Arcadius of Novgorod

Saint Arcadius was bishop of Novgorod from 1158 until his repose, on 19 September 1165. He is honoured in the Russian Church as a hierarch, in the synaxis of the saints of Novgorod. His main feast is on 18 September (1 October on the new calendar), but he is also remembered on 10 (23) February, on 4 (17) October and on the third Sunday after Pentecost. Our sources say that his commemoration is local, at Novgorod.

Monk and abbot

Little is known of Arcadius before his election to the see of Novgorod. From his life, preserved in a copy of the second half of the fourteenth century, it is known that from his youth he received monastic tonsure at the Yuriev monastery in Novgorod, where he was raised to deacon and then priest, and, says the life, was made abbot not according to the number of his years. Soon, however, "from envy and the devil's scheming", he was driven out of the Yuriev monastery. By then he had apparently gained great fame in Novgorod, and Prince Izyaslav Mstislavich, brother of the Novgorod prince Vsevolod Mstislavich, entrusted him with the abbacy of the Saint Panteleimon monastery, near Yuriev.

In 1153 he built near Novgorod the Dormition monastery, called after him "Arkazh" (Arcadius's), and was its abbot until 1158.

The bishop

In April 1156, after the death of Bishop Nifont of Novgorod, he was elected unanimously as lord of the city and, according to the old Novgorodian custom, long before his consecration he was "raised to the porch", that is, brought to live in the bishop's house. He was consecrated bishop on 10 August 1158. Making use of his great influence and the strength of his pastoral authority, he several times quieted the unrest of the people and reconciled the appanage princes, preventing bloodshed.

He fell asleep on 19 September 1165. The Novgorodians wept and grieved much and buried him with great honour in the Korsun porch of the cathedral of Saint Sophia, beneath the Martyriev (Korsun) porch. His relics lay there under the floor. Saint Arcadius is commemorated locally on 18 September and 10 February, and the Historical Dictionary of the saints glorified in the Russian Church gives also the day of 4 October.