The venerable martyr Adrian, in the world Andrew Zavalishin, was the owner of a wealthy estate in Andreevshchina. In 1493, during a hunt, he met the venerable Alexander of Svir and began to frequently visit him for guidance. Leaving the worldly life, he was tonsured in the Valaam Monastery with the name Adrian and settled on the peninsula of Lake Ladoga, where a church was built in honor of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker.
In this place, a gang of robbers led by Ondrus was hiding. The venerable one, having no money for a ransom, promised to intercede for the robber before God. The robber, laughing, agreed to leave the monastic life. Soon he fell into the hands of another gang and, repenting, saw the venerable Adrian before him, who freed him from chains. The robber came to the monastery and took the monastic vows with the name Cyprian, and later founded a monastery and became renowned for miracles.
The venerable Adrian was known even to Tsar Ivan the Terrible, who invited him to baptize his daughter Anna. On his way back from Moscow, he was killed by villains hoping to find money with him. The brethren waited long for his return, and after two years he appeared to the elders of the Ondrus Desert, indicating the place of his burial. His incorrupt body was found and buried in the monastery.
Soon, the veneration of his memory as a saint began. Emperor Alexander I, visiting the Olonets Province, prayed at his grave and sent church vessels and books to the monastery. In 1828, the relics of the venerable one were transferred to a new stone church.
His memory is celebrated on August 26.
