Hieromartyr Arsenius, Metropolitan of Rostov

Alexander Matseevich was born in 1697 in Volodymyr in Volhynia, the son of a priest, studied at the Kiev academy and took monastic vows as Arsenius. He preached in Tobolsk, took part in the Second Kamchatka Expedition, and in 1742 became Metropolitan of Rostov and Yaroslavl; a seminary was opened in Yaroslavl at his initiative.

From 1763 he was the only bishop who openly protested against Catherine II's taking of the Church's and monasteries' lands. The Synod deprived him of his rank and sent him to remote monasteries; in 1767 he was stripped of his monastic status and imprisoned in the fortress of Reval (Tallinn) under the name 'Andrei Vral' ('Andrew the Liar'), guarded by soldiers who knew no Russian. He died there on 28 February 1772 and was glorified in 2000.