Jacob of Zheleznyi Borok

Venerable Jacob of Zheleznyi Borok (second half of the fourteenth century - 11 April 1442) was a Russian monk, son of a boyar of Galich, a disciple of Saint Sergius of Radonezh and founder of the Zheleznoborovsk Monastery. He is commemorated on 11 April, the day of his repose, on 5 May, the day of the finding of his relics, and in the synaxes of the saints of Radonezh and Kostroma.

Life

He was the son of the boyar Anosov (Amosov), who held lands at Galich near Kostroma. From youth, longing for God, he came to the monastery of Saint Sergius of Radonezh and received the monastic tonsure from him. He lived several years at Saint Sergius's monastery, and in 1392 withdrew to a wild place called Zheleznyi Borok, on the bank of the river Tebza, where he became known for his holy life. In 1415 the grand prince of Moscow, Vasily Dmitrievich, had a great worry: his wife, Sophia Vitovtovna, later the nun Synkletike, fell gravely ill before childbirth. He sent to Jacob to ask for help in prayer and to learn whether his wife would live. The venerable one answered that she would live and bear a son, and asked the prince to pray to the Holy Martyr Longinus. All ended well, and the child, Vasily, became Grand Prince Vasily Vasilievich.

In gratitude, Prince Vasily Dmitrievich gave Jacob a large sum for building a monastery with a church, and soon on the bank of the Tebza a new monastery arose, called Zheleznoborovsk. In 1429, after a Tatar attack, the monastery lay in ruins and Jacob had to rebuild it. With the brethren he built the church of Saint Nicholas and dug ponds. The rebuilt monastery lived by the strict rule taken from Saint Sergius's monastery, and in years of famine it fed many poor. After many years the brethren asked him to accept the abbacy. Very old, he fell asleep in his monastery and was buried in the church of Saint John the Forerunner.

Veneration

His local commemoration was established before 1628, and the first side chapel dedicated to him existed in 1635, in the church of Saints Boris and Gleb at Galich. About fifty healings at his relics are known, among them a possessed man, Niphont, and the monk Theodosius, who lay paralysed three years and recovered only after promising at the relics not to leave the monastery. For these healings an icon with fifteen scenes was painted. The relics were found incorrupt on 5 May 1613 and rest beneath the floor of the monastery church. The last miracles were recorded in the early 1920s, when Hieromonk Joasaph (Sazonov) served molebens at the relics, and for this he was arrested in 1924, accused of exploiting the religious prejudices of the masses.