Hierarch Pitirim, Bishop of Tambov

Saint Pitirim (secular name Prokopy) was born on February 27, 1645 (some sources say 1644) in Vyazma. In his youth he was tonsured at the Monastery of St. John the Forerunner in his native town. In 1685 he was consecrated Bishop of Tambov — a young diocese with a difficult, mixed flock of Orthodox settlers, Old Believer schismatics, and unbaptized peoples.

He labored extensively to organize diocesan life: building churches, opening schools, and actively preaching among schismatics and non-Christians. He founded the Ascension women's monastery in Tambov, whose first abbess was his own sister Ekaterina. Together with his close friend St. Mitrophan of Voronezh, he founded the Trigulyaevsky Monastery of St. John the Forerunner in 1691, in a secluded wooded spot near Tambov.

He left the city a wonderworking icon of the Mother of God, renowned for many healings, and, by tradition, wells he dug with his own hands, whose water was venerated as healing and delivering from the passions. He died on July 28, 1698. Veneration at his tomb steadily grew, and on July 28, 1914, at the petition of Archbishop Kirill (Smirnov) of Tambov, the Holy Synod solemnly glorified him — celebrations that drew thousands of pilgrims from across the Russian Empire.