Arsenius of Sviatohirsk

Venerable Arsenius of Sviatohirsk (in the world Alexei Yakovlevich Mitrofanov) was an archimandrite and abbot of the Sviatohirsk monastery, born in 1805 at Livny, Oryol governorate, and died on 12 October 1859. On 8 May 2008 he was numbered among the locally venerated saints of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, as one of the venerable ones. Our sources do not show a wider canonization. His commemoration is on 11 (24) August.

He was born in 1805 at Livny. In 1832, with the blessing of Saint Seraphim of Sarov, he went to the Solovki monastery, where he stayed until April 1833. In 1835 he entered the famous Glinsk hermitage, known for its great ascetics. In 1839 Abbot Philaret tonsured him into the mantle, with the name Arsenius, and in the same year Father Arsenius was ordained hierodeacon. In 1841 he was ordained hieromonk and appointed treasurer of the monastery. In 1842 he met the Potemkin couple, owners of the Sviatohirsk estate in the Kharkov governorate, and at their request, in 1844, he became the first abbot of the Sviatohirsk monastery. In governing the new monastery he introduced the rule of the Glinsk hermitage, following in all things its abbot, Philaret (Danilevsky); he also turned to the elders of Optina.

On 12 October 1859, at 6:30 in the morning, Archimandrite Arsenius passed peacefully to the Lord and was buried in the caves. Later, over the elder's grave a church was built in honour of Saint Alexis the Man of God. He left in manuscript A Detailed Description of Journeys to the Holy Places of Russia, Athos, Sinai and Palestine, made in 1832 to 1836 by the novice Alexei Mitrofanov of the Glinsk Hermitage of the Mother of God, of which testimony was still given at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1922, fearing mockery from the godless authorities, the elder's relics were buried again by the pious brethren.