|
|
| 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. In addition, there are: Saint Lavrenti of Turiv, Saint Luke of Bilhorod, Saint Marinus of Yuriyiv, and Saint Nicholas of Pereyaslav. The Holy Venerable-Martyr St Athanasius of Brest lived at the Lavra in 1672 as did St Dmitri of Rostov (1684-1686) and Saint Paisius Velichkovsky (years unknown). Saint Jonah Miroshnychenko and founder of the Holy Trinity "Joninsky" Monastery in Kyiv also lived at the Lavra as well as Saint Kuksha of Odessa who struggled as an ascetic at the Lavra in 1913 until its closing by the Bolsheviks and again in the years 1947-1951).
In May of 2003, the third
Archbishop of Voronezh and Zadonsk, Anthony, was glorified a Saint. St.
Anthony was tonsured in the Kyivan Caves Lavra where he worked and
served God faithfully before being called to Voronezh. Along with the
Hieromartyr Arsenius Matsievich, he was to have been glorified a Saint
in 1918, but the Russian Revolution prevented this. His Feast Days are:
January 2nd, May 23, and 17 September which is the feast of All Saints
of Voronezh. In Poltava there is a locally venerated Bishop Ambrose who was tonsured at the Lavra and whose Relics are incorrupt. Blessed Theophylact Lopatynsky and Blessed Simon Todorsky, locally venerated Orthodox Hierarchs awaiting their Glorification, were also tonsured at the Lavra. St Jonah, Founder of Holy Trinity Monastery in Kyiv, was also tonsured at the Lavra (+1902). Blessed and locally venerated Schemanun Gabriela recently reposed in 1992 and she was from the same monastery. St. Dmytry Tuptalo, Metropolitan of Rostov was associated with the Lavra as a Preacher there, as was Holy 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). We know that St Seraphim was tonsured at the Lavra before going to Sarov. A religious conference was held at the Lavra this year in honour of St Seraphim, "the most famous of all those tonsured at the Kyivan Caves." One of St Seraphim's spiritual children, now glorified, was the Venerable Saint Alexandra Melgunov, who, in 1760, received the monastic tonsure (at the Kyivan Monastery of Saints Florus and Laurus) and experienced a vision in which the Mother of God told her to found the famous Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery. 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. Choir of all Venerable Fathers tonsured at the Lavra who then laboured and reposed elsewhere and all Venerable Fathers:
All Holy Venerable Fathers of the Kyivan Caves Lavra and the Fruits of the Kyivan Church, pray unto God for us! |
