Paisius of Uglich
Our Venerable Father Paisius, Abbot of Uglich
Venerable · Wonderworker · b. c. 1397, near Kashin in the Tver district — d. June 6, 1504, at the Protection Monastery near Uglich
Commemorated 8 January — Commemoration; kept within the afterfeast of the Theophany, 6 June — Repose
Paisius of Uglich (c. 1397 – 1504) was the founder and first abbot of the Protection (Pokrov) Monastery near Uglich on the Volga, and a wonderworker of the Russian north. Orphaned as a boy, he entered the monastery of his uncle, Saint Macarius of Kalyazin, at the age of eleven, and was formed there in obedience, fasting, and prayer, labouring at the copying of sacred books. At the wish of the Prince of Uglich, Andrew, he founded in 1464 the cenobitic Protection Monastery a few versts from the city, and served as its abbot; he founded a second monastery in 1489. He lived to a great age and reposed on June 6, 1504; his relics, glorified by miracles, rest in the monastery he built. He is commemorated on January 8, within the afterfeast of the Theophany, and on June 6, the day of his repose.
Origins and monastic formation
Paisius was born about 1397 in the Tver district, near the town of Kashin, of a family connected by blood to Saint Macarius of Kalyazin (the founder of the Kalyazin monastery, commemorated March 17): the sources make Paisius Macarius's nephew. Left an orphan while still a child, he was received into his uncle's monastery at the age of about eleven, and grew up under Macarius's guidance in the monastic life of obedience, fasting, and prayer. He was set to the copying of soul-profiting books, a labour of patience and devotion by which the young monk served the community and steeped himself in the Scriptures and the Fathers.
Founder and abbot of the Protection Monastery
Paisius's holiness and gifts drew the notice of Prince Andrew of Uglich (Andrei Vasilyevich, called Bolshoy, the appanage prince of Uglich), who desired a monastery near his city. At the prince's wish Paisius founded, about 1464, the cenobitic Protection Monastery (the Pokrovsky monastery) some three versts from Uglich, and was chosen its first abbot. The sources call him "a man wondrous of spirit, a famed teacher of holiness and a most astounding wonderworker." Under his rule the house flourished, and in 1489 he founded a second monastery, the Nikolsky Grekhozaruchny monastery. He governed the Protection Monastery into extreme old age, an example of the ascetic life to his monks.
Repose and relics
Paisius reposed on June 6, 1504, having lived, by the traditional reckoning, more than a hundred years. His relics, glorified by miracles, were laid in the Protection Monastery he had founded, where they rested beneath a crypt and were venerated as those of a wonderworker; he was numbered among the saints of the Russian Church. (His Protection Monastery was destroyed in the twentieth century, in the flooding of the Volga for the Uglich reservoir.)
Feast and commemoration
Paisius is commemorated in the Russian Church on January 8 (church date; Old Calendar civil January 21), within the afterfeast of the Theophany, together with the day's universal saints, and on June 6 (Old Calendar civil June 19), the day of his repose. His veneration belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church, and especially to the region of Uglich and the Volga, of which he is a local wonderworker.
Hymns
Troparion — Tone 4
Having lived on earth as a citizen of heaven, O Father Paisius, thou wast a teacher of the monastic life and an unshaken pillar of thy flock; by fasting, vigil, and prayer thou didst receive the gifts of the Spirit, to heal the sick and to guide the faithful. Wherefore we honour thy holy repose; intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved.
Original translation from the Slavonic
Iconography
Paisius is depicted as an aged abbot in the monastic mantiya and koukoulion, white-bearded, blessing with one hand and holding a scroll or, in dedication images, a model of his Protection Monastery — the type of the Russian monastic founder-wonderworker. The stored image is a Russian icon of about 1706: the saint at prayer, named in the Slavonic inscription "the Venerable Paisius of Uglich" (source, public domain, pd-old-work).