Agapit of Markushevo

Venerable Martyr Agapitus of Markushevo was the founder of the Saint Nicholas monastery at Markushevo, in the Vologda region of northern Russia, and was killed on 21 May 1585 (3 June New Style), together with two novices, by people of a neighbouring village. Little is preserved about him; what is known comes from a description compiled in 1712. He is commemorated on 21 May (3 June).

How his memory was preserved

In 1712 Bishop Barnabas (Volatkovsky) of Kholmogory, newly consecrated, set out from Moscow to his diocese. From Vologda the road ran along the river Sukhona; at Berezovaya Slobodka he had to stop, since it was mid-⁠October and the river was beginning to freeze. Fifteen versts from the Sukhona lay the Saint Nicholas monastery at Markushevo, and the whole retinue went there to wait for the winter road; they stayed three weeks. To the bishop's surprise, the monastery had no description of its founding or of notable events. So he ordered his retinue to examine the monastery archive and, on the basis of the charters and records found, to compose an account of the life of the founder and of the miracles of the icon of Saint Nicholas which he had brought. The bishop confirmed the manuscript with his signature.

Life

From this description it is known that Venerable Agapitus struggled for several years at the Saints Boris and Gleb monastery at Solvychegodsk. The place of his birth and his station are not known, nor the time and place of his tonsure, nor how long he stayed at Solvychegodsk; a tradition says he was tonsured at Solovki, probably by Saint Philip, and that he left Solovki monastery after 1568, in the time of Philip's unworthy successor Paisius. While at the Boris and Gleb monastery, in March 1576 he fell gravely ill and for almost a month did not rise from bed; the illness worsened and he lost hope of recovery. On the twenty-⁠seventh day of the illness an icon of Saint Nicholas appeared to him miraculously, and he heard a voice commanding him to carry the icon to a desert place on the rivers Markusha and Tarnoga, to build a church and monastery there. He wondered, since he could not even rise from bed, but suddenly felt himself fully healed. In amazement and joy he fell on his knees before the icon, praying long and thanking God and Saint Nicholas.

For an unknown reason he lingered in the monastery, but hearing again the same voice, he set out. On the long journey from Solvychegodsk to Markusha, when he began to doubt the success of the work, he heard the voice twice more; the invisible companion showed his presence, dispelled his doubts and assured him of his help. Agapitus gave himself to Providence. Arriving at the place shown, on the bank of the Markusha, not far from its confluence with the Tarnoga, he had to choose a place for the icon; three times he made a shelter for it in different places on both banks, but the next day he found it miraculously in the same place on the bank. There he built first a little chapel for the icon, then his cell, and set himself to unceasing labours, fasting and prayer; the chapel was preserved as a monument to his labours until the twentieth century. The place was desolate, cut off from villages by forests and marshes, without roads or bridges over rivers and streams. The local people soon learned of the elder and began to come: some from curiosity, others to venerate the wonder-⁠working icon of Saint Nicholas, others to receive the elder's blessing and counsel for the salvation of the soul. "And many began to come into this desert, bringing their sick, and there were many healings, at which the venerable rejoiced in spirit." People came who wished to live there and share his labours, and others helped with money for the building of the church and monastery.

With their help, on 20 July of the same year, he laid the foundation of a cold wooden church dedicated to Saint Nicholas, then a second, warm one, dedicated to the Annunciation, with a side chapel of the Righteous Procopius of Ustyug, with a storeroom and refectory. In 1578 the churches were ready to be consecrated, and Agapitus went to Moscow to receive Metropolitan Anthony's blessing and to ask Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich for land for the monastery and permission to build a mill on the river Lokhta. Having received what he asked, he returned. On 7 September 1579 the church of Saint Nicholas was consecrated, to which the wonder-⁠working icon was moved from the chapel, soon also that of the Annunciation, the services were prepared for communal life and the mill on the Lokhta, forty versts from the monastery, was built. So in three years, through the labours of its builder, Agapitus's hermitage came out of nothing in the midst of a dense forest. After arranging what was needed, he set about building the spirit of true hermit life, teaching the brethren by word and example. He was good in life, applying himself without ceasing to abstinence, vigil, fasting and prayer, and wore down his body so much that to the end he wore iron chains round his shoulders and loins. He sought to live on earth like the angels.

But not everyone liked the founding of a hermitage in that place. Ill-⁠wishers appeared: some of the local people loved and honoured the elder, others felt just the opposite, perhaps from envy of the monastery's prosperity, perhaps out of fear that gradually all the land would pass into its possession. Especially those of the village of Kamkino were hostile to him, thinking that with the abbot's death the monastery itself would cease to exist. The brethren, knowing this, guarded the elder and tried always to accompany him.

Martyrdom

In May 1585, in the eighth year of his stay there, he rode to the monastery's mill on the Lokhta to repair damage from the spring flood, accompanied only by two novices, Theodore and Andrew. Learning this, the people of Kamkino lay in wait; on 21 May Bogdashka Lyakhov and others attacked them as they were returning, killed all three and threw the bodies into the river Uftyuga, so that the swift water would carry them far and no one would suspect them; from the venerable's body they took the heavy chains and threw them separately. By tradition the venerable's horse escaped from the murderers' hands, came to the monastery, neighing of the misfortune, and ran back to the place of the killing, several times. Seeing the horse alone, neighing anxiously, the brethren understood that something had happened and set out on the road to the mill; they searched long in ravines and forests, and by tradition, arriving at the bank of the Uftyuga, they saw the venerable's chains floating in one place, as if light as wood, and under them they found the bodies of the slain, although the water was high and the current swift. With grief and tears the brethren carried the martyrs' bodies to the monastery; Venerable Agapitus they buried with great honour, as founder, between the churches he had built. Over the grave a chapel was made, and the chains were placed on his shrine. For many years the relics remained in this chapel; after the stone parish church was built they were moved to the crypt on the south side of the cold church.