Bishop
Saint Gerasimus, Bishop of Great Perm (Ust-Vym), was an enlightener of the Perm region. He was appointed to the see of Perm at a difficult time for the diocese, sometime after 1416. His flock, consisting of Christian Zyryans, suffered from attacks by the pagan Vogul tribes and from oppression by self-seeking Novgorodians and Vyatka inhabitants, who took advantage of the remoteness of the Moscow authorities.
Saint Gerasimus tirelessly cared for his flock and for the spread of Orthodoxy. The bishop was a highly respected participant in the Moscow Councils of 1441, which condemned the Union of Florence, and of 1448, which decreed that the Metropolitans of All Rus’ should be appointed by a council of Russian bishops.
Sparing neither his strength nor his life, which he often placed in danger, the saint personally travelled to the attacking Voguls. His pleas and exhortations had an effect on them, and for a time they left the Zyryans in peace. His exhausting labours and deep sorrow for his flock undermined Bishop Gerasimus’s health.
During the final years of his episcopal ministry, the Vogul raids against the Christian Zyryans became more frequent. He personally travelled to the Vogul camp, asking them to leave the Zyryans in peace. The name of Saint Gerasimus was spoken with reverence, but his health had greatly weakened. He was strangled by a Vogul whom he had taken in and raised, probably at the instigation of the shamans.
The holy martyr Gerasimus suffered a martyr’s death on January 24, most likely around the year 1441. He was buried in the Annunciation Cathedral in Ust-Vym, where many miraculous healings took place. His liturgical commemoration was established in 1607.
