Venerable Barlaam the Wonderworker of Khutyn

Life

Barlaam was born and raised as a Christian in Great Novgorod. After the death of his parents he became a monk and devoted himself to arduous ascetical labors. He founded a monastery on the bank of the River Volkhov, at the place where heavenly light appeared to him. During his life and after his death he was a great wonderworker, seeing into the secrets of men, casting out unclean spirits, and healing all manner of illnesses in people. A servant of Prince Basil Vasilievich was gravely ill, and he begged to be taken to the grave of Saint Barlaam. He also ordered that if he should die along the way, they should carry him dead to the saint. And so it happened. He died on the journey, and they carried him dead to the monastery, where he came to life and arose and venerated the grave of the saint. In the year 1471, Tsar Ivan the Terrible ordered that the saint's grave be opened. As soon as they began to uncover it, a flame rose from the grave and blazed up the walls of the church. The tsar was so frightened that he fled from the temple, and in his haste he forgot his staff, which to this day is kept beside the saint's grave. In commemoration of this miracle, Saint Barlaam is celebrated again on the Friday after the Sunday of All Saints.