Peter of Solvychegodsk

Holy Hieromartyr Peter of Solvychegodsk, called also Peter of Cherevkovo, a priest, is commemorated on 1 November in the Synaxis of the Saints of the Arkhangelsk Metropolis. In 1613 the Russian North was passing through hard times: on the Onega, the Northern Dvina and the Vychegda bands of robbers, Lithuanian thieves, were at work. One such band, under the ataman Yatsky, was moving from Kholmogory up the Northern Dvina toward Veliky Ustyug. Cherevkovo lay on its way. When the band burst into the village, the priest Peter was serving the Liturgy in the church of Saint Nicholas. The sacrilegious seized the priest, who tried to bring them to their senses and stop them, tied him to a horse's tail and dragged him through the streets of the village until he gave up his life.

More than forty years passed, and his name and the place of his burial were almost forgotten. In 1656 a coffin rose out of the ground in the cemetery of the Cherevkovo church, and to many parishioners a man in priestly vestments began to appear, telling them to say to the local priests that they should serve memorial services over the coffin that had come out of the earth. Miraculous healings also took place at the coffin. The clergy of the church were at first sceptical, until 23 June 1657, when the church caught fire from lightning. One burning wall fell on the coffin, covering it with blazing brands, but the coffin remained whole. On the night of 24 June the church watchman saw a radiance coming from the coffin; when he drew near, the radiance vanished, and when he moved away, it returned.

All this convinced even the most sceptical that the coffin belonged to the martyr Peter, who showed himself righteous not only in death but in his whole life. A chapel was soon raised over the grave, and the healings were carefully written down. A book on the lives of saints of the Vologda diocese says that from 1657 to 1718 forty-⁠eight healings were recorded. Already from the first quarter of the seventeenth century the martyr was venerated as a saint; a troparion and kontakion were composed for him. The church reform begun in 1721 on the initiative of Peter I, which for a long time halted the glorification of many saints, did not allow the matter to be completed, and the coffin with the relics was buried again. Every Sunday memorial services were served at the grave, and every year, on the day of his death, the account of his miracles was read, until in 1854 the manuscript was taken by the diocesan authorities. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the priest Peter's name was entered in the list of the saints of Vologda, but without connection to Cherevkovo, and the memory of the event faded; in 1854 the diocese took a stand against the cult, finding faults in the account of the miracles. In 1859 a rumour spread that the coffin had risen from the ground again; the grave was examined and opened by a diocesan commission, and the memorial services were halted until 1860, when, at the parishioners' requests, permission was given to serve memorial services at the request of those who wished.

In Soviet times the chapel was closed and housed various institutions, among them a school museum. In 1989-1990 it was partly restored and handed to the Orthodox community, and in June 1991 it was consecrated; from 2000 the celebration of the saint's day also resumed. Saint Peter died in 1613.