Kyiv Caves Patericon

The patericon is considered one of the most original works of Old East Slavic hagiography; it contains little recycling of previous writings and introduces much new material.

[2] The contemporary-known Kyiv Caves Patericon emerged through the re-editing of the correspondence exchanged in the 1220s between the monk Polycarp and the Bishop of Vladimir and Suzdal, Simon.

Simon treated the written letters not only as a form of spiritual and theological education for Polycarp but also as a means of promoting knowledge about the Kyiv Monastery (where he had once been a monk) and his ideas related to the clergy.

[8] Among the literary sources used by Bishop Simon are: and a number of translated monuments: Polycarp, in turn, undertook the creation of further biographies of monks.

[7] Unlike Simon, Polycarp does not present his text in the form of a letter but openly states that the purpose of his writing about the monks is to preserve the memory of the miracles and signs attributed to them.

[7] The statements contained in the correspondence between Simon and Polycarp indicate that both authors aimed to create a collection of stories about the revered monks of the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves.

[10] At the beginning of the 15th century, at the behest of Bishop Arsenius of Tver (formerly living in the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves), a new edition of the Patericon was compiled.

[12] Serious differences between the two texts lead some researchers to conclude that Cassian was only a co-author of the first version, as evidenced by his listing together with the contents of the first edition under another monk named John.

[15] In preparing the text, he accompanied it with extensive commentary, referring to Russian and Polish chronicles and explaining inconsistencies in the work concerning historical events.

[7] Fragments edited by Polycarp are characterized by greater caution in the selection of quotations, which the author seeks to present by referring to credible sources.

Due to his presence in Kyiv at the time of writing, Polycarp had wider access to monastery archives than Simon and more faithfully reflected the contemporary realities of monastic life.

[24] However, elements constituting the replication of the hagiographic scheme are intertwined with detailed depictions of monastic life and, to a lesser extent, the society of Rus, making the Patericon a unique work in its genre.

By repeating well-known hagiographic patterns, they focus on emphasizing the extraordinary piety of the monks through descriptions of the ascetic traditions they practiced, followed by the miracles they performed.