Joachim the Korsunian

Joachim of Korsun was the first bishop of Novgorod the Great. His surname suggests he probably came from the Byzantine town of Cherson (Korsun) on the Crimean Peninsula and, according to the chronicles, arrived in Kievan Rus' around the time of the Christianization of Kievan Rus' in 988. Upon his arrival in Novgorod, he cast the idol of the god Perun into the Volkhov River and built the Peryn Monastery on the site where it once stood. He also built the first, wooden, Cathedral of Holy Wisdom, “with 12 tops,” on the site of a pagan cemetery. He also built the Church of Joachim and Anne, named for his patron saints, which stood near the present site of the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom. He was buried there on his death in 1030, but his remains were transferred into the current cathedral in 1598.