Mission to the Vyatichi
An elder of the Kiev Caves Monastery, Kuksha departed his community to evangelize the Vyatichi, a pagan tribe settled along the River Oka. The sources record that he preached the Gospel and baptized many of them into the Church, working as both missionary and wonderworker.
The synaxarion attributes a series of signs to him during this labor: it relates that he cast out devils, caused rain to fall, and dried up a lake, and that these works accompanied the conversion and baptism of the Vyatichi. His preaching and the destruction of idols provoked the hostility of the pagan priests.
Martyrdom
Kuksha and his disciple were captured by the pagans and, after many torments, were beheaded for the faith. The accounts identify the disciple by the name Nikon and place the killing at the hands of the Vyatichi priests who opposed his work.
The repose of Kuksha and Pimen is dated to after the year 1114, during the time when Saint Theoctistus was Bishop of Chernigov.
Venerable Pimen the Faster
Pimen the Faster was a contemporary ascetic of the Kiev Caves Monastery, remembered for his rigorous fasting and spiritual discipline. The tradition holds that he was granted the gifts of healing and prophecy.
Standing in the monastery church, Pimen is said to have announced aloud that Kuksha had been killed that day for the Gospel, before any word of the martyrdom had reached the community. Having spoken, he reposed on the same day as Kuksha's death.
Relics & Shrines
Kuksha and Pimen were buried in the Near Caves of the Kiev Caves Monastery, also known as the Caves of Saint Anthony, where their relics rest. They are numbered among the venerable fathers of the Near Caves, who are commemorated collectively on September 28.
