Matthew the Clairvoyant

Venerable Matthew the Seer (or Matthew of the Caves) was a monk of the Kiev Caves Lavra in the eleventh century and reposed around 1088 (according to a Ukrainian source, around 1085). He is honoured by the Russian Church among the venerable fathers. His commemoration is on 28 September, in the Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of the Near Caves, and on 5 October, by the old calendar (11 and 18 October by the new).

He became a monk in his youth in the Monastery of the Caves, in the time of the venerable founders Theodosius, Stephen and Nikon. According to the monastery's tradition, he was accustomed to leave the church last after matins, when all the brethren had dispersed to their cells. He had the gift of clairvoyance and taught the brethren with love, advising them how to pray. His gift was to see the hidden thoughts of men and visions, of which he spoke when it could be of benefit.

The Kiev Caves Paterikon tells of three visions of his in which he saw demons. During the service, looking at the brethren in the choir stalls, he saw a demon in the shape of a Pole, going about with dog-⁠rose flowers and throwing them on the monks. If a flower stuck to one of them, that man, after a short time, began to doze, thought up an excuse and left the church to sleep and did not return till the end of the service. But if the demon threw it on another and the flower did not stick, that man stood firm at the service until matins ended and only then went to his cell.

After matins, resting under the church's wooden bell, he saw a crowd of people entering the monastery gate, led by a demon riding a pig. To the venerable one's question where they were going, the demon answered, for Michael Tobolkovich. The next day Matthew told his disciple to go and ask whether Michael was in his cell. They told him that after matins he had gone outside the monastery wall. The elder told the vision to the abbot and the older brethren, and the abbot summoned the monk Michael and strictly instructed him. The third time, at matins, he saw a demon in the abbot's seat and understood that the abbot had not yet awakened.

Matthew lived in the monastery in the time of the abbots Theodosius, Stephen and Nikon and reposed in the abbacy of the last, in 1088. The venerable one reached great old age. He was buried in the Near Caves (of Saint Anthony) of the Kiev Caves Lavra, where his relics rest.