Ukrainian Orthodoxy		Orthodoxie ukrainienne

Saints of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Dr. Alexander Roman (email)

Saints Tonsured at and Associated with the Kyivan Caves Lavra

There is also an entire group of Saints, Bishops and Missionaries who received their Monastic Tonsure at the Kyiv Caves Lavra, who are glorified as Saints, but who are, by and large, not buried at the Caves:

St. Menas, Bishop of Polotsk; St Dionysius of Polotsk (July 6); St Symeon of Polotsk; St. Arsenius, Bishop of Tver; St. Philotheus Leshchynsky, glorified with All Saints of Siberia, the Apostle of Siberia who built more than 2,600 Churches there;  St. Innocent Kulchitsky, Bishop of Irkutsk whose relative helped defend Vienna against the Turks; St. Paul Koniuskevych, Metropolitan of Tobilsk;  St. John Maximovitch, Metropolitan of Siberia;  St. Nikita, Bishop of Novhorod; St. Leontius Bishop of Rostov; St. Stephan Makhrischy; St. Amphilochius, Bishop of Volodymyr-Volynhia;  St. Theoktist, Bishop of Chernihiv;  St. Herman, Bishop of Novhorod;  St. Sophrony Krystalsky, Bishop of Siberia and his associate St Synesius (May 10);  St. Serapion, Bishop of Volodymyr;  St. Stephan, Bishop of Volodymyr-Volynhia;  St. Simon, Bishop of Volodymyr;  St. Ephrem of Novotorzhok, Archimandrite – one of the servants of Sts. Boris and Hlib;  St. Cyril Bishop of Turiv;  St. Joasaph, Bishop of Bilhorod near Kyiv; St. Tikhon Zadonsky; St. Theodosius Archbishop of Chernihiv; St Nikon of New-Jerusalem, mentioned in a service to the Kyivan Caves Saints;  St Stephan Makhrischky and his associate, the Venerable Martyr St Gregory of Avnesh, who was killed by the Tatars; St Cosmas of Yakhromsk;  St. Meletius, Archbishop of Kharkiv and Okhtyrka; 

St. Dmytry Tuptalo, Metropolitan of Rostov was associated with the Lavra as a Preacher there, as was Blessed Great-Hieromartyr Arsenius Matsievich, also Metropolitan of Rostov who should have been Glorified a Saint in 1918 but this was interrupted due to the Russian Revolution. St. Paisius Velichkovsky was likewise a fervent devotee at the Lavra as was another teacher of the Jesus Prayer, St. Theophane the Recluse, a convert from Calvinism. St. Seraphim of Sarov came to the Lavra to ask for guidance from St. Dositheus (in reality Dosithea). A further study on the influence of the Lavra in the life of the Russian Church is to see how many Russians and others were tonsured and studied at the Lavra.

The Kyivan Caves Lavra also possesses the precious Relics of the following Saints:

St. Michael, Metropolitan of Kyiv; St. Macarius, the Holy Hieromartyr, slain while at the Altar; St. Stephan the Protomartyr; St. Volodymyr the Great, King of Rus’-Ukraine; St. Olha the Great, Queen of Rus’-Ukraine; Sts. Boris, Hlib and Ihor, Passion-Bearers; Sts. Dmytry of Rostov, Theodosius of Chernihiv, Job of Pochayiv, Joasaph of Bilhorod and Tikhon Zadonsky.

Among the locally venerated, but not yet Glorified Hierarchs tonsured at the Lavra is Theophan, the Recluse of Vysha, who was born in 1815.  He completed his theological training at the Kyiv Academy and became a professor at the Kyiv Sophia School.  His guide in those years was St Parthenius of the Kyiv Caves Lavra who told him the one thing needful in life was, "To pray unceasingly in your mind and heart to God."  Later, Theophan became a recluse at the Vysha Hermitage near Volodymyr where he wrote many letters of spiritual guidance to those who sought his advice.  He reposed on January 6, the Feast of the Theophany in 1891, with his right arm folded as if for a Bishop's blessing.

Finally, many Fathers of the Kyivan Caves were killed as New Martyrs and Confessors who are yet to be formally Glorified as such by the Orthodox Church. St. Volodymyr, Metropolitan of Kyiv in 1918 was martyred by firing squad who put him up against the wall of one of the buildings in the Kyivan Caves Lavra. The Lavra is truly the holiest Shrine of Ukraine and of Eastern Europe.

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