Zosima of Alexandrov

Holy Venerable Zosima of Alexandrov was a hermit and wonderworker, founder of the men's Zosima hermitage of Smolensk. He reposed about the years 1710-1713.

He was born at the latest in the second half of the seventeenth century and was a monk of the Trinity Lavra. After receiving the schema he settled in Ulyanina Pustosh. Near the river Molokhcha he dug with his own hands a well from which he drew water and, after raising a wooden chapel and a cell, began a life of silence, following in his struggles the example of Venerable Sergius. Little by little monks gathered around him and a kind of common life in the wilderness took shape. Father Zosima was very wise, a man of holy life, with a great and rare gift of spiritual guidance. From all sides pious people flowed to him for counsel. The fame of his labors drew not only those who wished to follow him but even persons of the tsar's family; the sister of Peter the Great, Tsarevna Natalia Alexeyevna, honored him, and from her gifts a chapel, a court with a cell and an apiary were built. Nobles and boyars came as well.

After his death a chapel was raised over the grave, where the elder Simeon Ermolaev, who had known him personally, served as watchman; much of the news about the saint comes from the notebook with Simeon's stories. Through the saint's prayers many miracles were worked, and healings continue today. In 1994, by decision of the assembly of the Vladimir diocese, under the presidency of Archbishop Evlogy (Smirnov) of Vladimir and Suzdal, he was glorified as a locally venerated saint of the Vladimir diocese.

The saint is commemorated on 6 July, in the new style, in the Synaxis of the Saints of Vladimir, and on 19 July in the Synaxis of the Saints of Radonezh.