medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
We know about the monastic co-founder Theodosius of Kyiv (d. 1074; also Theodosius of Pechersk, Theodosius of the Caves) from his closely posthumous, Slavic-language Life by St. Nestor of Pechersk (Nestor the Chronicler) and from mentions in the _Russian Primary Chronicle_ (begun by Nestor). Deeply religious from his early childhood, soon deprived of his father, and treated harshly by his mother, he left home while still young and became an early disciple of St. Anthony of Kyiv at Pechersk, residing with him in a cave. When his community had grown a little larger Anthony withdrew to a nearby mountain where he lived as a solitary in one of what became the lavra's Far Caves, leaving its active direction to two successors, the second of whom was Theodosius. With Anthony's blessing, Theodosius expanded the lavra beyond its purely rupestrian beginnings, erected its first stone church (dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God), and adopted a strict Stoudite rule for the monks.
Anthony and Theodosius were both both buried in the Far Caves. Theodosius' remains, said to have been incorrupt, were discovered there by Nestor in 1091 and were translated then to the church of the Dormition. His formal glorification occurred in 1108 at the behest of Sviatopolk II Iziaslavych, grand prince of Kyiv. 3. May is Theodosius' traditional _dies natalis_. In the Ukrainian Orthodox churches and the Ukrainian Catholic Church, all of which follow the Julian calendar, Theodosius is celebrated on 3. May (= 16. May in the Gregorian Calendar). In the Roman Martyrology, which follows the Gregorian calendar, today (3. May) is Theodosius' day of commemoration.
St. Theodosius of Kyiv as depicted (at left, flanking the Theotokos; at right, St. Anthony of Kyiv) in the late thirteenth-century Icon of Sven (before 1288) in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow:
http://www.icon-art.info/masterpiece.php?lng=en&mst_id=182
Herewith a few English-language accounts of the Kyiv (Kiev)-Pechersk Lavra (a.k.a. the Monastery of the Caves):
http://orthodoxwiki.org/Monastery_of_the_Kiev_Caves
http://symeon-anthony.info/pilgrimage/lavra.html
http://tinyurl.com/d8gfgj
Best,
John Dillon
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