John of Kargopol

Holy Blessed John of Kargopol, called John the Hairy (Vlasaty), was a fool for Christ and, according to some sources, the builder of the Dormition monastery in Kargopol. He is commemorated on 17 February by the old calendar.

With the monastic name Jonah, he was nicknamed "the Hairy" because he had long hair on his head and his whole body was covered with hair. He is thought to have been a native of Kargopol, in the Olonets eparchy. The Dormition monastery, a verst south of the town, at the mouth of the stream Volosaty on the river Onega, was first for men and then for women (from 1649); the sources differ on its founding, between the fourteenth century and 1593. His death is placed on 17 February 1654, and his name-⁠day on 7 January. Archimandrite Leonid, in "Holy Russia", says that he was a labourer in the convent and died in 1622, and that his relics rest under cover in the Dormition church of the abolished convent.

The people around have faith in the stream Volosaty: near the chapel to which processions go from the convent a bathing place for the sick has been arranged.