Venerable Martyr
Venerable Martyr Gregory of Avnezh
†1392
Venerable Martyr Gregory of Avnezh — abbot of the Trinity Monastery he founded (together with St. Cassian) on the Avnezh height near the Sukhona River, a disciple of St. Stephen of Makhrishche, killed in 1392 together with St. Cassian during the destruction of the monastery; his relics were found incorrupt in 1524.
The Venerable Martyr Gregory was tonsured and ordained by St. Stephen of Makhrishche and followed his mentor around 1370 into the Vologda wilderness. On the Avnezh height near the Sukhona River they founded two churches — Trinity and St. George's — laying the foundation of a monastery. A local landowner, Konstantin Dmitrievich, who took monastic vows with the name Cassian, became cellarer of the new community, which enjoyed the patronage of Grand Prince Dmitri Donskoi. On June 15, 1392, the monastery was destroyed and Gregory and Cassian were killed. Popular hagiographic tradition attributes this to a Tatar raid; however, the more rigorous "Orthodox Encyclopedia" states the killers were named brigands (Vasily Tyazhelov and Ivan Churchin) after the monastery's wealth — this discrepancy between popular and scholarly accounts is honestly noted. The relics of the venerable martyrs were found incorrupt in 1524; local veneration was officially confirmed in 1560 under Metropolitan Macarius.