Our Venerable Father Michael Maleinos
July 12/25
Venerable Michael Maleinos (in the world, Manuel) was born in the region of Charsianon in Cappadocia around the year 894. He came from a noble family and was related to the Greek Emperor Leo VI the Wise (886–911). From childhood, Venerable Michael was distinguished by his piety and love for learning. He studied the Holy Scriptures with particular attention.
After receiving an excellent education, Saint Michael held a significant position at the court of Leo the Wise. However, following the emperor's death, he followed the long-standing inclination of his heart towards monastic life and left the noisy and bustling court life. Venerable Michael went to Bithynia (a region in Asia Minor) to the Kiminis Monastery near Mount Athos and began his ascetic life under the guidance of Elder John Heladites, who tonsured him as a monk.
After some time, he was ordained to the priesthood. Unceasingly studying the Holy Scriptures, Venerable Michael demonstrated how to combine priesthood with monasticism, reached a high degree of dispassion, and acquired the gift of clairvoyance. He was very compassionate and humane, unable to leave anyone in need or sorrow without help and consolation, and many miracles were performed through his fervent prayers.
After many monastic labors under the guidance of Elder John, Venerable Michael sought his blessing for a solitary life in a cave. He spent five days a week in prayerful labor, only coming to the monastery on Saturdays and Sundays to participate in the Divine Services and receive the Holy Mysteries.
The example of his high spiritual life attracted many who sought salvation. In a deserted place called Dry Lake, Venerable Michael founded a monastery for the brethren who gathered around him and established a strict rule. When the monastery grew strong, Venerable Michael retreated to even more remote areas and established a new monastery there. Soon, through the labors of the holy abbot, the entire Kiminis Mountain was covered with monastic communities, where prayers were incessantly offered for the whole world to the Throne of the Almighty.
In 953, Venerable Michael Maleinos went to Constantinople on monastery business. There he met a pious young man named Abraham, who later came to the saint’s monastery and received monastic tonsure from him with the name Athanasios (Afanasi). Saint Athanasios (†1000) learned monasticism under the guidance of Venerable Michael and later founded the famous Great Lavra of Athos—the first coenobitic monastery on the Holy Mountain. The nephew of Venerable Michael, Nicephorus (later Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus Phocas; 963–969), provided significant material assistance for the establishment of the Lavra. When Venerable Michael grew old and frequently ill, he wished to appoint Venerable Athanasius as his successor. However, Saint Athanasius, considering himself unworthy of the abbot’s rank, secretly left for Mount Athos. Venerable Michael governed the brethren until old age and peacefully passed away in 962.
In Russia, Venerable Michael Maleinos was especially venerated during the reign of Michael Romanov (1613–1645), whose heavenly patron was Saint Michael. Later, in the Trinity Cathedral of the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma, a chapel was dedicated in the name of Venerable Michael, where a miraculous icon depicting the saint was kept. Chapels in the name of Venerable Michael Maleinos were also established in other cities, especially in churches built with the tsar’s donations.