Zachariah, faster of the Kiev Caves, venerable (Far Caves)

Dates of commemoration

Mar 12

(Church calendar - Feb 27) Synaxis of all Venerable Fathers of the Kiev Caves (movable feast on the 2nd Sunday of the Great Lent)

Apr 06
(Church calendar - Mar 24) Day of commemoration of venerable Zachariah the Recluse of Egypt (4th c.)
Sep 10
(Church calendar - Aug 28) Synaxis of the Saints of the Kiev Caves whose relics repose in the Far Cave of Venerable Theodosius

Life

Saint Zachariah the Faster of the Caves was an ascetic in the Far Caves in the thirteenth-fourteenth centuries. He fasted so strictly that he ate nothing baked nor boiled, and he consumed only greens once a day at the setting of the sun. Demons trembled at the mere mention of his name.

Often the monk saw angels, with which he desired to live in Heaven. The identification of Saint Zachariah, Faster of Caves, with Zachariah the son of John of Kiev, who had given all his inheritance for the adornment of the Caves temple and became a monk at the monastery, is unfounded.

Before his death, John had transferred his property to his friend Sergius. This was when the igumen was Saint Nikon (March 23). Zachariah was five years old at the time. At age fifteen, i.e., not later than the year 1098, he obtained his inheritance from Sergius, in order to give it to the monastery. However, Saint Zachariah the Faster of the Caves lived approximately 200 years later.

Source:

https://oca.org/saints/lives/2017/03/24/100879-venerable-zachariah-the-ascetic-of-the-kiev-caves

Holy relic type

unless specified otherwise below, "holy relic" means a fragment of a bone of the saint

Holy relic

Location of the holy relic in the Cathedral:

North kliros, reliquary #5

Icon

Troparion

Тропарь преподобного Захарии, постника Печерского, в Дальних пещерах, глас 3
Постническаго ради твоего жития, блаженне Захарие,/ яко приемый велию на бесы крепость,/ моли и нам техже козней избыти,/ получити грехов прощение/ и велию милость.

Kontakion

Кондак преподобного Захарии, постника Печерского, в Дальних пещерах, глас 1
В постничестве светло яко просиявый/ и бесом страшен яко явивыйся,/ всечестне Захарие,/ укрепи и нас твоими молитвами/ постническое житие имети/ и бесовскаго избавитися злодейства,/ яко да ублажаем тя.

Address of our Cathedral

  • 4001 17th St. N.W.,
  • Washington, D.C., 20011

Phone  (202) 726-3000

Email        webmaster@stjohndc.org

 

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