Moisey Krasilnikov

Archimandrite Moses Krasilnikov (in the world Mikhail Fyodorovich, 1814-1895) was abbot of the Tikhon Hermitage in the Kaluga region and a disciple of the Optina elders. At the beginning of the twentieth century he was venerated as a local saint; he has no known synodal canonization, and the faithful commemorate him on 4 (17) November.

He was born in 1814 at Bolkhov, in the Oryol province, into a family of townspeople. As a child he went on pilgrimage to Optina and wished to stay there. His parents would not allow him to enter a monastery, but he ran away and was received into the community. His spiritual father was Elder Leonid (in the schema Lev) of Optina, who proposed that he go and restore the Tikhon Hermitage. Moses refused, and the elder foretold: "For now live here, but at the Tikhon Hermitage you will be, you will be." After Lev's death, in 1841, his confessor was Elder Macarius of Optina. The novice was humble and gentle and longed to be a monk. On 17 April 1847 he was tonsured with the name Moses, in 1848 he was ordained deacon, and seven years later hieromonk.

Lev's prophecy was fulfilled on 22 August 1855, when he was appointed abbot of the Tikhon Hermitage with the rank of hegumen. In 1861, in a terrible drought at Kaluga, he went in procession with the people and sprinkled the fields with water from the well of Saint Tikhon of Kaluga; rain fell and the harvest was saved. He established eldership in the monastery, and Elder Ephraim Nekliudov was appointed confessor of the brethren. From 1866 he was dean of all the monasteries of the Kaluga diocese, and from 1871 archimandrite. He built the six-⁠altar Cathedral of the Transfiguration, the refectory, and the Presentation Skete, and began the Dormition Cathedral, the refectory church of Saint Nicholas and a Byzantine-⁠style bell tower, finished a year before his death. From 1871 he was also confessor of the Belokopytovo community, which became a monastery in 1892, and he guided it to the end.

He fell asleep in the Lord on 4 (17) November 1895, reading the Psalter, in the arms of his cell attendant Dosithei, who wrote his life a year later. He was buried beneath the Transfiguration Cathedral. At the start of the twentieth century he and Hieroschemamonk John were venerated as local saints, with commemoration on 4 (17) November. In the early 2000s, during excavations at the foundations of the cathedral, a coffin with his incorrupt relics was found and the relics were reburied beside the new cathedral, in the monastery necropolis. Each year on 17 November a memorial service is served for all who reposed at the Tikhon Hermitage.