St. Simon the Bishop of Vladimir and Suzdal, Wonderworker of the Caves

Simon was a monk of the Kiev Caves monastery who in 1214 became bishop of Vladimir and Suzdal, then the leading see of north-eastern Rus. He is remembered above all as a writer: in letters to the Caves monk Polycarp he collected stories of the monastery's early monks, and these became a core of the Kiev Caves Patericon.

In one letter he wrote that he would gladly count himself as the dust trodden underfoot by those who pass through the monastery. After twelve years as bishop he died in 1226, and at his own wish his body was laid in the caves of the Kiev monastery.