Saint Jonah, Metropolitan of Moscow

Life

He was from the province of Kostroma. In his twelfth year he became a monk and as such lived long in the Simonov Monastery in Moscow. In the time of Metropolitan Photios he became Bishop of Ryazan, and when Photios died, Jonah was elected as Metropolitan and sent to Constantinople to the Patriarch for consecration and confirmation. But meanwhile a certain Isidore, Bulgarian by origin, preceded Jonah, arrived in Constantinople before him, and was consecrated as Metropolitan of Russia. Jonah returned to his see in Ryazan. But the evil-minded Isidore ended his metropolitanate badly. He went to the Council of Florence, and only after three years returned to Moscow. All fell upon him as an apostate from Orthodoxy and drove him out. It is not known where he ended his life. To the metropolitanate there came Jonah, a good and wise shepherd — a great wonderworker, clairvoyant, and spiritual father. When the Hagarenes besieged Moscow, Jonah drove them away by his prayer. In his old age he desired that some illness befall him, that he might suffer and be entirely purified by suffering before his departure for the other world. In answer to his prayer, God allowed a wound to open on his leg, as had been previously revealed in a vision to a certain priest named Jacob. From that wound the saint died and departed to the citizens of heaven on March 31, 1461. Many miracles occurred over his relics. A certain mute man named John was brought to the relics of the saint. John kissed the hand of Jonah, and, as he afterward recounted, that hand grasped him by the tongue and he felt a sharp pain. When he freed his tongue and turned to his companions, he spoke as if he had never been mute at all.