Numbered for a time among the supporters of Saint Nilus of Sora, Saint Theodoretus was always in search of a more perfect hesychia. This search drove him to a region in the far north near the River Kola which was inhabited by the Lapps people. Though he was summoned for a time to Novogorod by the Archbishop Macarius, he never abandoned a desire to illumine the region with the light of the Gospel. So, after spending two years in Novogorod where he was ordained priest and received the grace to heal diseases and to cast out demons, he returned to the north where he established church and monastery dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Having learned their language, he preached to the native population in their own tongue, and the grace of the Holy Spirit shinning in him imbued his message with power. As a result, the Lapps came to him for baptism, even as many as 2,000 people in one day.
Category: 18th Century (+)
Indicates Saints who died in the 18th Century.
Tikhon of Zadonsk, the Wonderworker and the Bishop of Voronezh
A professor of Rhetoric at a seminary in Novgorod, Saint Tikhon was vouchsafed a vision of the uncreated light which ignited in him a desire for the monastic life and heychia. The Lord, however, had need of him in the vineyard of his Church, and so, not long after becoming a monk, he was consecrated as the Bishop of Voronezh. He gave himself so completely to this work that, having completely exhausted himself with his pastoral efforts, he was forced to retire to a monastery after only five years. There he lived like an angel in the flesh – a model of perfect obedience and humility despite his exalted rank. Often he was so caught up in the contemplation of God that he had to be physically jostled to pry away his attention. Once he was tempted to take up again his ministry as Bishop for the good of the Church, but the Theotokos instructed him to remain in the monastery through an appearance to a venerable old monk. If ever he was assailed by dark thoughts suggested by the Evil One, he drove them away by repeating verses from Psalm 118 (LXX). At the end of his life, he withdrew to the complete reclusion of his cell where he prayed without ceasing for the salvation of the whole world.