Venerable Eudokia the Fool for Christ of Ryazan (+ 1890)

St. Eudokia the Fool for Christ (Feast Day - October 24)

Eldress Eudokia (Plyakhanova) was born in 1830 in the city of Tula.

Throughout her earthly life she was unceasingly aflame with the Spirit of God. All her mind and thoughts were in heaven.

At the age of twenty, Eudokia decided to enter the path of monastic life. Her parents blessed her and she went to consult a Christian priest who lived in Tula. He turned his head in the direction of the Holy Protection Monastery in MIkhailova of Ryazan, and said to her: "Darling, you are for there." After this advice, the young girl with a bag on her shoulders went to the Holy Protection Monastery, where she was received by the Eldress Elpidophora (Afanasova).

Miracles of the Venerable Martyr Adrian of Poshekhonye

St. Adrian of Poshekhonye (Feast Day - March 5)

During the acquisition and transfer of the relics of the Venrable Martyr Adrian, by the will of God, many miraculous healings from various ailments and diseases took place. And in the time that followed, with faith, those who gathered to the tomb of the Saint received consolation in their sorrows and were healed of illnesses.

The most important of the miracles from the time of the uncovering of the relics were recorded by Adrian's Hermitage. Here are some of these miracles.

Miracles of Saint Arsenius of Tver

After the death of Saint Arsenius, the citizens of Tver did not cease to honor his memory. Seeing the miracles that flowed from his tomb, the pious inhabitants of Tver called upon Saint Arsenius in their prayers and received help and intercession in troubles. 74 years after his repose (in 1483), Bishop Bassian of Tver, at the behest of Tsar John Vasilyevich, wanted to open his relics. Having gathered in the cathedral with a multitude of people, he went to the Zheltikov Monastery. The coffin, in which the relics of the Saint of God rested, was taken out of the ground and brought into the cathedral church. When the lid was opened, the whole church was filled with fragrance. Corruption did not touch the relics of Saint Arsenius, even the very vestments remained completely intact. Then the bishop commanded to cover the coffin again with a lid, ordered to paint the icon of the Saint (it is intact to this day) and placed it at the Sepulcher for veneration by those who came. A cover with the image of the miracle worker was laid on the coffin. With the blessing of Bishop Bassian, the service to Saint Arsenius was also compiled. Then a local celebration was established for him in the Zheltikov Monastery. Since that time, even more miracles began to be performed at his tomb.

Venerable Mother Zosima of Ennatsky (+ 1935)

Venerable Zosima of Ennatsky (in the world Evdokia Yakovlevna Sukhanova) was from the village of Sentsovka, of the Orenburg district, and was born on March 1, 1820. She grew up in a deeply religious family. At the behest of her father, she got married. Subsequently, her husband died in the Russian-Turkish war, and her son died in an accident while hunting (his widow later became the cell attendant of Mother Zosima and never left her until her death).

Some time later, after the death of her loved ones, when she was 72 years old, she came to the Pokrov-Ennatsky Monastery,* and was tonsured a nun with the name of Evnikia (Eunice). On several occasions she went on pilgrimage by foot to Jerusalem. The last time she did this was in 1912, at the age of 92. In Jerusalem, she was greatly impressed by the miraculous descent of the Holy Light on Holy Saturday in the Holy Sepulchre.

Near the Pokrov-Ennatsky Monastery, the Saint found a spring, from the water of which people began to receive healing. Later, a skete with a chapel in honor of the Holy Trinity was built near the spring.

In 1919, Nun Evnikia received the Great Schema with the name Zosima. The tonsure was performed by Bishop Andrei (Ukhtomsky). From the time of her tonsuring in the Great Schema until her blessed repose, Mother Zosima slept in a cypress coffin she brought from her last pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1912. According to the recollections of her contemporaries, it was in this coffin that they carried her out of the monastery when they closed it in 1923. When the monastery was closed in 1923 by the Soviets, Zosima settled in the village of Novo-Arkhangelovka, in a small house built in the yard of one pious family.

During the time of the persecution of the Church, peasants hid Matushka Zosima. In the holy cypress coffin brought from Jerusalem, she slept in one or another hut, and in it she was carried from village to village.

Many people from the Ufa, Chelyabinsk, Samara and Saratov regions constantly came to Mother Zosima. People brought her their worries, ailments, diseases. She helped everyone with words of consolation, and wondrously healed their ailments.

