Stephen of Perm

Saint

Stephen of Perm
Saint Stephen on his way to Moscow, illumination from a 17th-century manuscript
The Enlightener of Perm
Bishop of Perm
Bornc. 1340
Ustyug
Died26 April 1396
Moscow
Venerated inEastern Orthodox Church
Roman Catholic Church[1]
Canonized1549
Feast26 April

Stephen of Perm (Russian: Стефан Пермский, romanized: Stefan Permsky; Komi: Перымса Степан, romanized: Perymsa Stepan; c. 1340 – 26 April 1396)[2][3][4] was a Russian Orthodox bishop, painter and missionary.[3] He is known as being one of the most successful missionaries of the Russian Orthodox Church.[5] Stephen is credited with the conversion of the Komi peoples to Christianity. He settled in Ust-Vym and became the first bishop of Perm in 1383.[6][7]

Stephen also created the Old Permic script,[3] which makes him the founding father of Permian written tradition. "The Enlightener of Perm" or the "Apostle of the Permians", as he is sometimes called, is commemorated by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches on 26 April.[8] Epiphanius the Wise wrote about his life in The Life of Stephen of Perm.[9]

  1. ^ Martyrologium Romanum (2004)
  2. ^ Janet Martin, Medieval Russia, 980-1584, (Cambridge, 1995), p. 225
  3. ^ a b c Johnston, William M. (4 December 2013). Encyclopedia of Monasticism. Routledge. p. 1202. ISBN 978-1-136-78716-4.
  4. ^ Scott, Hamish M. (2015). The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern European History, 1350-1750. Oxford University Press. p. 759. ISBN 978-0-19-959725-3.
  5. ^ "Saint Stephen of Perm". www.britannica.com.
  6. ^ Kidd, B. J. (6 August 2013). The Churches of Eastern Christendom. Routledge. p. 377. ISBN 978-1-136-21278-9.
  7. ^ Owen, Weldon (9 October 2012). The Book of Saints: A Day-By-Day Illustrated Encyclopedia. Weldon Owen International. p. 112. ISBN 978-1-68188-719-7.
  8. ^ Beutner, Dawn Marie (2020). Saints: Becoming an Image of Christ Every Day of the Year. Ignatius Press. p. 171. ISBN 978-1-62164-341-8.
  9. ^ Parry, Ken; Melling, David J.; Brady, Dimitri; Griffith, Sidney H.; Healey, John F. (8 November 2000). The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-631-18966-4.