Saint Cornelius of Pereyaslavl, in the world Konnon, was the son of a Ryazan merchant. In his youth, he left his parental home and spent five years as a novice with the elder Paul in the Lukyanov Monastery near Pereyaslavl. He then moved to the Pereyaslavl Monastery of Saints Boris and Gleb, where he diligently attended the church and followed all instructions. At meals, he did not sit with the brethren, contenting himself with what was left, eating three times a week.
After five years, he took monastic vows with the name Cornelius. From that time on, no one saw him sleeping on a bed. Some of the brethren mocked him, but he silently endured the insults and intensified his ascetic practices. Having received permission from the igumen, he secluded himself in a special cell, immersing himself in fasting and prayer. One day, the brethren found him barely alive, as the cell was locked from the inside. He had lain sick for three months, taking only water and juice. After recovering, he continued to live with the brethren.
Saint Cornelius was a server in the church, worked in the refectory, and toiled in the garden. Thanks to his labors in the monastery garden, excellent apples grew, which he lovingly distributed to visitors. Due to strict fasting, his body became emaciated, but he did not cease to work, having dug a well with his own hands. He spent thirty years in complete silence, being regarded by the brethren as deaf and mute.
Before his death, which occurred on July 22, 1693, he confessed to the spiritual father of the monastery, Father Varlaam, received the Holy Mysteries, and accepted the schema. The venerable one was buried in the chapel. Nine years later, during the construction of a new church, his relics were found to be incorrupt. In 1705, Saint Dimitri, the Metropolitan of Rostov, testified to the relics of Saint Cornelius, and they were placed in the new church underground. At that time, Saint Dimitri composed a troparion and kontakion for him.
