Barlaam of Chikoy

Barlaam of Chikoy (Russian: Варлаам Чикойский - Varlaam Chikoysky, secular name Vasily Fedotovich Nadezhin, Василий Федотович Надежин; 1774 in village Meresevo, Lukyanovsky uezd, Nizhny Novgorod Governorate – January 23, 1846, in Urluk volost), was a Russian Orthodox Church hermit and celibate priest famous for his missionary activities in Transbaikal, the founder of John the Precursor's secluded monastery in the Chikoy Mounts.

Born in the Maresevo village of the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate in a peasant family, Vasily married at the insistence of parents.

He began to wander, and in 1814 reached Irkutsk, and in 1820 came to the slopes of the Chikokon Range and built a monastic cell near Urluk, becoming a hermit.

In 1828, Vasily accepted monastic tonsure with the name Varlaam (in honor of the Monk Barlaam of Kiev) and in 1830 was ordained a hieromonk.

He died in 1846, was buried on the south side of the altar of the chapel in honor of the icon of "All Who Mourn, Joy" of the John the Baptist Church of the monastery he founded.