Venerable Zosimas of Solovki

Venerable Zosimas of Solovki was born in the Novgorod lands to pious parents. He took monastic vows early and, seeking solitary asceticism, set out to find a deserted place for hermit life. On the shore of the White Sea he met Venerable Herman, who had already visited the deserted Solovetsky Island together with St. Savvaty, and together with him arrived on the island in 1436, where the two began a monastic community. The early years were marked by extreme poverty and hardship, but gradually brethren began to gather around Zosimas, and in 1452 he was made abbot of the monastery he had founded. Under his leadership the Solovetsky Monastery developed rapidly, obtaining from the Novgorod authorities rights to the island, and the first wooden and later stone churches were built. St. Zosimas cared not only for the spiritual but also the material organization of the monastery, laying the foundations for its future flourishing as one of the largest monasteries of the Russian North. He died on April 17, 1478. He is venerated together with St. Savvaty and St. Herman of Solovki as co-founder of the monastery; their joint commemoration is also celebrated on August 8 (21).