Averky Kotomkin

Archimandrite Averky Kotomkin (in the world Andrei Danilovich, 1847-1918) was a missionary and then an elder in the village of Semyonovka in Mari El. He is venerated by the faithful in the Mari diocese, without synodal canonization.

He was born on 7 October 1847 in the village of Savino, Tsarevokokshaysk district, Kazan province, into a peasant family. He squandered the money from the sale of the harvest and did not go back home. Seized by deep repentance, he resolved to leave the world and went to the Dormition Monastery for men at Sviyazhsk, where he received monastic tonsure with the name Averky, in honour of Saint Abercius, equal to the apostles, of Hierapolis. Soon he was ordained hieromonk and sent to one of the Eastern missions of the Russian Church, most probably the one at Urmia in Iran. In missionary service he received many awards and was raised to archimandrite. In 1915 he returned to his homeland and settled in the village of Semyonovka.

He served often, preached constantly, and many came to him for counsel and guidance. His spiritual children were clergy of Tsarevokokshaysk (today Yoshkar-⁠Ola), of the nearby villages, and the brethren of neighbouring monasteries. He was held to be an elder with spiritual sight, full of the Spirit, spoke much about the future of Russia and foretold the coming persecutions of believers. He built two chapels: one of the Holy Prophet Elijah in his native village of Savino, and one in Semyonovka, before the altar of the church of the Nativity of the Mother of God, where he was also buried after his death on 5 July 1918. At the end of the 1930s the chapel over the grave was demolished, but the grave survived. He is widely venerated in the Mari diocese.