Righteous Therapon (Ferapont) of Belozersk

St. Therapon (Ferapont) of Belozersk, known in the world as Theodore Poskochin, was born in 1337 into a noble family. He was tonsured at the Simonov Monastery in Moscow, where he became close with St. Cyril of Belozersk and heard the teachings of St. Sergius of Radonezh. Around 1397, with their elders' blessing, Sts. Therapon and Cyril withdrew to the White Lake wilderness. Their paths soon diverged: St. Therapon founded his own monastery dedicated to the Nativity of the Mother of God about fifteen versts from Cyril's hermitage — the future Therapon (Ferapontov) Monastery, later renowned for the frescoes of Dionysius and inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Later, at the request of Prince Andrei of Mozhaisk, he founded a second monastery, the Luzhetsky Monastery near Mozhaisk, where he reposed on May 27, 1426, at age 89. He was glorified at the Moscow Council of 1547.