Damian the Healer

Venerable Damian of the Caves, called the Healer, was a monk and priest of the Kyiv Caves Monastery, a disciple of Saint Theodosius, who died between 1062 and 3 May 1074. He is commemorated (Old Style) on 28 September, in the Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of the Near Caves, and on 5 October. The year of his repose is not known: nineteenth-⁠century sources give 5 October 1071, but the Orthodox Encyclopedia judges that this date is unfounded and that the death must be placed in the time of Theodosius's abbacy.

Life

His Life was written by Nestor the Chronicler, in the Life of Saint Theodosius, and is found in all copies of the Kyiv Caves Paterikon, from the oldest. He came to the Caves Monastery in the time of the abbacy of Saint Theodosius, became his disciple and, according to the Life, "zealously followed the angelic life and all the virtues of his venerable father and teacher". He submitted to a strict fast: until death he ate only bread and water, and spent the nights in prayer and reading Holy Scripture. The Life says that he had the gift of healing and that, when the sick were brought to the monastery, "Theodosius ordered blessed Damian to make prayer over the sick".

According to the Life, when he fell ill before his death, Damian prayed to God to grant him and Theodosius a place in the Kingdom of Heaven. In answer an angel appeared to him in the form of Theodosius and said: "Your request will be fulfilled: you will be numbered among His saints and will dwell with them in the Kingdom of the Master of Heaven". According to nineteenth-⁠century sources, he reposed surrounded by the monks of the Caves on 5 October 1071 and was buried in the Near (Anthony's) Caves of the Caves Monastery.