Venerable, Recluse Cassian the Recluse of the Kiev Caves

Venerable Cassian labored at the Kiev Caves Monastery in the 12th century, bearing the feat of many years of seclusion and strict fasting. Little detailed biographical information about his life has survived: the date and place of his birth are unknown. The Caves Paterikon describes him as a monk who humbled himself before everyone, was very obedient, hardworking, and abstemious. Through his holy obedience, Venerable Cassian made demons confess how many monks of the Kiev Caves Monastery were able to cast out demons and how greatly the demons feared the Caves saints. His relics rest in the Far (Theodosian) Caves. His memory is kept on February 29 (in non-leap years the church celebration is transferred), and also on August 28/September 10 within the Synaxis of the Fathers of the Far Caves. He should not be confused with Venerable Cassian, hegumen of the Spaso-Kamenny and Kirillo-Belozersky monasteries (d. c. 1463), who was twice sent to the Patriarch in Constantinople — that is a different, entirely separate saint.