Feodosii Pecherskii

(also called the Blessed Theodosius). Born circa 1008, in Vasilev, now Vasil’kov, Kiev Oblast; died May 3, 1074, in the Kiev-Pecherskii Monastery. Ecclesiastical writer of Kievan Rus’.

In 1057, Feodosii became father superior of the Kiev-Pecherskii Monastery. He was the first in Kievan Rus’ to adopt dormitory arrangements in the monasteries—a custom borrowed from the Studite monastery of Constantinople and subsequently adopted by all the Russian monasteries. Feodosii Pecherskii has been recognized as the author of 11 works: two epistles to Prince Iziaslav Iaroslavich (“on the Lord’s day” and “on the Christian faith and the Latin faith”), eight “homilies” and “exhortations” to the monks (for example, “on patience and love,” “on patience and humility,” “on benefits to the soul,” and “on going to church and on prayer,”), and a prayer “for all Christians.” The style of these compositions is clear, laconic, and devoid of rhetorical flourishes, but at the same time it conveys feeling. Preaching the fundamentals of Christian morality, Feodosii exposed the monks’ self-interest and greed and called on them to turn away from the world wholeheartedly and “not dejectedly.” He also spoke out against the internecine conflicts among princes. His works are cited in Russian and South Slavic records dating back as far as the 13th to 15th centuries. Sources of information on Feodosii Pecherskii are the Primary Chronicle and Nestor’s Life of Feodosii (published in the 1080’s).