Venerable (Monastic)14th century

Venerable Methodius Abbot of Peshnosha

14th century – 1392

Also known as Methodius of Peshnosha

A disciple of St Sergius of Radonezh who withdrew into a forest beyond the river and, at his teacher's counsel, founded the Peshnosha monastery, laboring at its building with his own hands.

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Commemorated as

Our Venerable Father Methodius, Abbot of Peshnosha

Life

Methodius of Peshnosha was a fourteenth-century Russian monastic who trained as a disciple of Saint Sergius of Radonezh and went on to found the Peshnosha monastery in the wooded country beyond the River Yakhroma. After several years under Sergius's guidance, he withdrew with his teacher's blessing into a solitary, marshy place where he built a cell, and the disciples who gathered around him formed the nucleus of a new community.

On Sergius's counsel he organized the settlement into a monastery with its own church, taking a direct hand in the building work himself. He became its igumen (abbot) in 1391 and reposed the following year. Numbered among the saints at the Moscow Council of 1549, he is commemorated on June 4 and June 14.

Troparion1 hymnReadHide

TroparionTone 8

By a flood of tears you made the desert fertile,
and your longing for God brought forth fruits in abundance.
By the radiance of miracles you illumined the whole universe!
O our holy father Methodius, pray to Christ our God to save our souls!

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

Timeline4 momentsReadHide

14th centuryDisciple of Sergius of RadonezhIn his youth Methodius went to Saint Sergius of Radonezh and spent several years under his spiritual guidance before seeking a more solitary life.
14th centuryWithdrawal beyond the YakhromaWith Sergius's blessing he withdrew to a marshy forest place beyond the River Yakhroma and built himself a cell, where disciples soon gathered around him.
1391Igumen of PeshnoshaAfter Sergius advised him to formalize the community into a monastery and church, Methodius labored at the construction and became igumen of the monastery in 1391.
1392ReposeMethodius reposed in 1392 and was buried at the monastery he had founded; the day is recorded variously as June 4 and June 14.

Contributions & Legacy

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The Founding of Peshnosha

The monastery's name, Peshnosha, is traditionally derived from Methodius's own labor: he carried timber on foot along the river while building the church and cells. This hands-on toil in a difficult, marshy setting became a defining feature of the foundation's early history.

About two versts from the monastery Methodius kept a place of withdrawal for prayer. Saint Sergius came there for spiritual conversation with his former disciple, and the spot accordingly became known as Beseda, the "Conversation-place."

Veneration and Glorification

Methodius was regarded as a saint at Peshnosha from the day of his death, with his memory kept at the monastery and in the surrounding villages. His wider local veneration grew in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

He was formally numbered among the saints at the Moscow Council of 1549. His June 14 commemoration coincides with that of Saint Methodios, Patriarch of Constantinople.

Relics & Shrines

Methodius was buried at the Peshnosha monastery. A church dedicated to Saints Sergius of Radonezh and Methodius of Peshnosha was built over his relics in 1732.

Related Saints1 saintShowHide

Saints connected to his life, mission, and place in Orthodox tradition.

Teacher — the great abbot of Holy Trinity under whom Methodius trained, who counseled him to organize Peshnosha into a monastery and came to converse with him at the place afterward called Beseda.

Sergiusof Radonezh

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Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints