Hierarch Metropolitan Hilarion of Kiev

Metropolitan Hilarion was the first native Rus' Metropolitan of Kiev, installed in 1051 not by Constantinople but by a council of Russian bishops at Yaroslav the Wise's initiative. Before his elevation he was priest of the Church of the Holy Apostles in Berestovo and Yaroslav's confessor; tradition holds he dug a small cave in the Dnieper hills for prayer, which grew into the Kiev Caves Monastery.

As a priest he delivered his celebrated "Sermon on Law and Grace" in the Church of the Tithes — a theological oration on Rus's transition from "Law" to "Grace," with a eulogy of Sts. Vladimir and Olga — the oldest and most significant original work of Old Russian literature.

Chronicle references to him cease shortly after 1054, suggesting removal from the see after Yaroslav's death. Some scholars (not a scholarly consensus) identify him with the schema-monk Hilarion of the Caves, under which name he is commemorated October 21/November 3 and within the Synaxis of Kiev Caves saints — this is the basis of his current feast date.