Bishop Michael (Pavel Vasilyevich Semenov) was born in June 1873 in Simbirsk Province to a peasant family belonging to the New Rite Church. His path to the Old Faith, to true Orthodoxy preserving the traditions of the pre-Nikonian Russian Church, was not an easy one.

Pavel received his initial theological education at the Simbirsk Theological Seminary. On November 26, 1899, he was tonsured as a monk and given the name Michael; on November 28, he was ordained a Hieromonk. By this time, Father Michael had become interested in the Old Belief and grown to love it, for in the Old Belief he saw true Orthodoxy, preserving the customs, traditions, and conciliar life of the early Christians.

Beginning on August 26, 1900, he taught at the Voronezh Theological Seminary. After being transferred to the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, he became actively involved in the intellectual life of the capital, taking part in the Religious and Philosophical Assemblies. Soon afterward, he took an active role in preparing the so-called Memorandum of the 32 Priests, which proposed a broad program of reforms to the Synodal Church.

In 1905, Hieromonk Michael was elevated to the rank of Archimandrite. Archimandrite Michael openly spoke out against the uncanonical principles governing the established church. In 1906, he met the Old Believer Bishop Innocent (Usov) and published articles in the Nizhny Novgorod journal Starover—under a pseudonym, of course.

In August 1907, Archimandrite Michael sent an article to the editors of the Nizhny Novgorod journal Starover; its contents showed that he fully recognized the truth of the Old Believer Church. On October 23, 1907, Archimandrite Michael joined the Old Faith.

On November 22, 1908, the Council of All-Russian Old Believer Congresses received a letter from Canada stating that many Christians living there wished to join the Old Belief. Bishop Innocent alone ordained Archimandrite Michael as a bishop to travel to Canada and preach. It soon became clear, however, that the flock there was not as large as the letter had reported. For this and other reasons, Bishop Michael was compelled to return, reaching only Le Havre, France. His consecration by a single bishop was later considered by the Consecrated Councils. Vladyka Michael was not given a diocese in Russia and remained a bishop-preacher.

Bishop Michael was one of the most distinguished apologists for Orthodoxy in the early twentieth century. He was a fervent preacher of the Word of God, and his deeds were in keeping with his words. He labored in this holy calling, sparing neither his strength nor his health.

Bishop Michael addressed the most pressing and painful issues of his time, denouncing personal and social evil in all its manifestations. This is attested by the books he wrote and published: Christ in the Age of Machines, On Faith and Unbelief, An Apology for the Old Belief, The Church, Literature, and Life, The Church and the Lilies of the Gospel, Life and Conscience, New and Old Paths, To the Land of Righteousness, On Happiness and Philistinism, and many others.

His historical works At the Dawn of Christianity, Before the Stoglav Council, The Great Devastation, Boyarynya Morozova, and Burning with Fire reveal Bishop Michael as a serious historian, a perceptive psychologist, and a gifted writer. With a subtle understanding of Church history and profound, heartfelt feeling, he brought to life the figures of steadfast defenders and self-sacrificing sufferers for the true faith.

Bishop Michael devoted much attention to the Moscow Old Believer Theological and Teaching Institute, for which he wrote six textbooks on theological subjects and Church history, as well as several journal articles on teaching methods and the organization of educational work.

During his nine years of contributing to Old Believer journals, Bishop Michael wrote hundreds of profound, vivid, and stylistically and substantively original articles. Together with the books mentioned above, they make up the golden treasury of Old Believer literature. His brilliant articles were an ornament to Old Believer journals, enlightening and quenching the spiritual thirst of those seeking God and His righteousness.

Bishop Michael was exhausted by the strain of his writing, as he responded to every event that stirred Russia. The suffering of those around him, who lost their dearest and closest loved ones in the war, grieved him most of all. He fell ill with a severe form of nervous exhaustion and one day disappeared while traveling to Moscow. For a time, no one could find him. It later emerged that one evening he had been attacked by unknown criminals.

On October 18, Vladyka was brought to a Moscow hospital unconscious, severely beaten and mutilated. Only a week later did he regain consciousness and manage to give his name. On October 24, he confessed in the hospital and received the Holy Mysteries from Father Ioann Grishenkov.

When the priest placed the Holy Cross to the Holy Hierarch’s lips, he grasped it with his right hand and held it to his lips for a long time. Evidently, he understood and felt that this was the last time in his earthly life that he would kiss the Holy Cross. The Cross of Christ, holy and saving, was a beloved theme of his sermons, conversations, and discourses. On October 25, the dying Vladyka was transferred to the hospital at Rogozhskoye Cemetery.

At two o’clock in the afternoon on October 27, 1916 (November 9, New Style), the warm and noble heart of the holy hierarch, preacher, and Christian writer, aflame with sincere love for God and his neighbors, ceased to beat. The Apostle of the twentieth century departed into eternity to be with his divine Teacher, Christ.

On Sunday, October 30 (November 12, New Style), a solemn funeral service and burial of the body of the departed Bishop Michael were held at the Church of the Nativity of Christ at Rogozhskoye Cemetery, attended by a large gathering of clergy and people. The untimely death of Bishop Michael prompted many responses in the Old Believer press; one need only look at the journals The Word of the Church and Old Believer Thought from those days. They contain precious recollections of the departed Vladyka.

Translated from the original article in Russian.