Simeon (Archbishop of Novgorod)

On August 11, 1415, he was elected by lot for consecration to the dignity of the Novgorod department from the monks of the Khutynsky monastery .

On March 15, 1416, by Saint Photius , Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia, in the Moscow Archangel Cathedral , he was ordained a hierodeacon , March 21 as a hieromonk , and March 22 as a bishop of Novgorod and Pskov with the elevation to the rank of archbishop . He took part in the consecration with Metropolitan Photius 5 lords: " Gregory of Rostov, Suzdal Mitrofan , Antony Tfer, Sarsky Timothy , Isaac Perm, with the Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich and his brother Yury and Konstantin ."

On April 16, 1416, Archbishop Simeon was solemnly met in Novgorod by a posadnik , a thousand-strong and a clergy of Hagia Sophia .

In the same year, at his own expense, he erected two stone churches in Novgorod: in the name of St. Peter of Moscow at the gates of the bishop’s house and in the name of St. Athanasius of Alexandria in the Kremlin behind St. Sophia Cathedral.

In 1417, during the pestilence, he made religious processions around Novgorod and consecrated a wooden church erected in one day in the name of the great martyress Anastasia the Decisive - “Saint Nostasia”.

In 1418, Archbishop Simeon acted first as a mediator between the warring people and the boyars , and then as a peacemaker, stopping the battle between the Trade and Sofia sides on the bridge over the Volkhov.

In the fall of 1418, after the peace was concluded by the Novgorodians with Pskov, he went there for a month to go to court and pronounced there the Teachings on the need to honor and obey “his holy hierarch and father ... spiritual”, not to kidnap someone else, not to rejoice at someone else’s misfortune, not to be proud and not to offend the Church - “do not intervene in anything, it was only siphonly from the beginning of the episcopacy ... to the lands, to the waters, to the courts, to the press and to all church duties ...” In addition, he wrote a message to the Pskov Snetogorsky Monastery on observance of the communal charter and the jurisdiction of the Father Superior and elders to worldly judges, where he says that he heard that “they don’t have black hands, they don’t keep a confessor, but the abbot and elders don’t obey”, and besides, “another chernzi, let him out of the monastery, let me raise worldly people and worldly judges for the abbot and the elders ... "He orders the violators of the order to expel, without returning their contribution to them (" and give him no money "). He forbids the prince, the landowner and the judge to enter into the monastic feuds and says that the property of the deceased monks is inherited by the monastic hostel, and not by "a lay person ... or clan".

On February 25, 1419, Archbishop Simeon blessed Prince Konstantin Dmitriyevich , who was accepted by the Novgorodians, who had a falling out with his brother, Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich , and in 1421, with gifts, thousands and nobles, he escorted him from Novgorod.

In 1419, Archbishop Simeon traveled around the Korel land after the Norwegians ravaged it and ravaged several churches and monasteries. In order to reconcile the Karelians with the Norwegians and to spread Christianity among the Gentiles, he repeatedly traveled to the north.

The following year, 1420, he helped the Novgorodians to establish eternal peace with Livonia under Narova under the ancient conditions of the time of Alexander Nevsky , regarding borders and trade.

He died on June 15, 1421. He was buried in the Martiriev porch of Novgorod Sophia Cathedral. His relics rest in a hiding place.

• Message to the Snetogorsky monastery on observance of the communal charter // Acts of history, collected and published by the Archaeographic Commission: in 5 volumes - St. Petersburg, 1841-1842. - T. 1, No. 24.
• A lecture in Pskov // Complete collection of Russian chronicles. - 2nd ed. - L., 1925. - T. 4, no. 2. - S. 424-425.
• A lesson on prayer (synodal manuscript, No. 321).

• Zdravomyslov K. Ya. Simeon (Archbishop of Novgorod and Pskov) // Russian Biographical Dictionary : in 25 volumes. - SPb. - M. , 1896-1918.
• Saint Simeon, Archbishop of Novgorod .