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| St. Sebastian of Sokhotsk (Feast Day - February 26) |
Even as a teenager Saint Sebastian felt a disposition for ascetic life and entered one of the many monasteries then, where he passed various obediences, was tonsured a monk, and was ordained a hierodeacon and hieromonk.
Not content with monastic feats within the walls of the monastery, Father Sebastian retired to the dense Poshekhonye forests along the Sokhoti River (90 versts from the city of Romanov (now Tutaev) in the Yaroslav district) and built a temple there in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Soon the monk’s solitude was disturbed, other monks began to come and settle with him, and a monastic community was formed under his guidance called Sokhotsk Monastery.
Living in a dilapidated and cramped hut, Sebastian spent all his time in prayer, fasting and labors: he carried water, chopped wood, ground wood, helped baking bread, weaved ropes, and so forth. Here he lived until his death in 1492. The relics of the Saint were laid to rest in the monastery founded by him.
The Transfiguration Monastery on the River Sokhota was later annexed to the Cherepovets Ascension Monastery, and in 1764 closed down. In the mid-nineteenth century a stone church was built over the relics of Saint Sebastian.
