List of saints in the Russian Orthodox Church

This article is about saints canonised by the Russian Orthodox Church. For process of the Russian Orthodox Church's canonization of people as saints, see Canonization in the Russian Orthodox Church. For saints canonised by the Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus', see List of Russian saints (until 15th century).

Boris and Gleb, the first saints canonized in Kievan Rus'

This list of saints in the Russian Orthodox Church includes only people canonized as saints by the Russian Orthodox Church, or the preceding Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus'. Saints are sorted by their first names.

Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow canonised a total of 39 saints at two Church councils held in 1547 and 1549, and later added 8 more.

Alphabetical list

A

• Abraham and Coprius of Gryazovets (XV century), founders of the monastery in Gryazovets
• Avvakum (XVI century), was the Protopope of the Old Believer Faith, he was martyred in 1682.
• Abraham and Onesimus of Kiev Caves, 12th- and 13th-century monks from the Kiev Pechersk Lavra
• Abraham of Bulgaria (d. 1229), Muslim-born convert from Volga Bulgaria, killed for his conversion, martyr
• Abraham of Galich, hegumen, founder of four monasteries on Lake Chukhloma in Kostroma Oblast
• Abraham of Mirozha, a 12th-century abbot of the Mirozhsky Monastery at Pskov
• Abraham of Rostov, founder of the Abraham Epiphany Monastery in Rostov
• Abraham of Smolensk, 12th-century monk and icon-painter, justified by a miracle and acquitted against the charges leveled against him
• Adrian of Poshekhonye, monk and iconographer, the founder and first hegumen of the Dormition Monastery in Poshekhonye
• Agapetus of the Kiev Caves, 11th-century monk and doctor from the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, who healed Prince Vladimir Monomach
• Alexander Hotovitzky, Orthodox missionary in the United States, martyr executed by Bolsheviks
• Alexander Nevsky, Prince of Novgorod and Grand Prince of Vladimir, known for his command during the Battle of the Neva and the Battle of the Ice, patron saint and considered by a poll to be the greatest person in Russian history
• Alexander Schmorell, martyr, one of White Rose founders, he was active against Germany's Nazi regime.
• Alexander Svirsky, monk in the Valaam Monastery and the founder of Alexander-Svirsky Monastery
• Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, the last Tsarina, killed during the Russian Civil War with all her family; recently the whole family were beatified as new-martyrs.
• Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia, the only son of Nicholas II of Russia and the brother of Anastasia’s.
• Alexis of Wilkes-Barre, a missionary in the American Midwest who converted approximately 20,000 Eastern Rite Catholics to the Russian Orthodox Church
• Alexius, Metropolitan of Kiev and all Rus' (1354–1378), de facto regent of Moscow during Prince Dmitry Donskoy's minority
• Alypius of the Caves, 11th-century monk from the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, one of the first Russian icon painters
• Ambrose of Optina, starets of the Optina Monastery, founder of the Shamordino Convent
• Ambrosius Gudko, bishop of Sarapul and Yelabuga before the Russian Revolution of 1917
• Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, the youngest and most famous daughter of Nicholas II of Russia.
• Andrew Rublev, most famous Russian icon-painter, author of the Trinity
• Andronic Nikolsky, archbishop of Perm, hieromartyr killed during the Russian Revolution of 1917
• Anna of Kashin, medieval princess, wife of Mikhail of Tver, was twice canonized as a holy protectress of women who suffer the loss of relatives, having lost all her relatives due to wars with the Golden Horde
• Anthony, John, and Eustathios, martyrs executed by pagan Lithuanian Grand Duke Algirdas
• Anthony of Kiev, co-founder of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the first monastery in Kievan Rus'
• Anthony of Siya, founder of the Antonievo-Siysky Monastery
• Arsenius Matseyevich, archbishop of Rostov who protested against the confiscation of the church's land by Empress Catherine II in 1764, was deprived of his office and imprisoned in a fortress until his death
• Artemius of Verkola, 16th-century child saint whose body showed no sign of decay
• Athanasius of Brest, martyr killed by Catholics for opposition to the Union of Brest in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
• Athanasius Sakharov, bishop of Kovrov, leader of Catacomb Church, who joined the Russian Orthodox Church in 1945

