Day of Remembrance of St. Joasaph, Bishop of Belgorod (23/12)

Saint Joasaph (at the baptism of Joachim) was born in Priluki, the former Poltava province, in 1705, on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He came from the ancient pious Little Russian Gorlenkov family.

In 1712, his father sent seven-year-old Joachim to the Kyiv Theological Academy. Within the walls of the academy, he felt attracted to monastic life. For seven years the future saint tested himself and finally opened up to his parents. For a long time, mother and father begged their first-born son not to take monastic vows. But in 1725, he secretly received from them a ryasophore with the name Hilarion in the Kiev Mezhyhirya Monastery, and in 1727 he was tonsured into a robe with the name Joasaph in the Kiev Brotherhood Monastery. This event coincided with the completion of studies at the theological academy. A year later, the monk Joasaph was consecrated by Archbishop Barlaam (Vonatovich) to the rank of hierodeacon. He was left as a teacher at the Kyiv Theological Academy.

After the death of His Eminence Varlaam, the Kyiv see began to be governed by Archbishop Raphael (Zaborovsky). Archbishop Raphael drew attention to the outstanding abilities of the young ascetic and attracted him to the wider ministry of the Church. In November 1734, Archbishop Raphael consecrated Hierodeacon Joasaph to the rank of hieromonk and transferred him from the school Fraternal Monastery to the Kiev-Sophia Bishops' House. At the same time, he was appointed a member of the Kyiv Spiritual Consistory.

While serving as examiner, Joasaph made many efforts to correct the moral shortcomings of the parish clergy. The saint's consistory position was an excellent school for his organizational skills. At this time he studied well the needs of the clergy, the merits and demerits of the diocese. Here the comprehensiveness of Joasaph's business qualities, combined with great internal exploits, was clearly determined. He quickly ascended the ladder of spiritual perfection, as evidenced by his surviving work «Scolding of the Seven Honest Virtues with the Seven Deadly Sins».

In June 1737, Hieromonk Joasaph was appointed rector of the Holy Transfiguration Mgar Monastery with his elevation to the rank of abbot. In the monastery, the abbot relied all his strength on the improvement of the monastery, which in the past was a stronghold of Orthodoxy in the fight against union. The monastery contained the relics of St. Athanasius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who appeared several times to Abbot Joasaph, testifying to his patronage.

In 1744, Metropolitan Raphael elevated Abbot Joasaph to the rank of archimandrite. At the end of the same year, he was summoned to Moscow and, by order of the Holy Synod, appointed governor of the Holy Trinity Lavra. In the monastery of St. Sergius, he also selflessly fulfilled the obediences of the Church (in those years it took a lot of effort to restore the monastery after a fire).

In 1748, at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Archimandrite Joasaph was consecrated Bishop of Belgorod. Having entered the bishop's see, Saint Joasaph strictly monitored the piety and condition of churches, the correctness of worship and, especially, the morality of the flock.

The saint paid especially great attention to the education of the clergy, their correct observance of the charter and church traditions. As before, Saint Joasaph devoted all his strength to archpastoral service, not sparing his health. The saint died in 1754. The glorification of the saint as a saint took place in 1911.

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