Saint Pavel of Taganrog

Paul of Taganrog (Russian: Павел Таганрогский, romanized: Pavel Taganrogskiy; born Pavel Pavlovich Stozhkov; Russian: Павел Павлович Стожков; 21 November 1792 – 23 March 1879) was a Russian Orthodox religious figure who was active in Taganrog, Don Land, South of Russia and Ukraine. Pavel Pavlovich Stozhkov was born on November 21 (November 8 OS), 1792 in Krolevetsky Uyezd, Novgorod-Seversky Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire (now Ukraine) in a rich noble family. His parents – collegiate registrar Pavel and Paraskeva – were devoutly religious people, who instilled in their son belief in God and piety. Since his youth Stozhkov had felt a love for holy places and pilgrimage. He related about himself: “All my desire was to pray to God, my intention was to go on pilgrimage to rescue my soul, because surrounding life was full of secular vanity and impeded my holy wish”. His father would not permit him to become a clergyman; he wanted to provide his son with a higher education. Instead of this, Stozhkov secretly left the home of his parents to go on pilgrimages to monasteries for a year. When Stozhkov was 25 years old, his father decided to divide the property between him and his elder brother Ivan. Stozhkov dispensed it in Christ's name, his father gave his blessing and Stozhkov left home to become an ascetic. He wandered to holy places, including to the Kiev Pechersk Lavra and Pochaiv Lavra Lavras. He also liked to go to the north of Russia, visited the Solovetskiy, Verkolskiy, and Kojeozerskiy cloisters and many others. After 10 years of pilgrimage, Stozhkov settled in Taganrog in the years 1825–1830. Taganrog became Stozhkov’s second home city. Stozhkov spent the first years of his life in Taganrog renting different flats. Later, he moved into a house on Depaldo Street (now "Pereulok Turgenevskiy"), not far from the Saint Nicholas Church. This house still exists and is known locally as the “keliya of starets Pavel”.