Pancratius the Recluse

Venerable Pancratius the Recluse (also called Pancratius of the Caves) was a hieromonk and recluse of the Kyiv Caves Lavra in the thirteenth century, and is a saint of the Russian Church. His commemoration is on 28 August (10 September by the new calendar), in the Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of the Far Caves, and on 9 February (22 February by the new calendar), in the second week of Great Lent.

Almost no information has been preserved about his life in the world. Pancratius is known as a hieromonk and recluse of the Caves monastery in Kyiv, who lived in the thirteenth century. According to the chronicles, he had the gift of healing the sick by prayer, fasting and anointing with oil. In his akathist it is said of him that he showed himself great in fasting, and among priests distinguished and glorious in the gift of working miracles. The troparion of Venerable Pancratius of the Caves, in the Far Caves, calls him wise in God, a chosen priest of the Lord and a worker of many miracles through his own labour, and asks him to pray the Lord for the salvation of our souls.

The relics of this ascetic rest openly in Kyiv, in the Far (Theodosius's) Caves of the Caves Lavra, where he lived until his death.