The Shepherd of Persecuted Christians: Venerable Feodosiy of Vetka #

The name of this venerable one, translated from the Greek, means “given by God.” And indeed, he proved to be a God-given shepherd for thousands of Christians who fled persecution beyond the borders of Russia into Polish territory, where a large settlement of Russian Old Orthodox believers arose in the town of Vetka.

At the time of the Nikonian schism, he had already been tonsured a monk and ordained a priest by Patriarch Joseph. The hieromonk Feodosiy Vorypin served in the Church of St. Basil the Great at the Nikolsky Monastery in the town of Rylsk (not far from Kursk).

When the monastic community began to adopt the new church reforms, the venerable one refused to accept them, so as not to fall under the anathemas pronounced by the Holy Fathers. He withdrew with several disciples to the Donets River, where he founded a small skete. Preaching among the surrounding Cossack population, he gained their respect and gathered many spiritual children.

A denunciation was sent to the bishop of Belgorod accusing the saint of being a “church agitator.” The venerable one was arrested and brought before the reformist bishop for interrogation. The bishop attempted in vain to persuade the saint to accept the Nikonian books and practices, and so he sent him “to Moscow,” to Patriarch Joasaph. The patriarch delivered the elder over to the civil court, subjecting him to many torments, but Feodosiy remained steadfast in piety. For this, he was imprisoned in the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, where he remained in captivity for a full seven years, devoting himself to prayer and the writing of edifying spiritual books.

Knowing the great need among Old Orthodox Christians for priests, and seeing that he could not escape from the monastery by ordinary means, Father Feodosiy employed a ruse. He pretended to accept the new church reforms, and so was released from his monastic confinement—after which the priest-monk immediately carried out a daring escape. Some Christians helped him make his way to Pomorye, and later to Kerzhenets, to a place called Belmash, and then to the Skete of Smolyany, where reserves of holy myrrh and the Holy Gifts for Communion were preserved and distributed to priests in other parts of Russia.

The settlers of Kerzhenets persuaded the venerable one to remain among them to meet their spiritual needs. He baptized many, heard confessions, and tonsured new monks. Father Feodosiy convened Old Orthodox councils there to address the most important matters of church life.

The authorities learned of the preacher’s activities on behalf of the “Old Faith.” In 1694, a search for him was launched, and so the saint left Kerzhenets and settled in Kaluga. There he found an abandoned and dilapidated wooden church, long unused, that had been dedicated in pre-schism times to the Protection of the Most Holy God-Bearer. Though the church had fallen into disrepair and stood empty, it still preserved an altar with an ancient antimins consecrated during the patriarchate of Joasaph, and an iconostasis dating from the reign of Tsar Ivan the Terrible.

On Great Thursday of the year 1695, Father Feodosiy secretly served the Divine Liturgy in the abandoned church and prepared a large number of reserve Holy Gifts for the Communion of Christians. News of this event spread quickly among Old Orthodox believers throughout Russia and abroad.

When the venerable Ioasaph died in Vetka, without having managed to consecrate the newly built church, the residents of the sloboda sent the monk Niphont with a letter to Father Feodosiy, imploring the priest to come live among them—which he did in that same year, 1695.

Upon arriving in Vetka, Father Feodosiy set about the task of consecrating the church. The building was too small to accommodate the growing community, so he ordered it to be expanded and lengthened. The Christians in Kaluga secretly sent to Vetka the iconostasis from the abandoned church where the venerable one had once consecrated reserve Holy Gifts.

Fearing that, after his death, the sloboda dwellers would once again be left without a priesthood, Father Feodosiy convened a council of monks and laypeople, at which it was resolved that they should not reject the ordination of priests coming from the “new faith,” provided they adhered with their whole heart to Old Orthodoxy. As had been decided earlier in Kerzhenets, converts from the state church were to be received by a “second rite”—that is, through chrismation with holy myrrh—while retaining their baptism, marriage, and priestly ordination received under the reforms, as long as these rites had been properly administered.

When the council unanimously agreed to this decision, Father Feodosiy summoned two priests—his own brother Alexander and the Moscow priest Grigory. Both had been baptized before the Schism, but were ordained by the reformers. He received them into the Old Orthodox Church through a formal renunciation of heresies and the sacrament of chrismation, and blessed them to serve as priests in accordance with the 8th canon of the First Ecumenical Council, other ancient church canons, and the blessing of the ever-memorable Bishop Pavel of Kolomna.

