Venerable Abraham (Avraamy) of the Kiev Caves, the Recluse

Venerable Abraham (Avraamy) of the Kiev Caves, the Recluse, was a monk of the Kiev Caves Monastery who lived no earlier than the second third of the 13th century, into the early 14th century. His exact dates are unknown, records from this era having been lost after the Mongol devastation of the monastery. He embraced the ascetic path of a recluse, withdrawing into a cave for unceasing prayer — the source of his epithet. Church tradition calls him "the other Abraham," distinct from another Kiev Caves ascetic, Venerable Abraham the Hard-Working, commemorated August 21. His relics rest in the Near (Anthony's) Caves of the Kiev Caves Lavra. Local veneration was established by Metropolitan Peter (Mogila) in 1643; church-wide glorification followed through Synod decrees of 1762, 1775, and 1784.