Venerable Sophronius the Recluse of the Kiev Caves

Saint Sophronius the Recluse of the Kiev Caves labored in the thirteenth century in the Far (Theodosius) Caves of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. Little is recorded of his life: an ancient account, published by Bishop Modest (Strelbitsky), tells that he shut himself away in a dark cave of voluntary confinement and read through the entire Psalter every day without fail throughout his years of enclosure. To mortify the flesh he wore a coarse hairshirt and a heavy iron belt, compelling the body into submission to the spirit. Through strict fasting, silence, and unceasing prayer he attained purity of heart and eternal rest in Christ. His relics rest in the Far Caves, where his presence is already attested in cave descriptions from 1638. His memory is kept on the feast of Saint Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, whose name he shares, and also in the Synaxis of the Fathers of the Far Caves.