Pachomius the Serb

Pachomius the Serb (Пахомий Серб, also known as Pachomius Logothete) was a 15th-century Serbian-Russian hagiographer in the employ of the Russian Orthodox Church, most notably the archbishops of Novgorod, the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra, and the grand princely and metropolitan courts in Moscow.

He is believed to have written eleven saint's lives (zhitie), including those of Metropolitan Peter of Moscow, Stephen of Perm, Ilia (Ioann) of Novgorod, Moisei of Novgorod, Evfimii II of Novgorod, Iona of Novgorod, Prince Mikhail of Chernigov, Varlaam of Khutyn, Sergei of Radonezh, and others. He also wrote fourteen services, including those for Evfimii II, The Mother of God of the Sign in Novgorod, Metropolitan Aleksei of Moscow, Anthony of the Kiev-Caves Monastery, and Metropolitan Iona of Moscow.

He arrived in Novgorod at the end of the 1430s or beginning of the 1440s, during the archiepiscopate of Evfimy II of Novgorod (1429–1458) and, under Evfimii's aegis, he composed the Life of Varlaam of Khutyn, the founder of the Khutyn Monastery, as well as the "Tale of the Journey of Ioann (Il'ia, Archbishop of Novgorod 1165-1186) on a Devil to Jerusalem." He then traveled to the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra north of Moscow, where he composed the Life of Sergei of Radonezh, the founder of that monastery. He returned to Novgorod under Arcbhishop Iona (1458–1470), and composed the Lives of several Novgorodian bishop-saints, including those of Il'ia (Ioann) and EvfimiiII. He later composed the Life of Moisei, Archbishop of Novgorod sometime shortly after 1484. He died sometime thereafter.

Quote

Instead of bodily comfort, they sought great labors and suffering; instead of sleep, they took standing vigil; instead of mirth, they sought the weeping that brings joy; and instead of the company of men, they sought an eternal conversation with God. And, as if ascending by rungs, they came nearer to Him day by day, always saying: ‘My heart is ready, God, my heart is ready!’ For they did not turn their hearts to words of deception, and their heads were not anointed with the oils of sinners, but they instead followed the example of those ancient men who were worthy in the eyes of God, who wore sheepskin and goatskin coats, who experienced daily deprivation, who wailed in sorrow, who suffered greatly, who wandered in the deserts, the mountains, the hollows, and the gorges of this earth in service to the Lord and praising the Lord with all their body. And this is why God praised them, as it is written: ‘Those who praise Me, I will praise’.

Pachomius Logothete Life of the Venerable Cyril of Belozersk

See also

• Lazar of Hilandar (also known as Lazar the Serb)