Holy Hierarch Pitirim, Bishop of Tambov

Pitirim was born in 1644 or 1645, probably in Vyazma, and was named Procopius at baptism. He became a monk, then abbot of the Forerunner monastery in Vyazma and then archimandrite. In 1684 he was summoned to Moscow to be consecrated bishop of Tambov, a new diocese on the southern frontier of the Russian state, close to the steppe from which Crimean Tatars raided. He was consecrated on 15 February 1685.

As bishop he put up churches and put much effort into building the cathedral in Tambov, which he redesigned as a two-storey church after an illness. He died on 28 July 1698 and was buried in its side-chapel of St Nicholas. A biographer calls him the true founder of the church of Tambov.