The future elder was born in 1841 in the village of Velikoe Selo, eight kilometers from Pskov. His parents— Mikhei Alekseevich and Vassa Grigoryevna— named their youngest, fifth child Luka. The boy, who was half-blind from birth, was endowed by the Lord with spiritual vision. As the blessed elder himself said about himself: "I received the gift of prophecy from God from the age of five, and the Grace of God taught me what to say to each person." And when he was once reproached for his lack of learning, he meekly replied: "I know what the birds are saying..."
A simple peasant boy loved to visit the temple of God and wholeheartedly accepted the gospel commandments as unshakable rules of life. This height of spirit, manifested in him from a very early age, the monk retained until his last day. The boy's childish humility is amazing: out of compassion for others, so that others would not be punished, he took on someone else's guilt, although he himself had never participated in the pranks of his peers. He was scolded and severely beaten, but the next time they looked for the culprits, blind Luka shouted with joy again.: "It's me! It's my fault! I stole these drills from you!"
Luke lived on earth as in paradise, in harmony with all creation. He was assigned to graze cattle. Driving the herd out to pasture, the boy left the younger brothers to the will of God, and he went to the temple. In the evening, when it was necessary to drive the herd back, every single cow gathered in a herd and obediently followed the shepherd.
In 1875, Luke arrived at the St. John the Theologian Krypetsk Monastery, and a year later he was appointed a novice.
Luke's first job at the monastery, tending cows, was a familiar one. And although the monastery flock could no longer be abandoned and go to worship, but the obedience of the shepherd gave time for prayer — almost a whole day in nature, in solitude. The first miracle of the monk in the monastery is connected with pastoral obedience: once the novice Luke drove a herd of cows out of the cowshed, and it was necessary to lead him to the field along a narrow path past the sown fields. It would be natural to expect that cows would be tempted by crops and would not want to walk in a row one after another along a narrow path.
The abbot of the monastery, who had already noticed the otherworldliness of the new inhabitant, did not listen to the monks who were taking care of the crops, but said: "Do not do anything, let's see what happens." And the cows walked in a row across a narrow strip of land, without touching the crops.
With the blessing of His Grace Pavel, Bishop of Pskov, the abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Nicholas, novice Luke, was tonsured a monk on December 12, 1877, with the name Cornelius, in honor of the Holy Martyr Cornelius the Centurion. Then he received the difficult task of collecting money for the monastery. The St. John the Theologian Krypetsk Monastery was constantly renovated and rebuilt in the 19th century. The monastery was poor and small in number, and the rare parishioners— mostly peasants from the surrounding villages—brought a meager "widow's mite." Therefore, funds for construction work had to be sought in the district.
Father Cornelius had special ways of collecting. One of the witnesses recalled: "Sometimes, he would come to the Talab Islands, sit in some hut under the icons and begin to pray — to remember the dead. He'll remember everyone. And how did he know the names? The fishermen bring it to him in gratitude. He doesn't even have to go, they'll bring everything themselves." By God's providence, Father Cornelius was sometimes assisted in collecting donations by the young Basil, the future elder of the Pskov Caves, St. Simeon. He said that the blessed one knew in advance which people he was going to, and told the boy: "Vasya, they won't give it here, but they'll give it to us here."  
Carrying out difficult obedience, the ascetic gained a lot — the national life during his wanderings from village to village, along the roads of Russia, was revealed to him in all its details. His heart was filled with pity, all people became relatives, and the fate of the entire Fatherland, which was facing severe trials, was revealed for individual destinies.
Father Cornelius' next obedience was that of the innkeeper. It wasn't easy either — I had to spend whole days with pilgrims and guests. But my father loved people. The monk tried to greet everyone, comfort them, treat them, and name them all.: "My children!" And he loved to repeat: "If you wish for someone else, you will get it for yourself!" And this great humility and love of Saint Cornelius for God and people attracted the great grace of God to him, and he acquired many spiritual gifts.
