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Returning to Yugoslavia, he was [[ordination|ordained]] a [[deacon]] and then a [[priest]] in Serbia in March 1941. Fr. Vladimir served as a priest in a number of villages in northern Yugoslavia until 1949 enduring first the Nazi occupation and then that of the communists. His life was more difficult under the communists and, for preaching about the ungodly government, he was arrested. The charge against him was the crime of promulgating illegal religious propaganda. Sentenced to eight years hard labor, Fr. Vladimir was stripped of his cassock and cross and shared the hard prison life with his fellow prisoners, enduring with them a plague of fleas. While forbidden to perform any divine services, with the help of even the non-Orthodox prisoners, he was able to fulfill the requests of the Orthodox prisoners in "blessing of the waters" on Theophany.

In 1949, with a change in policies by the Tito government and with the intercession of the [[Archbishop]] of Canterbury, Fr. Vladimir was released from prison and reunited with his wife, Marya, and their two sons, Vladimir and Michael. After his release they first traveled to France and then on to England where the family settled. Again functioning as a priest, Fr. Vladimir entered into his passion with radio when he was offered a position broadcasting on BBC services. With the BBC, and other radio facilities, he produced for the next forty years religious programs that were broadcast to the Soviet Union. He also lectured widely on Orthodoxy and was active with the [[Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius]].

Bp. Basil remained active among the Orthodox of Washington DC, especially among the new Russian immigrants, until his death on [[September 17]], 1999. He was 84 years old. He was buried at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, DC.

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." Bp. Basil's apartment in Washington is maintained much as he left it, and faithful gather for services often at his home chapel there.