Our Venerable Father Roman, Abbot of Kirzhach, the Wonderworker
Life
Saint Roman of Kirzhach was a fourteenth-century Russian monastic, a disciple and co-ascetic of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, who became the first abbot of the Annunciation monastery founded on the Kirzhach river in the forests of the Vladimir region. When Saint Sergius returned to the Trinity monastery, he left Roman to govern the new wilderness community, which Roman led until his repose on 29 July 1392.
Remembered in the manuscript tradition as a zealous ascetic and a demanding spiritual instructor, Roman is numbered among the saints and called a wonderworker. He was buried in the Annunciation church he had helped to build, where his relics are honored to the present day.
Timeline 3 moments
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c. 1371Founding of the Annunciation monastery on the KirzhachSaint Sergius of Radonezh, together with his disciple Roman, built a church dedicated to the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos in the forests of the Vladimir region beside the Kirzhach river and established a new monastery there.
c. 1374Roman appointed abbotAbout three years after the founding, with the blessing of Saint Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow, Saint Sergius returned to the Trinity monastery and left Roman to head the newly created wilderness monastery. Roman was ordained to the priesthood by Metropolitan Alexis.
29 July 1392ReposeSaint Roman reposed and was buried in the Annunciation church. In the manuscript tradition he is numbered among the saints and called a wonderworker.
Contributions & Legacy
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Life and Monastic Foundation
Saint Roman was a co-ascetic and disciple of Saint Sergius, igumen of Radonezh, the central figure of the fourteenth-century monastic revival in Rus'. According to his life, Sergius and Roman together built a church in honor of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos in the forests of the Vladimir region beside the Kirzhach river and established a new monastery there.
After about three years, with the blessing of Saint Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow, Sergius returned to his Trinity monastery and entrusted the new community to Roman, who remained to govern it. Ordained to the priesthood by Metropolitan Alexis, Roman fulfilled the precepts of his spiritual father and teacher with great fervor. The sources remember him as a zealous ascetic and a good and demanding instructor who served as an example for all the brethren.
Relics & Shrines
Saint Roman reposed on 29 July 1392 and was buried in the Annunciation church of the monastery he had led. The Holy Annunciation Monastery in Kirzhach, which had been disbanded in 1764 and whose buildings suffered demolition in the Soviet period before being rebuilt from the 1990s, has held his relics since 1997.
