St Pitirim, Bishop of Perm (+1456)

Saint Pitirim, Bishop of Great Perm, took over the episcopal see of Great Perm after the hierarch Gerasimus, who died a martyr (+after 1441; commemorated 24 January). Before this the blessed father had been head of the Chudov monastery with the rank of archimandrite. Later he composed a canon to Saint Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow (commemorated 12 February), and gathered information about his life. Saint Pitirim’s apostolic labours soon made themselves felt in the life of the pagans within the diocese, and little by little, as they were converted to Christianity, bloodshed too diminished.

Asyka, the pagan chief of the Vogul tribe, enraged by the saint’s labours and gradually losing his influence over the people, once attacked the hierarch and put him to death. For forty days Saint Pitirim’s body lay in the scorching heat, but corruption did not touch it. He was buried in the Annunciation cathedral at Ust-Vym.