Synaxis of saints
Synaxis Synaxis of Kursk Saints
Установлен в 2003 году
Synaxis of Kursk Saints — a joint commemoration of the saints connected with the Kursk land (Venerable Theodosius of the Caves, Venerable Seraphim of Sarov — a native of Kursk, around whose 1903 canonization the feast itself is built, the Optina Elders Isaac and Macarius, Hierarch Ioasaph of Belgorod, Hieromartyrs Damian and Onuphrius, Archbishops of Kursk, and other 20th-century new martyrs of Kursk), established in 2003 for the centenary of the glorification of Venerable Seraphim of Sarov.
The Synaxis of Kursk Saints unites the memory of ascetics whose birth, service, or struggle is connected with the Kursk land.
The Synaxis includes: Venerable Seraphim of Sarov (secular name Prokhor Moshnin, a native of Kursk — the central figure of the Synaxis and the reason for the feast's date); Venerable Theodosius of the Caves (according to his Life, composed by Venerable Nestor, the future saint's family relocated to Kursk in his childhood); Venerables Isaac (Antimonov) and Macarius (Ivanov) of Optina — both natives of Kursk province; Hierarch Ioasaph (Gorlenko), Bishop of Belgorod; 20th-century hieromartyrs of the Kursk land — Archbishop Damian (Voskresensky, already separately covered in this database), Archbishop Onuphrius (Gagalyuk), Bishop Nicodemus (Kononov) of Belgorod, Hieromartyr Matthias (Voznesensky), and dozens of other new martyrs and confessors of the Kursk diocese from 1919-1938.
The Synaxis was established in 2003 at the initiative of Metropolitan Juvenaly of Kursk and Rylsk, with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II, timed to the centenary of the glorification of Venerable Seraphim of Sarov (1903-2003).
Its feast is kept on July 19/August 1 — the day of the uncovering and glorification of the relics of Venerable Seraphim of Sarov.
NOTE: the original stub was an unprocessed image caption from pravicon.com for an icon from the Kursk Theological Seminary (before 2007, Znamensky Cathedral) — it has been reworked into a coherent description; the previously empty feast-date fields have been filled in. Full lives of Archbishop Damian of Kursk and other ascetics already covered in this database with separate entries are not repeated here.