The venerated elder of our day Archimandrite Seraphim Tomin (1923-2013), the founder and spiritual father of Saint Andrew’s Monastery in the village of Andreevka in the Saraktash District of the Orenburg Province, who prior to this resided at the Russian Saint Panteleimon’s Monastery on Mount Athos in the 1970s, left his spiritual children an amazing story about how Mother Zosima healed him in infancy, and then foretold both his monasticism and his time on the Holy Mountain. Father Seraphim would later be instrumental in getting Mother Zosima canonized.

Venerable Zosima of Ennatsky lived for 115 years. She reposed in her native village of Sentsovka on March 1, 1935 and was buried in the village cemetery. Because of a report that there was gold and jewelry buried with her, her grave was opened after her burial by order of the authorities. Of course, nothing was found in it.

Finding of her Relics

The sacred relics of Zosima of Ennatsky were found in 2003 in the village of Sentsovka, and were originally placed in the Kazan-Bogorodsky Church in the city of Meleuza, of the Diocese of Ufa, and were later transferred to the Pokrov-Ennatsky Monastery.

On June 11, 2006, on the feast of the Holy Trinity in the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent (or Martha and Mary Convent) in the village of Ira, of the Kumertau district, in the Ufa Diocese, Archbishop Nikon of Ufa and Sterlitamak performed the rite of canonization of Mother Zosima of Ennatsky.

Venerable Zosima of Ennatsky is commemorated on the day of her birth and the day of her repose, both of which took place on March 1st.

 

 

Miracles

1. Monks of the Pokrov-Ennatsky Monastery often travel with her holy relics to various cities in Russia. "When I came to Orenburg," says Father Nikolai, "such a miracle happened. A mother and daughter came to the relics. The 28-year-old daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer, and and they came to the cathedral where I brought the relics, and day and night they stayed in the temple. The night before the operation they prayed and left, and I did not know what happened next.

But when two weeks later we returned to move to a different area of the Diocese of Orenburg, we stopped again in the cathedral, where the relics of Saint Zosima spent the night in the church. And this old woman, with a loud cry, came to me and she told me that when her daughter went in for surgery, the doctors examined her again and found no tumor. The next day, the woman brought a handful of gold jewelry and donated them to Mother Zosima."

2. Another case of the miraculous help of Mother Zosima took place in Orsk. "A young man, about twenty-five years old, came," says Father Nikolai, "and said that his son was born not breathing - his lungs did not open, and a respirator had to be connected. I advised him: the temple is now closed, ask, and you will be left alone and you can pray. In the morning, when we were leaving, he appeared from somewhere and said, 'Father! The prayers of the Nun Zosima gave breath to the child!'"

3. Even during her lifetime, the holy eldress particularly healed the diseases of the feet, and the demon possessed who were brought to her in chains recovered. She also had a prophetic gift. She was approached for help even by sick cattle and did not deny them - the cow or the horse in those days were precious, and their loss put the family in danger.


Notes:

* An Orthodox monastery in the village of Novomikhalkovka in the Fedorov District of the Republic of Bashkortostan, founded in the late-nineteenth century. It is called Ennastky in memory of the churchwardens, who were local landowners named Ennatsky. It operated as a convent until the early 1920s. In 2000, it was revived as a men’s monastery.

 

 

Saint John, Prince of Uglich, in Monasticism Known as Ignatius (+ 1522)

St. John-Ignatius the Prince of Uglich (Feast Day - May 19)

 

The Holy Prince John was the son of the Christ-loving Prince Andrei Vasilyevich of Uglich, the third son of the Great Prince Vasily the Dark and Princess Helen. He was born around 1477 and received Holy Baptism in Velikiye Luki. From infancy he showed extraordinary restraint, unusual for children of his age. He was meek and lowly in heart, quiet, not given to anger, neither was he inclined to playing games nor seeking the royal comforts. Instead he studied the Divine Scriptures, and soon become familiar with it. His mother, Princess Helen, died in 1483. Having lost his beloved mother at the age of six, the youth found solace in warm prayer. The young Prince John then devoted himself even more to the reading of sacred books, constantly had the memory of death in his mind, attended all church services during the day, and spent the nights in prayer. The highest delight for him was conversations with pious people, his favorite pastime were acts of philanthropy. At such a young age, surrounded by a crowd of courtiers, in the midst of the noise of everyday life, he looked more like a monk than an heir to a reign of wealth and glory. He did not pay any attention to the deeds and honors of the princely rank, in general, instead everything that did not belong to the enlightenment of reason and the salvation of the soul was completely alien to him and, as it were, did not exist. Abstinent in food and drink, he loved to dress modestly and simply, to the extent that his high rank allowed him this simplicity, and he tried more to adorn himself with good manners than wealth and splendor of clothes.

