Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of the Kiev Caves, Resting in the Near (St Anthony’s) Caves

The Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of the Kiev Caves resting in the Near (St Anthony’s) Caves was formerly (from 1670) celebrated on the Saturday after the leave-taking of the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, that is, after 21 September; in 1886, under Platon, Metropolitan of Kiev, it was moved to 28 September, to correspond to 28 August, the day of the common commemoration of the fathers resting in the Far Caves.

In the Near (Anthony’s) Caves rest in all the incorrupt remains of seventy-three holy fathers, nine of them in a closed cell. Besides these, thirty myrrh-streaming heads are kept here. In the canons to the Kiev Caves fathers of the Near Caves, in the most ancient manuscripts, and in inscriptions found in the cave itself, the names of other saints too are preserved. It seems that more incorrupt remains once rested here.

On the second Sunday of Great Lent the fathers of the Near and Far Caves of Kiev are commemorated together.