He was born in Rome in 1067 to wealthy parents who adhered to the Orthodox faith. At the age of 17, he became an orphan, began studying the writings of the Fathers in Greek, distributed part of his inheritance to the poor, and took monastic vows in a desert skete, where he spent 20 years.
Persecutions from the Latins against the Orthodox forced the brothers to part ways. He wandered until he found a large stone on a deserted seashore, where he spent a year in fasting and prayer. In 1105, a terrible storm swept the stone away into the sea, but on the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, the stone stopped three versts from Novgorod on the banks of the Volkhov River, as recorded in the Novgorod chronicles. Here, with the blessing of the Novgorod saint Nikita the Hermit, he founded a monastery in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos.
The following year, fishermen caught a barrel with the inheritance he had cast into the sea many years before. He took the barrel and bought land for the monastery.
His spiritual endeavors were combined with labor. He cared for the poor, orphans, and widows. In 1117, he began stone construction in the monastery, and the cathedral in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, built in 1117–1119 by the renowned Novgorod architect Peter, with frescoes from 1125, has been preserved. In 1131, Saint Niphont of Novgorod appointed him as the igumen of the monastery. He passed away on August 3, 1147, at the age of 79 and was buried by Saint Niphont.
His relics were discovered on July 1, 1597, incorrupt and placed in a silver-plated reliquary. Since then, a procession has been established from the Sophia Cathedral on the first Friday after the feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. Near the reliquary was a branch of bulrush, with which he had arrived from Rome. He was glorified in 1597. His memory is also celebrated on the first Friday after the feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul and on January 17, the day of his name.
The original life was written shortly after his death by his disciple and successor in the igumenate, the hieromonk Andrew, and the edited life and eulogy were composed by the monk Niphont in 1598.
