Saint Dositheos the Recluse (+ 1776)

St. Dositheos the Recluse (Feast Day - September 25)

This is the story of how a young girl named Daria, became a serf named Dositheos, who lived for decades as a recluse, and gave the blessing to Saint Seraphim to go to Sarov.

Daria was born in 1721 to the noble Tiapkin family in the province of Riazan. Before she was born, her grandmother entered the Monastery of the Ascension at the Moscow Kremlin and took the name Porphyria. When Daria was two years old she visited her grandmother with her parents, and when her grandmother saw her she insisted Daria remain in the monastery with her to be dedicated to God and the patroness of the monastery, Saint Euphrosyne. The parents reluctantly allowed their child to remain with her grandmother in the monastery. With her grandmother, Daria was educated and learned to love the monastic way of life of asceticism and prayer.

Holy Hieromonk Pankraty the Recluse and Wonderworker of the Kiev Caves

Our Venerable Father Pankraty was a hieromonk of the Kiev Caves Lavra in the 13th century. There he lived as a recluse of the Far Caves. According to the chronicles, he was endowed with the gift of healing the sick by prayer, fasting and anointing with oil. His sacred relic rests in the Far Caves.

 

 

Saint John the Faster of the Kiev Caves

 

Venerable John the Faster presumably lived in the thirteenth century in the Near Caves of the Kiev Caves Lavra. He is called "the Faster" because this was the discipline that distinguished him and helped him approach God. In one troparion it says that John "was illumined by fasting, consuming the word of God more than food." Nothing else is known of him. His incorrupt relics rest in the Near Caves.

 

 

Saint Athanasius the Recluse of the Kiev Caves

 

St. Athanasius the Recluse of the Kiev Caves (Feast Day - December 2)

Venerable Athanasius the Recluse lived in asceticism in the Far Caves of the Kiev Caves Lavra. No longer wishing to take part in the vanity and delights of this world, he shut himself up in a cave in order to please God in silence, and there he constantly stood in prayer.  It is said that Saint Athanasius had no need of candles in the cave, since a heavenly light shone for him. The Lord glorified the ascetic with the blessed gift of healings, which Orthodox Christians received through the intercessions of the Venerable Athanasius. After many spiritual labors and exploits, he delivered his spirit to the Lord.

 

 

Saint Theophilus the Recluse of the Kiev Caves (+ 13th cent.)

 

 

Very little has been preserved about the life and exploits of Venerable Theophilus the Recluse, who lived in the 12th to the 13th century. He was also known as Theophilus the Wonderworker. His relics rest in the Near Caves of the Kiev Caves Lavra, and is commemorated on October 24th.

Saint Sisoes the Recluse of the Kiev Caves (+ 13th cent.)

 

 

Information about the life of the Venerable Sisoes the Schema-Monk, like many ascetics of the Kiev Caves Lavra of the 13th century, is very scarce.
 

He was first mentioned in the plan of the Near Caves in 1661 as "Sisoes the Faster". In 1703 he was marked as "Sisoes the Recluse".

 

His relics rest in the Near Caves, and is commemorated on October 24th.

Saint Hilarion, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia (+ 1053)

 

St. Hilarian of Kiev (Feast Day - October 21)

Saint Hilarion, Metropolitan of Kiev, lived during the era of the Great Prince Yaroslav the Wise (+ 1054), son of Saint Vladimir. In the history of the Russian Church he is remembered as the first Russian installed as Metropolitan by a Council of Russian Bishops. The Russian Church up to that time had been a Metropolitan See, under the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Russia’s first Metropolitans were Greeks, and they were appointed by Constantinople.

Saint Hilarion, priest of the prince’s village of Berestovo near Kiev, was the spiritual father and companion of Prince Yaroslav. Saint Nestor the Chronicler relates:

Saint Hilarion, Schemamonk of the Kiev Caves (+ late 11th cent.)

