Commemorated on March 5
Saint Adrian of Poshekonye was born at Rostov the Great at the end of
the sixteenth century, of pious parents named Gregory and Irene. St
Adrian received monastic tonsure at the monastery of St Cornelius of
Komel (May 19).
Among the brethren gathered around St Cornelius
were some capable builders and iconographers, so the monastery churches
were constructed and adorned by the saints themselves. In the final
years of St Cornelius’s life, Kazan Tatars invaded the territory around
the monastery, and he led all the brethren to the River Ukhtoma. But the
Tatars did not touch the monastery, being frightened off by the sight
of the many soldiers defending it, and they soon withdrew from the
Vologda district. St Cornelius returned to the monastery with the
brethren and reposed there on May 19, 1537.
Three years after the
death of St Cornelius, St Adrian, then a hierodeacon, greatly desired to
go into a wilderness place and found a monastery in honor of the Most
Holy Theotokos. The Lord helped him fulfill his intention. A certain
unknown Eder of striking appearance came to the Corniliev monastery. St
Adrian asked him his name, and the Elder referred to himself as “the
lowly one.”
When St Adrian invited him to his own cell and asked
him to say something beneficial for the soul, the Elder said that he
would show St Adrian the spot where he should build the church and
monastery of the Most Holy Theotokos.
St Adrian immediately went
to the Superior, Igumen Laurence, and sought his blessing to live in the
wilderness. Recalling St Cornelius’s order that any monks who wished to
withdraw into the wilderness should be released from the monastery,
Igumen Laurence did not hinder St Adrian but gave him his blessing. He
also sent with him his assistant, Eder Leonid. After they prayed at the
grave of St Cornelius, St Adrian and Elder Leonid went on their way, led
by the mysterious black-robed monk. St Adrian carried with him an icon
of the Dormition of the Mother of God, which he also painted.
On
September 13, 1540, the eve of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross
of the Lord, St Adrian and Elder Leonid arrived in the wild Poshekonye
forest, near the settlements of Belta, Patrabolsha, Shelshedolsk and
Ukhorsk.
They halted at the banks of the River Votkha. There the
Elder leading them suddenly became invisible. The astonished travellers
began to chant the Canon and service of the Feast, with tears of thanks
to God. Indeed this was a portent of the future fame of the monastery, a
place where God would be glorified.
For three years St Adrian and
the Elder Leonid survived in the wilderness solitude, suffering want,
overcoming temptations from the devil and the whisperings of wicked
folk, and then they began to fulfill their intention. Choosing a
suitable moment, the ascetics went to Moscow to ask the blessing of
Metropolitan Macarius to establish a monastery and church in honor of
the Dormition of the Mother of God on the Peshekhonye side of the River
Votkha.
St Macarius gave his blessing to the ascetics to build
the monastery, and he gave them a written document to that effect. He
ordained Adrian to the priesthood and elevated him to the rank of
igumen. In the document he had given to St Adrian, the hierarch bade
“priests, deacons, monks and laymen to listen to him and obey him in
everything, as befits a pastor and teacher.”
At Moscow the
Poshekonye ascetics found generous benefactors who gave the monks
abundant offerings to build their church. Returning to their wilderness
spot on May 31, 1543, St Adrian laid the foundations for the church with
a trapeza, in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos.
Having
embellished and consecrated the new church, St Adrian began the
construction of the monastery. The strict monastic Rule of St Cornelius
was introduced at the monastery. Having nothing of their own, a little
being sufficient for everyone, the saints devoted a large portion of
their time to prayer, both in church and in their cells, and no small
time was allotted to the reading of Holy Scripture. This reading was
done “not in an elegant voice, nor for effect, but in a humble and mild
voice. One reads, and another speaks of what is read.” They also read in
private.
In addition to his duties as igumen, St Adrian also
occupied himself with painting icons. When his holy soul longed for
complete silence, he withdrew into the depths of the forest into the
cell and chapel he had built one verst away from the monastery.
Six
years after the founding of the monastery, Elder Leonid reposed. St
Adrian and the brethren buried him with reverence. The number of the
brethren had increased during this time. They built three cells as
dwellings, and a fourth for preparing food and baking bread.
St
Adrian began to make plans for the construction of a large stone church,
and he gathered a sum of money for this purpose. One year after the
repose of Elder Leonid, during Great Lent of 1550, on the eve of the
commemoration of the 42 Ammoreian Martyrs (March 6), armed robbers burst
into the monastery and murdered St Adrian after beating him.
The
holy relics of St Martyr Adrian were uncovered on December 17, 1626,
solemnly transferred into the monastery church and placed in an open
crypt by the right kliros (choir). Many miracles occurred at the grave
of St Adrian.
SOURCE:
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