From the Prologue of Ochrid
He was born in the village of Korotsk in the Novgorod province in the year 1724, in a simple peasant home. In his thirty-fourth year he received the monastic tonsure, and soon, because of his ascetic labors and great spiritual wisdom, he received ever higher and higher positions, until at last he was consecrated Bishop of Voronezh. He served as bishop for not quite five years, and then because of poor health withdrew and settled in the Zadonsk Monastery. He reposed peacefully in the year 1783 in Zadonsk, where his wonder-working relics rest to this day. A great ascetic of the Russian Church, a rare pastor, a man of prayer, and the author of most beautiful spiritual works. In his wisdom, holiness, and asceticism, he may be compared with the great Fathers of the ancient Orthodox Church. Because of the many attested miracles at his relics, he was proclaimed a saint first by the people and then by the official Church in the year 1861.
