Orenburg, Orenburg Province, Russia, February 28, 2025
Photo: oren-eparh.ru
The Orenburg Metropolia of the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated the canonization of a 19th-20th century ascetic saint yesterday.
The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church canonized Igumen Zosima (Kartsev) at its session 
Russian Church canonizes ascetic, establishes feasts commemorating autocephaly and patriarchateThe Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church established several new feasts at its latest session on Friday.
“>in late December, and yesterday, this decision was celebrated at the St. Pimen of Ugresh Church in Orenburg. The service was led by His Eminence Metropolitan Peter of Orenburg and four other Russian hierarchs, the Orenburg Diocese reports.
Photo: oren-eparh.ru
During the Little Entrance, the Synodal proclamation and life of St. Zosima were read out. Then, during the chanting of his troparion, kontakion, and magnification, Met. Peter blessed the faithful with a new icon of the newly-canonized saint.
After the prayer behind the ambo, the Metropolitan delivered an archpastoral address.
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Photo: pravoslavie.ru
St. Zosima was born in 1860 in the Orenburg Province. After marriage, seven children were born to him and his wife, five of whom died in infancy.
In 1896, seeking a solitary life, with his wife’s consent, he withdrew to an elevation near the Sakmara River bank near the village of Pokrovka in the Orenburg District. He dug a cave in the mountain and led a strict ascetic life there, demonstrating through his example unwavering determination, diligence, and persistence in achieving his goals.
After seven years of hermitage, St. Zosima went on a pilgrimage to holy places: to the Diveyevo Monastery, to Voronezh and Kiev. Strengthened by miraculous manifestations, he began working to establish a monastery. By 1910, a house church dedicated to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was built and consecrated, and a bell tower was constructed.
In 1909, by decree of the Holy Synod, the monastic community was established as the St. Nicholas Skete under the Orenburg Dormition-Makary Monastery. In autumn 1910, with his wife’s consent (who later also took monastic vows), he took monastic vows with the name Zosima and was appointed head of the St. Nicholas Skete. Later he was ordained as a hierodeacon, and in summer 1911—as a hieromonk.
In 1911, a brotherhood building with a church in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was built. The monastery flourished and gained new residents. In July 1917, by decision of the Holy Synod, Hieromonk Zosima was elevated to the rank of igumen.
From the beginning of the civil war, seeing grief and death, Igumen Zosima called for peace in his sermons and private conversations. He urged the brotherhood and parishioners to pray for their warring relatives. In August 1919, St. Zosima was arrested on charges of counter-revolution and imprisoned in the Orenburg Provincial Prison, but was later acquitted.
St. Zosima’s last days were spent caring for the monastery, in prayer and enduring illness. According to preserved testimonies, he died in 1920 at the age of 60 and was buried near the altar of the monastery’s St. Nicholas Church.
In 2014, St. Zosima’s burial site was discovered, after which his veneration, which had been preserved among the people, intensified greatly. Through the prayers of God’s servant, miracles occur, including the healing of married couples from infertility and the liberation of sufferers from harmful dependencies.
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Source: Orthodox Christianity