Venerable Dosifeya of Kyiv

Dositheus, secular name unknown (died most likely September 14/25 or September 15/26, 1777, in Kyiv), was a Russian Orthodox monk associated with the Kitaevo Hermitage in Kyiv. Considered a holy elder during his lifetime, he was canonized in 1993 by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. In 1873, it was first claimed in the hagiography of Dositheus, whose person was surrounded by an informal cult, that he was actually a woman, the Ryazan noblewoman Daria Tyapkina, who lived a hermit's life in male disguise. Despite the lack of evidence to support this thesis (Dositheus is described exclusively as a monk and a man in documents), it has since been frequently repeated in biographies published by church institutions. However, the author of Dositheus's entry in the Orthodox Encyclopedia considers this version of his life a dubious legend.