Stephen of Perm

Stephen of Perm (c. 1340–1396) was a Russian Orthodox missionary, bishop and painter who converted the Komi peoples. Born in Ustyug, he became a monk in Rostov and around 1370 devised a distinct alphabet for the Komi language, the Old Permic script.

From 1376 he worked along the Vychegda and Vym rivers, destroying pagan shrines as he won converts. In 1383 he was consecrated the first bishop of Perm.

His new see threatened Novgorod's control of the region's tribute and, aided by Ustyug, defeated a Novgorodian army in 1385. He died in Moscow in 1396 and was canonized in 1549.