The Paterikon of the Kiev Caves
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This article presents the *Paterikon of the Kyivan Caves*, a hagiographic collection composed around 1215 by Symeon of Vladimir and the monk Polycarpe, dedicated to the founding fathers and holy ascetics of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. The author offers an analytical study of the work, examining the figures of Anthony and Theodosius, the recurring spiritual themes — demonology, clairvoyance, healing, the struggle against the passions — as well as the explicit parallels with the *Life of Anthony* by Athanasius of Alexandria. The article highlights the continuity of the *Paterikon* with ancient ascetic literature, particularly Palestinian, Sinaitic, and Athonite. Its principal contribution is to demonstrate that Kyivan spirituality constitutes a crossroads of Byzantine monastic traditions transmitted within a Slavic context, and that it incorporates attested hesychast elements, such as the Jesus Prayer, from the very origins of monasticism in Rus'.
This article has not been translated yet — it is available in its French version here.
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