B

• Barbara Yakovleva, nun and sister of mercy in the convent of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, killed by the Bolsheviks along with several Romanov Princes
• Barlaam of Chikoy, 19th-century missionary in Transbaikal
• Barlaam of Kiev, the first abbot of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra
• Barlaam of Khutyn, founder of the Khutyn Monastery in the Novgorod Republic
• Barsanuphius of Optina, archimandrite, starets of Optina Pustyn
• Basil the Blessed, fool for Christ who gave his name to St. Basil's Cathedral on the Red Square (actually the correct name is the Cathedral of the Intercession or Pokrovsky Sobor)
• Basil Kalika, 14th-century icon-painter and Archbishop of Novgorod who was elected by the veche and reinvigorated the office
• Basil of Pavlovsky Posad, mid-19th-century factory worker who turned multiple Old Believers into Russian Orthodoxy
• Benjamin of Petrograd, metropolitan of Petrograd
• Boris and Gleb, children of Vladimir the Great, the first saints canonized by the Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus', a predecessor of the Russian Orthodox Church

C

• Charitina of Lithuania, noblewoman from the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania who became a nun in Novgorod
• Constantine of Murom, 11th-century Prince of Murom who baptized Muromian pagans
• Cyprian, Metropolitan of Kiev and all Rus', who briedly united the churches of the Principality of Moscow and Grand Duchy of Lithuania
• Cyrill of Turov, bishop of Turov, one of the first and finest theologians and writers of Kievan Rus'

D

• Daniel of Moscow, the first Prince of Moscow, founder of the first Muscovite monasteries (Epiphany Monastery and Danilov Monastery)

  

  Herman of Alaska

• Daumantas of Pskov, prince of Pskov who made the city autonomous from the Novgorod Republic, defended Pskov from the Livonian Order
• Demetrius Donskoy, Prince of Moscow who commanded the winning side in the 1380 Battle of Kulikovo
• Demetrius of Rostov, a leading opponent of the Caesaropapist reform of the Russian Orthodox Church promoted by Theofan Prokopovich and Peter I, major religious writer
• Demetrius of Uglich, son of Ivan the Terrible, mysteriously died or killed, later impersonated by the impostors False Dmitry I and False Dmitry II during the Time of Troubles

E

• Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, senior sister of the last Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, became a prominent nun after her husband was killed by revolutionaries, founded the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent
• Ephraim of Pereyaslavl, Metropolitan of Kiev and all Rus' in the late 11th century
• Epiphanius the Wise, a monk from Rostov, disciple of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, hagiographer of Saint Sergius and Saint Stephen of Perm
• Eudoxia of Moscow, wife of Dmitry Donskoy, healer, founded the Ascension Monastery and the Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos, the oldest surviving building in Moscow
• Euphrosyne of Polatsk, granddaughter of a prince of Polotsk, Vseslav, owner of Cross of Saint Euphrosyne
• Euphrosynus of Pskov, 15th-century monk from Snetogorsky Monastery who founded a monastic community near Pskov
• Euthymius II of Novgorod, Archbishop of Novgorod in the 15th century, major patron of arts

F

• Feodor Kuzmich, starets who according to a legend was in fact Alexander I of Russia who faked his death to become a hermit
• Fyodor Ushakov, the most illustrious Russian admiral of the 18th century, who did not lose a single ship in 43 battles

G

• Gabriel of Belostok, 17th-century child saint
• Gennadius of Novgorod, compiled the first complete codex of the Bible in Slavic, the Gennady Bible
• German of Kazan and Svyazhsk, second bishop of Kazan