As it is said in the akathist to the Holy Monk Cornelius Krypetsky, he surprised not only people, but also "many angels with his wonderful life." He was not just a virgin in soul and body, until his death the saint was like a child — pure, sincere, defenseless, knowing no evil. The Krypetsk ascetic tried to hide his high spiritual talents under the guise of foolishness.
From the very beginning, St. Cornelius consciously chose a humiliated position in the monastery: "I went to the Krypetsk monastery to enroll and made a vow and asked St. Sava of Krypetsk to live and be in the monastery: the lowest and least of all. That's how I put myself, and my whole life: below everyone else... For many years I lived, stayed, and worked in this monastery, and the brethren of this monastery, along with the hegumens, did not understand or recognize me: I imposed imaginary weaknesses on myself. To be inferior and least of all and to be ridiculed, humiliated, and my whole life is wise: no one could understand it and I will die unrecognizable."
Blessed Cornelius Krypetsky lived in anticipation of future disasters, largely caused and caused by drunken behavior of people. The saint did not conceal the revelations given to him from people. He predicted the First World War and the collapse of the monarchy in Russia, and the ruin of his native monastery was revealed to the monk. Prophesying about difficult times for the Russian people, the saint said: "It will be such a difficult time, which has never been before in Russia."
The monk highly honored the memory of the Prophet Elijah. He encouraged those who came to him to pray to this righteous man of the Old Testament. He called for "the name of Elijah the Prophet to be remembered in all churches by priests at their release: when the names of three saints are remembered: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom and Nicholas the Wonderworker, and after them the name of the Holy Prophet of God Elijah is remembered in all churches, and then there will be peace and the grace of God will spread throughout the earth, and there will be a great harvest of bread, such as has never been." Among the predictions of St. Cornelius, the one connected with his incorrect burial — to the north — and the symbolic connection of this posthumous desecration with the disasters of Russia stands out in particular. He passed away on January 10, 1903.
Like many elders who warned of the "year of God's wrath," St. Cornelius was "a voice crying in the wilderness" — his warnings were not heeded in time, and his will was not fulfilled. "They will bury me, he said, the whole of Russia will cry. I ask that my coffin and body be laid purely to the east, but I know that the brethren will not lay me according to my desire. I will be cast into oblivion after my death in the monastery, and just as the Apostle John the Theologian swam in the sea and was alive and unharmed and swam ashore for sure, I will also surface, and only then will the brethren recognize me, and when they recognize me, they will rejoice. If they move me, everything will calm down!" said the saint about his death. He also predicted the return of the Russian people to the faith of their fathers, which, again, according to his word, coincided with the time of the finding of the relics of the righteous.
At the turn of the century, our Church held a spiritual assessment of the personality of Blessed monk Cornelius, his words and deeds, worthy recognition of his pious ascetic life and the good ending of his monastic path. The help of St. Cornelius in our time was manifested not only to individuals, but also to the entire St. John the Theologian Krypetsk Monastery as a whole. It was after the finding of the relics of the monk that intensive restoration of the monastery began and the influx of the brethren into the monastery noticeably increased. Numerous pilgrims who flock to the monastery to visit the relics of the monk also receive consolation.
The memory of St. Cornelius is celebrated twice a year: January 10 is the day of the blessed repose of the saint and July 22 is the day of the finding of his precious relics.
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It was only with the beginning of spiritual renewal and the revival of church life, during the "second Baptism of Russia" in the 90s, that it was possible to open the burial place of the saint and transfer his relics to the cathedral of the revived Krypetsk Monastery, which, according to him, has been growing since that time.
On January 10, 2000, with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, a solemn divine service was held at the Krypetsk Monastery with a huge gathering of people, with the rite of glorification of St. Cornelius Krypetsky in the face of the locally venerated saints. On February 3, 2016, by the decision of the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, the saint was canonized for church-wide veneration.