Holy Righteous Artemius

Life

Born in 1532. The son of Russian peasant parents, Cosmas and Apollinaria, from the village of Verkola in the Dvina district. From the age of five he distinguished himself from other children by his extraordinary piety and meekness. When he was thirteen years old, the boy was walking with his father through a great forest. From a violent storm, Artemius died in the forest, and his grieving father, unable to dig a grave, covered his body with branches and departed. After twenty-eight years a certain man saw in that forest an extraordinary light, approached the light, and found the undecayed and incorrupt body of Artemius. Many sick people were healed of their illnesses as soon as they touched the body of Saint Artemius. His holy relics repose in a monastery near Pinega in the province of Archangel.