Hierarch Simon of Suzdal

Saint Simon, Bishop of Vladimir and Suzdal, came from a noble family and took monastic vows in his youth at the Kiev Caves Monastery, where he also served for a time as steward. Around 1206 he became abbot of the Nativity Monastery in Vladimir and confessor to Grand Prince Vsevolod the Big Nest. In 1215, when Grand Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich established an independent Vladimir-Suzdal diocese, Simon was consecrated its first bishop, ruling as Bishop of Vladimir, Suzdal, and Nizhny Novgorod. He is known as one of the compilers of the Kiev Caves Patericon: in a letter to the monk Polycarp (see the separate card for Venerable Polycarp, Archimandrite of the Kiev Caves) he recorded the lives of the Kiev Caves ascetics and authored the "Discourse on the Founding of the Caves Church," which became the core of the Patericon. Noted for his gentleness and non-acquisitiveness, he labored to organize the Vladimir diocese and build churches. Having received the great schema, he reposed on 10 (23) May 1226 and was buried in the Dormition Cathedral of Vladimir. He is venerated as one of the Fathers of the Kiev Caves, whose relics rest in the Near Caves, and is commemorated in the Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of the Kiev Caves, Near Caves (28 September/11 October). Principal feast: 10/23 May.