Venerable Sylvester, Abbot of Obnora
Venerable Sylvester of Obnora lived in the XIV century and was the contemporary of Saint Alexei, Metropolitan of Moscow, and one of the disciples of Saint Sergius of Radonezh. The long Life of Saint Sylvester has not survived. From his youth he had a great love of solitude. After receiving the blessing of his instructor Saint Sergius, the Igoumen of Holy Trinity Monastery, the monk Sylvester went to look for a remote place to live in silence. He set up a cross in the dense forest on the bank of the Obnora River, about 20 kilometers from the former town of Lyubima in the land of Yaroslavl, in the remote wilderness. After building a small cell, the holy hermit began to spend his days and nights in tireless prayer and strict fasting. Tradition says that one day, as he went to the river for water, the Saint received a revelation that the wilderness he had chosen for his ascetical labors would become known and would attract many monks.
After some time, the Saint's cell was discovered by a traveler who had lost his way. The traveler told the Saint that the inhabitants of the surrounding villages used to see bright rays, or a column of cloud hovering over his habitation. Saint Sylvester wept when he realized that his isolation had been discovered. He told the traveler that he had been there a long time, eating the bark of trees and roots. Since he had no bread, at first he would grow weak and fall on the ground. But after an Angel appeared to him in the form of a certain wondrous man and touched his hand, he no longer suffered from physical deprivation. Shortly afterward, as more people heard about the hermit, they came to see him, and others started coming to him for his advice and blessing, seeking his spiritual guidance. Saint Sylvester refused no one, but came out of his cell to bless the pilgrims, and he had long conversations with them.
Soon a monastic community gathered around him. Venerable Sylvester greeted everyone with love and he blessed those who wished to labor together in asceticism to build separate cells. When the number of the desert dwellers grew, Saint Sylvester decided to build a church in that place, with a monastery attached to it. He received a blessing for this from Saint Alexei, Metropolitan of Moscow († 1378), as well as an antimension for the altar. Saint Sylvester became the first Igoumen of that Monastery on the Obnora River, where later Venerable Paul of Obnora and Sergius of Nurom were glorified for their spiritual podvigs. The wooden temple at the Monastery was consecrated in honor of Christ's Resurrection. As Igoumen, Saint Sylvester provided the brethren with a constant example of prayerful struggle and tireless labor, but the love of quietude still dwelt in the holy ascetic's heart. From time to time, he would leave the Monastery and go deep into the forest for seclusion; and each time, crowds of people would be waiting for his return. They brought children and sick persons, who hoped that the Saint would heal them. The miracles worked by Saint Sylvester after his repose were recorded over many centuries.
Even during his lifetime, the place where the Saint retired was called a "protected" grove, which the locals treated with reverence from generation to generation, passing down the Holy Elder's orders not to cut any trees there. In the midst of this grove Saint Sylvester dug three wells, and a fourth on the slope of the mountain near the Obnora River, which was known and honored in the XIX century.
In 1645, Hieromonk Job, the builder of Holy Resurrection Monastery, ignored the ascetic's injunction and decided to cut down the grove. Because of this, he was punished with blindness, from which he was healed after a Moleben was served at Saint Sylvester's tomb. From that time, and to this day, no one has dared to cut down a tree in the protected grove.
When the Saint was stricken with a terminal illness, the brethren who were saddened whenever he went into solitude, were even more distressed about his impending death. "Do not grieve over this, my beloved brethren," he said to console them, "everything happens by God's will. Keep the Lord's commandments and do not be afraid to endure adversity in this life in order to receive a reward in heaven. But if I have boldness with God, and if my work pleases Him, then this holy place will not be impoverished even after my departure. Pray only that the Lord God and His Most Pure Mother will deliver you from the snares of the Evil one."
Saint Sylvester reposed on April 25, 1379, and he was buried to the right of the wooden church of the Resurrection.
There is an icon from the XVII century, on which Saint Sylvester is depicted holding a scroll in his hand; On the scroll is part of the text of his will, which has come down to us.
Soon after the Saint's death, at the place of his spiritual conversations, a chapel was built, around which Cross Processions took place annually on the holy ascetic's Feast Day. The Saint's burial place was especially venerated, because miraculous healings took place at his tomb. Like other northern monasteries, the Resurrection Monastery was repeatedly devastated: in 1538 the Kazan Tatars attacked, in 1612 it was laid waste by the Poles. By 1647, the destroyed monastery was restored. In 1656, with the blessing of Patriarch Nikon, instead of a wooden chapel over the tomb of Saint Sylvester, a church was built in honor of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos. In 1764, the Monastery was abolished, and its cathedral church was turned into a parish church. church. In 1821, Archbishop Philaret of Yaroslavl (later Metropolitan of Moscow) sent a gramota blessing the construction of a stone church instead of the wooden church of the Protection–Resurrection Church, which was completed in 1825. In one of the chapels of the Resurrection church, the incorrupt relics of Saint Sylvester were placed in a bronze silver-plated tomb. In 1860 Saint Sylvester again caused people to remember him by means of several miraculous signs, a description of which was printed in the Yaroslavl and Vologda diocesan gazettes for 1860–1870.
The Saint's relics were lost in the 1920s, during a campaign to open his relics. Shortly thereafter, the church was closed. At present, his relics have been returned to the church, and services are being conducted in it.