St Eleazar of Anzersky was born in the town of Kozelsk into a merchant family. With his parents’ blessing, he withdrew to the Solovetsky Monastery, where he was tonsured as a monk by the abbot, St Irenarch.
During his years of monastic asceticism, he developed a gift for woodcarving. Through his craft, the saint contributed to the decoration of the Cathedral of the Transfiguration. In 1612, with the blessing of the abbot, he withdrew to Anzersky Island, where he lived as a hermit, devoting himself entirely to prayer and to the glorification of God. To provide himself with food, St Eleazar made wooden cups, which he left at the harbor. Those passing by would fill them with all the necessary goods.
In 1616, he received the Great Schema. The ascetics who gathered around him formed a skete following strict rules of monastic life. The cells were built far apart from one another, while the hermits gathered only for the services on Saturdays and Sundays. Their prayer was combined with strenuous physical labor.
Among his disciples there was the hieromonk Nikita, who would later become Patriarch Nikon. Tsar Michael Fyodorovich, having learned of the saint’s ascetic life, once summoned him to Moscow. The saint then foretold the birth of the tsar’s son. The tsar rewarded him generously and supported the construction of a stone church dedicated to the Holy Trinity, as well as the establishment of a monastery.
St Eleazar devoted himself to the translation and writing of books. He reposed at a very advanced age.
