died 1375
A disciple of St Sergius of Radonezh who withdrew to the wild shores of Chukhloma Lake near Galich and there founded monasteries that drew many to the monastic life.
Our Venerable Father Abramius of Galich and Chukhloma Lake
Abramius of Galich, also called Abramius of Chukhloma Lake, was a fourteenth-century Russian monastic and one of the disciples of Saint Sergius of Radonezh. After years of monastic formation, he withdrew with his teacher's blessing to the sparsely settled country around Galich, in what is now the Kostroma region, where he became the founder of several monasteries on the shores of Lake Galichskoye and Lake Chukhloma.
His settlement of the Galich wilderness in 1350 and the communities that grew from it made him one of the colonizing monastic fathers who carried the tradition of Saint Sergius into the forests of the Russian north. He reposed in 1375 and is commemorated on July 20.
Orthodox accounts present Abramius as one of the monks formed under Saint Sergius of Radonezh at the Trinity-Sergius monastery during the fourteenth century. He served many years as a novice and was ordained to the priesthood before seeking a more solitary life.
His Wikipedia entry adds that he had earlier worked at the Pechersky Ascension Monastery in Nizhny Novgorod before joining Sergius, moving to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra with his teacher's blessing.
In 1350 Abramius settled in the Galich country, which the sources describe as sparsely peopled. There, by the tradition recorded in his life, he received a revelation directing him to a mountain where he found an icon of the Mother of God said to shine with an indescribable light.
Prince Demetrius of Galich learned of the icon and asked Abramius to bring it into the city, where numerous healings were reported through it. With the prince's support, Abramius then established monastic communities in the region.
The Orthodox accounts credit Abramius with founding four monasteries in the Galich and Chukhloma region. These included a Dormition community near Chukhloma Lake at the site of the icon's appearance, over which he set his disciple Porphyrius; the great Abraham wilderness monastery (the Avraamiyev Novozaozersky monastery), dedicated to the Placing of the Robe; a monastery of the Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos; and a monastery of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos, where he spent his last years.
His Wikipedia entry associates the Avraamiyev Novozaozersky monastery with the northeast shore of Lake Galichskoye and a Gorodets monastery dedicated to the Protection of the Holy Virgin with the northern shore of Lake Chukhloma, which is why he is also called Chukhlomsky and Gorodetsky.
A stone Cathedral of the Intercession of the Theotokos was built over the relics of Abramius in 1608-1631. After it fell into ruin, a new cathedral honoring the icon of the Mother of God 'Tenderness' was constructed over his relics in 1857-1867.
According to his Wikipedia entry, he was canonized in 1553 and again in 1621. He is commemorated on July 20.