Life and Monastic Labor
Alypios entered the Kiev Caves Monastery and received monastic tonsure from Igoumen Nikon, who died in 1088; he was subsequently ordained a hieromonk. From his youth he gave himself to labor within the monastery, and according to the tradition he learned iconography from the Greek masters who painted the church of the Caves in 1083.
He maintained a distinctive discipline regarding payment. He painted icons without asking for compensation, and when clients did pay him he reportedly allocated the money in three parts: one portion for materials, one for charity to the poor, and the remainder for his own needs. The sources relate that he interrupted his iconography only to attend the Divine Services.
Works
Alypios is credited with the Sven-Caves Icon of the Mother of God and the Vladimir-Rostov Icon depicting the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, which Prince Vladimir Monomakh (who reigned 1113-1125) is said to have installed in a church at Rostov. Medieval sources also associate him with mosaic work in the Dormition Cathedral and with murals at St. Michael's Cathedral in Kiev.
One surviving icon attributed to him, the Sven Icon of the Theotokos, is preserved in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.
Miracles and Traditions
Traditional accounts attribute several wonders to Alypios. The synaxarion relates that he healed a man from Kiev who suffered from leprosy by anointing the patient's wounds with his paints. In another account, two monks received commissioned boards but failed to inform Alypios; when the church patron checked, beautiful icons had already been painted on them, and when that church later burned, the icons remained intact.
According to the tradition, he himself witnessed a supernatural event while the Greek artisans worked: as the iconographers adorned the altar, an icon of the Most Holy Theotokos imprinted itself on the wall and shone brighter than the sun. During his final illness, it is said that an angel painted an icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos and then received his soul.
A later account records that when his body was discovered, the fingers of his right hand were still formed in the manner of making the Sign of the Cross.
Relics and Shrines
Alypios was buried in the Near Caves of Saint Anthony at the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, where his relics remain. The Near Caves trace their origin to the cave system associated with the monk Anthony, who settled near the site around 1057.
