Ηegumen / Abbot
Saint Michael Maleinos was born in Cappadocia and bore the secular name Manuel. He served in Constantinople under the Emperor Leo the Wise. After the emperor’s death he moved to Bithynia. At the age of eighteen, he became a disciple of the Elder John the Hesychast on Mount Kyminas. There he joined the monastic community and received the name Michael.
After the death of his elder, he founded the renowned Great Lavra of Kyminas. Around the year 953, Saint Athanasios the Athonite, the founder of the Great Lavra of Mount Athos, also lived as a monk near him.
Saint Michael fell asleep in the Lord in 962, after fifty years of monastic life.
He became a model of holiness and spiritual asceticism. Among others, he served as a protector and a shining example for the first Tsar of Russia, the founder of the royal house, Michael Fyodorovich.
