Chariton of Syanzhema

Venerable Chariton of Syanzhema was abbot of the Saviour-⁠Euthymius Monastery at Syanzhema, abolished in 1764, and reposed on 11 April 1509. He is locally honoured among the venerable fathers. His commemoration in the calendars is on 11 April and on 26 September, by the old calendar (8 October by the new).

Almost nothing has been preserved about his childhood and life in the world, and the later reports are very few and fragmentary. It is known that the beginning of his labours is tied to the time when Venerable Euthymius of Syanzhema moved from the Spaso-⁠Kamenny Monastery to the river Syanzhema; into Euthymius's solitude the monk Chariton also came. Together they built a cell, then founded a monastery. After the death of Euthymius (at the latest in 1465), according to the charge of his spiritual teacher, Chariton took over the leadership of the monastery and reposed in the rank of abbot.

The relics of the venerable one rested beneath a slab in the Ascension church of the former Syanzhema monastery, later the parish church of the Ascension churchyard in the Kadnikov district, a hundred and twenty versts north of Vologda. Today the relics of Venerables Euthymius and Chariton are in the former warm church of the Protection of the Mother of God of the monastery (the Euthymius churchyard in the Syamzha district, Vologda region). According to the painters' guide for icons (under 4 August), Chariton is to be shown on icons with a dark face, with a beard broader and longer than Sergius's, in venerable's vestments, with the schema on his shoulders. In the calendars and in new hagiographies his name is usually joined with that of his teacher, Euthymius. Our record also gives the day 8 October, which does not fit 11 April.