Venerable Sava (Bogougodnik) of the Kiev Caves

Venerable Sava of the Kiev Caves, also called Bogougodnik ("Pleasing to God"), labored as a monk in the Near (Antonian) Caves of the Kiev Caves Monastery in the 13th century. His exact birth and death dates are unknown; as with many monks of the monastery from this period, no detailed life narrative survives, and he was not included among the biographies preserved in the 1661 Kiev Caves Patericon. He is known to have held the rank of a simple monk and was glorified by the Church as a wonderworker; his incorrupt relics rest in the Near Caves. His feast is kept on April 24 (May 7, New Style) — a date shared with the commemoration of the Holy Martyr Sava Stratelates, his namesake. He is also commemorated on September 28 (October 11) with the Synaxis of the Fathers of the Near Caves, and on the 2nd Sunday of Great Lent with the Synaxis of All Venerable Fathers of the Kiev Caves. He shares a common troparion and kontakion with St. Alexius the Recluse of the Caves, whose relics lie nearby.