Venerable Damian the Healer Jeremiah, and Matthew of the Kiev Caves

Saint Damian the Healer

Saint Damian (died 1071) was a presbyter who remembered the Baptism of Rus in the year 988. He was described as a zealous imitator of Saint Theodosius, and as gentle, industrious, and obedient, to the joy of all the brethren.

His ascetic disciplines included spending the entire night at prayer and in reading the Divine Scriptures, and maintaining strict fasting, taking nothing but bread and water. According to his life, the Lord granted him the gift of treating ailments, for which he is remembered as a healer.

Saints Jeremiah and Matthew the Clairvoyants

Saint Jeremiah possessed mystical gifts, having, according to his life, the gift from the Lord to see into the future and to perceive the moral condition of a person. He lived to old age and died around the year 1070.

Saint Matthew was likewise recognized as a clairvoyant. The Iconographers' Manual describes his depiction as that of an elder with a black, greyish beard, wearing a black klobuk and a monastic robe, with his hands pressed to the heart.

Their shared troparion describes the three fathers as enlightened with the light of Christ's commandments and as dwelling places of the grace of the Trinity, recalling that they heal the infirm and announce the future in communion with the angels.

Commemoration and Legacy

The three saints are commemorated together on October 5, as well as on September 28 with the Synaxis of the Saints of the Near Caves, and on the second Sunday of Great Lent.

The general commemoration of the Venerable Fathers of the Near Caves of Saint Anthony dates to the year 1670. The Kyiv Caves Patericon, created by the monks of the Lavra, is the primary hagiographic source for these saints and became popular reading throughout Eastern Europe.

Relics & Shrines

The relics of Saints Damian, Jeremiah, and Matthew rest in the Near Caves (the Caves of Saint Anthony) of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, the monastery established in 1051.