Saint Demetrios of the Don, Great Prince of Moscow (+ 1389)

St. Demetrios of the Don of Moscow (Feast Day - May 19)

The Right-believing Great Prince Demetrios Donskoy (of the Don) of Moscow was born in 1350. His father Ivan the Fair died when he was nine years old, and so he was made the Prince of Moscow and entrusted to the guidance of Metropolitan Alexis of Moscow (Feb. 12), who served as his regent. From 1363 to his death he served as Grand Prince. Prince Demetrios combined Christian piety with his remarkable political talents, devoting himself to the unification of the land of Russia and to the emancipation of Russia from the Tatar-Mongol Yoke.

The most important event during Demetrios's early reign was to start building the Moscow Kremlin; it was completed in 1367. Thanks to the new fortress, the city withstood two sieges by Algirdas of Lithuania during the Lithuanian–Muscovite War (1368–72).[3] The war ended with the Treaty of Lyubutsk. In 1375, Demetrios settled, in his own favor, a conflict with Mikhail II of Tver over Vladimir. Other princes of Northern Russia acknowledged his authority and contributed troops to the impending struggle against the Horde. By the end of his reign, Demetrios had more than doubled the territory of the Principality of Moscow.

Saint Zosimas of Solovki (+ 1478)

 

St. Zosimas of Solovki (Feast Day - April 17)

Saint Zosimas, the Abbot of Solovki Monastery and great luminary of the Russian North, was the founder of cenobitic monasticism on Solovki Island. He was born in the Novgorod diocese, in the village of Tolvui near Lake Onega. From his early years he was raised in piety, and after the death of his parents Gabriel and Barbara, he gave away his possessions and received the monastic tonsure.

In search of a solitary place, he journeyed to the shores of the White Sea, and at the mouth of the Suma he met Saint Herman (July 30), who told him of a desolate sea island, where he had spent six years with Saint Sabbatius (September 27).

Saint Euthymius, Archbishop of Novgorod (+ 1458)

St. Euthymius of Novgorod (Feast Day - March 11)

Saint Euthymius, who in Baptism was named John, was born in answer to the fervent prayers of the presbyter Micah and his wife Anna. For many years they had been childless, and they vowed that if they had a son, they would dedicate him to God. The boy read priestly books and frequently attended church services, often helping his father in the small Church of Saint Theodore. All this sanctified young John’s soul. In the year 1411, he left his parental home for a monastery at the age of fifteen.

Twelve versts from Novgorod, in a wilderness spot named Vyazhisch, three monks, Euphrosynus, Ignatius and Galacteon, settled in the forests and the swamps. They were soon joined by the priest Pimen, who was tonsured with the name Pachomius. Here they lived in complete solitude at a wooden chapel they built in honor of Saint Nicholas. They lived in unceasing prayer and struggled with the severe conditions of nature in the northern regions.

Miracles of Saint Lyubov of Ryazan the Fool for Christ

 

After the death of Saint Lyubov in 1920, a monument was erected on her grave by the diligence of the deacon of one of the churches of Ryazan and other worshipers. Years passed. That monument had long been gone. Over the years, the grave had become almost forgotten. And the cemetery had become little visited. And then one day a military man came to Lyubov's grave and soon put a cross and a metal fence at his own expense. He told about himself that his life was extremely unfortunate. He was ill and the doctors could not help him. But Lyubov appeared to him in a dream and said: “Do not grieve and do not worry. Go to Ryazan, find the grave of Lyubov Semyonovna Sukhanovskaya in the cemetery, and put a fence around it. After this you will be healthy and happy." He did everything she told him to do and was healed. In gratitude for her help, he annually came to her grave and served a memorial.

Saint Xenia of Petersburg Resource Page

 

St. Xenia the Fool for Christ (Feast Day - January 24)

Verses

 

They that are at a loss invoke Blessed Xenia,

Who having lost all things, won Christ as her Bridegroom.

