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“Teacher of Orthodoxy, piety to the teacher and purity…” – this is how the troparion dedicated to St. Cyril of Alexandria begins. In my opinion, the same words can be used to characterize St. Cyril of Beloezersky. There is a difference of 1000 years between these saints, but their spiritual closeness is so great that they even have one memorial day for two. The people call him that – Kirill’s day.
When is it customary to celebrate a holiday
22 June – Memorial Day of St. Cyril of Alexandria and St. Cyril of Beloezersky.
Saint Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria
Highly revered by the Orthodox people, the saint was the greatest teacher of the Church and champion of Christianity. Almost all of his conscious life was devoted to the purity of faith.
The future Archbishop of Alexandria was born in the XNUMXth century AD. He received an excellent education in both secular and religious sciences. He closely studied philosophy, but most of all he strove for the study of the Holy Scriptures.
He was a very talented person and this talent was noticed by the people around him. So in a monastic skete in Egypt, Saint Cyril preached sermons, as the most gifted among the inhabitants of the monastery. There he was elevated to the priestly rank. And after the death of Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, the saint was elected head of the church.
From here begins the difficult path of the saint’s struggle with heretics, of whom there were many at that time. One of them – Novatian – convinced his flock that if a believer renounced the teachings of the Church and fell away from it, then he would no longer be able to return back. So Novatian refuted the most important dogma of Christian forgiveness and in no case did he want to understand and accept a different point of view. In order not to sow doubts about the faith, Novatian and his followers were expelled by Saint Cyril from Alexandria. The same fate was awarded to the pagan Jews, who distinguished themselves by terrible crimes against Christians.
However, perhaps the most serious struggle was the confrontation with the priest of the Church of Antioch, Nestorius, who denied the unity of God and man in the Person of God Jesus Christ, and also assures that the Virgin Mary gave birth not to God, but to the man Christ. There were a lot of things in this confrontation: letters asking for enlightenment from Cyril, complaints and slander from Nestorius. The believing people were more and more embarrassed by heretical considerations. An Ecumenical Council was convened to condemn the “teachings” of Nestorius. But he did not give up, became embittered and was eventually sent into exile. As the legend says, the heretic died in severe torment.
Patriarch Kirill of Alexandria became famous for his labors. He wrote works condemning heresies, interpretations of the Holy Scriptures, in particular on the Gospel of Luke, John, the letters of the Apostle Paul. His authorship belongs to the works on the dogmas of the Holy Trinity.
For more than 30 years, the saint led the Alexandrian Church and left behind such a good memory that we Christians still revere him as a great saint.
Venerable Kirill, Abbot of Beloezersky
From his youth, the monk sought solitude. He was a burden to the ordinary secular life. With all his heart, the young man, then still with the name Cosmas, strove for monasticism. He was an orphan, his parents died very early. The boyar Timofey Velyaminov raised the boy. Having matured, Cosmas begged the trustee to let him go to the Simonov Monastery.
In the monastery, he was tonsured a monk with the name Cyril, in honor of St. Cyril of Alexandria. The fiery soul of the young monk longed for spiritual exploits. So, for example, he asked his mentor, Elder Michael, for blessings for eating food every other day, or even two. But he was refused, indicating to eat every day, but not to satiety. Moreover, they determined him for obedience – first to bake bread, and then they blessed him to cook food for the brethren.
In the life of the saint, an amazing moment is described that Saint Cyril acquired incredible gratitude to God, and he even ate a piece of bread with touching tears.
In 1390, Cyril was elected abbot of the Simonov Monastery. But he did not stay long in this position. He himself refused for the sake of a saving silent feat. The monk left the monastery at Beloozero, built himself an underground cell and lived there in prayerful solitude. This life did not last long. Brothers from the Simonov Monastery came to him for help, advice, and blessings.
Then St. Cyril realized that another time had come – the time of mentorship. A charter was established in the monastery, which could be called the charter of silence and silence. No conversations, no property, no letters from the laity, etc. Only prayer and work. Agree, for a modern vain person, the conditions are almost impossible.
Over time, the monk acquired the glory of a perspicacious elder. He died in 1427 on June 9, according to the old style (June 22, according to the new one), on the day of memory of St. Cyril of Alexandria.