Hierarch Serapion Of Novgorod

Saint Serapion, Archbishop of Novgorod and Pskov, was born in 1444 in the village of Pekhra near Moscow, into a priest's family. He took monastic vows at the Dormition Monastery of Dubna in the Vladimir lands, later becoming its abbot, then abbot of the Stromyn Dormition Monastery, and from 1493 archimandrite of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. On 15 January 1506, Grand Prince Vasily III had him consecrated Archbishop of Great Novgorod and Pskov. In 1509, a conflict arose between Serapion and St. Joseph of Volokolamsk: Serapion held that the transfer of the Volokolamsk Dormition Monastery from princely to grand-princely authority was uncanonical without the consent of the ruling bishop, and excommunicated Prince Fyodor of Volokolamsk along with Joseph himself. Under pressure from the Grand Prince, a council in July 1509 condemned and deposed Serapion, exiling him to the Andronikov Monastery in Moscow. In 1511 he was released and retired to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, where he reconciled with all and received the great schema. He died on 16 March 1516. His incorrupt relics were uncovered on 7 April of that year and rest in the southern gallery of the Trinity Cathedral of the Lavra, in the so-called "Serapion's Chamber" — the former cell of St. Sergius of Radonezh. His feast is kept on March 16/29.