August 21 – Memorial Day of St. Gregory, Pechersk icon painter, revered Orthodox saint. Very little information about life, date and place of birth has been preserved. It is believed that Grigory died at the age of about 50 at the beginning of the 12th century in Kyiv. The relics are located in the Near Caves, not far from the remains of Oleksiy Pecherskyi.

In the chronicles of 1661 and 1703, he is mentioned as Hryhoriy Malyar. For 40 years, it is already displayed as Saint Gregory the Icon Painter. In the “Tale of Saint Icon Painters” it is indicated that he is the author of a large number of images that exist on our earth. Some consider him an associate of Alipius Pecherskyi.

Also, some people call Saint Grigory Byzantine, considering him one of the painters who came to Kyiv from Byzantium to decorate the church built in honor of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Church-wide veneration of Saint George the icon painter of Pechersk began after the permission of the Holy Synod in the second half of the 18th century. From that time, the holiday began to be included in the all-church monthly words of the names of a number of Kyiv saints.