15th century – 1503
A man of the Lithuanian lands who, refusing union with Rome, came to Russia, gave away all he had, and entered the monastic life, founding a community at Lukhov near Kostroma.
Our Venerable Father Tikhon of Luchov, Kostroma
Tikhon of Luchov (in the world Timothy) was a monastic founder of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries who left the Lithuanian lands for Russia rather than accept union with Rome, gave away his possessions, and established a wilderness community in the Lukhov region of the Kostroma diocese. He is commemorated on June 16, the day of his repose in 1503.
By tradition he had been a soldier in his native country before his departure, and after settling in the Russian forest he and the disciples who gathered around him supported themselves entirely by manual labor. The monastery that grew up at the site of his hermitage was dedicated to Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, and his veneration spread after the uncovering of his relics in 1569.
The community Tikhon gathered earned its living by the work of its members' hands, in keeping with the principle that poverty and labor lead to salvation. Tikhon himself was a skilled copyist of books and a fine lathe turner.
Out of humility he declined ordination to the priesthood throughout his life. The monastery that arose at his hermitage took the name of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker.
In 1569 the relics of Tikhon were uncovered at his tomb in Lukhov and found incorrupt, an event accompanied by reports of healings. According to the account, the igumen who uncovered them was temporarily struck blind and recovered his sight after repenting, after which the relics were returned to the ground.
A description of his life together with seventy of his posthumous miracles was compiled in 1649. The uncovering is commemorated separately on June 26.