That same year, 1695, together with these two newly received priests, Father Feodosiy performed the rite of consecration for the Church of the Protection of the Most Holy God-Bearer. Upon the altar was placed an ancient antimins that had belonged to Father Ioasaph. According to other accounts, the antimins was brought from Kaluga along with the iconostasis.

At that time, the Church of the Protection was the only consecrated Old Orthodox temple where the Divine Liturgy was being served. All other churches “of the Old Rite” (such as those on the River Chir and in the Vidanskaya hermitage) had by then been destroyed by the Nikonian authorities.

Attached to the church was a large men’s monastery, also dedicated to the Protection, along with separate cells for nuns.

Zealous for the preservation and spread of the true priesthood, the venerable one took every effort to ensure its continued existence. Since the supply of ancient holy myrrh was dwindling (for thousands were being baptized and converting from heresy), he diluted the remaining myrrh with consecrated oil, as is prescribed in cases of necessity in pre-Nikonian sacred books, and instructed priests to do the same in the event of shortage. He provided holy Gifts and myrrh to priests serving in various parts of Russia. Vetka at that time had become a kind of capital of Old Orthodoxy—a “Second Jerusalem,” a place of pilgrimage and spiritual refuge for the faithful.

Father Feodosiy was the most authoritative and influential priest of his era. He cared deeply for ecclesiastical unity, striving to extinguish quarrels and conflicts. Thus, he reconciled a division that had arisen over a new method of censing introduced by Deacon Alexander of Kerzhenets and his followers, saying that while their method should not be condemned, it was better for the sake of church peace to maintain the universal custom.

The venerable one was a true and good shepherd, a wise guide to all his spiritual children. By his life, he gave an example of love for God and neighbor, of self-denial, humble-mindedness, and meekness.

Thanks to the labors of the venerable one, Vetka flourished and was settled by a multitude of Christians—up to forty thousand in number. It became a major center of Old Believer culture. Schools of iconography and church singing were formed there, along with a distinctive style for decorating manuscript chant books with intricate multicolored ornamentation. The cultural heritage of Vetka is an inseparable and unique part of Russian art.

Having reached a venerable old age, the venerable one peacefully departed unto the Lord in the 1710s (it is believed to have been either in 1710 or 1711). His relics were discovered to be incorrupt. They were kept in a chapel near the altar, and memorial services (panikhidas) were often served over them.

Together with the holy relics of Venerable Ioasaph of Vetka and other fathers, the precious remains of Saint Feodosiy were seized by Colonel Sytin during a punitive expedition in 1735. It was officially declared that they had been burned.

The commemoration of this venerable father is observed on May 3rd according to the Church calendar (May 16th by the civil calendar).

Tropar to the Venerable One, Tone 8

O namesake of the gift of God, truly,
To the Church harried by enemies
Was given a most radiant defender,
A true shepherd and wondrous guide,
Our father, Venerable Feodosiy;
And many souls didst thou lead unto salvation,
Rendering unto God a gift most precious.
With them now rejoicing in the Heavenly Church,
Entreat Christ God to save our souls.

Kondak, Tone 7

Thy soul and body thou didst purify,
And madest thyself a temple of the Most Holy Spirit,
O our venerable father Feodosiy.
Sanctify our souls also
By thy prayers to the Lord,
That He may have mercy on us sinners
And bring us into His Heavenly Kingdom.

Ikos

To the earthly emperor thou didst not render divine honor,
O all-wise one, but didst resolve to serve God alone
And to meditate continually on His commandments.
Therefore, thou didst endure persecutions,
O most wise Feodosiy,
And, enkindled with care for thy persecuted people,
Thou didst feed thy flock in pastures of virtue.
Thou didst show thyself to be a zealous guardian of Christ’s truth
And didst preserve the uncorrupted faith unto the end.
And after thy repose, God preserved thy labor-loving body incorrupt,
While thy soul rejoices in the heavenly mansions.
Therefore, cease not to entreat Christ God,
That He may have mercy on us sinners
And bring us into His Heavenly Kingdom.