Siya Monastery

Currently the monastery is located in Kholmogorsky District of Arkhangelsk Oblast in Russia, inside the nature protected area, Siya Zakaznik.

There was also a station on the trade route connecting Archangel (the main sea port of Muscovy) and the Russian capital of Moscow.

Following the saint's death in 1556, the monastery grew on the salt trade with Western Europe and developed into one of the foremost centres of Christianity in the Russian North.

While many of his relatives were starved to death in other cloisters, Feodor took monastic vows and the name Philaret and was eventually raised to the dignity of hegumen (abbot) of the monastery.

The monastic library was one of the richest in Russia and included such books as the Siysky Gospel from 1339 and the 16th-century album of 500 Western religious etchings adapted to Eastern Orthodox canonical requirements.