Righteous Theodore (Ushakov) of Sanaksar

Venerable Theodore of Sanaksar, born Ivan Ignatievich Ushakov, was born in 1718 in the village of Burnakovo, Yaroslavl province. He served in the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment in St. Petersburg, where the sudden death of a comrade led him to resolve to leave the world. He secretly left the regiment and was tonsured at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra under the name Theodore. Ordained a hieromonk in 1762, he was appointed on August 10, 1764, abbot of the derelict Sanaksar Hermitage, which he effectively rebuilt from ruin, introducing a strict cenobitic rule. In 1774, on a false denunciation, he was exiled to Solovetsky Monastery, where he spent nine years before being exonerated by Empress Catherine II and returned to Sanaksar. He reposed on February 19, 1791. His nephew was the righteous warrior Admiral Feodor Ushakov, also glorified by the Church; their relics rest together at Sanaksar Monastery. He was locally glorified in 1999 and canonized for church-wide veneration by the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church on October 6, 2004.