Tikhon Malyshkin

Archbishop Tikhon Malyshkin was a hierarch of the Russian Church, archbishop of Rostov, Yaroslavl and Beloozero, at the end of the fifteenth century. He is venerated as a local saint at the monastery of Saints Boris and Gleb at Ustye, where he is commemorated on 29 March, by the new calendar.

The sources do not say whether before becoming bishop he was archimandrite of the Transfiguration monastery of Yaroslavl or of the Saviour monastery of Rostov. On 15 January 1490 he was consecrated bishop of Rostov, Yaroslavl and Beloozero, with elevation to the rank of archbishop. From then on he became known in the Russian hierarchy.

In 1491 he was present at the council on the election of the new primate, Metropolitan Zosima. At the councils of 1491 and 1492, convened against the heresy of the Judaizers, which was then being spread by Zacharias, he was first among the hierarchs of the metropolia. In 1495 he performed the ordination of Abbot Simon of the Trinity monastery, who had been elected metropolitan. He was also present in February 1498 at the coronation of Dmitry Ivanovich the grandson as grand prince.

In May 1492, by command of Grand Prince Ivan Vasilievich, he built the cathedral church of the Most Pure Mother of God at Ustyug, on the site of the old church that had burned. His name is mentioned in the inscription of 1502 on the painting of the cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God in the Ferapontov monastery by Dionisius and his sons. It is often said that in his time the incorrupt relics of the princes Basil and Constantine Vsevolodovich were found, but according to present research this happened before him.

On 15 January 1503 Archbishop Tikhon, because of infirmity, retired to the monastery of Saints Boris and Gleb at Ustye. There he died and was buried, in a chamber near the altar of the cathedral church. His gravestone was thrown out in the 1830s by Archimandrite Raphael and used for monastery buildings. In 1996 his gravestone was found, made probably in the second quarter of the sixteenth century, according to which he died in 1511. The year of his death is therefore uncertain: 1503 by some sources, 1511 by the stone that was found. After that, Archbishop Tikhon came to be venerated at the monastery of Saints Boris and Gleb as a locally venerated saint.