Procopius of Ustyug () or Procopius of Lübeck (; ; died ) was a

fool for Christ Foolishness for Christ (; ) refers to behavior such as giving up all one's worldly possessions upon joining an ascetic order or religious life, or deliberately flouting society's conventions to serve a religious purpose—particularly of Christia ...

(''yurodivy'') and

miracle worker Thaumaturgy () is the practical application of magic to effect change in the physical world. Historically, thaumaturgy has been associated with the manipulation of natural forces, the creation of wonders, and the performance of magical feats t ...

, formerly a merchant from

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

. He was canonized as a saint by 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 ...

Life

Though he is sometimes identified as one ''Jacob Potharst'', son of a Lübeck merchant, Procopius'

worldly name A legal name is the name that identifies a person for legal, administrative and other official purposes. A person's legal birth name generally is the name of the person that was given for the purpose of Civil registry, registration of the birth ...

, surname, date and place of birth are not reliably determined. In 1818, the universal celebration of the saint was established. Born in

, Germany, he was a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

merchant who converted to

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

Christianity during his travels. St. Procopius lived as a

(''yurodivy'') for 60 years. In 1290, he predicted the fall of a

meteorite A meteorite is a rock (geology), rock that originated in outer space and has fallen to the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical ...

near

Veliky Ustyug Veliky Ustyug () is a town in Vologda Oblast, Russia, located in the northeast of the oblast at the confluence of the Sukhona and Yug Rivers. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 31,665. Veliky Ustyug has a great historical signific ...

, as well as

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

and

conflagration A conflagration is a large fire in the built environment that spreads via structure to structure ignition due to radiant or convective heat, or ember transmission. Conflagrations often damage human life, animal life, health, and/or property. A c ...

Veneration

Procopius was canonized as a saint by the

in 1547. The incorrupt relics of St. Procopius were discovered in the 18th century near the Entrance of the Theotokos to the Temple Church in

and placed in the church, where they remained in open view for two hundred years, being the putative source of numerous healings. In the 1960s, the church St. Prokop was built in Hamburg, Germany, by the

Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (), also called Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia or ROCOR, or Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA), is a semi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). Currently, t ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Procopius Of Ustyug 1303 deaths 13th-century Christian saints 13th-century German businesspeople 14th-century Christian saints 14th-century Russian people Eastern Orthodox saints Miracle workers People from Lübeck Russian saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church Year of birth unknown Yurodivy