Venerable Spyridon the Prosphora-baker of the Kiev Caves

Saint Spyridon the Prosphora-baker of the Kiev Caves was a twelfth-century monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. Born a simple villager with no formal education but filled with the fear of God, he entered the monastery already advanced in years, during the abbacy of Pimen the Faster (1132–1141), and was assigned the obedience of baking prosphora (communion bread) for the Divine Liturgy. For thirty years he labored at the oven without ever missing a day, accompanying his work with unceasing recitation of the Psalter, which he had memorized in full and read through daily. He shared this strict rule of life with his fellow monk, Saint Nicodemus. Tradition records a miracle: when fire broke out at the oven, Spyridon smothered the flames with his mantle and carried water from the well in the tied sleeves of his hairshirt, yet neither garment was harmed by the fire. He reposed in deep old age and was buried in the Near (Anthony) Caves beside his spiritual son, Saint Onesiphorus of the Kiev Caves.