Galaktion of Beloozero

Blessed Galaktion of Beloozero was a fool for Christ, a monk of the Ferapontov Monastery and a disciple and cell attendant of Venerable Martinian of Beloozero. He died in 1506 and is venerated as a local saint of the Ferapontov Monastery. His commemoration is on 12 January.

Life

Little is known about Blessed Galaktion, mostly from the life of his teacher, Martinian of Beloozero. He was from the Beloozero region, did military service in his youth and was tonsured a monk at the Ferapontov Monastery. When Venerable Martinian grew weak with age and illness and could no longer walk, Galaktion carried him to church for the common prayer. Following his example, he was very zealous in ascetic labours and prayer and knew no bodily rest. The venerable one blessed him to become a fool for Christ, and the blessed man became known for this labour, which in him was joined with astonishing foresight.

Once he came with the brethren to the monastery's newly built refectory. The brethren praised the new building, but Galaktion, playing the fool, said that it was good but would not last long. No one paid attention to the words, and the next day the cell of one brother caught fire, the flames spread to other buildings and then to the refectory, which burned to the ground. The brethren feared for the bell tower, but the blessed one said that this one would not burn.

At that time Joasaph Obolensky, a former Archbishop of Rostov, was living in retirement at Ferapontov. When the former archbishop's cell caught fire he remembered that a treasure had been left in it and began to grieve. Galaktion rebuked him for his faintheartedness, and Joasaph answered that he grieved not for his own loss but for the monastery's. The blessed one then asked him to name the exact place of the treasure and, crossing himself, walked fearlessly into the burning cell. He took the treasure, laid it before the archbishop in front of the astonished brethren, and told him not to grieve, because he was grieving over a worthless thing.

A brother, discouraged, wished to leave the monastery. Galaktion came to him, sat on the threshold of his cell and told him that he had listened to the enemy and would not escape his pursuit even if he ran away, because nowhere can one escape the snares of the evil one. The monk, astonished that his secret thoughts had been known, stayed in the monastery and was its abbot for thirty years.

In 1506 Grand Prince Vasily Ivanovich sent an army to Kazan under his brother, Prince Dmitry. Galaktion said that the grand prince would trouble himself for Kazan for a long time and that a Prince Ivan would be born who would take the Kazan khanate. The brethren waited year after year for the birth of a son, Ivan, but because the prediction was long unfulfilled, they forgot it. They remembered it only in 1553, when Ivan the Terrible conquered Kazan.

His end

For more than twenty years after the death of Venerable Martinian, Blessed Galaktion struggled at Ferapontov. When he fell ill with his last sickness he foresaw his end many days ahead. The monk Savva, the monastery's prosphora baker, who profited from his counsels, came to visit him and grieved at his illness, but Galaktion told him not to grieve, since in eight days he too would come after him. Savva did not understand and told the brethren. The words were fulfilled exactly: the blessed one died in 1506, and eight days later his spiritual friend died too.