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Commemorated on June 12
The Monk Arsenii
of Konevsk was a native of Novgorod. He was a craftsman and he fashioned
various items from copper. The saint accepted tonsure at the Lisich monastery
near Novgorod, where he spent 11 years. From there he set off to Athos. And
there the Monk Arsenii spent three years, dwelling in prayer and preparing for
the Athos brethren vessels of copper.
In the year 1393 the
Monk Arsenii returned to Russia and brought with him an icon of the Mother of
God, which afterwards was called the Konevsk. The Monk Arsenii set out with
this icon to the island of Konevets on Lake Ladoga. Here he spent five years in
solitude. In 1398 with the blessing of the Novgorod archbishop Ioann, the Monk
Arsenii laid the foundations of a common-life monastery in honour of the
Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God. He visited Athos a second time, and
besought of the holy fathers their prayers and blessing for the monastery. In
1421 the lake flooded, wiping out the monastery structures, and it forced the
Monk Arsenii to relocate the monastery to a new spot on the island. The Monk
Arsenii died in the year 1447 and was buried in the monastery church. The life
of the monk was written during the XVI Century by the Konevsk hegumen Varlaam.
In 1850 the Life of the Monk Arsenii was published together with the service
and laudation.
© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.
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