St Hermogenes was born in Kazan around 1530 and was descended from the Don Cossacks. He served as a priest in Kazan in a church dedicated to St Nicholas, near the Kazan bazaar. While he was a priest there in 1579, the wonderworking Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was discovered. With the blessing of Archbishop Jeremiah of Kazan, he carried the newly appeared icon from the place of its discovery to the Church of St Nicholas. Soon after, he became a monk and from 1582 was made archimandrite of the Savior-Transfiguration Monastery at Kazan.