Vassian of Murom

Holy Venerable Martyr Vassian of Murom was a monk of the Caves monastery at Pskov, a faithful friend and helper of Abbot Cornelius. He received martyrdom on 20 February 1570, on the same day as his teacher and abbot.

Little is known of him. Neither the year nor the day of his coming to the monastery is preserved. The chronicles and tales keep only a few features of his ascetic life. Vassian is known above all as the diligent helper of Venerable Cornelius in compiling and writing the Pskov chronicle, called the chronicle of Cornelius.

It is certain that the original manuscript of the chronicle collection of Abbot Cornelius was written in the hand of the elder Vassian and bears corrections and additions made by the abbot. The chronicle has two parts. The first is a compilation, that is, a text made from two older Pskov chronicles: one secular, of the city's mayors, from the fifteenth century, and one spiritual, written at the Eleazar monastery of Pskov and brought down to 1556. The handwriting shows that the work on this compilation was done by the elder Vassian of the Caves monastery.

The saint is commemorated, in the new style, on 11 July (a movable date) in the Synaxis of the Saints of Pskov and on 18 July (movable) in the Synaxis of the Venerable Saints of Pskov-⁠Caves.