Righteous Theodoritus of Kola

St. Theodoritus (Feodorit) of Kola (1481–1571) was born in Rostov and entered Solovki Monastery at age twelve, where he was tonsured and spent years in ascetic and spiritual training. Having learned the Sámi (Lapp) language, he undertook missionary work among the Sámi people of the Kola Peninsula around 1520–1540, translating Slavic prayers into their tongue and baptizing roughly 2,000 converts. In 1540 he founded the Trinity Monastery at the mouth of the Kola River, but was expelled by monks resistant to his strict rule. He later served as archimandrite of the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery in Suzdal, faced accusations of heresy, and was exiled for a time. In 1557, Tsar Ivan the Terrible sent him to Constantinople to obtain Patriarch Ioasaph II's blessing for the tsar's imperial title, a mission he fulfilled successfully. He spent his final years visiting monasteries and the Sámi mission twice more, dying peacefully at Solovki. He was locally glorified in 2002 and canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2003.