On September 25th (the 12th according to the old calendar) the Church commemorates the righteous Saint Simeon of Verkhotursk.
St. Simeon came from a noble family, but in order to escape worldly vanity he left his native parts in the beginning of the 17th century and went off beyond the Ural Mountains to far-away Siberia, to a region newly-converted to Christianity, in which only in 1620 was the Tobolsk diocese established. Humbly concealing his noble parentage, he led the life of a pauper who did not have a permanent shelter. He was a good tailor and so, going from village to village, he sewed clothes. He ate at the homes of his customers, being content with very little. Having finished a job, Simeon would leave his hosts while they slept, in order to avoid payment and worldly praise.
His favorite place for prayer was the village of Merkushino in the environs of the city of Verkhoturye in the Perm province, but above all he loved to spend time in solitude among centuries-old cedars and leafy trees. He also engaged in another innocent pastime