Venerable (Monastic) 17th century

Venerable Sergius of Shukhtom

c. 1530 – 1609

Also known as Sergius of Shukhtov · Stephen

A schema-monk of the Shukhtom hermitage remembered for his ascetic struggle.

Feast Day

May 19

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Commemorated as

Our Venerable Father Sergius, Schema-monk of Shukhtom

Life

Sergius of Shukhtom was a Russian schema-monk of the early seventeenth century, remembered for an austere ascetic life at the Shukhtom (or Shukhtov) hermitage in the Vologda region, near White Lake. Born Stephen in Kazan, he is said to have revered the monastic vocation from his youth while reckoning himself unworthy of it, and to have spent three years travelling through Palestine, Constantinople, and Greece, venerating holy places and observing monastic practice in different lands.

He returned to Rus' and was tonsured in 1603 in the Vologda region, settling at Shukhtom, where he pursued a strict regimen of fasting and vigil until his repose in 1609. The synaxarion records him among the venerable monastics of the Russian north and commemorates him on May 19, the same day as the Holy Martyr Patrick, Bishop of Prussia.

Timeline 2 moments Read Hide

1603 Tonsure in the Vologda region After three years of pilgrimage through Palestine, Constantinople, and Greece, he came to the Vologda region and was tonsured a monk with the name Sergius by the superior, Archimandrite Isaiah, settling thereafter at the Shukhtom hermitage near Cherepovets.
May 19, 1609 Repose at Shukhtom According to the OCA synaxarion he reposed at the age of seventy-nine, having spent some fifty years in ascetic labor. The repose fell during the reign of Tsar Basil IV Shuisky and on the feast of the Holy Martyr Patrick, Bishop of Prussia.

Contributions & Legacy

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Ascetic Life

The sources describe an unusually severe discipline: Sergius fasted constantly and permitted himself to sleep only while sitting upright. By tradition this labor was rewarded with the gifts of unceasing prayer, clairvoyance, and the working of miracles, qualities the synaxarion attributes to him without detailing specific episodes.

His monastic standing was that of a schema-monk, the highest degree of the Eastern monastic life, and he is counted among the ascetics of the Russian north associated with the Shukhtom hermitage.

Relics & Shrines

Sergius was buried in the chapel of the church of the Life-creating Trinity and the Protection of the Theotokos at Shukhtom, in the region of White Lake. His relics were laid beneath the floor of the monastery church and remained there after the monastery was abolished and the building continued in use as the Protection parish church.

Notes

OCA gives limited detail.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints