d. 1141
A monk of the Far Caves of Kiev remembered especially for his rigorous fasting and ascetic discipline.
Our Venerable Father Pimen the Faster, Ascetic of the Kiev Far Caves
Pimen the Faster was a monk of the Kiev Caves monastery, remembered chiefly for the severity of his fasting and the strictness of his interior discipline. He labored in the Far Caves and served as igumen (abbot) of the community during the years 1132 to 1141.
His asceticism became proverbial: sources record that he ate only in the most necessary quantity, and that his outward abstinence was matched by an inward restraint from any action, thought, or feeling displeasing to God. He reposed in 1141 and is numbered among the saints of the Far Caves.
By a flood of tears you made the desert fertile,
and your longing for God brought forth fruits in abundance.
By the radiance of miracles you illumined the whole universe!
O our holy father Pimen, pray to Christ our God to save our souls!
Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).
Pimen's epithet, 'the Faster,' reflects the rigor of his abstinence. Accounts state that he restricted himself to the most necessary quantity of food, and that this bodily fasting was the outward sign of an interior watchfulness, guarding against any action, thought, or feeling displeasing to God.
Tradition holds that despite so severe a regimen he retained the strength for the demanding manual labor of the monastery, joining physical work with vigils of nocturnal prayer.
Pimen is venerated among the saints whose relics rest in the Far Caves of the Kiev Caves Lavra, and he is commemorated collectively with them in the Synaxis of the Saints of the Far Caves.
Several saints named Pimen are associated with the Kiev Caves, and care is needed to distinguish them. Pimen the Faster of the Far Caves is distinct from Pimen the Much-Ailing of the Near Caves and from the Pimen of the Near Caves remembered together with the Hieromartyr Kuksha.
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