Nikita of Roslavl

Holy Venerable Nikita of Roslavl was a schemamonk and hermit in the forests of Roslavl, and he died in the year 1793.

He was born in Oryol in 1695. It is not known by whom or when he was tonsured a monk. In his youth he left his parental home and settled two versts from the Beloberezh Hermitage (now in the diocese of Bryansk), attending its services, and he lived there until old age. In 1780 he moved to a cell he had made himself in the Roslavl forests, on the south side of the "Monks' Ditch", near the village of Ekimovichi, and lived there at least ten years in an ascetic struggle known only to himself. Then he returned to Beloberezh, but before his death, in 1792, he wished to go back to his hermitage. His disciple Dosifei, with the blessing of the abbot, took him to the Roslavl forests. There he died on 29 March 1793.

The body of the schemamonk was buried in the ditch, near his cell. Because there was always water in the ditch, after some years Dosifei dug up the coffin to move it elsewhere. The coffin was found whole, and the body and garments uncorrupted. The body was placed in a new coffin and, after a memorial service, buried halfway up the slope, on the north edge of the ditch. At the burial a monk sick with a stomach illness was present, who drank water from the coffin and was healed. Fifteen years after his death the coffin was opened again, and the body was still incorrupt.

Since his death pilgrims have honoured his memory; on his name day up to five thousand people gathered at the grave. The grave is venerated to this day, and healings have been attested. In December 2016 the Holy Synod decided to number the schemamonk Nikita, hermit of the Roslavl forests, among the saints for local veneration in the Smolensk Metropolis. His memory was set for 11 April, the day of his repose, in the new style, and it is also kept on 8 August in the Synaxis of the Saints of Smolensk.