Irenarch or Irenarchus the

recluse A recluse is a person who lives in voluntary seclusion and solitude. The word is from the Latin , which means 'to open' or 'disclose'. Examples of recluses are Symeon of Trier, who lived within the great Roman gate Porta Nigra with permissio ...

Rostov Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

is honoured in the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

Irenarchus,
Hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...
of Rostov, was born into a peasant family in the village of Kondakovo in the Rostov district of Russia. In Baptism he received the name Elias. In his thirtieth year, he was tonsured a monk at the Rostov St.s Boris and Gleb Monastery. There he began fervently to labor at monastic tasks, he attended church services, and by night he prayed and slept on the ground. Once, taking pity on a vagrant who did not have shoes, St Irenarchus gave him his own boots, and from that time he began to go barefoot through the snow.

Irenarchus was a mystic and

visionary A visionary, defined broadly, is one who can envision the future. For some groups, visioning can involve the supernatural. Though visionaries may face accusations of hallucinating, people may succeed in reaching a visionary state via medita ...

. After his death many physical, psychological, and spiritual healings were attributed to the touching of his

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...

s. He is commemorated

13 January Events Pre-1600 *27 BC – Octavian transfers the state to the free disposal of the Roman Senate and the people. He receives Spain, Gaul, and Syria as his province for ten years. * 532 – The Nika riots break out, during the racing s ...

in the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

. Irenarchus was a companion of

John the Hairy John the Hairy (, also known as John the Merciful of Rostov) was a holy fool (Yurodivy), of the Russian Orthodox Church in the second half of the 16th century. He endured a great many trials in his lifetime. "He did not have a permanent shelter ...

References

* http://www.oca.org/FSlives.asp Christian saints in unknown century Christian ascetics Russian saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church Year of birth unknown {{saint-stub pl:Irenarch