St Tikhon of Zadonsk

Timofey Sokolov was born to a poor sexton's family in the Novgorod province and knew hunger in childhood; he won his education by scholarship, taught rhetoric, and was tonsured with the name Tikhon. Consecrated bishop, he served the vast diocese of Voronezh with tireless preaching, founding schools and confronting surviving pagan festivities with fatherly persuasion. Broken in health after less than five years, he retired in 1767 to the monastery of Zadonsk, where his true flowering began. There he lived simply, gave his pension to the poor, visited prisoners, and wrote the works that made him Russia's most beloved spiritual author: 'Journey to Heaven' and the six volumes of 'On True Christianity,' drawing spiritual lessons from every earthly thing. Deeply tried by despondency, he became a healer of the despondent. He reposed in 1783 and was canonized in 1861; Dostoevsky drew on him in creating the elder Zosima of The Brothers Karamazov.