Kirill Belozersky

The story of St. Cyril’s life is an example of serving the Lord in spite of everything.

Remaining an orphan, little Kozma was raised in the house of the mighty boyar Velyaminov. Thanks to this, he learned to write and read, knew arithmetic well. Growing up, Kozma was given increasingly difficult tasks until he finally managed the entire estate.

But his soul did not lay down for the life of this world. I wanted to spend more time with the Lord. Many times he asked permission to go to the monastery. But the Velaminovs were in no hurry to part with such a good manager. Only the intervention of Stefan Makhrisczki helped him realize his dream.

No longer a young boy, but a husband who saw life, Kozma arrived at the Simonov Monastery in Moscow. There he took tonsure under the name Cyril. He spent many years working and praying. He was noticed by Sergius of Radonezh, who talked for a long time with Kirill during his visits to the monastery.

Piousness, meekness and a desire to serve God drew attention to Cyril. Noble nobles and rich dignitaries were looking for meetings with him. All this greatly burdened the saint, who sought solitude. One day, he was reading the akathist of the Mother of God and suddenly heard the command to go to Belozero.

With another monk, the Monk Therapontus, Cyril went to a remote region and wandered there until he recognized the place from his vision. At that place the monks dug a dugout and put a cross. Their solitude did not last long. Monks from the surrounding monasteries, from the distant Simonovsky Monastery, began to come and settle nearby. In 1397, they cut down the first church of the future monastery. We have dedicated it to the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God.

The charter of the monastery was strict. The monks kept the monastic silence, had no property, did everything in silence.

The Holy Spirit did not leave the monastery, even in these harsh conditions, the monastery became the center of spiritual life in the Belozersk region.

Miracles.

Settling on Beloozero, Kirill received a rich but greedy peasant Andrei as neighbors. He was dissatisfied with the neighborhood, tried to evict Kirill. He set fire to the monks’ cell several times, but the fire did not flare up. The matter ended with Andrei’s repentance and his tonsure as a monk.

Brother Fedor came to Belozero to study with Cyril, but after a while he turned from an admirer into a hater. When he could no longer endure mental torment, he asked permission from the abbot to leave the monastery. To this Kirill said that only Fedor sees his essence as a sinner and do not be ashamed of it. Fedor lived in the monastery until his old age and since then had only deep respect for the abbot.

When there was not enough wine for the Liturgy, Cyril was served an empty cup. But it was miraculously filled in the hands of the saint.

The fishermen were on the lake when the storm struck. By the prayer of the saint, the storm subsided, no one was injured.

During the harvest, Kirill ordered to distribute bread. In normal times, the brethren barely missed him. In a bad year, stocks did not run out.

Cyril told the brethren that neither pestilence nor famine would bring death to the monastery as long as he lived. Many will leave the world immediately after his death. That’s what happened. Immediately after the saint, 30 monks died in the monastery.

Cyril celebrated the Liturgy on the Trinity in 1427 and died quietly in his modest cell. The monument to the saint remained a monastery with a huge library, more than 2000 books. The monastery soon became known as Kirillov.

Now the Kirillovo-Belozersky monastery operates. Part of its premises passed to the Vologda Museum-Reserve.

Remembrance days