Life and Episcopacy
He was tonsured a monk on February 10, 1896, receiving the monastic name Nikodim, and was elevated to the rank of archimandrite on August 30, 1901. On January 9, 1911, he was appointed Bishop of Rylsk, serving as a vicar of the Kursk Diocese, and on November 15, 1913, he was promoted to Bishop of Belgorod as the first vicar of that same diocese.
A native of the Arkhangelsk Governorate, he carried a deep knowledge of the spiritual heritage of the Russian north into his work as a churchman.
Scholarship and Contributions
Nikodim was a prolific hagiographer who produced extensive documentation of the saints and ascetics of northern Russia. Among his works is the multi-volume 'Life Descriptions of Russian Ascetics of the 18th–19th Centuries,' a substantial compilation that preserved the memory of these holy figures.
Arrest and Martyrdom
He was arrested on January 7, 1919, by the Cheka during the celebration of Orthodox Christmas. Following public protests he was briefly released, but he was then re-arrested and put to death. He died on January 10, 1919, in Belgorod, which at that time lay within the territory of the Ukrainian People's Republic. An autopsy is reported to have revealed a non-fatal gunshot wound to the chest together with blunt-force trauma to the skull and marks of strangulation.
Canonization
He was canonized as a New Martyr and Confessor of the Russian Orthodox Church at the Jubilee Council of Bishops held August 13–16, 2000.
Relics & Shrines
His relics were discovered on November 2, 2012, in Belgorod. The OCA records this uncovering of the relics on October 20. The relics are now enshrined; sources describe a chapel dedicated to his memory within the Belgorod Metropolitan compound, and they are also noted as resting at the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior alongside the relics of Saint Joasaph of Belgorod.
Commemoration
He is commemorated on December 28, the date associated with his repose, and on October 20, which marks the uncovering of his relics in 2012; an October 22 cross-reference also appears in some calendars. Some liturgical listings give his year of death as 1918 by the Old Style reckoning. One December 28 listing associates him with Solovki, but this appears to be a conflation with other martyrs; the Russian-language account and the OCA place his death in Belgorod in January 1919.
