Neophytos Vasilev

Neophytos Vasilev was a Russian schemamonk of St Panteleimon Monastery, born in 1807 in a peasant family in Vyatka province and died on 13 July 1858, after much suffering. He is venerated by the faithful, without a synodal canonization.

Named Nikita Vasilievich Vasiliev in the world, he served 25 years in the army, up to non-⁠commissioned officer, then twelve years as an attendant at the Kazan Cathedral in St Petersburg. He came to Athos in 1844 and chose Rossikon. He was tonsured into the mantle in 1845 with the name Nikon, and later into the schema with the name Neophytos. In his last years he was sacristan and cared diligently for the order of the church. Father Seleucus writes that he was very zealous in the services. Gravely ill, he always thanked God and passed in peace to eternal life. When his body was carried into the church it gave off a pleasant fragrance, sensed not only by Father Arsenius but by the other brethren, as a reward for his patience.