Synaxis Synaxis of the Fathers of the Kiev Caves

The Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of the Kiev Caves unites the memory of the ascetics of the renowned Kiev Caves Lavra, founded by Venerables Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves in the 11th century — one of the most important centers of Russian monasticism, learning, and holiness.

General veneration of the Kiev saints was formally established in 1643 by Metropolitan Peter (Mogila) of Kiev, who commissioned the Constantinopolitan hieromonk and patriarchal exarch Meletius Syrigos to compose the service ("stichera and canon to the Venerable Fathers of the Kiev Caves and all saints who shone forth in Little Russia"). The feast is kept on the movable 2nd Sunday of Great Lent.

Separate from this general feast are two more specific ones: the Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers resting in the Near (Anthony's) Caves (September 28/October 11 — according to some sources this date was established as early as 1670, according to others it was moved there in 1886 under Metropolitan Platon of Kiev to align it with the Far Caves' date), and the Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers resting in the Far (Theodosius's) Caves (August 28/September 10). About 73 ascetics' relics rest in the Near Caves (along with about 30 myrrh-streaming heads), and about 45 in the Far Caves (likewise with myrrh-streaming heads); the total number of venerated saints is often given as "over a hundred," though sources do not agree on a single precise figure.

NOTE: the original stub was an unprocessed image caption from pravicon.com for a 19th-century icon (Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow) — it has been reworked into a coherent description. Given the movable nature of the general feast (2nd Sunday of Great Lent, a Pascha-dependent date), the feast_days field has been left empty for the same technical reason as other movable feasts in this project; the exact date is given as text in feast_day_raw.