Zosimas the Hermit of Pocrov

Zosimas was a schemamonk, hermit in the forests of Pocrov, copyist and spiritual poet, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He is best known for having saved in 1821, during the Eteria uprising, the treasures of Secu and Agapia monasteries. He is named in the Romanian Paterikon and venerated by the faithful, without synodal canonization; the sources available to us give no day of commemoration.

He had taken his vows at Neamț, where he struggled until toward the end of the eighteenth century, learning the spiritual life from the most distinguished monks. He received the schema and, having the gift of singing, for a long time held the obedience of chief cantor. Later, hearing of the hermits in the Pocrov mountains, he withdrew to Pocrov Skete and became a hermit on nearby Chiriacu Mountain, where many hermits lived. Each struggled in his cell all week, and on Sunday they gathered for the Liturgy at the skete and communed. Zosimas lived thus for many years, in fasting, vigil and singing. He copied sayings of the Holy Fathers and church chants, which he gave to sketes and hermits, and had the gift of composing spiritual verses, which he sang alone in his cell.

In 1821, in the time of the Eteria uprising, Neamț Monastery stood empty for a year and the monks scattered into sketes and forests. Agapia, Văratec, Bistrița and Sihăstria also suffered, plundered and partly burned by the Turks; Secu was destroyed most. Learning that Secu Monastery was under siege, Zosimas approached it at night to help the monks shut within the walls. Then learning that the treasures, precious icons and holy vessels of Secu and Agapia were hidden under its walls, he crept in at night, broke the wall, took out the treasures and hid them on Mount Vasanu, where they lay buried for a year and a half. After the uprising quieted, he brought them back to the monastery. Then he wrote down all that happened, in his notes.

He also composed verse Laments for the plundered monasteries, sung afterwards by monks and laity: the Lament of Văratec Monastery, of Secu, of Agapia, of Slatina, of Iași and others. He remained in the forests of Pocrov until great old age; feeling his end near, he came down to the skete and passed in peace to the Lord.