Saint Ioasaph of Belgorod

Joasaph of Belgorod (Russian: Иоасаф Белгородский, Ukrainian: Йоаса́ф Бєлгородський, secular name Ioakim Andreyevich Gorlenko, Russian: Иоаким Андреевич Горленко; 8 (19) September 1705 – 10 (21) December 1754) was an 18th-century Russian Orthodox hierarch, bishop of Belgorod from 1748 until his death. His remains were found to be incorrupt, and after many miracles he was glorified by the Eastern Orthodox Church in 1911. Stolen from his shrine in 1917, the saint's body was thought to be lost but was eventually found in storage in a museum and returned to Belgorod in 1991. Born at Priluki, in the Russian Empire's Cossack Hetmanate (present-day Ukraine), Ioachim Gorlenko was the son of Colonel Andrei Dmitrievich Gorlenko of the Pryluky Regiment, by his marriage to Maria Danylovna, a daughter of Danylo Apostol (1654–1734), a notable military leader and ruler, Hetman of the Cossack Hetmanate from 1727 until his death. The young Gorlenko thus had influential connections. After attending the Kiev Theological Academy, in 1725 he was tonsured a monk of the Mezhyhirya Monastery, under the name of Hilarion. In 1727 Hilarion (as he then was) took monastic vows and received the name of Joasaph, and in 1728 he was ordained a deacon. By the end of that academic year he was teaching at the academy. In 1737 he was appointed archimandrite of the Mhar Monastery near Lubny. In 1744, by command of the Empress Elizabeth, Iosaph was advanced to the rank of archimandrite and translated to become head of the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, the most important Russian monastery and the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church. On 2 June 1748 he was consecrated as bishop of Belgorod and Oboyan. After his arrival in Belgorod, Joasaph was noted for his untiring efforts for his diocese and especially for his work to help those in need, often visiting the poor and the sick. He died on 10 December 1754, aged only 49, at a village in the Graivoron district.