Venerable Leonid of Ustnedumsk

Early Life and Call to Monasticism

Leonid lived in the Poshekhonsk district of Vologda and was a farmer by occupation, entering monastic life only in his later years. According to his life, at about the age of fifty he saw the Mother of God in a dream, who directed him to go to the River Dvina to the Morzhevsk Nikolaev hermitage.

He initially doubted the vision and decided not to follow it, supposing it to be merely a dream. Instead he joined the Kozhe Lake monastery, where he accepted monastic tonsure and spent about three years at work, before moving to the Solovki monastery, where he labored in the bakery. When the vision recurred and urged him not to resist God's will, he set out for the Morzhevsk hermitage and informed Igumen Cornelius, who served as abbot from 1599 to 1623, of the Mother of God's command. He received the abbot's blessing together with a Hodegetria icon of the Mother of God.

Foundation at Ustnedumsk and Draining of the Marshes

Leonid first established a settlement near the River Luza and Mount Turin, about eighty versts from Ustiug. After encountering local resistance, he relocated further upriver, roughly thirty versts from Lalsk.

To drain the surrounding marshland, the ascetic dug three canals, about two kilometers in length, connecting the River Luza, Black Lake, Holy Lake, and Black Rivulet. According to his life, during this heavy labor he was bitten by a poisonous snake but recovered overnight. With the blessing of Metropolitan Philaret of Rostov, he was ordained hieromonk in 1608. A church honoring the Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple was built to house the Hodegetria icon. In his later years he relocated to Black Lake, where a new church was consecrated in 1652.

Repose and Legacy

Saint Leonid reposed on July 17, 1654, at the reputed age of one hundred. His preserved hair-shirt remained as a reminder of his ascetical dedication. He is venerated as one of the first enlighteners of these remote northern lands.

His memory is kept on July 17; churches following the Old Calendar commemorate him on July 30. A Troparion to Saint Leonid is preserved, and his holy icons are found in churches at the places of his labors.

Relics & Shrines

His hair-shirt was preserved as a relic and reminder of his ascetic life. His holy icons are kept in churches at the places of his struggles around Ustnedumsk.