Hierarch
Hierarch Leontius Of Rostov
XI век (упом. с 1051; † ок. 1073/1077)
Hierarch Leontius of Rostov — one of the first bishops in Rus (attested no later than 1051), the first tonsured monk of the Kiev Caves Monastery to become a hierarch; he preached among the pagans of the Rostov-Suzdal land, beginning by converting children, since adults had driven out his predecessors; according to tradition, he was killed by an enraged pagan mob (according to another, scholarly view, he died peacefully); his relics were found incorrupt in 1164.
Hierarch Leontius was one of the first hierarchs in Rus. Sources disagree on his origin: according to Bishop Simon of Vladimir he was "a native of Tsargrad" (Constantinople), yet he took monastic vows at the Kiev Caves Monastery, becoming its first tonsured monk to be elevated to the episcopate. He was consecrated Bishop of Rostov no later than 1051.
The population of the Rostov-Suzdal land (the Finno-Ugric Merya tribe together with Slavs) remained largely pagan at the time and had already driven out two bishops before Leontius — Theodore and Hilarion. Settling by a stream outside the city, the hierarch built a wooden church in honor of Archangel Michael. Unable to persuade the hostile adults, he began by converting the children — attracting them with wheat kutia and honey, catechizing and baptizing them; the example of the converted children gradually softened their parents as well. He is credited with authoring an early catechetical instruction for priests, "Instruction and Charge to Priests on How to Teach Their Spiritual Children and Give Them Penances."
The circumstances of the hierarch's death are the subject of two divergent traditions. According to the widespread hagiographic tradition, he was killed in 1073 by unreconciled pagans, incited by sorcerer-priests — going out unarmed with a cross in hand to meet an enraged crowd. According to another, scholarly-critical tradition (the historian E. E. Golubinsky), the hierarch died peacefully around 1077 and was buried in the Rostov Dormition church, with the martyrdom account being one of several divergent variants in later Lives.
In 1164, while digging the foundation trench for a new stone Dormition Cathedral by order of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, the hierarch's relics were found incorrupt, in vestments that appeared freshly worn. Bishop John of Rostov (†1214) later collected testimonies of miracles and instituted formal celebration.
His feast is kept on May 23/June 5 (discovery of relics); he is also commemorated in the Synaxes of Rostov-Yaroslavl Saints and of the Kiev Caves (Zverinets) Fathers.
IMPORTANT CORRECTIONS: category righteous→hierarch. life_years_display corrected from the nonsensical "4th century" to the correct 11th century. CRITICAL: the structured feast_days field contained the wrong date "June 18/July 1" (contamination from another entry, see leontius_stasievich) — replaced with the correct date, May 23/June 5, which was already present in the stub's own text.