On the twenty-fourth Xenia was in Heaven.

 

Saint Xenia the Fool for Christ of St. Petersburg

 

The Life of Saint Xenia the Fool of St. Petersburg

 

Homily for the Commemoration of Saint Xenia of Petersburg (Fr. Daniel Sysoev) 

 

The Location Where Saint Xenia of Petersburg Lived With Her Husband

An Alleged Portrait of St. Xenia of Petersburg Painted During Her Lifetime

A Miracle of Saint Xenia the Fool In France

 

Russian Olympians Place Their Hopes in Their Orthodox Faith

Becoming St. Xenia: A Study of Sanctity and Madness

 

 

 

Saint Ignatius of Loma and Yaroslav (+ 1591)

 

St. Ignatius of Loma (Feast Day - December 28)

 

The circumstances of his life while still in the world are unknown. He started his ascetic path at the Priluki Monastery of the Savior at Vologda, and he received monastic tonsure at the Saint Cyril of White Lake Monastery. Saint Ignatius then departed to the vicinity of Loma seeking seclusion and there founded a hermitage, which gradually attracted disciples.

The desire for an isolated hermitic life again compelled the Venerable Ignatius to leave the monastery he had founded. Having transferred the administration of his monastery to one of his disciples, the ascetic withdrew to the Vadozhsky volost, to the banks of the Darovitsa River, which flows into the Sarau River one mile from the place of the monk's settlement, and began to live there as a hermit. The place was silent, wooded, and the human settlements were five or six miles away. A barely noticeable path winding along the bank of the Darovitsa River was the only way to reach this place.

Holy Martyr Mercurius of Smolensk (+ 1239)

 

St. Mercurius of Smolensk (Feast Day - November 24)

The Holy Martyr Mercurius of Smolensk was a Slav by birth, probably from Moravia, the descendant of a princely line. Brought up in Orthodoxy, Saint Mercurius in zeal for the true faith left his own native land for Russia, where he served in the army of the Prince of Smolensk. The saintly soldier secretly led an ascetic life. He was strict in fasting, he was chaste, spending his nights at prayer, and spiritually preparing himself to suffer for Christ. In the year 1239 a horde of Tatars [Mongols] under Khan Batu, already having laid waste to many Russian cities, appeared in the vicinity of Smolensk and set up camp 25 versts away at Dolgomost, threatening to destroy the city and its holy churches and places.

Saint Simon of Soiga (+ 1562)

 

St. Simon of Soiga (Feast Day - November 24)

Venerable Simon of Soiga belonged to the Komel disciples of Saint Sergius of Radonezh. He was born in Solvychegodsk in the family of Nikita Tentyukov. From a young age, the grace of God rested on him. He shied away from the bustle of the world. In his younger years, he left his parents' house and was tonsured at the Komel Monastery under Saint Cornelius (May 19). He passed through his obediences with such ascetics and disciples of Cornelius of Komel as Gennadius of Liubimsk (Jan. 23), Cyril of New Lake (Feb. 4), Herodion of Iloezersk (Sep. 28), Adrian of Poshekhonsk (Mar. 5), Laurence of Komel (May 16).

Troparion of Venerable Varlaam of Keretsky

 

St. Varlaam of Keretsky (Feast Day - November 6)

 

Troparion of Venerable Varlaam of Keretsky
Tone 1

Enlightened by God's grace from above, O venerable father, thou left the earthly sorrow of all the tumult of the world. Out of love of Christ thou didst reject it all defiantly. Thou followed Christ according to the Gospel and didst obey His will in all things, and relied upon Him with all thy mind and heart unequivocally, and thou renounced the flesh with fasting and vigil, and in prayer unceasing thou begged for God's mercy and the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos. In return God granted thee strength against the fierce enemy. Without fear of the cold, heavy wind and the harsh sea, thou humbled thyself still more, and thou didst make a journey in a small boat over the depths, through the turbulent sea, inspired by divine providence, and thou made the impassible sea way at Svyatoy Nos safe from the sea worm and safely passable by men without any harm. Leading an angelic life, also after your death thou dost distribute the blessing of miracles, and thus we come in faith to the reliquary with thy venerable relics, most blessed Varlaam, our father, and we cry out to thee: pray to Christ the Lord that He may save our souls.

