Hypatius of the Caves

Venerable Hypatius of the Caves, also called Hypatius the Healer, was a monk and ascetic of the Kyiv Caves Lavra at the end of the fourteenth century and is venerated as a saint. He received from God, for his ascetic labours, the gift of healing. His commemoration is on 13 April (31 March by the old calendar).

Venerable Hypatius lived the ascetic life in the fourteenth century, after the Mongol-⁠Tatar invasion of Kyiv, which is why little is known about his life. He became known for the labours of prayer vigil and strict fasting. He ate only bread and water, slept very little and spent his nights in prayer. By day he zealously served the brothers and all the sick. For a life devoted entirely to serving the sick, Venerable Hypatius received from the Lord God the gift of healing. The sick who ran to Saint Hypatius's help and to his prayer of intercession received healing from various illnesses. In him were fulfilled the words of Venerable Pimen the Much-⁠Ailing, who spoke of the equal reward that the sick person himself and the one who helps him will receive.

The incorrupt relics of Venerable Hypatius, the physician and healer, rest in the Far Caves of the Kyiv Caves Lavra. On the icon Synaxis of the Saints of the Caves, Venerable Hypatius is usually placed in the right-⁠hand group, after Venerable Theodosius, in the line of monks who rest in the Far (Theodosius's) Caves, in the fifth row, first from the centre, turned slightly to the right. From 1703 the saint's name is found on the maps of the Far Caves.

Saint Hypatius departed in peace to the Lord at the end of the fourteenth century, and almost at once miracles of healing began to flow from his relics. People suffering from various illnesses have received and receive healing, turning to the prayer of intercession of the venerable one. One of his many miracles was the return of milk to nursing mothers.