A Russian monastic who was always looking to deepen his experience of hesychia, Saint Arsenius left for the Holy Mountain with a group of Athonite monks who had visited his monastery. Having arrived in the garden of the Theotokos, like a new Publica, he regarded himself as the least worthy of all who had ever set foot there. This deep and sincere humility led him ever more deeply into repentance, passing every night in prayer. Having richly inherited the phronema of Athos, he decided to return to his country and found a monastery dedicated to the Mother of God there. After receiving the blessing of his Archbishop, he located a place well suited for the ascetic life – the abandoned island of Konevets on Lake Ladoga. On the island he found a ruined pagan shrine that was infested by demons, but they fled at his rebuke not being able to withstand the fire of his humility. The monastery was firmly established, and many monks came to join him there.
Category: 15th Century (+)
Indicates saints who died in the 15th Century.
Cyril of the White Lake
As a zealous young monk, Saint Cyril sought a blessing from his elder to fast more than the brethren. His elder, however, encouraged him to first build a firm foundation on the common life so as to avoid temptation and delusion. As such, he developed a rule of prayer with his elder in which the two of them got up together at night and kept vigil, reading the Psalter and making prostrations until the start of the daily office the next morning. This obedience and perseverance made it such that, when the demons attacked through frightful images, he was able to overcome them with the sign of the cross and through the Jesus Prayer. In such ways, he slowly but surely overcame his foes – both his flesh and his bodiless enemies – and was transformed into the likeness of Christ. Later in life, when he had become abbot at the Monastery of the White Lake, the devil sought to assail the Man of God by attacking his spiritual children. The demons continually suggested evil thoughts and attitudes about Saint Cyril to a monk who kept them secret for more than a year. Finally unable to take it anymore, who went to the Saint to confess, but was not able to speak for shame and by the artifice of the evil one. Seeing the clearly the state of the man’s soul, Saint Cyril described his sins to him in detail. The man then fell to his knees in repentance and received forgiveness of his sins, and was thus delivered from torment. For his life of faithfulness, God granted the Saint the gift of healing which he offered liberally to those in need sprinkling them with holy water and anointing them with oil. By these same methods he also cast out a multitude of demons with authority.
Therapontus of the White Lake
A disciple of the great light of Russian monasticism, Saint Sergius of Radonezh, Saint Therapontus set out for the White Lake with his friend, Saint Cyril, after receiving a revelation from the Lord. After arriving they both devoted themselves to the hesychastic life is separate cells. The area was inhospitable, both physically and spiritually, but the Saint was able to tame it on both levels. By his prayers local thieves accepted the Faith, wild animals were made gentle, and the demons were driven out. A community eventually formed around him, but he refused to be made their abbot. Instead, he simply provided them with a consistent example of monastic perfection – exceedingly merciful with the brethren but demanding of himself.
Euphrosynos (Eleazar) of Pskov
An ascetic from childhood, Saint Euphrosynius put away childish things for spiritual reading, especially that of the Holy Scriptures, and frequent attendance at the Divine Services. Fleeing the world, he became a monastic at a monastery near Pskov and shined forth with the evangelic virtues. When this caused his fame to spread, he retreated once again, with the blessing of his Abbot, into holy hesychia living the life of a hermit. There in the wilderness he put the invisible enemy of mankind to flight through intense fasting, vigils, and prayer. As others began to join him in his ascetic efforts, he established a monastery building a church in honor of the Three Holy Hierarchs. At the end of his life, he one again withdrew into seclusion. Sometime after his death, the monastery was renamed in honor of Saint Euphrosynius.
Joannicius of Devich
A lover of prayer and solitude, Saint Joannicius led the ascetic life in a cave on the Ibar River in eastern Serbia. Later, having established a monastery for the faithful who had gathered around him, he fled deeper into the wilderness of Devich in Kosovo where he lived in complete solitude for many years. There he held off the assaults of the demons who tried in vain to interrupt his ceaseless prayer of the heart. Word eventually came to the Despot of Serbia, George Brankovich (Saint Maksim), who brought his daughter who was mentally ill and possessed by a demon to the hermit, seeking his aide. Saint Joannicius delivered her by his prayer, and her grateful father had a church and monastery built there to thank God for his benefactions through his servant. After his death, the saint’s relics continued to work healings, especially for those tormented by the demons and mental illness.
Sylvester of Obnora
Appearing in the forest of Obnora like a burst of sunlight, the hermit monk Sylvester was a disciple of Saint Sergius of Radonezh who had been given a blessing to live the eremitic life in the Russian wilderness. After being revealed, the local population sought him out in large numbers to receive guidance in the spiritual life. Having presented himself to Saint Alexis, the Metropolitan of Moscow, Saint Sylvester founded a monastery in the place where he had lived the ascetic life. After falling asleep in peace, many miracles occurred at his tomb including the deliverance of those who had been possessed by demons.