Verkola

Verkola lies on the Pinega, among the forests and river villages of the Russian North. It is the birthplace of Artemii of Verkola, a peasant boy whose story became one of the region's best-known religious traditions. According to his life, Artemii died after being struck by lightning in 1545 while working in the fields. His remains were later found in the forest and became the object of local veneration.

Stories of healing associated with Artemii spread along the Pinega, and a monastery was established on the riverbank in his honour in the seventeenth century. His relics were moved there by order of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Copies of the boy's life circulated widely in northern Russia, joining the village's local traditions to the written culture of monasteries and churches.