Gurias of Kazan

Saint Gurias, hierarch (born Grigory Grigorievich Rugotin, about 1500 to 5 December 1563), was the first archbishop of Kazan and Sviyazhsk, from 1555, born at Radonezh. He is commemorated (Old Style) on 5 December, the day of his repose, on 4 October, the finding of his relics in 1595, and on 20 June, the translation of his relics in 1630 into the cathedral of Kazan. The Russian source places his birth about 1500, while our record says about 1450; the sources do not give the date of canonization.

Beginnings

Before monastic tonsure he bore the name Gregory and came from a family of poor nobles, the Rugotins, born in the village of Radonezh. He entered the service of Prince John Penkov and was manager of his estate. The prince, on the denunciation of servants who accused Gregory of a relationship with the princess, put him in an earthen pit. Gregory spent about two years there, earning his food by writing alphabets for teaching children. According to the Life, after two years the door of the prison opened by itself, and Gregory, taking the icon of the Mother of God that was with him, went to the Joseph monastery of Volokolamsk, where he received tonsure with the name Gurias. In the monastery he continued the austere labours he had grown used to in prison. In 1543 he was elected abbot of the Joseph monastery and led the brotherhood for nine years.

Archbishop of Kazan

After the conquest of Kazan and the founding there of an episcopal see, Gurias was chosen by lot. On 3 February 1555 he was consecrated at Moscow archbishop of Kazan by a council of Russian bishops. With him went to Kazan his disciple and future successor, Hermanus. At the head of the new diocese he did missionary work. In the eight years of his shepherding four monasteries were founded, the Annunciation cathedral was built and more than ten churches in the town. In 1561 he fell gravely ill and was brought to the cathedral on the great feasts to hear the Liturgy sitting or lying. On 2 December 1563 he received the great schema, the tonsure performed by his friend and disciple Barsanuphius, bishop of Tver. He reposed on 5 December 1563 and was buried in the Transfiguration monastery in the Kazan kremlin.

Finding and translation of the relics

His relics were found in 1595, together with those of Saint Barsanuphius. The discovery was made by the future patriarch Hermogenes, who also wrote the first short Life of the saint. They were found during the building of a new stone church at the Transfiguration monastery: by the altar wall of the old wooden church coffins untouched by decay were dug up, opened by Hermogenes before a great crowd. Hermogenes wrote that the shrine was full of fragrant myrrh like clear water, and the relics of Gurias floated on top of the myrrh like a sponge; the body, his toil, was granted incorruption by God, only the upper lip was slightly touched by decay, the other members were whole, and the burial garments were very strong. On 20 June 1630 the relics were moved to the Annunciation cathedral of Kazan. From the autumn of 1918 they were at the Mother of God monastery in Kazan, then in other churches, and from the mid-1930s in the church of the holy pious princes Theodore, David and Constantine, wonderworkers of Yaroslavl, on the Arsk cemetery, where they are today.