Tikhon of Zadonsk

Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk
Late 18th-century portrait
Bishop of Voronezh, Wonderworker of All Russia
Born	1724 Korotsko
Died	1783 Zadonsk
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church
Canonized	1861 by Holy Governing Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church
Feast	August 13 (Repose) May 14 (Uncovering of Relics)
Attributes	Vested as a bishop, often holding a Gospel Book or scroll, with his right hand raised in blessing

Tikhon of Zadonsk (secular name Timofey Savelyevich Sokolov, Russian: Тимофей Савельевич Соколов; 1724–1783) was an 18th-century Russian Orthodox bishop and spiritual writer whom the Eastern Orthodox Church glorified (canonized) as a saint in 1861.

St. Tikhon was born in Novgorod, Russia, and grew up in extreme poverty. After spending much of his childhood working at peasant labour, he entered the Novgorod Seminary on a grant and was a brilliant student: he went on to teach Greek, Rhetoric and Philosophy at the seminary. He became a monk in 1758, and in 1763 was appointed Bishop of Voronezh, where he became revered for his energetic commitment to the spiritual education and wellbeing of both the laity and the clergy of his diocese. Due to ill health, he retired to the monastery at Zadonsk in 1769, where he lived until his death in 1783. At Zadonsk he wrote a number of luminous books and treatises, and became a much-loved spiritual advisor and man of God.

The life and works of Tikhon inspired Dostoevsky, who reflected them in the character of Bishop Tikhon in the novel Demons^[1] (1871–1872) and in the characters of Alyosha Karamazov and of the Elder Zosima in The Brothers Karamazov^[2] (1879–1880).