling through the countries of southeastern Europe where Cyril and Methodius preached arriving at the Dormition Cathedral in the Kremlin.

The Washington, DC–based Holy Archangels Foundation has held annual retreats focused on his legacy and commemorating his life and works, starting in 2010, and maintains a website about him.

The bestselling book Everyday Saints by Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov includes a chapter on him entitled "His Eminence the Novice."