Venerable Onuphrius the Silent and Onesimos the Recluse of the Kiev Caves

Life and Asceticism

Both saints belonged to the monastic community of the Kiev Caves Lavra and pursued their ascetic struggle in the Near Caves, the caves associated with Saint Anthony, as distinguished from the Far Caves of Saint Theodosius within the same monastic complex. Onuphrius is recorded as an ascetic of the Near Caves in the twelfth century; Onesimos, placed in the twelfth or thirteenth century, enclosed himself there as a recluse.

Their epithets describe their chosen forms of asceticism rather than narrating particular events. Onuphrius held to silence as a spiritual discipline, and Onesimos lived shut away from the world in reclusion. The sources do not preserve a connected biography for either saint.

Relics & Shrines

The relics of Saint Onesimos rest in the Near Caves, in the place of his ascetical labors. Saint Onuphrius is likewise venerated among the monastic fathers whose relics lie in the Near Caves of Saint Anthony; particles of his relics are also preserved at the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Washington, D.C.

Veneration

The two saints share a common commemoration on July 21. Saint Onuphrius is additionally commemorated on September 28 with the Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of the Near Caves, and Saint Onesimos on October 4. Both are numbered among the monastic fathers venerated in the Near Caves of the Kiev Caves Lavra.