Righteous 17th century

Righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye

c. 1607 - 1642

Also known as Simeon the Wonderworker

A nobleman who hid his status and lived as a poor wanderer, sewing garments for the needy without payment.

Feast Day

December 18

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Commemorated as

The Righteous Simeon, Wonderworker of Verkhoturye

Life

Simeon of Verkhoturye, also called Simeon of Merkushino, was a Russian ascetic of the seventeenth century who lived as a poor wanderer in the Ural region. According to his life, he was born into a noble family in the European part of Russia and came east after the upheavals of the Time of Troubles, deliberately concealing his origins and adopting the manner of a beggar. He settled near the city of Verkhoturye and most often lived at the churchyard of the village of Merkushino on the Tura River.

He supported himself by humble labor, sewing fur coats and other garments for the villagers without taking payment, and in summer he withdrew to the bank of the Tura River some distance from Merkushino, where he lived in solitude and prayer and obtained his food by fishing. The synaxarion relates that he would intentionally leave a garment unfinished, omitting a sleeve or a fitting, so as to provoke the abuse of his customers and bear it as a discipline of humility. He died at Merkushino in 1642, at about thirty-five years of age, and was buried by the church of the Archangel Michael.

Roughly half a century after his burial his coffin was found to have risen toward the surface of the grave, and his remains were discovered to be incorrupt. Reports of healings followed, and he was glorified as a saint by the Russian Church in the late seventeenth century. On September 12, 1704, with the blessing of Metropolitan Philotheus of Tobolsk, his relics were translated from the church of the Archangel Michael at Merkushino to the monastery of Saint Nicholas at Verkhoturye, which became a major center of pilgrimage. He is commemorated on December 18, the day of his repose, and on September 12, the translation of his relics, and is especially venerated as a patron of the Urals and Siberia.

Timeline 5 moments Read Hide

c. 1607 Birth Born into a noble family in the European part of Russia.
c. 1620 Settles in the Urals Moves east to the Verkhoturye region and later to the village of Merkushino on the Tura River.
1642 Repose Dies at Merkushino at about thirty-five years of age and is buried by the church of the Archangel Michael.
1692 Discovery of relics His coffin is found risen toward the surface of the grave and his remains incorrupt; healings are reported.
September 12, 1704 Translation of relics His relics are translated to the monastery of Saint Nicholas at Verkhoturye with the blessing of Metropolitan Philotheus of Tobolsk.

Contributions & Legacy

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Life as a Wanderer

The defining feature of Simeon's life in the tradition is his deliberate self-concealment. Though described as of noble birth, he hid his rank and moved among the villages of the Verkhoturye district as an ordinary poor man, living without a fixed home and depending on his own labor. His chief trade was tailoring: he went from house to house sewing fur coats and clothing, chiefly for the poor, and accepted no payment for the work.

Sources record that he tied this craft to a practice of humility, intentionally failing to complete some part of a garment so that those who had hired him would reproach and revile him, abuse which he accepted without complaint. In the warmer months he separated himself from the settlements and lived alone along the Tura River, devoting himself to prayer and sustaining himself by fishing. Some accounts add that he preached the Christian faith to the indigenous Vogul people of the region.

Relics and Veneration

Simeon was buried at the village of Merkushino by the church of the Archangel Michael. About fifty years later his coffin was observed to have come up through the soil of the grave, and his body was found incorrupt; healings were reported in connection with the site. The Russian Church recognized him as a saint in the closing years of the seventeenth century.

In 1704 his relics were carried in solemn translation from Merkushino to the monastery of Saint Nicholas at Verkhoturye, an act blessed by Metropolitan Philotheus of Tobolsk. The shrine drew large numbers of pilgrims and made Simeon one of the most widely honored saints of the Urals and western Siberia. His posthumous reputation centered on healings of the sick, who according to tradition were cured after he appeared to them in dreams, and on the recovery of those given over to drunkenness.

Notes

Principal repose feast; the translation of his relics is commemorated Sep 12.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints