Venerable Zosimas the Abbot of Solovki

Zosimas was born in the village of Tolvuya on Lake Onega in the Novgorod lands. He met the monk Herman, who had lived on the Solovetsky island with Savvaty, and the two sailed there. Zosimas wintered alone once when Herman was stranded on the mainland, and was joined by others; he built a church of the Transfiguration. Archbishop Jonah of Novgorod blessed it and, when two abbots left, the brothers asked Zosimas to become abbot and the archbishop ordained him.

He brought Savvaty's body from the river Vyg to the island. When local landholders pressed the monks, he went to Novgorod and obtained the island for the monastery. He died on 17 April 1478. The Solovetsky Monastery grew to be one of the largest in northern Russia.