Nicetas of Kostroma

Venerable Nikita of Kostroma (also called Nikita of Radonezh, of Borovsk, of Serpukhov or of Vysotsk) was a Russian monk, abbot and archimandrite, a disciple of Venerable Sergius of Radonezh. He was born in the 1360s (according to one source, 1365) and reposed in the 1440s (according to one source, in 1450). He is honoured by the Russian Church among the venerable fathers. His commemoration is on 23 January. For many centuries he was a locally venerated saint. In 1981 he was entered in the Synaxis of the Saints of Radonezh, and in 2004 in the Synaxis of the Saints of Kostroma.

He was born, it is believed, in Rostov, and, according to tradition, received the name John. His family was related to Saint Sergius of Radonezh. He was taught to read and write and showed piety from childhood. In his youth he settled at the Trinity Lavra of Saint Sergius, where he helped to serve food, carried water and firewood and baked prosphora. There he met Sergius of Radonezh, whose disciple he became, and under his guidance he was tonsured a monk with the name Nikita. In 1382 he is believed to have gone to Serpukhov and helped with the founding of the Vysotsky Monastery. When Athanasius the Elder, abbot of the monastery, died, Nikita became its head. He led it from 1387 (according to one source, 1395) until 1407, a time when the region suffered from Tatar and Lithuanian invasion. In 1414 he became abbot of the Vysoko-⁠Pokrovsky Monastery at Borovsk and was the teacher of Paphnutius of Borovsk.

After serving at several monasteries, in the 1420s he withdrew to Kostroma, where he founded the Epiphany Monastery (of Saint Anastasia). He led the monastery for twenty-⁠four years, until his death. His relics are in the crypt of the Epiphany cathedral of the monastery, under a slab.