Synaxis of saints
Synaxis Synaxis of the Fathers of the Kiev Caves Resting in the Near Caves
XI–XIX века
Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers resting in the Near (Anthony's) Caves of the Kiev Caves Lavra — about 73 individually venerated ascetics (including Venerable Anthony of the Caves, founder of the monastery, the chronicler Venerable Nestor, the iconographer Venerable Alypius, and the physician Venerable Agapit) and about 30 myrrh-streaming heads; the feast was established in 1670, originally on a movable date, transferred in 1886 to the fixed date of September 28/October 11 to align it with the already-existing date of the Far Caves synaxis.
The Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers resting in the Near (Anthony's) Caves unites the memory of the ascetics whose holy relics rest in the older of the two cave systems of the Kiev Caves Lavra, named after its founder — Venerable Anthony of the Caves (11th century), the first Russian hermit-monk who began the cave-dwelling life at this site.
The feast of the Synaxis was established in 1670 — originally on a movable date (the first Saturday after the Exaltation of the Cross). In 1886, under Metropolitan Platon of Kiev, the date was moved to the fixed date of September 28/October 11 — specifically to align it with the already-established date of the Synaxis of the Far (Theodosius's) Caves (August 28/September 10).
About 73 individually venerated ascetics rest in the Near Caves, along with about 30 myrrh-streaming heads of unknown ascetics. Among the most venerated: Venerable Anthony of the Caves (founder), Venerable Varlaam (first abbot), Venerable Nestor the Chronicler (author of the "Primary Chronicle"), Venerable Alypius the Iconographer, Venerable Prochorus the Bread-Maker (who fed the starving with bread made from goosefoot), Venerable Agapit the Unmercenary Physician, Venerable Mark the Gravedigger, Venerable Pimen the Much-Ailing, Venerable Polycarp, Venerable Damian the Healer, Venerable Nicodemus, Venerable Isaac the Recluse, Venerable Ilya (Elijah) of Murom, Venerable Gregory the Iconographer, Hieromartyr Kuksha (missionary-martyr), and Venerable Moses the Hungarian and Venerable Sylvester (chronicler, abbot of St. Michael's Vydubychi Monastery) — both of whom rest in the Near, not the Far Caves, which is often confused with the similarly-named later ascetics of the Far Caves (Venerable Moses the Wonderworker and Venerable Sylvanus).
NOTE: the original stub was an unprocessed image caption from pravicon.com for a fragment of the icon "All Saints Who Shone Forth in the Russian Land" by Nun Juliana (Sokolova) — it has been reworked into a coherent description; the previously empty feast-date fields have been filled in.