Church celebrates Feast of St. Anthony of the Caves

St. Anthony of the Caves. Photo: open sources

The Orthodox Church is celebrating the feast day of St. Anthony of the Caves, the founder of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and the father of monasticism in Kyivan Rus. He is venerated as the saint who brought the spiritual blessing of Mount Athos to Kyiv.

St. Anthony was born in the early 11th century in the town of Liubech near Chernihiv and was baptized with the name Antipas. Feeling called to the ascetic life, he traveled to Mount Athos, where he received the monastic tonsure at one of its monasteries. With the blessing of his abbot and the obedience to return to his homeland to establish monastic life, the saint came to Kyiv in 1051.

The ascetic settled in a small cave that had earlier been dug as a place of prayer by the presbyter Hilarion. St. Anthony lived an exceptionally austere life, eating only black bread every other day and drinking a small amount of water. News of the strict hermit soon spread throughout Kyivan Rus, and people began coming to him for spiritual counsel and his blessing.

His first disciples were St. Nikon and St. Theodosius of the Caves. When the brotherhood had grown to twelve monks, St. Anthony, seeking greater solitude, withdrew to a nearby hill. There he dug another cave and spent the rest of his life in seclusion, while St. Theodosius was chosen as abbot of the monastic community.

The Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery they founded became a major spiritual center and a model for countless other monasteries. From the Lavra came many distinguished missionaries, writers, and hierarchs. St. Anthony reposed in the Lord in 1073 at about 90 years of age, leaving behind a great spiritual legacy that remains an unshakable pillar of Orthodoxy to this day.

As the UOJ reported, celebrations in honor of St. Anthony of the Caves have begun at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

Read also