Venerable Policarp of Kyiv

Polycarp of the Caves (died 1182) was a venerable saint of the Russian Orthodox Church and archimandrite of the Kiev Pechersk Monastery. Virtually no information remains regarding his childhood or secular life, and other biographical details about him are very scarce and fragmentary. Polycarp lived his entire life at the Kiev Pechersk Monastery, though the date of his monastic tonsure is unknown. It is known only that his exemplary, ascetic life and spiritual discernment were so profound that they earned him the favor of the brethren, who elected Father Polycarp as archimandrite in 1164, as well as the friendship of Grand Prince Rostislav Mstislavich of Kiev. During Great Lent, Prince Rostislav Mstislavich would, whenever possible, dine with Father Polycarp and the monastic brethren of the Theodosian monastery on Saturdays and Sundays. Once, the prince spoke of his intention to withdraw from the vanities of worldly life to live in the silence of the monastery, but Polycarp replied: "Prince! Heaven requires other labors of you. Do justice and guard the Russian land." Metropolitan Constantine sentenced Archimandrite Polycarp to imprisonment for permitting the breaking of the fast on Wednesdays and Fridays during Feasts of the Lord; however, he was soon released and, upon returning from confinement, governed the monastery until his death. Polycarp of the Caves died on July 24, 1182; his relics rest in the Near (Anthony) Caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. The memory of the venerable Polycarp is honored on July 24, as well as in the Synaxes of the Venerable Fathers of the Kiev Pechersk Near Caves, all the Venerable Fathers of the Kiev Pechersk, and the Saints of Kiev.