H

• Herman of Alaska, one of the first Eastern Orthodox missionaries to the New World, patron saint of the Americas
• Herman of Solovki, one of the founders of the Solovetsky Monastery
• Herman of Valaam, preached Christianity to Karelians and Finns, co-founder of the Valaam Monastery
• Hermogenes Dolganyov, hieromartyr, Bishop of Tobolsk and Siberia, killed during the Russian Revolution
• Hilarion of Kiev, the first non-Greek Metropolitan of Kiev, the author of the Sermon on Law and Grace, one of the earliest Slavonic texts known
• Hilarion Troitsky, archbishop of Vereya, one of the greatest Russian theologians of the early 20th century

I

• Igor II of Kiev, Grand Prince of Kiev turned monk, martyr
• Prince Igor Constantinovich of Russia, a member of the Romanov family, killed by Bolsheviks
• Ilia Muromets, a medieval warrior, and in later life a monk of Kiev Pechersk Lavra.
• Ignatius Bryanchaninov, bishop of Caucassus, major 19th-century spiritual writer
• Innocent of Alaska, a missionary to Alaska and Metropolitan of Moscow.
• Innocent of Irkutsk, a missionary to Siberia and the first bishop of Irkutsk
• Ioakim Korsunianin, the first bishop of Novgorod the Great and builder of the original wooden Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod
• Irenarch of Rostov, a 16th-century hermit of Rostov, mystic and visionary, a companion of John the Hairy
• Isaiah of Rostov, 11th-century missionary, the second bishop of Rostov

J

John of Kronstadt

• Jacob Netsvetov, a Russian native of the Aleutian Islands who became a priest and missionary among Alaskan peoples
• Joasaph of Belgorod, an 18th-century bishop of Belgorod, canonized in 1911 for the miraculous cures attributed to his relics
• Job of Maniava, defender of Russian Orthodoxy in Ukraine, the founder of Manyava Skete

• Job of Pochayiv, defender of Russian Orthodoxy in Ukraine, a prominent hegumen and builder of Pochayiv Lavra
• John the Hairy, 16th-century yurodivy (fool-for-Christ), a companion of Irenarch of Rostov
• John Kochurov, early 20th-century Orthodox missionary to the United States, later hieromartyr killed by Bolsheviks during the October Revolution
• John of Kronstadt, patron saint of St Petersburg, mystic and religious writer
• John of Moscow, fool-for-Christ and wonderworker of Moscow during the reign of Boris Godunov
• John of Novgorod, highly venerated 12th-century Archbishop of Novgorod
• John of Pskov, a hermit living in Pskov at the turn of the 16th to 17th century
• John the Russian, one of the most renowned saints in the Greek Orthodox Church, 18th-century Russian prisoner of war in the Ottoman Empire, wonderworker respected even by Muslims
• John of Shanghai and San Francisco, wonderworker, archbishop and most known missionary of Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

  

  Nicholas of Japan

• John of Tobolsk, founder of Chernigov Collegium, missionary in Siberia and metropolitan bishop of Tobolsk
• Jonah of Manchuria, diocesan bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia who served in Northern China in the years immediately following the Bolshevik Revolution
• Jonah of Moscow, the first independent Metropolitan of Moscow and all Russia appointed without the approval of the Patriarch of Constantinople
• Joseph Volotsky, prominent caesaropapist ideologist, founder of Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery
• Juliana of Lazarevo, 16th-century saint, famous for helping poor and needy people, protagonist in the book written by her son
• Juvenaly of Alaska, Protomartyr of America, a member of the first group of Orthodox missionaries to Alaska killed by Yupik natives

K

• Kirill of Beloozero, founder of Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery
• Kuksha of the Kiev Caves, a 12th-century monk and martyr from the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, killed while spreading Christianity among pagan Vyatichi
• Kuksha of Odessa, 20th-century saint in the Soviet Union

