Seventeenth-Century Writings on the Kievan Caves Monastery

The Kievan Caves Monastery played a leading role in the development of a Ukrainian historical consciousness in the seventeenth century. Particularly important was the link between the monastery’s medieval past and its early modern present. Several works written by inhabitants of the monastery testified not only to the site’s former saints and miracles but also to its current holy men and wonders. This volume contains facsimile reproductions of two such works: Syl’vestr Kosiv’s Paterikon (Kiev, 1635), a Polish translation and expansion of a medieval Rus’ text; and Afanasij Kal’nofojs’kyj’s Teraturgema (Kiev, 1638), a continuation of Kosiv’s narrative.

In addition, an appendix contains Joannes Herbinius’s Religiosae Ko’Vensis Cryptae (Jena, 1675), a work based on firsthand data supplied by the Archimandrite Innokentij Giesel. In the Introduction, Paulina Lewin examines the cultural context of these works and discusses their literary significance.