Holy Princess Anna Vsevolodna (+ 1112)

 

Holy Princess Anna Vsevolodna (Feast Day - November 3)

The Holy Princess Anna Vsevolodna, also called Ianka, was daughter of the Kievan Great Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich (1078-1093), whose wife Anastasia was daughter of the Roman Emperor Constantine Monomachos. Anna had been previously engaged to the Roman Prince Konstantios Doukas in 1074, but the marriage never materialized, as Konstantios Dukas was forced to become a monk in 1081 and died in 1082 before they could be married.

Anna did not wish to marry, and as a virgin she took monastic tonsure around 1086 at the Andreiev Yanchinov Monastery built for her by her father at Kiev, and became its first abbess.

Saints Theodore and Paul of Rostov

 

Sts. Theodore and Paul of Rostov (Feast Day - October 22)

Our Venerable Fathers Theodore and Paul founded a monastery at the River Ust, not far from Rostov, in honor of the Holy Passion-Bearers Boris and Gleb. Saint Theodore first came to the site of the future monastery from the Novgorod region. Having set up a hut of tree branches in the forest, he settled in that place alone. On the road on a tree he hung a basket made of bark, and passers-by, guessing that a hermit lived there, began to put bread, vegetables and other alms in it. The hermit secretly took out the alms and shared it with the beggars. Having found out about this, many from the villages began to come to the hermit for alms, and he shared everything that he found in the hung basket. Saint Paul came three years later for ascetic struggles, and settled with Saint Theodore.

 

Saint Hilarion, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia (+ 1053)

 

St. Hilarian of Kiev (Feast Day - October 21)

Saint Hilarion, Metropolitan of Kiev, lived during the era of the Great Prince Yaroslav the Wise (+ 1054), son of Saint Vladimir. In the history of the Russian Church he is remembered as the first Russian installed as Metropolitan by a Council of Russian Bishops. The Russian Church up to that time had been a Metropolitan See, under the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Russia’s first Metropolitans were Greeks, and they were appointed by Constantinople.

Saint Hilarion, priest of the prince’s village of Berestovo near Kiev, was the spiritual father and companion of Prince Yaroslav. Saint Nestor the Chronicler relates:

Venerable Anthony of Leokhnov (+ 1611)

 

St. Anthony of Leokhnov (Feast Day - October 17)

 

Venerable Anthony was from the Tver lineage of the Veniaminov nobles. While still a youth, Anthony was very pious and loved asceticism. Desiring solitude, he seized the opportunity to leave home at the right time in search of a solitary habitation. He lived as a hermit not far from Novgorod, in the Rublev wilderness at the River Perekhoda.

Meanwhile, his secret departure from his homeland plunged his household into grief and tears; they began to look everywhere for the missing lad. Two sisters of the monk succeeded in learning about the place of his exploits. They came to the Rublev hermitage, having walked for a long time through the dense forest, calling for their ascetic brother and wept; but the Monk Anthony did not appear before them, for it was for the sake of the Lord that he left his house.

Saint Sava of Vishera (+ 1461)

St. Sava of Vishera (Feast Day - October 1)

 

Venerable Sava of Vishera was the son of the noble, John Borozda, of Kashin. From childhood, he was noted for his piety. He initially lived the ascetic life at the Tver Savvino Wilderness Monastery, where the brethren chose him to be the abbot.

 

Shunning honors, Saint Sava went to Mount Athos in 1411, where he worked on copying service books. Upon his return from Athos, he selected a solitary place seven versts from Novgorod on the banks of the River Vishera for his ascetic efforts.

 

Saint Martyrius, Archbishop of Novgorod (+ 1199)

St. Martyrius of Novgorod (Feast Day - August 24)

Saint Martyrius was born in Stara Rus. On the northeast side of the city, near the right bank of the Polista River he founded in the year 1192 the Transfiguration Monastery.

At the Novgorod cathedral, Saint Martyrius was chosen by lot after the death of Saint Gregory (May 24). On December 10, 1193 in Kiev, he was elevated to the rank of archbishop. Saint Martyrius became famous as an indefatigable builder of churches. In May 1195, he contracted for a church in the name of the Mother of God at the city gates. On September 13, 1196, he consecrated a church in honor of the Resurrection of Christ in a new women’s monastery at Lake Myachina.