 

St. Hilarion of the Kiev Caves (Feast Day - October 21)

Venerable Hilarion was a strict ascetic and a disciple and co-ascetic with Saint Theodosius (May 3) in the Far Caves of the Kiev Caves Lavra. Hilarion is said to have kept such abstinence that he ate very little once a week, and as a cohabitant of Saint Theodosius he imitated him by praying day and night with prostrations and tears, pleasing God. 

 

Holy Hieromartyr Lucian the Presbyter of the Kiev Caves (+ 1243)

 

St. Lucian the Presbyter of the Far Caves (Feast Day - October 15)

Venerable Lucian the Presbyter lived in the 13th century. Like many ascetics of the Kiev Caves Lavra during the Mongol-Tatar invasion, very little is known about the Holy Hieromartyr Lucian. During the invasion, some of the Kiev Caves saints were also martyred. On one old gravestone with an icon of the Saint it is written that "Lucian the Hieromartyr suffered under Batu in about 1243"; nothing else is known about him. The date given here is approximate, since Kiev was ravaged by the army of the Mongol Khan Batu in 1240. The relics of the ascetic are indicated on the map of the Far Caves for the first time presumably dating back to 1744: “The Monk Lucian Hieromartyr”. According to the results of anthropological research, he died at the age of 30-35. 

Saint Nicholas Sviatosha, Prince of Chernigov, and Wonderworker of the Kiev Caves (+ 1143)

 

St. Nicholas Sviatosha (Feast Day - October 14)

Saint Nicholas Sviatosha was a great-grandson of Great Prince Yaroslav the Wise and son of Prince David Svyatoslavich of Chernigov (+ 1123). Nicholas was the Prince of Lutsk, and he had a wife and children (his daughter was later married to the Novgorod prince Saint Vsevolod-Gabriel).

On February 17, 1106 the holy prince left his family and was tonsured at the Kiev Caves Lavra, in the Near Caves. Nicholas Sviatosha carried out his obediences with great humility. For three years he worked in the kitchen, for which he chopped wood and carried water. For the next three years, he was gatekeeper at the monastery. The Saint had a garden around his cell. Out of his own means he built at the monastery the Temple of the Holy Trinity and the infirmary church in the name of Saint Nicholas, his patron saint.

Synaxis of the Saints of the Kiev Caves, Whose Relics Repose in the Near Caves of Venerable Anthony

 

The Synaxis of Venerable Fathers who are venerated in the Near Caves of Saint Anthony, is now celebrated on September 28. This general commemoration was originally on the first Saturday after the Leave-taking of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (i.e. after September 21).

 

The general commemoration of the Venerable Fathers of the Near Caves of Saint Anthony on the Saturday after the Leave-taking of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Honorable Cross dates to the year 1670. During the restoration of the Caves, which had been damaged by an earthquake, some of the relics of the ancient ascetics were uncovered and a church was built in honor of the Exaltation of the Venerable Cross.

 

Synaxis of the Saints of the Kiev Caves, Whose Relics Repose in the Far Caves of Venerable Theodosius

On this day, the 28th of August, the Church celebrates the Synaxis of the Holy Fathers of the Kiev Caves, whose relics repose in the Far Caves of Saint Theodosius. They have their own individual days of commemoration, but today we honor the whole assembly of these venerable saints who were a light upon the earth, guiding us on the path of salvation.

Venerable Theodosius, the Founder (May 3, August 14, September 2)

Venerable Agathon the Wonderworker (February 20)

Archimandrite Acindynus (+ 1235)

Venerable Ammon (October 4)

Bishop Amphilochius of Vladimir, Volhynia (October 10)

Translation of the Relics of our Venerable Father Theodosius of the Kiev Caves

Translation of the Relics of our Venerable Father Theodosius of the Kiev Caves
(Feast Day - Aug. 14)

Saint Theodosius of the Kiev Caves Lavra died in 1074 after a short illness. Before his death, he asked to be buried at night in the cave where he performed his seclusion during Lent. His request was fulfilled eighteen years later.

