Material: 925◦ silver, 999◦ gold plated
Average weight: 8.0 grams
Size: 33*24mm
Technique: casting, gilding, blackening, handmade.
Prayer: "Reverend Father Theodosius, pray to God for me"
The founder of Russian cenobitic monasticism, the Monk Theodosius of the Caves († 1074) was born in 1008 not far from Kyiv in the small town of Vasilyev (now the city of Vasilkov, Kyiv region) into a boyar family. At twenty-four, St. Theodosius left home for Kyiv, where, with the blessing of St. Anthony of the Caves, blessed Nikon tonsured him as a monk of the Caves Monastery.
After 1054, with the accession to the Kyiv throne of Prince Izyaslav, the fame of the Pechersk ascetics spread throughout the Russian land. Many people began to flock to the monastery for blessings and prayers. The number of brethren increased and the ancient caves could no longer accommodate everyone. Then the Grand Duke presented the monks with Berestov Hill, in which the caves of the monastery were located, and they erected the first above-ground church in the name of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos, and in 1062 they themselves moved from the caves to the surface. This happened after the brethren chose the humble Theodosius as hegumen.
Having taken charge of the monastery, St. Theodosius built ground cells and a church with a common meal and enclosed the monastery with a fence. He also introduced a cenobitic charter in the monastery, drawn up on the basis of the charter of St. Fyodor Studit, which was based on cutting off one's will, obedience, tireless work and renunciation of property. At the monastery, Theodosius built a hospice, where the sick and the poor were received, and the monks looked after them. Service in the monastery church became available to the laity, and St. Theodosius became the first confessor in Russia for both laymen and monks.
The monk predicted his death in advance, and at the appointed hour he himself lay down in the coffin, folded his hands crosswise. On his deathbed, he promised the brethren who mourned him that he would leave them only in body, but in spirit he would always be with them. And not only then, but even now, through the prayers of the Monk Father Theodosius, God does not leave his monastery.
The saint is commemorated on the day of his repose on May 16 (3) and in the Cathedral of the Reverend Fathers of the Kiev-Peches, who rest in the Far Caves on September 10 (August 28).
The icon of St. Theodosius is made in the form of a circle, a symbol of Heaven and eternity. Along the edges it is decorated with a vine ornament, which since apostolic times has symbolized the Eucharist. The monk himself is depicted with a humbly bowed head, in simple monastic vestments and a blessing hand. In his other hand he has a scroll with the beginning of his prayer for the Caves Monastery: "Lord, in the name of Your Most Holy Mother, this house will be rewarded." On the back, in Church Slavonic, there is a prayer addressed to the saint himself: "Venerable Father Theodosius, pray to God for me."
