Titus the Soldier

Venerable Titus the Soldier, also called Titus of the Caves, was first a soldier, then a monk of the Kiev Caves Monastery. He is thought to have lived in the fourteenth century, but of his life as a layman almost nothing is known. He is commemorated on 27 February, in the synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of the Far Caves and in the synaxis of all the Venerable Fathers of the Caves; the Russian source adds 27 January, following the Greek Church and the Russian Church Outside Russia. The dates are Old Style (12 March New Style).

Life

The Paterikon of the Caves says that Titus was first a soldier and was distinguished by courage in the fight against the enemy. In one battle he was dangerously wounded in the head with a sword and nearly died. Somewhat recovered, he came to the Kiev Caves Monastery and was received among the monks. In the Lives he is portrayed as a strict hermit, in a constant and stubborn struggle with the flesh, often tempted by worldly things, but firmly enduring the temptations. It is said that he wept much for his sins and received from God, still in life, word that they were forgiven. The inscription on his tomb says that, wounded in war in the head, close to death, he laid down arms, and that he fought manfully with fasting and prayers against invisible enemies. The troparion and kontakion portray him as a brave soldier of Christ, who conquered the "invisible warriors", that is, the demons. The time of his repose is not known precisely; it is supposed that he lived in the monastery in the fourteenth century and died at the age of forty, but the sources give nothing sure.

The relics

The examination of the relics in 1982 showed in the top of the skull, on the left parietal bone, a perforation measuring 4 by 1.5 cm, and from this wound a healed fracture line runs, a sign that the blow did not bring his death. His incorrupt relics rest in the Far Caves, opposite those of Saint Silouan the Schemamonk and not far from the underground church of the Annunciation. A particle is in the cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Brooklyn (New York). Help is reported, through his intercession, against sorcery.