Sfântul Zosima de la Solovki

 

 

Sfântul Zosima de la Solovki(+1478) a fost unul dintre ctitorii Mănăstirii Solovetsky, stabilită pe insula Solovetsky in MareaAlbă din nordul Rusiei.

Originile Sf. Zosima nu sunt certe. Prin 1436 amândoi părinţii erau morţi, iar el se hotărâse să devină monah. La gurile râului Suma, Zosima l-a intâlnit pe Herman, un călugăr care petrecuse mai mulţi ani cu Sf. Savatie la Bolshoi, pe insula Solovetsky. După moartea lui Savatie in 1435, Herman s-a intors pe continent. Zosima şi Herman s-au intors impreună pe insula Solovetsky şi curând alţi călugări au inceput să sosească acolo. Ei se considerau discipolii lui Zosima. Acesta a trebuit să construiască o biserică de lemn şi să-i organizeze pe călugări intr-o mănăstire, care s-asubordonat episcopiei de Novgorod.

Iona, episcopul Novgorodului, dedouă ori a numit egumeni la mănăstire, dar aceştia au părăsit insula, nefiind in stare să indure condiţiile de viaţă de acolo. De aceea l-a numit pe Zosima egumen.

In 1465, Zosima a construit o nouă biserică in carea pus moaştele Sf. Savatie. Sf. Zosima a murit in anul 1478. Incă din timpul egumeniei lui, Mănăstirea Solovetsky obţinuse fonduri bogate de la Republica Novgorodului şi devenise una dintre cele mai bogate mănăstiri din Rusia.

Din 1547, Zosima este venerat ca sfânt in Biserica Rusă. Mănăstirea sa a devenit importantă pentru poporul rus mai ales in vremea comunismului fiindcă era singura mănăstire de călugări care nu a fost deloc inchisă, devenind o oază a vieţuirii ortodoxe intr-un deşert socialist.

  St. Zosimas of Solovki (Russian: Зосима Соловецкий, died 1478) was one of the founders of the Solovetsky Monastery[1] established on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea of northern Russia.

The origin of Zosima is not exactly clear. By 1436 his parents were both dead, and he decided to live as a hermit. In the mouth of the Suma River he met Herman, a monk, who previously spent several years with Savvatiy on Bolshoy Solovetsky Island. Savvatiy died in 1435, and Herman returned to the continent. Zosima and Herman traveled again to Solovetsky Islands, and soon monks started to arrive there. These monks considered themselves the disciples of Zosima. Soon he had to build a wooden church and to organize the monks into a monastery. The monastery was subordinate to Eparchy of Novgorod.

The bishop of Novgorod, Iona, twice appointed hegumens to the monastery, but these hegumens left without being able to bear the conditions of life in a Northern island.[1] Then he appointed Zosima as a hegumen.

In 1465, Zosima built a new church and transferred the relics of Savvatiy to this church. He died in 1478. Already during his tenure, Solovetsky Monastery obtained big investments from Novgorod Republic and established itself as one of the richest monasteries in Russia. Since 1547, Zosima is venerated as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church. Today, the fourth Sunday after Pentecost, we celebrate the memory of all the saints of the Pskov-Caves Monastery in Pechory, Pskov Province, Russia. This monastery became especially important to the Russian Orthodox people during Communist times, because it was the only men's monastery in Russia that was never closed by the atheist regime, becoming an oasis of Orthodox life in a socialist desert.