In 1532 a peasant couple in the village of Verkola welcomed a son, Artemius. His parents raised him to know the Christian faith and to live in obedience. From his earliest years, Artemius was gentle and quick to listen. Schooled in godliness, he took joy in his tasks and showed deep respect for his mother and father. Then, on 23 June 1545, young Artemius, merely twelve years of age, met his end in a field when lightning struck him down. Neighbours, led astray by fear, saw the child’s passing as a mark of divine displeasure. They did not bury him with prayers; instead, they left him in the woods, covering his body with birch bark and sticks.
Nearly thirty years passed before his relics were found in a wondrous way. A churchman from the nearby parish spotted an unusual light glowing above the youth’s resting place. The body lay there, whole and untouched by decay. Beginning in 1577, many wonders and cures for the afflicted came forth from these sacred remains. People of the region, struck down by fever, found help and were saved. A man from the area, Kalinnik by name, pressed a fragment of birch bark from Saint Artemius’s resting place to his ailing son’s cross — and the child recovered.
Icons of the young saint were soon painted, and even shavings from the icon boards cured the sick. As years went by, a monastery rose in the very woods where the young Artemius had been forsaken. There, in the Verkola Monastery, the relics of Saint Artemius were laid to rest.
