The venerable martyr Eustratius showed himself to be a courageous warrior of Christ both by name and by life. He became an imitator of his chosen Commander—Christ—and, having accepted the same suffering, from the same people, he could truly glory in the words: ‘I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus’ (Galatians 6:17).”

The Venerable Martyr Eustratius was a native of the city of Kyiv. He desired to be clothed in that divine armour which belongs to the monastic way of life. He distributed his possessions to the poor, leaving part of them to his relatives to be given away after his departure. And thus, having become poor through his wealth, he became a monk of the Pechersk Monastery. He began to struggle in a way pleasing to God under the banner of Christ, Who humbled Himself for our sake—conquering with the sword of the Spirit, that is, the voice of prayer and the hunger of great abstinence, not only his own flesh but also the bodiless enemies, humbling and subduing them through his humility and obedience.

Knowing above all that man was first overcome by sin through lack of self-restraint, the saint excelled in restraint and great fasting, and because of this, he was called “the faster.”

When, in God’s dispensation, the wicked Bonyak came to the land of Rus’ with many Polovtsians and ravaged it, Saint Eustratius, at the time of their invasion of the Pechersk Monastery—where many were slain with swords—was taken into captivity together with others and sold into the Greek land, into the city of Cherson, to a Jew, along with fifty other Christians.

This Jew began to compel his captives to renounce Christ and threatened those who resisted that he would kill them by starvation in chains. But the valiant monk Eustratius, praying, strengthened and instructed all, saying:

“Brethren, whoever among you was baptised and believed in Christ, do not betray the vow made at baptism. Christ has regenerated us by water and the Spirit. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law with His blood (Galatians 3:13) and made us heirs of His Kingdom. If we live—let us live unto the Lord; if we die—let us die unto the Lord (Romans 14:8); through temporal death we shall attain eternal life. Let us imitate Him Who said: ‘For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain’ (Philippians 1:21).”

Strengthened by the words of the venerable one, the captives preferred to die from lack of earthly food and drink than to be separated from Christ, Who is the Source of eternal life. All fifty people died of hunger—some after three days, others after four, some after seven, and the strongest after ten. Only Eustratius, afflicted by hunger already for fourteen days, remained alive and unharmed, for he had been accustomed to fasting from his youth.

Seeing that the monk had caused him to lose the money he had paid for the captives, whom he had hoped to convert to his false belief, the Jew resolved to take revenge on him.

The day of Christ’s Resurrection was approaching. The Jew began celebrating his Passover and mocked Saint Eustratius just as his forefathers had mocked our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

And just as Christ was crucified in ancient times, so this righteous one was nailed to a cross by the Jews and his companions, and he gave thanks to God for this. Without food or drink, Eustratius continued to live into the fifteenth day.

The Jew and his companions reviled the crucified one and said to him: “Taste now, fool, of the lawful Passover, so that you may live and avoid the curse. For Moses gave us the Law, which he received from God, and wrote in his books: ‘…cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’ (Deuteronomy 21:23).”

The venerable one replied:
“Great is the grace that the Lord has granted me this day. He has bestowed upon me the mercy to suffer for His Name on the cross in imitation of His own Cross. I hope that He will say to me, as once to the thief: ‘Today you will be with Me in Paradise’ (Luke 23:43). I have no need of your Passover; I do not fear your curse, for ‘Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us’ (1 Corinthians 5:7), He who abolished the curse of the Law and the curse of the tree and brought us into the blessing of life by the tree of the Cross, upon which He was nailed, being the Life of all, as Moses prophesied: ‘Your life shall hang before you’ (Deuteronomy 28:66). And about the feast of Pascha, David says: ‘This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it’ (Psalm 117:24).
But you who have crucified me, and all your fellow Jews, weep and lament, for vengeance shall come upon you for my blood and for the blood of the other Christians you have bought. The Lord hates your Sabbaths and will turn your feasts into mourning—and the time is near when your leader in lawlessness will be slain.”

Hearing this, the Jew burned with rage, seized a spear, and pierced the crucified saint. Then there was seen a vision: a fiery chariot with fiery horses came and carried the soul of the triumphant martyr to heaven, and a voice was heard speaking in Greek:
“Behold, a noble citizen of the heavenly city!”

The Jew, taking the martyr’s body down from the cross, cast it into the sea. The faithful diligently searched for the holy relics but did not find them. Yet by God’s providence, they were later discovered in a cave, where they remain incorrupt to this day.

The saint’s prophecy—that his blood would be avenged—was fulfilled immediately after his suffering. That same day, a decree came from the Greek emperor to expel all Jews from his realm, to confiscate their property, and to beat their elders for torturing Christians. One of the first to be killed was the tormentor of Blessed Eustratius.

Many Jews, witnessing the miracles that occurred after the repose of the venerable one, believed and were baptized.

From the 17th century, maps of the Kyiv Caves Lavra mark the relics of Saint Eustratius in the Near Caves, where they rest to this day. In 1638, a note by his relics read:
“Holy Father Eustratius. In vain do the common people call him by the name Simeon Holubets. He is a wonderworker.”

On the maps of 1661 and 1703, he is mentioned as “Eustratius the Martyr.”