Vyazma, Smolensk Province, Russia, February 5, 2024
Photo: vedtver.ru
The Smolensk Metropolis of the Russian Orthodox Church has begun collecting materials towards the expected canonization of Igumen Nikon (Vorobiev), a highly venerated 20th-century ascetic.
The relevant decision was made on December 31 by the Diocesan Council of the Smolensk Metropolis on the recommendation of His Grace Bishop Sergei of Vyazma, the Metropolis reports.
It was resolved:
Recognizing the special spiritual significance of his ascetic feats and spiritual heritage, to begin collecting materials related to the ascetic life of Igumen Nikon (Vorobiev) (1894–1963), for his canonization, anticipated by all.
The Metropolis is calling on all those who have information about Igumen Nikon to send it to the Vyazma Diocese’s Commission for the Study of the Feats of the New Martyrs and Confessors and the Perpetuation of the Memory of Deceased Clergy.
In August 2020, the sisters of the St. Alexander Nevsky-Novo-Tikhvin Monastery in the Ekaterinburg Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church have taken up the cause of working towards the possible glorification among the saints of Ilya Leonidovich Tatischev, a loyal subject of the Royal Martyrs who followed them into exile in the Urals and was there murdered by Bolsheviks.
In February 2021, the Pskov Diocese began preparing materials, documents, and testimonies about Elder John (Krestiankin) towards his eventual canonization.
In March 2022, Optina Monastery began collecting testimonies of miracles of the Pascha Martyrs Hieromonk Vasily (Roslyakov), Monk Trophim (Tatarinov), and Monk Therapont (Pushkarev), as well as Archimandrite Benedict (Penkov), abbot of the monastery from 1990 to 2018, who reposed in January 2018; Igumen Theodore (Trutnev), who labored at the monastery from the time of its reopening until his repose in 2003; and Hierodeacon Iliodor (Gairiyants), a monk of Optina from 1989 until his repose in October 2020, affectionately known as the “Voice of Optina.”
In July 2023, it was reported that the Pereslavl Diocese is collecting information towards the eventual canonization of the revered ascetic Hieroschemamonk Joachim (Ulyanov) of the Holy Resurrection Monastery in Uglich.
Last month, it was announced that the Russian Church is studying the issue of canonizing Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin, †1894), the former head of the Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem.
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Igumen Nikon (1894-1963) was born in Tsarist Russia and became witness to all the tragic and great events of the twentieth century: the revolution, several wars, repression, social upheaval and scientific discoveries.
The son of a peasant, intelligent and talented, he was distinguished among six brothers in seriousness, especial honesty, meekness and a kind-hearted disposition. He always wanted to get to the essence, to discover the meaning of life. He was never a shallow person, always searching for the depths. Fr. Nikon maintained these characteristics his entire life.
It was foretold already in his childhood that he would be a monk, and having become a monk in the years of the closing of monasteries and destruction of churches, he struggled ascetically until the end of his days in the world, in a parish.
He survived arrest, imprisonment, and exile to Siberian camps. He lived as an ascetic, relating to himself with utmost strictness, and to others with love. He acquired the unceasing Jesus Prayer and the gift of spiritual discernment. His advice on the spiritual life was based on personal experience and full of the light of God’s grace.
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