Marcellus of Vologda

Saint Marcellus was archbishop of Vologda and Beloozero, who died in 1663, venerated among the saints of Vologda and of Solovki. He is commemorated on the third Sunday after Pentecost in the Synaxis of the Saints of Vologda, and the record gives 9 August; the sources say that the time and place of his canonization are not known. His life has not survived, perhaps because it was never written.

In the Solovki Paterikon a vision is told in which Saint Irinarch foretold his leadership of the Solovki monastery. In 1636, in the abbacy of Bartholomew, Marcellus, who was outside the monastery on obedience, saw in a dream that he stood in the Transfiguration cathedral of the monastery, by the west wall, and that before the Royal Doors there was a ladder reaching up to the great dome. Abbot Irinarch, coming down the ladder, went to Abbot Bartholomew, took the staff from his hand and said that it was enough, that this was not his business; then, looking at Marcellus, he told him to come and take the staff. Marcellus came, took the staff and the vision ended. In 1640 the most worthy hieromonk Marcellus was made abbot of Solovki, chosen by the monastery's brethren. In 1642 Abbot Marcellus was summoned to Moscow and was among six candidates for the patriarchal throne; the lot of the patriarchate fell on Archimandrite Joseph of the Simonov monastery.

He was ordained bishop of Vologda and Great Perm, with elevation to the rank of archbishop. One of the most authoritative archpastors of his time, he was among the candidates for the patriarchal throne at the Council that elected Patriarch Nikon. In 1654 and 1655 he took part in the Council on the correction of church books. At the end of 1657 Perm was attached to the Vyatka diocese and Beloozero to the Vologda one; from then on the diocese was called that of Vologda and Beloozero. He died in 1663 and was buried, by his own will, in the Solovki monastery, in the church of Venerable Herman. Of his repose, Archimandrite Bartholomew of the Solovki monastery wrote to Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich that, since he was brought to the monastery, 11 weeks, the body is intact, the face bright, and a good fragrance comes from the body.

His name does not appear in lives of the saints of Vologda of the eighteenth to the early twentieth century, perhaps because Archbishop Marcellus cannot be counted among the supporters of Patriarch Nikon. The Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church names him among the four hierarchs who did not agree with Nikon's innovations: Macarius, metropolitan of Novgorod, Marcellus, archbishop of Vologda, and Alexander, bishop of Vyatka; Bishop Paul of Kolomna was the only one who spoke openly against the reforms and was put to death as a martyr, while the others were forced to keep silent. In July 2003, during excavations in the church of Venerable Herman at Solovki, the relics of Saint Marcellus were found. Soon a troparion and kontakion were composed for the saint, in 2004 his service was made and his first icon painted. Since 2008 the shrine with his relics has been in the church of Saint Philip of Moscow of the Solovki monastery.