Artemius (Artemy) of Verkola (russian: Артемий Веркольский; 1532 - 23 June 1544) is a child

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

venerated in the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

. According to his

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...

, he was an unusually pious peasant child who lived in village

Verkola Verkola (russian: Ве́ркола) is a rural locality (a selo) and the administrative center of Verkolskoye Rural Settlement of Pinezhsky District, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. The population was 370 as of 2010. There are 7 streets. Geography ...

in northern Russia. He was struck by

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

while helping his father plow the fields and was killed instantly. He was interred in a clearing and a wooden shell was placed around his body, with a fence constructed around it. Thirty-three years after his death a local

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

saw a light emanating from the boy's resting place and supposedly discovered the boy's body showed no sign of decay. Miracles of healing happened to people who venerated the boy's

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

s and he was proclaimed a saint. In 1648, by order of Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich of Russia was founded the St. Artemius of Verkola monastery, and relics of the saint was moved into it. In 1918, the Bolsheviks destroyed his relics in Verkola, thus making him a martyr for the Orthodox Church. Iconographer Philip Zimmerman of New Florence, PA received a waking vision of the child saint who asked him, "to paint what he saw. For the children at the Village." After much discernment and 5 years of contemplation Mr. Zimmerman painted what he saw at the direction of Father John Namie of the Antiochian Village Camp located in Bolivar, PA. This icon is still enshrined within the camp precincts and is still venerated each year by the children attending this Antiochian Orthodox Christian Youth Camp. Many following visitations and revelations to Mr. Zimmerman by the saint have confirmed what he saw in his dream about the history and he hagiography of this 16th Century Wonder working child saint.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Artemy Of Verkola Russian Orthodox child saints Russian saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church 1532 births 1544 deaths Deaths from lightning strikes