Venerable
Venerable Venerable Amphilochius of Pochaev
1894–1971
Also known as: в миру Яков Варнавович Головатюк, в постриге Иосиф
Venerable Amphilochius of Pochaev — a schema-monk healer who cured the sick through prayer without payment; persecuted by Soviet authorities, canonized in 2002.
Venerable Amphilochius of Pochaev (born Yakov Varnavovich Golovatyuk) was born November 27, 1894, in the village of Malaya Ilovitsa, Volhynia, to a peasant family. He served as a medic in World War I and was taken prisoner; after returning home he showed a gift for bonesetting and healing.
In 1925 he entered the Pochaev Lavra as a novice, was tonsured a monk with the name Joseph in 1932, and ordained a hieromonk in 1936. He became renowned as a healer, receiving dozens of suffering people daily, curing through prayer, anointing, and laying on of hands, without payment. In 1953 he received the great schema with the name Amphilochius.
During the Khrushchev-era persecutions he was forcibly committed to a psychiatric hospital in 1962, suffering severe beatings that ruined his health. After the Lavra's closure he settled in his native village, continuing to heal people until his death. He reposed January 1, 1971. Glorified by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in 2002 and added to the Russian Orthodox Church's general calendar in 2005.