Ascetic Life
Euthymius bound himself to a vow of silence, opening his mouth only for the services of the church and for prayer. The sources pair this practice with an extreme dietary austerity: he ate only herbs, taking raw plants and never cooked food.
His title 'the Silent' aligns him with the hesychast strand of monasticism, which cultivated inner stillness and continual prayer. The Orthodox Church in America characterizes him as one who enjoys 'the food of paradise and with angels he silently praises God and prays for us.'
The Great Schema
As a schemamonk, Euthymius had attained the Great Schema, the highest degree of Eastern Orthodox monastic life. This degree is conferred by an abbot only on monks judged to have reached a high level of spiritual maturity, and it carries the vows of stability of place, chastity, obedience, and poverty.
A monk of the Great Schema wears the analavos, a vestment embroidered with the instruments of the Passion, and the polystavrion, a cord of crosses signifying that he is bound to Christ and that his energies are reserved for the Kingdom of Heaven rather than worldly activity. On Mount Athos the degree is typically granted some years after entry into the monastery, while in other traditions it is sometimes conferred near death.
The Kiev Caves and the Far Caves
Euthymius belonged to the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the Monastery of the Caves, founded in 1051 when the monk Anthony, trained on Mount Athos and originally from Liubech, settled in a cave in a hill near Kyiv and introduced Athonite monastic practice to Kievan Rus'. The monastery received architectural patronage from Constantinople and became the spiritual center of monasticism in the region.
His relics rest in the Far Caves, also called the Caves of Saint Theodosius, a distinct complex where many ascetic monks were buried and where Theodosius himself was interred in 1074.
Commemoration
Euthymius is commemorated on January 20. His memory is also kept on a second date in August, within the collective Synaxis of the Saints of the Kiev Caves whose relics repose in the Far Caves of Venerable Theodosius, celebrated on August 28.
Relics & Shrines
Euthymius was interred in the Far Caves of Saint Theodosius at the Kiev Caves Lavra, where his relics remain. Biochemical testing of these relics indicated that he died at the age of 30 to 40 years.
