A merchant's son who left his home for the monastic life and dwelt in silence and humble obedience at a monastery of Pereyaslavl, hiding his struggles from all.
Feast Day
July 22
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Our Venerable Father Cornelius the Silent of Pereyaslavl
Life
Cornelius of Pereyaslavl was a Russian monastic of the seventeenth century, remembered for an extraordinary thirty-year vow of silence kept within the monastery of Saints Boris and Gleb on the Sands at Pereyaslavl. Born to a merchant family of Ryazan and named Konon in the world, he left his parental home in his youth to take up the ascetic life.
He is commemorated in the Orthodox Church on July 22, the day of his repose in 1693. Nine years after his burial his relics were discovered incorrupt during church construction, and in 1705 Metropolitan Demetrius of Rostov venerated them and composed liturgical hymns in his honor.
Timeline 5 moments
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early lifeBirth at RyazanBorn the son of a Ryazan merchant and named Konon in the world, he left his parental home in his youth to seek the monastic life.
novitiateNovice under the Elder PaulHe served as a novice under the Elder Paul in the Lukianov wilderness near Pereyaslavl for five years before transferring to the Pereyaslavl monastery of Saints Boris and Gleb on the Sands.
tonsureMonastic tonsureAfter his years of novitiate he received monastic tonsure and the name Cornelius.
1693ReposeHe died on July 22, 1693, having made his confession to the monastery priest Father Barlaam, received the Holy Mysteries, and taken the schema.
1705Discovery and veneration of relicsNine years after his burial his relics were found incorrupt during church construction; in 1705 Metropolitan Demetrius of Rostov viewed them and composed liturgical hymns in his honor.
Contributions & Legacy
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Ascetic Life
Cornelius is chiefly remembered for a vow of silence that he kept for thirty years, during which he spoke no word to anyone, so that the brethren regarded him as deaf and dumb. He joined this silence to severe fasting, by some accounts taking food only three times a week and never sleeping on a bed, an austerity that left his body wasted and emaciated.
Alongside his interior discipline he gave himself to manual labor in the monastery, by tradition building a well and tending the monastery garden. He hid the full measure of his struggles from those around him, concealing his asceticism under the appearance of an ordinary, voiceless brother.
Relics & Shrines
Nine years after his burial, his relics were uncovered incorrupt in the course of church construction at the monastery. In 1705 Metropolitan Demetrius of Rostov viewed the relics and composed a Troparion and Kontakion in his honor, marking his veneration in the Russian Church.
