Onuphrius the Silent

Venerable Onuphrius the Silent (Onuphrius of the Caves) was a monk of the Kiev Caves Lavra, in the twelfth century. He is honoured by the Russian Church among the venerable fathers. His commemoration is on 21 July (3 August by the new calendar), on 27 September (in the Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of the Near Caves), and according to the Ukrainian source on 11 October and 3 August.

He lived in the Near Caves of the Lavra, where his relics lie even now, venerated as incorrupt. Reports about his life and the circumstances of his glorification among the saints have not been preserved. Only from the nickname "the silent" is it known that Onuphrius became famous for his silent seclusion, which was characteristic of many saints of the Caves (Theodore the Silent, some moments in the life of Theodosius of the Caves). Anthropological studies show that he died at about fifty years of age.

On the map of the Near Caves of 1638 he is mentioned as "holy elder and wonderworker Onuphrius", in 1661 as "Onuphrius the Clairvoyant" and in 1744 as "venerable Onuphrius the silent". Together with the venerable Isaiah and Sylvester of the Caves he is credited with the gift of repelling all demonic attacks. The Akathist to all the venerable fathers of the Caves speaks of him as a lover of silence, and of Isaiah as a turtle-⁠dove that loves the wilderness, who, with blessed Sylvester, make a threefold cord against the demons.