Innocent of Glinsk

Holy Venerable Innocent of Glinsk, an archimandrite, in the world Jacob Firsovich Stepanov, was born in 1825 in a noble family of the Stary Oskol district, Kursk province. He entered the Glinsk hermitage in 1845 and fell asleep in the Lord on 17 September 1888, in the sixty-⁠fourth year of his life. He was abbot of the monastery from 1862 until his death.

Apprenticeship and abbacy

At Glinsk he was guided spiritually by the well-⁠known elders of the hermitage. His ability, gentle nature and zeal for piety drew the attention of the monastery's leaders, so he soon became its secretary and librarian. For many years he worked as secretary, trustee and librarian and was the right hand of three abbots: Eustratius (1855), Auxentius (1857) and Joasaph (1862). He had a remarkable memory: what he read once with attention he could, after ten years, quote by whole pages. So he came to know well the heavy duties of the head of a large community monastery. In 1862 the abbot's staff was entrusted to him. His first care was the building of the churches and buildings of the monastery: in his time the cathedral church was raised, a two-⁠storey stone hospital and many other buildings.

Prayer and counsel

In the morning he prayed at length, so that in all the work of the day he would not lose for a moment submission to God's will, the love commanded by God and the wisdom sent by the Holy Spirit. Prayer was for him a real need, and he would sooner forget food than prayer. He counselled: "When you have prayed and peace of soul has settled in you, the grace of the Lord guards you from breaking it. Another, troubled by a hostile temptation, comes to voice his complaints, but seeing you with the spirit of peace and meekness, he is himself changed from a wolf into a quiet sheep, and what he meant to say he says in another tone or keeps silent altogether." Many came to him for advice, help and comfort. With the gift of foresight and with mercy, he listened tirelessly, supported them and prayed for the suffering. In the evening, after dismissing the visitors, he sometimes kept beside him one brother with whom he meant to continue the conversation about prayer, and his speech poured on without pause while the time passed unnoticed beyond midnight. When he did not hold the evening conversation, he prayed and kept vigil for the brethren who slept. The porter who came at midnight to ask a blessing for waking the bell-⁠ringer always found him dressed and awake. Then he went into the forest and there, in the stillness of the night, kept vigil for himself, strengthening himself by prayer for the labour of the day.

Almsgiving and healings

People called him compassionate and loving of children. He gave alms without counting, openly and in secret, and no one went away without help. Sometimes he gave the needy large sums, but he did not allow it to be told, lest the brethren condemn him for lavishness. When he had nothing to give, he gave his cassock, his boots or his shirt. In mercy toward the sick he healed mostly by anointing them with oil from the lamp before the wonderworking icon of Glinsk. It was told that two women came once with a little girl in their arms, who had seen for a year but for two years had not opened her eyes at all, groaned constantly and nodded her head like a paralytic. The archimandrite told them that he could not help, but that he would anoint her eyes with oil from the lamp of the Queen of Heaven, while the mother should go to the skete and pray to the Mother of God. He blessed the child and anointed her eyes in the form of a cross, and in that moment she stopped nodding her head. In the afternoon the women came again, and the girl was well and smiling. To the mother's thanks he answered: "This is the work of the mercy of the Mother of God." For those with sore feet he unwound the foot-⁠cloths with his own hands, rubbed the feet with ointment, helped them put their shoes on and said: "Now go with God." He also cleaned with his own hand terrible festering wounds that not every layman would have gone near.

Those around him testified that he hid his labours: "Father Innocent concealed his labours. He was a great elder, though he was taken for an ordinary one." A merchant's wife said that when he saw her the first time he told her life down to the smallest details, better than she could have. Young people who wished to marry did not decide without the elder's blessing: those he blessed lived happily, and those he did not bless always repented.

The end

Although he healed others, he took no medicine himself and, weak in body, was almost always ill. He bore illness willingly, giving thanks to the Lord. Eight to ten years before his death he took on a special labour: never to open the shutter of his bedroom and to stay in it by day with a lamp lit. On 21 July 1888, after the carrying of the wonderworking Glinsk icon to Glukhov, he fell ill with his last sickness and suffered terribly without showing it to anyone. A month before his death a benefactress of the monastery visited him and saw around his head a crown of gold and his face like that of an angel. At parting she wanted to tell him what she had seen, but he, smiling, cut her short: "Pray, and you too can receive the same."

On Saturday evening, 17 September, when "Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart, Master" was being sung at the vigil, Father Innocent fell asleep quietly and blessedly, after being prepared with Holy Unction, confession and communion. His body did not change for four days, without decay, stiffening or smell. The people gathered at the bed of the departed, each hurrying to pay him a last tribute.

Venerable Innocent was entered in the calendar of the Russian Church by decision of the Council of Bishops in 2017. He is commemorated on 22 September, in the new style.