Venerable Nikandr (Nicander) of Pskov, the Hermit

IMPORTANT NAME CORRECTION: the card's former title — "Nikanor of Pskov" — does not correspond to any real saint; research established that this is a distortion (likely a digitization typo: "-nor" instead of "-ndr") of the name of the genuinely existing Venerable Nikandr of Pskov, the Hermit. The card has been renamed accordingly. The category has also been corrected from "righteous" to "venerable."

Venerable Nikandr, born Nikon, was born July 24, 1507, in the village of Videlebye near Pskov, to the peasants Philip and Anastasia. He was inspired by the example of his fellow villager, Venerable Euphrosynus of Spaso-Eleazar. At 17, after his father's death, he persuaded his mother to give away their property and enter monastic life. He himself withdrew to a wilderness spot between Pskov and Porkhov, where he lived as a hermit for 15 years without seeing another human face, sustained by wild plants, never lying down to sleep — and was granted gifts of clairvoyance and healing.

He later took tonsure at Krypetsky Monastery but returned to his hermitage, where he died in 1581. In 1686, under Patriarch Joachim, his relics were found incorrupt, which led to his formal canonization and the composition of his Life and liturgical service. The hermitage grew into Nikandrova Pustyn Monastery.

His feast is kept on September 24/October 7 (repose); also March 25/April 7 (the monastery's patronal feast) and June 29/July 12 (finding of relics, 1686); he is included in the Synaxis of Pskov Saints.