Maxim of Moscow

Saint Maxim of Moscow was a fool for Christ in Moscow and fell asleep on 11 November 1434. He is a saint of the Russian Church. His memory is kept on 13 August, the day his relics were found, and on 11 November, the day of his repose,. The Russian sources give 13 August and 11 November by the old calendar; a Serbian source adds them in the new style as 26 August and 24 November.

Almost nothing has been preserved about his origin and life. It is known that he lived as a fool for Christ in the time of the Tatar raids on Russia, that he comforted the deprived and rebuked the merchants and the nobles of Moscow. He fell asleep on 11 November 1434 and was buried beside the wooden church of the holy princes Boris and Gleb, not far from the Kremlin.

In 1547, at the first council of Makarius, he was glorified among the saints, with the words: “Let there be sung and celebrated in Moscow the new wonderworker Maxim, fool for Christ.” The basis of the glorification was reports of miraculous healings at his tomb. In the same year, on 13 August, the relics of Saint Maxim were found. In 1698 a church dedicated to Maxim of Moscow was built, and his relics were placed in it. About that time the Tale of the Translation of the Relics of Blessed Maxim was written.