L

• Luke Wojno-Jasieniecki, archbishop of Crimea, outstanding surgeon, the founder of purulent surgery, spiritual writer
• Luke Zhidiata, the first Russian-born bishop of the Russian church (all previous ones had been Greek)

M

• Macarius of Unzha, founder of several monasteries, including the Makaryev Monastery
• Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia, the third daughter of Nicholas II of Russia and the third oldest of Anastasia’s sisters.
• Maria Skobtsova, noblewoman, poet, nun, and member of the French Resistance during World War II (canonized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate)
• Mark of the Caves, a famous cave-digger in the Kiev Pechersk Monastery
• Maxim Sandovich, protomartyr of the Lemko people, an Orthodox priest was executed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire as a russophile
• Maximus the Greek, 16th-century scholar, humanist and translator
• Michael of Chernigov, former prince of Kiev, executed by Batu Khan in 1246 for refusing to ritually submit by walking between two fires and kowtow before an idol of Chingis Khan
• Michael of Kiev, first metropolitan of Kiev after Baptism of Rus
• Michael of Klop, 15th-century fool-for-Christ and wonderworker
• Michael of Tver, Grand Prince of Vladimir

  

  Seraphim of Sarov

  killed by Mongol-Tatars
• Mitrophan of Voronezh was the first bishop of Voronezh
• Moses the Hungarian, 11th-century monk in the Kiev Cave Monastery, who spent 7 years as Polish prisoner after the 1018 Kiev Expedition
• Matrona of Anemnyasevo, 20th-century saint
• Matrona of Moscow, 20th-century saint, which claims that, from early childhood, she had the gift of prophecy, spiritual vision, and healing

N

• Nicetas of Novgorod, an 11th-century monk from the Kiev Pechersk Lavra who became wonderworker and bishop of Novgorod
• Nicetas Stylites, 12th-century hermit and healer who bound himself in chains and enclosed himself within a pillar, thus the title 'stylites'
• Nicholas Salos of Pskov, 16th-century fool-for-Christ who reprimanded Tsar Ivan the Terrible and saved the city of Pskov from Tsar's atrocity
• Nestor the Chronicler, traditionally attributed author of the Primary Chronicle and several hagiographies
• Nicholas II of Russia, the last Russian Emperor, killed during the Russian Civil War with all his family; recently the whole family were beatified as new-martyrs
• Nicholas of Japan, archbishop and translator, who introduced the Eastern Orthodox Church to Japan
• Nikon the Dry, 11th-century monk from the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, captured and enslaved by nomads and released by miracle
• Nilus of Sora, founder of Non-possessors movement

O

• Olga of Kiev, the first woman ruler of Kievan Rus' (regent), the first Christian princess of Kiev
• Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia, the eldest daughter of Nicholas II of Russia and the oldest of Anastasia’s sisters.

P

• Paisius Velichkovsky, 18th-century monk and theologian who helped spread staretsdom or the concept of the spiritual elder to the Slavic world.
• Paisius Yaroslavov, 15th-century monk, starets and the author of the Take of the Kamenny Monastery
• Paul of Taganrog, 19th-century pilgrim and wonderworker
• Peter the Aleut, 19th-century martyr in Russian America, allegedly a baptized native of the Kodiak Island (one of the Aleutian Islands), killed by Spanish Catholics (canonized by OCA)
• Peter and Fevronia, 12th-century Prince and Princess consort of Murom, Holy Couple and wonderworkers an ideal of the family love and fidelity
• Peter Mogila, 17th-century Metropolitan of Kiev, theologician, educator and printer
• Peter of Moscow, born c. 1260 in the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, Metropolitan of Kiev and all Rus' from 1308 to 1326; canonised in 1339.
• Peter Polyansky, Metropolitan of Krutitsy, locum tenens of Russian Orthodox Church
• Procopius of Ustyug, 13th-century fool for Christ and miracle worker

