Kuksha of the Kiev Caves (; died after 1114) was a monk and

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

from the

Kiev Pechersk Lavra The Kyiv Pechersk Lavra or Kyievo-Pecherska Lavra (), also known as the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves, is a historic lavra or large monastery of Eastern Christianity that gave its name to the Pecherskyi District where it is located in Kyiv. Sinc ...

. He was canonized as a

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

by the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

for his work in spreading

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

among the

Vyatichi The Vyatichs or more properly Vyatichi or Viatichi () were a tribe of Early East Slavs who inhabited regions around the Oka River, Oka, Moskva River, Moskva and Don (river), Don rivers. The Vyatichi had for a long time no princes, but the soci ...

in present-day Kaluga, Ryazan, and Tula oblasts of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

."Venerable Pimen of the Kiev Near Caves", Orthodox Church in America
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Life

Being a monk at Kiev Pechersk Lavra, he left to preach the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

to idol-worshippers, the Vyatichi. According to tradition, he performed numerous miracles there. Impressed by his powers and rendered receptive by his preaching, the Vyatichi began to convert and accept baptism. Priests of the Vyatichi, furious over the destruction of their idols, decapitated Kuksha and his pupil. On the day of Kuksha's death, his spiritual father, Pimen the Faster, stood in the middle of the monastery church and loudly proclaimed: "Our brother Kuksha has been killed this day". Pimen died the same day.

Legacy

The memory of Kuksha, his follower, and Pimen the Faster is celebrated at the Lavra on the days of their deaths, 27 August O.S. and 27 September O.S. The relics of Saint Kuksha are kept at St. Anthony Caves of the Lavra.

References

External links

The PriestMartyr Kuksha and the Monk Pimen the Faster
* (Russian
Karpov, Alexey Yurevich. ''Venerable Kuksha - the Enlightener of Viatichi''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuksha of the Kiev Caves, Saint 12th-century deaths Eastern Orthodox saints from Kievan Rus' Eastern Orthodox missionaries Monks of Kyiv Pechersk Lavra 12th-century Christian saints Burials at the Near Caves, Kyiv Pechersk Lavra 12th-century Christian martyrs 11th-century births 12th-century people from Kievan Rus' Monks from Kievan Rus'