Tikhon of Turukhansk

Holy Blessed Tikhon of Turukhansk was the builder of the Holy Trinity monastery in Turukhansk, in Siberia, and died in 1682. He is commemorated on 24 July, by the old calendar.

Born Timothy, he was the son of the priest Simeon of Veliky Ustyug and of Martha. At forty-⁠two he moved to Yeniseysk, where he lived piously, making wax candles; it is not known for what reason he drew the anger of the voivode Maxim Rtishchev (1656-1658), and after that he resolved to leave the world. At the Saviour monastery in Yeniseysk he was tonsured by the igumen Leonid, with the name Tikhon. Wishing for quiet, he set out with an elder monk, Dionysius, in a small boat down the Yenisey, and they reached the winter-⁠quarters of Turukhansk; after the winter they went thirty versts up the Yenisey and, at the mouth of the Lower Tunguska, in trackless forest, planted a cross and raised a cell. Other lovers of quiet came (Mercurius, Paul, Gerasim, Nikon). When the brothers were enough, Tikhon asked Bishop Simeon for a blessing to build a church of the Holy Trinity, and the bishop ordained him hierodeacon. In 1660, by command of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, his settlement was raised to the rank of monastery.

He multiplied his ascetic labours: he wore on his body iron chains of twenty pounds and two iron crosses, and before the Liturgy he prayed all night. In 1670, after a vision, he found the relics of the holy martyr Basil of Mangazeya and carried them to his monastery. He fell asleep on 24 July 1682, in deep old age, and was buried in the monastery enclosure, south of the Holy Trinity church; over his grave a burial chamber was made where his chains are also kept, and memorial services are held there. He is painted as a grey-⁠haired elder with a long, dry face, in the black mantle of a schemamonk.