Venerable Paisius of Uglich

Venerable Paisius of Uglich (Pavel Gavrenev in the world) was the founder and first abbot of the Monastery of the Protection of the Mother of God at Uglich and a nephew of St Macarius of Kalyazin. According to his Life, he was the son of the boyar Ivan Gavrenev and Ksenia Kozhina, sister of St Macarius. Orphaned early, he went to his uncle's monastery, was tonsured with the name Paisius, and spent his days in prayer and copying books; a mid-15th-century manuscript of the Orations of St Gregory the Theologian is attributed to his hand.

At the request of Prince Andrei Vasilyevich of Uglich, St Macarius released his nephew to Uglich, where Paisius established the Protection Monastery on the left bank of the Volga and became its abbot. He worked alongside the brethren, gathering stones for the foundations of the stone cathedral, which was laid in 1479 and consecrated on 1 October 1482. With St Cassian of Uchma he baptized the prince's sons.

Paisius died on 6 June 1504; the Life gives his age as 107, though scholars think he was born no earlier than 1424. Miracles were recorded at his tomb in the Protection Cathedral. He is commemorated on 6 (19) June and 8 (21) January, and in the Synaxes of the Saints of Rostov-Yaroslavl and of Tver.