Athanasios and Theodosios of Cherepovets

Venerable Athanasios and Theodosios of Cherepovets were disciples of Saint Sergius of Radonezh and founders of a monastery in the Novgorod region, on the border of Cherepovets, at the confluence of the Yagorba river and the Sheksna.

They settled in dense, impenetrable forests, where they built a church in honour of the Holy Trinity, and a monastery grew up around it. Nothing is known for certain about Theodosios and almost no information has survived about Athanasios, nicknamed "the Iron Staff", because in the Time of Troubles the monastery was razed almost to the ground and the written records were destroyed. We know that the monastery church was dedicated to the Holy Trinity and to Saints Sergius and Nikon of Radonezh, from which it is thought that both were tonsured at Sergius's Trinity Monastery, since the ancient hermits built monasteries on the model of those where they became monks. A note in a book of 1568 reads: "This is the book of the Monastery of the Resurrection of Christ and of the Life-⁠giving Trinity, and of our venerable fathers Theodosios and Athanasios." The chronicle of the saints says: "Venerable Athanasios, called the Iron Staff, disciple of Saint Sergius the Wonderworker, who reposed in the year 1392."

The monastery is said to have begun after a merchant, carrying goods in a boat, saw the sky grow dark in the middle of the day and the boat ran aground. Frightened, he began to pray, the darkness lifted, and a nearby mountain was lit with bright light. He climbed the mountain and, amazed by the view, built a chapel the following year. We know that Athanasios carried an iron staff, and Theodosios may have been the merchant. In 1764 the Resurrection Monastery was abolished and its church became a parish church; since 1780 it has been called the Resurrection Cathedral of the city of Cherepovets, and under it, hidden, rest the relics of Saints Athanasios and Theodosios. The saints reposed in the year 1388 and were buried in the monastery's cathedral. The cathedral also has their icons.

They are commemorated on 26 November, 5 July and 25 September.