The Church commemorates Venerable Agapitus of the Caves

Icon of Venerable Agapitus. Photo: open sources

On June 14 (June 1 according to the Julian calendar), the Church commemorates Venerable Agapitus of the Caves, an unmercenary healer of the 11th century and one of the earliest saints known for the gift of healing.

Venerable Agapitus was a disciple of St. Anthony of the Caves and labored in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. He healed the sick primarily through prayer, offering them simple herbs that he prepared for himself as food. It was not the herbs, but God’s grace through his prayers, that brought healing – thus he became known as a healer.

The most well-known case is the healing of Prince Vladimir Monomakh, who fell seriously ill in Chernihiv. When an Armenian physician, reputed to be highly skilled, failed to help the prince, the abbot of the monastery asked Agapitus to send his usual herbs. The prince was healed and later came to the monastery to express his gratitude, but the saint hid from worldly praise.

Of particular interest is the story of the Armenian physician. Envious of the fame of the monastic healer, the physician repeatedly tried to discredit him –even sending a poisoned person and attempting to poison Agapitus himself. But the poison had no effect. When Agapitus fell ill, the Armenian visited him and, seeing his extreme weakness, predicted his death in three days. However, the saint replied that the Lord had revealed to him that he would die in three months. The physician insisted on his prediction, but the saint lived exactly three months, as he had foretold.

After Agapitus’s repose, the Armenian physician came to the abbot and said, “Blessed Agapitus appeared to me and said: ‘You promised to take monastic vows; if you lie, you will lose both your life and your soul.’” Shaken by the accuracy of the saint’s prophecy and his posthumous appearance, the Armenian converted to Orthodoxy, was tonsured a monk in the same Pechersk Monastery, and spent the rest of his life in pious asceticism.

Venerable Agapitus passed away no later than 1095. His relics rest in the caves of St. Anthony in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. He is venerated as a patron of physicians and serves as a reminder that true healing is accomplished not only by medical means, but above all through the power of faith and prayer.

Today, the Church of Venerable Agapitus is the only church within the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra that remains accessible to the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

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