St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov (in the world Daniel Savvich Tuptalo), was born in December 1651 in the town of Makarovo, near Kiev, in a pious family and grew up a deeply believing Christian. In 1662, shortly after his parents moved to Kiev, Daniel was sent to the Kiev-Mohyla College, where the talents and extraordinary abilities of a talented young man were revealed for the first time. He successfully studied Greek and Latin languages and a number of classical sciences. On July 9, 1668, Daniel became a monk with the name Demetrius, in honor of the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica. 
Until the spring of 1675, he underwent monastic obedience at the Kiev Cyril Monastery, where his literary and preaching activities began. Archbishop Lazar (Baranovich) of Chernigov ordained Dimitri on May 23, 1675 as a hieromonk. For several years, Hieromonk Dimitri asceticized, preaching the Word of God, in various monasteries and temples in Ukraine, Lithuania and Belarus. For some time he was abbot of the Maximov monastery, and then of the Baturinsky Nikolsky Monastery, from where in 1684 he was summoned to the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. 
The rector of the Lavra, Archimandrite Varlaam (Yasinsky), knowing the high spiritual mood of his former pupil, his education, penchant for scientific work, as well as his undoubted literary talent, instructed Hieromonk Dimitri to compile a Set of Minas (Lives of Saints) for the whole year. Since that time, the entire subsequent life of St. Demetrius has been devoted to the fulfillment of this ascetic, grandiose work. The work required a huge effort, it was necessary to collect and analyze many disparate sources and present them in a language worthy of a high subject and at the same time accessible to all believers. 
Divine help did not leave the saint throughout his twenty years of work. According to the testimony of the monk, his soul was filled with images of saints, which strengthened his spirit and body, instilled faith in the successful completion of his noble work. At the same time, St. Demetrius was the rector of several monasteries (alternately). 
The works of the ascetic attracted the attention of Patriarch Adrian. In 1701, by decree of Peter I, Archimandrite Dimitri was summoned to Moscow, where on March 23 in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin he was consecrated to the Siberian Metropolitan See in the city of Tobolsk. But after a while, due to the importance of scientific work and poor health, the saint received a new appointment to Rostov-Yaroslavsky, where he arrived on March 1, 1702 as Metropolitan of Rostov.
As before, he continued to take vigilant care of strengthening the unity of the Russian Orthodox Church, weakened by the Old Believer schism.
In his inspired writings and sermons, many generations of Russian theologians draw spiritual strength for creativity and prayer. For all Orthodox Christians, he remains an example of a holy, ascetic, non-possessive life. Upon his death, which followed on October 28, 1709, no property was found in his possession, except books and manuscripts.
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After 42 years that had elapsed since his burial, on September 21, 1752, when the lowered platform in the Church of the Conception of the Mother of God was dismantled, his holy relics were found incorruptible in a bent coffin, as well as his holy clothes, and from them, as from a blessed source, healings of those possessed with various diseases began to flow: the blind saw, the dumb they talked, the relaxed moved, and demons were cast out by prayers performed at the holy relics. Heeding these clear instructions of Divine providence, the Holy Synod, according to the testimony of the holy relics and former miracles, canonized St. Demetrius among the newly appeared miracle workers of Russia on April 22, 1757. His successor in the Rostov department, Metropolitan Arseny, was instructed to compile a biography of the saint, and Ambrose, Bishop of Pereyaslavsky, later archbishop of the capital of the Mother See, wrote the service to him, where he martyred his days. The following year, the pious Empress Elizabeth, out of zeal for the saint, arranged a silver shrine for his relics, and in 1763, Empress Catherine, after her royal wedding, traveled on foot from Moscow to Rostov to worship the relics of St. Demetrius and transfer them into a prepared shrine, which she herself carried along with the bishops during the solemn circumambulation of the temple: such a royal honor She was again rewarded to the Saint of God.
Grace-filled healings are still being performed at the relics of the saint, over which, already in our time, another ascetic, the sepulchral elder Hieromonk Amphilochius, has been vigilantly watching for 40 years, leaving a good memory for himself and lying as if on guard at the threshold of the church temple where the relics of the saint rest (there, in the vestibule, he also rests the pious nephew Archimandrite Innokenty, who was for a long time the rector of the Yakovlevsky monastery). Let us glorify the Lord by His ineffable mercy, who showed so much piety already in our days, in the humble city of Rostov, and glorified there with many miracles the new great lamp of the Russian land, which is a speedy helper for those who invoke his holy name. Through the prayers of this great Orthodoxy, the zealot and the eradicator of schisms, the healer of Russia and the spiritual healer who keeps everyone wise with her writings, may we also be worthy to be written in the book of life of the Lamb of God together with all those who have pleased him from time immemorial, to whose face St. Dimitry of Rostov is also numbered.
Since November 10, 1991, the venerable relics of St. Demetrius have been in the Yakovlevsky Temple, to the right of the royal gates. At the tomb of the saint, a warm and humble prayer is offered to him again: "About the All-blessed Saint Demetrius...".