Righteous Barlaam Of Keret

Righteous Varlaam, born Basil, was born in 1505 in the village of Keret in the Pomor region, near the White Sea. Having learned to read and write, which was rare for a Pomor, he was made a priest at the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the city of Kola, where he served the Lord zealously. By God's permission, having been led into grave sin through diabolical temptation (according to tradition, in a fit inspired by the evil one, as once happened to Adam), he became the unwitting killer of his own wife. Realizing the full gravity of what he had done, he imposed upon himself a severe penance: he placed his wife's body in a karbas (small boat) and for many long years sailed along the White Sea coast, pushing off from shore with an oar each time the boat was driven to land, until the body had completely decayed. He later labored as a hermit, becoming renowned even in his lifetime as a wonderworker, healer, and savior of seafarers from storms; his veneration among the Pomors was compared to that of St. Nicholas of Myra. His relics were found on January 15/28. His memory is kept on November 6/19 (day of repose), January 15/28 (finding of relics), and in the Synaxes of Arkhangelsk and Karelian Saints.