Venerable Athanasius the Recluse of the Kiev Far Caves

Athanasius the Recluse was an ascetic of the Far Caves of the Kiev Caves Lavra, commemorated on December 2. Few details of his life survive; he is remembered chiefly through the collective tradition of the monastic fathers buried in the caves of the monastery founded by Saints Anthony and Theodosius. By tradition, he shut himself up in a cave in order to please God in silence, where he remained constantly at prayer, withdrawn from worldly concerns.

The principal detail preserved of him relates that, according to the 'Sayings and Lives of the Saints Who Repose in the Cave of Saint Theodosius,' he had no need of candles in his cave, since a heavenly light shone for him. The tradition further holds that God glorified him with the gift of healing, which the faithful are said to have received through his intercession.

His relics repose among the saints of the Far Caves. Besides his commemoration on December 2, his memory is kept on August 28, with the Synaxis of the Saints whose relics lie in the Far Caves of Saint Theodosius, and on the Second Sunday of Great Lent. He is named in the Fourth Ode of the general Canon of the Monastic Fathers of the Far Caves.