16,951
edits
Changes
m
link
Ivan Sanin (Russian: Ива́н Са́нин) born in Volokolamsk Principality, on [[November 14]], 1439, to a family of landowners that owned the village of Yazvisch-Pokrov. His father's name was John and his mother Marina. At the age of seven, Ivan was sent to be educated by the Elder Arsenius at the Monastery of the Volokoloamsk-Exaltation of the Cross. At the [[monastery]], John displayed rare qualities and an extraordinary aptitude for church service. In 1459, John joined the Monastery of Tver Savvin under the Elder, and strict ascetic, Barsanuphius. Finding the [[monasticism|monastic]] rule not strict enough, he left, with the blessing of Barsanuphius, and joined St. Paphnutius of Borov in Borov. On February 13, 1460, John was [[tonsure]]d a [[monk]] at Borov Monastery, taking the monastic name Joseph.
The young monk Joseph shouldered the heavy obediences placed on him with love and zeal, with the duties of [[ecclesiarch]] that St. Paphnutius had assigned. Before he died, St. Paphnutius [[ordination|ordained]] Joseph a [[hieromonk]]. After the death of St. Paphnutius in 1477, Joseph became igumen and began to transform monastic life at the monastery along strict [[cenobitic]] principles. A majority of the monks, however, strongly objected to Joseph's leadership. Visiting a number of Russian cenobitic monasteries, including the St. [[Cyril of White Lake ]] Monastery with the Elder Gerasimus, only strengthened his views on monastic life.
Returning to Borov at the wish of the prince, St. Joseph continued to encounter the resistance from the brethren. He, thus, resolved to start a new monastery with a strict cenobitic rule. With seven like-minded monks he returned to Volokolamsk where, with the approval of Prince Boris Vasilievich the brother of Grand Prince Ivan III, St. Joseph founded within Prince Boris' principality the Monastery of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God at the confluence of the Rivers Struga and Sestra. The date [[August 15]], 1479, with the [[consecration of a church|consecration]] of the wooden Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God, marked the founding of this monastery that later gained the name Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery, after its founder.
