Timothy of Voronich

Blessed Timothy of Voronich, a shepherd and fool for Christ, lived in 1563, in the reign of Ivan the Terrible, in the suburb of Voronich in the Pskov region. He was a fifteen-⁠year-⁠old herdsman whom everyone took to be a fool for Christ.

One day, while tending his flock near the river Lugovitsa, he saw in the air the icon of the Mother of God "Tenderness", which stood in the parish church of Saint George at Voronich. The vision was repeated in another place, on Sinichya Hill, and this time he also heard a voice announcing that in six years the grace of God would shine on that hill. Timothy told no one.

Keeping the voice in mind, he climbed Sinichya Hill again in 1569 and found on a branch of a pine the icon of the Mother of God of the Hodegetria. He did not take it from the tree, but made himself a hut and a cave nearby and spent forty days there in unceasing fasting and prayer. Afterward he heard from the icon a voice commanding him to go to Voronich and tell the clergy and the people to come up the hill, on the Friday after the Sunday of All Saints, with the icon of "Tenderness". Timothy carried out the command exactly. On the appointed day the clergy of Voronich, in procession and with many people, set out for the hill, and already on the way, at the river Lugovitsa where the shepherd had his first vision, healings of the sick began to take place.

When all had climbed to the top, they began a service of intercession, and while the Gospel was being read an unusually bright light lit up the hill and the air was filled with a pleasant fragrance. Then all who were present saw the Hodegetria icon on the branch of the pine. Some, seized by zeal, rushed to take it from the tree, but the icon rose into the air of itself, by an unseen power, and came down only into the arms of Timothy, when at the urging of the people he went forward to take it. The procession returned, and the newly appeared Hodegetria icon and the icon of "Tenderness" were placed in the church of Saint George at Voronich.

Blessed Timothy is commemorated on 11 July (a movable date) in the Synaxis of the Saints of Pskov, in the new style.