St. Euthymius Archbishop of Suzdal passed away on this day in 1404. St. Euthymius of Suzdal was born in 1316 in Nizhny Novgorod. From early childhood, he was to read and receive a spiritual upbringing. He was tonsured at the Caves (Pechersky) Monastery in Nizhny Novgorod by its founder, St. Dionysius (later Archbishop of Suzdal; d. 1385). Euthymius’s ascetic practices were so extreme that St. Dionysius advised him to tone them down. In 1352, Prince Boris Konstantinovich of Suzdal decided to found a monastery for men in his city and approached the Caves Monastery in Nizhny Novgorod with a request to send a monk to establish the monastery. This lot fell on Euthymius. After Euthymius arrived in Suzdal, in the northern part of the city, beyond the Kamenka River, Bishop John of Suzdal, in the presence of a large crowd, erected a cross on the site of the future monastery cathedral. The prince himself began to dig the ground for the foundation, and St. Euthymius carved three gravestones for himself, having made a vow to remain in the new monastery until the end of his days. Thus was laid the foundation of Holy Transfiguration–St. Euthymius Monastery, where more than three hundred monks soon gathered under St. Euthymius’s leadership. Coenobitic statutes were adopted in the monastery. Euthymius in particular saw to it that each of the monks was willing to carry out their obediences. St. Euthymius often sought the spiritual advice to St. Sergius of Radonezh, and labored indefatigably on behalf of the whole brotherhood. He passed away on April 1, 1404. His incorruptible relics were discovered on July 4, 1507, and he was canonized at the Moscow Council of 1549. | 