R

• Raphael of Brooklyn, bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church in America and founder of the main cathedral of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

S

Sergius of Radonezh

• Sabbas of Storozhi, founder of Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery
• Sabbatius of Solovki, co-founder of the Solovetsky Monastery
• Seraphim of Sarov, mystic and patron saint of Russia, the greatest of the 19th-century startsy
• Serapion of Novgorod, Archbishop of Novgorod in the 16th century, known for his conflict with Joseph Volotsky
• Sergius of Radonezh, spiritual and monastic reformer in the Principality of Moscow, founder of the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, blessed Dmitry Donskoy for the Battle of Kulikovo; canonised in 1452.
• Sergius of Valaam, brought Christianity to Karelians and Finns, co-founder of the Valaam Monastery
• Silouan the Athonite, Russian-born Atos monk, called: "the most authentic monk of the twentieth century” by Thomas Merton
• Simon Shleyov hieromartyr, bishop of Okhta, theologian and the most notable apologist of edinoverie in the early 20th century
• Sophia of Suzdal, the first wife of Prince of Moscow Vasily III
• Stephan of Perm, 14th-century missionary, credited with the conversion of the Komi Permyaks to Christianity and the invention of Old Permic script
• Sylvester of the River Obnora, 15th-century hermit who lived on the banks of the Obnora River

T

• Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia, the second daughter of Nicholas II of Russia and the second oldest of Anastasia’s sisters.
• Theodore the Black, 13th-century Prince of Yaroslavl, Smolensk and Mozhaysk, who ended his life as a monk and deeply repented his alliance with Mongol invaders
• Theodore the Varangian and his son John, the first known martyrs in Kievan Rus'
• Theodosius of Kiev, co-founder of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the first monastery in Kievan Rus'
• Theophan the Recluse, major 19th-century theologian who played an important role in translating the Philokalia from Church Slavonic into Russian
• Therapont of White Lake, founder of Ferapontov Monastery
• Tikhon of Kaluga, founder of the Dormition of the Mother of God Monastery in Kaluga
• Tikhon of Moscow, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, notable missionary, fighter against the so-called Living Church, first saint of the 20th century canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church
• Tikhon of Zadonsk, bishop and spiritual writer, the most important 18th-century religious educator in Russia
• Tryphon of Pechenga, founder of the Pechenga Monastery on the Kola Peninsula

V

• Vladimir I of Kiev "the Great", Prince of Kiev who turned from pagan to saint and stimulated the Christianization of Kievan Rus'
• Vsevolod of Pskov, medieval Prince and a patron saint of Pskov

X

• Xenia of Saint Petersburg, fool for Christ, patron saint of St Petersburg who gave all her possessions to the poor and wandered for 45 years around the streets
• Xenophon of Robeika, 13th-century monk, hermit and hegumen of the Khutyn Monastery

Y

• Yegor Chekryakovsky, priest and a starets, spiritual heir of Saint Ambrose of Optina
• Yuri II of Vladimir, Grand Prince of Vladimir during the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus', died in the Battle of the Sit River

Z

• Zosima of Solovki, one of the founders of the Solovetsky Monastery

See also

• Canonization in the Russian Orthodox Church – process
• List of Russian saints (until 15th century) – Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus'
• List of Eastern Orthodox saints
• List of American Eastern Orthodox saints
• List of saints of the Serbian Orthodox Church
• List of metropolitans and patriarchs of Moscow
• List of saints in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate

Bibliography

• Martin, Janet (2007). Medieval Russia: 980–1584. Second Edition. E-book. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-511-36800-4.
• Possevino, A. (2010). The Moscovia of Antonio Possevino, S.J.: Translated with a Critical Introduction and Notes by Hugh F. Graham. Russian and East European Studies. University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 212. ISBN 978-0-8229-7735-3. Retrieved 23 October 2024.