Cyril's day (22/06)

On this day, the Orthodox Church honors the memory of St. Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria, and St. Cyril, Abbot of Beloezer.

Saint Cyril of Alexandria was born in Alexandria, into a family of noble and pious Christians. Got a good upbringing and education. In his youth he worked in the monastery of St. Macarius the Great, then consecrated, under Patriarch Theophilus, as deacon of the Church of Alexandria. Upon the death of Theophilus, he was elected Patriarch of Alexandria and led the fight against the heresy of Novatus, who taught that Christians who fell away during persecution cannot be accepted into communion by the Church. He also fought against the heresy of Nestorius, who taught that the Mother of God gave birth not to God, but to the man Christ, and called her the Mother of Christ. for 32 years Saint Cyril ruled the Church of Alexandria. He left behind many theological works of deep content.

The Monk Kirill Beloezersky was born in Moscow and came from a noble family. Left an orphan, he lived with the uncle of boyar Timofey Velyaminov, a okolnichy at the court of Prince Dimitri Donskoy. One day, the Monk Stefan Makhrishchsky came to the boyar’s house and saw the young man as a future monk as an ascetic. He persuaded the boyar Timofey to let his nephew go to the monastery. The young man entered the Moscow Simonov Monastery, run by Archimandrite Theodore, nephew of St. Sergius of Radonezh. Sergius himself sometimes came here, but to the surprise of the brethren he talked not with the archimandrite, but with a modest novice, sitting with him in the cookhouse or bread shop where he worked.

In 1390, Archimandrite Theodore was elevated to the rank of bishop, and St. Cyril became the rector of the Simon Monastery. However, dreaming of seclusion, he prayed to the Mother of God that she would show him the place where he would find what he needed. During prayer, the Most Pure One appeared to him and said: «Go to Beloozero». He went there with the monk Ferapont, cleared the place, dug dugouts and began to live, fasting and praying. Soon more monks came to them from the Simonov Monastery.

In 1397, St. Cyril built a temple here in honor of the Dormition of the Mother of God. A monastery began to be founded. Kirill introduced a strict charter in it, according to which monks had nothing personal, and in a cell they could not keep anything except icons and books. He himself worked on an equal basis with everyone else and acquired such high spiritual qualities that the Lord honored him with the gifts of insight and miracles.

When one dying monk did not have time to receive communion before his death, he resurrected him, gave him communion, and only then he quietly went to the Lord. According to his prayers, during the famine, the bread in the monastery’s granary did not dry out. The Monk Kirill died in 1427.

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