Venerable Isaiah of the Kiev Caves, the Industrious

Venerable Isaiah of the Caves labored at the Kyiv Caves Monastery in the late 11th–early 12th century. The chief feat of his life was silence and tireless labor that continued even into old age, earning him the title "the venerable industrious elder" — an 1638 map of the Near Caves names him "holy elder Isaiah the Toiler," and 1661/1703 descriptions call him "Isaiah the Industrious." In the common service to the Kyiv Caves saints he is glorified as "a dove that loved the desert." He received from God the gift of wonderworking and power over demonic forces. He reposed on May 15, 1115; his relics rest incorrupt in the Near (Anthony's) Caves of the Kyiv Caves Lavra, in the underground "Refectory," next to the relics of Venerable Sylvester of the Caves. His Life did not enter the Kyiv Caves Patericon and is known from later sources. Not to be confused with St. Isaiah, Bishop of Rostov (also tonsured at the Kyiv Caves Monastery, d. 1090), or with Venerable Isaac (Isaakiy), Recluse of the Caves (a different saint, feast Feb 14/27).