Innokentii Sibiryakov

Innokentii Sibiryakov was a Russian schemamonk, born on 30 October 1860 at Irkutsk into a family of rich gold-⁠mine owners, a benefactor of the Skete of St Andrew on Athos. He reposed in 1901, in the prime of life. He is venerated by the faithful, without a synodal canonization.

Named Innokenty Mikhailovich in the world, the son of Mikhail Alexandrovich and Varvara Konstantinovna, he attended the local gymnasium and St Petersburg University. He spent much on education, then drew near to the Church and directed his charity to its needs. A lawsuit brought by relatives, claiming that he was giving away his capital in an abnormal state, shook him, and he resolved to leave the world altogether and retire to a quiet haven outside Russia. In 1894 he entered the St Andrew metochion in St Petersburg, on 1 October 1896 was tonsured a rassophore with the name Innokenty and the same day left for Athos. Soon he was tonsured into the mantle with the name John and then into the great schema with the name Innokenty. He lived in strict fasting and deep stillness. He died five years after entering the skete, after a short but severe illness. One of his greatest benefactions was financial help for building the cathedral of the Holy Apostle Andrew, which had stood unfinished for twenty-⁠five years, and for the hospital building with the church of St Innocent, bishop of Irkutsk.