The Monk Irinarch, having taken monastic vows at the Solovetsky monastery, zealously imitated the virtuous lives of Saints Zosima (April 17/30) and Savvati (September 27/October 10, joint commemoration August 8/21). The high qualities of his soul made him known to the tsar, and the "lampstand" was placed "on a candlestick" (Matthew 5:15). In 1614, after the death of Abbot Anthony, the Monk Irinarch was appointed abbot of Solovetsky.
At that time, the Solovetsky Monastery was of great importance in protecting northern Russia from the Swedes and Danes. The Monk Irinarch made a lot of efforts to strengthen the monastery's defensive power. A second stone wall with two huge towers was built on the east side of the monastery, and deep ditches were dug on the north and south sides, then lined with stone. Two buildings for soldiers were built inside the monastery in case of military operations. New fortifications were also built at the expense of the monastery in Sumy and Kemsky prisons. The monastery maintained enlarged garrisons of these prisons and its own. The cares of St. Irinarch for the defense of the Fatherland were of great importance and bore fruit during the life of the holy ascetic. So, in 1623, the Danes appeared on warships off the Karelian Island, but when they saw the well–fortified fortress - Solovetsky Monastery, they did not dare to start hostilities and returned to their waters.
Taking care of the external security of the monastery, the monk paid much attention to its internal spiritual strengthening. Humble and meek himself, constantly immersed in divine thought, he was jealous of maintaining the true monastic spirit in the monks. Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich fully sympathized with the good aspirations of the abbot and, in his letter of 1621, prescribed unrelenting monitoring of sobriety and silence of the brethren. "As soon as our letter comes to you," the tsar wrote, "you, our pilgrims, will impose strict supervision and do not allow those who want to live weakly, avoid worldly affairs or keep (intoxicating) drink to leave the monastery and create rumors to fulfill your will; strictly supervise that the brethren and novices they lived according to the rules of the Holy fathers, not according to their lusts, and would diligently go to church. Let the novices be in full obedience to you, our pilgrims, the abbot and the famous elders, but they would not do anything on their own, they would not bring lawlessness into the monastery."
Under the spiritual guidance of St. Irinarch, many worthy ascetics grew up in the Solovetsky Monastery. With the blessing of the abbot and with his patronage, the Monk Eleazar (January 13/26), a friend and associate of the Monk Irinarch, founded a monastery on Anzer Island.
Two years before his blessed repose, the Monk Irinarch left the administration of the monastery and intensified the feat of silent prayer. On July 17, 1628, the holy ascetic peacefully departed to God. The holy relics of St. Irinarch rested under a bushel in the chapel named after him.
The posthumous appearances of St. Irinarch testified that he had found grace from the Lord and had become a prayer book for the needy and suffering. Here is one of them. The inhabitants of Sumy ostrog, fishing at sea on 15 vessels, landed at Anzer Island on an ice floe, on which they pulled out their vessels and went to sleep. The watchman left by them, dozing off, suddenly heard a voice: "Why are you sleeping? Get up and pull your ships further onto the ice." When he woke up, he saw in front of him a tall elder who, calling himself the Solovetsky Hierarch, became invisible. But sleep overcame the watchman. The elder appeared to him again and cried out: "Get up, your ships will be damaged by ice." Meanwhile, a great storm had risen at sea. Then the watchman hurried to wake up his comrades, who barely had time to drag their ships further onto the ice; some of the gear had already been carried away by the waves.