Righteous Theodosius of Totma (Sumorin)

Venerable Theodosius of Totma, known in the world as Theodore Sumorin, was born in Vologda around 1530 into a merchant family. Widowed while still young, he left worldly life and was tonsured at the Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery near Vologda. For his virtuous life he was made abbot of the Kornilievo-Komelsky Monastery, but soon asked to return to solitary ascetic labor. In 1554, having received from Tsar Ivan the Terrible a land charter and a blessed icon of the Mother of God from the Prilutsky Monastery (later glorified as the Sumorin-Totma icon), he founded the Spaso-Sumorin Monastery in Totma and became its first abbot. He also restored the desolate Ephraim Hermitage. He lived a strictly ascetic life, wearing chains and a hair shirt, known for non-acquisitiveness and mercy toward the poor. He reposed on January 28, 1568, and was buried in the monastery he founded. His relics were found incorrupt in 1796, and he was glorified as a saint in 1798. He is venerated as a patron of the Totma and Vologda lands.