In 1091 the abbot John and the brethren of the Lavra decided that the body of Theodosius must be transferred to the Dormition Church, which he had built before his death, and which was consecrated only in 1089. Three days before the feast of the Dormition, the monks began to excavate the grave, and the incorrupt relics of Theodosius were found. The solemn transfer of the Saint's relics to the church took place on the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, with a gathering of many bishops and abbots of monasteries in Kiev. During the Mongol invasion, the relics of Theodosius were put under the shelter at the western doors of the temple, where they are to this day.

Saint Pimen the Faster of the Kiev Caves (+ 1141)

St. Pimen the Faster of the Kiev Caves (Feast Day - August 7)

Venerable Pimen, Faster of the Kiev Caves Lavra, labored in the Far Caves. His abstinence was such that he ate food only once a week, and only in the most necessary quantity. His outward fasting corresponded to an inward abstention from any actions, thoughts or feelings that were displeasing to God. He was also noted for being a hard worker, constantly carrying out his monastic obedience. Never was he weakened from fasting: whether he was grinding in a millstone, or carrying firewood on him. And through the night he stood in vigilant prayer. Because of this, he was richly blessed by God and filled with His grace. Saint Pimen was also abbot of the Kiev Caves Lavra from 1132 to 1141.

Saint Mercurius of the Kiev Caves, Bishop of Smolensk (+ 1239)

St. Mercurius of Smolensk (Feast Day - August 7)

Saint Mercurius of Kiev Caves Lavra pursued asceticism in the Near Caves in the thirteenth century. He was chosen to be the Bishop of Smolensk and experienced with his flock the horrors of Batu's invasion, during which he died. According to legend, the relics of the Saint miraculously sailed along the Dnieper to Kiev and were laid in the Near (Anthony) Caves. A holy mantle hangs over his tombstone.

Saints Anatoly of the Near Caves and the other Anatoly the Recluse of the Far Caves

Information about the life of Saint Anatoly the Recluse has not been preserved. We are only informed that he lived as a recluse in the far caves of the Kiev Caves Lavra some time in the 13th century.

Another Saint Anatoly is also commemorated on the same day who lived in the 12th century at the near caves of the Kiev Caves Lavra. Information about his life has not been preserved either.

Saint Isaiah of the Kiev Caves (+ 1115)

St. Isaiah of the Kiev Caves (Feast Day - May 15)

Venerable Isaiah struggled in asceticism at the Kiev Caves Lavra from the late 11th to the early 12th centuries. He pleased the Lord with his life of silence and tireless labor, for which he is called a "lover of labor." The Saint also had a special grace to resist demonic attacks. He reposed in the Lord on May 15, 1115. His relics rest in the Near Caves of the Kiev Caves Lavra.

Saint Sophrony the Recluse of the Kiev Caves

St. Sophrony the Recluse of the Caves (Feast Day - May 11)

Venerable Sophrony the Recluse labored in the Far Caves of the Kiev Caves Lavra around the thirteenth century. 

Having enclosed himself there in a dark cave, every day he read the entire Psalter. 

He always wore a rough hair shirt and a heavy iron belt was wrapped around his body. 

Saint Arseny the Lover of Labor of the Kiev Caves

St. Arseny the Lover of Labor (Feast Day - May 8)

Venerable Arseny the Lover of Labor lived during the fourteenth century. This ascetic was distinguished by his love for labor, and living in asceticism in the Kiev Caves Lavra of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, he knew no rest. He prayed constantly and partook of food only at the setting of the sun. For his humility and love of labor the Lord gave him the gift of wonderworking. His grave lies in the Far Caves.

Saint Stephen, Abbot of the Kiev Far Caves, and Bishop of Vladimir-Volynsky (+ 1094)

St. Stephen of the Kiev Caves and Vladimir-Volynsky (Feast Day - April 27)

Before being tonsured a monk, Saint Stephen was raised in a family of wealthy parents; after their death, he distributed all the property and decided to devote himself to the service of God. He pursued asceticism at the Kiev Caves Lavra under the guidance of Saint Theodosius (May 3). Saint Theodosius sometimes entrusted him to exhort the brethren with edifying words.