Hieromartyr Cyril, Metropolitan of Kazan and Sviyazhsk (in the world, Constantine Ilarionovich Smirnov), was born into the family of a psalm-reader on April 26, 1863, in the city of Kronstadt, Saint Petersburg Governorate.
In 1887, Constantine graduated from the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy with the degree of Candidate of Theology. After he was married, on November 21st 1887 he was ordained a priest and assigned to the Church of the Resurrection of the Temperance Society in Saint Petersburg, while simultaneously serving as a teacher of religious instruction at the Elisavetpol Gymnasium and the Second Saint Petersburg Gymnasium.
Beginning in 1900, Father Constantine was appointed rector of the Holy Trinity Cemetery Church in Kronstadt. He had served as a priest for fifteen years. The unexpected death of his daughter Olga, who suffered terribly as she was dying after swallowing a needle, followed by the death of his wife, who did not survive her grief, moved Father Constantine, at the age of thirty-eight, to embrace monasticism that same year in 1902, taking the name Cyril. Soon afterward, he was appointed head of the Urmia Spiritual Mission in Persia and elevated to the rank of Archimandrite.
On August 6, 1904, Archimandrite Cyril was consecrated Bishop of Gdov, a vicar-bishop of the Saint Petersburg Diocese. Wishing the people to participate more fully in the divine services, the hierarch introduced congregational singing during the services at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
Before his death, Saint John of Kronstadt requested that the young Bishop Cyril, whom he had known through his service in Kronstadt, conduct his funeral service. From 1908 to 1928, the hierarch administered the Diocese of Tambov and Shatsk. He sought to travel as frequently as possible to the most remote parts of his diocese in order to be with his flock. In 1913, he was elevated to the rank of Archbishop. Through the hierarch’s efforts, Saint Pitirim of Tambov was glorified in 1914 (his feast day is July 28).
The hierarch’s firmness of faith was demonstrated in the following incident: when, in connection with the cholera epidemic of 1909, the sanitary commission ordered that only boiled water be blessed at Theophany, the hierarch refused to do so and blessed the river water instead. It is noteworthy that he expressed this same conviction—“Everything that does not proceed from faith is sin”—in one of his last letters, dated March 8, 1937.
During the events of February 1917, the hierarch warned from the ambo: “If we do not hold fast to our past, we will write such a page in our history that those who come after us will read it with a blush of shame on their faces. They will be ready to tear it out, but there are no scissors with which anything can be cut out of the memory of history.”
During the war, at the hierarch’s initiative, funds were collected for the needs of the front, infirmaries were organized at monasteries, shelters were established for children whose parents had been killed, and various committees were formed to assist soldiers.
At the Local Council, the hierarch was placed second among the twenty-five candidates initially nominated for the Patriarchal Throne. He was also elected a member of the Holy Synod under His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon.
On March 19, 1918, the hierarch was appointed to the Metropolitan See of Tiflis and Baku, as well as to the position of Exarch of the Caucasus; however, he was unable to travel to his place of assignment. In 1919, he was arrested in Moscow on the charge of “counterrevolutionary agitation through the distribution of appeals and communication with Kolchak and Denikin” and imprisoned by the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (V. Ch. K.).
In 1920, after his release, he was appointed to the See of Kazan and Sviyazhsk, but a month later he was arrested again in Kazan on the charge that he had “left Moscow for the city of Kazan without the permission of the V. Ch. K.” The hierarch was sentenced to five years in a labor camp. In Taganka Prison in Moscow, he was held in the same cell as the Hieromartyrs Archbishop Theodore (Pozdeevsky) and Bishop Gurias (Stepanov). In 1921, he was released under an amnesty and returned to Kazan, but in 1922 he was arrested again and, after being imprisoned in Moscow, was exiled to Ust-Sysolsk (now Syktyvkar).
In the Moscow prison, he had shared a cell with the Hieromartyr Thaddeus, Archbishop of Astrakhan (commemorated December 18). Together they wrote an appeal to the faithful concerning the “Living Church,” which they managed to distribute throughout Russia. The hierarch was then exiled to Ust-Kulom (Komi Autonomous Oblast), where he was together with Bishop Athanasius (Sakharov). Later, he was transferred to the city of Kotelnich in Vyatka Province. There are accounts that, while he was in Ust-Kulom, G. P. U. department head E. A. Tuchkov summoned Metropolitan Cyril to Moscow for negotiations, proposing that they “come to an agreement,” that is, make compromises. This attempt, however, ended unsuccessfully for the authorities.
In 1924, the hierarch returned from exile and met with the Holy Patriarch Tikhon in Moscow, successfully persuading him to reject reconciliation and cooperation with the Renovationist V. Krasnitsky. The G. P. U. was pressuring His Holiness to take these steps, promising that the hierarchs would then be released from prison. In response to these promises, the hierarch said to His Holiness: “Your Holiness, do not concern yourself with us, the bishops. We are now good for nothing but prisons...” After hearing this, His Holiness crossed Krasnitsky’s name out of the document he had signed.
From Moscow, the hierarch moved to a place near Yelsk and then to Perervolok. By the testamentary directive of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon dated December 25, 1924, he was appointed the first candidate for the position of Patriarchal Locum Tenens. Soon afterward, the hierarch was sent into exile again. For this reason, after the repose of the Holy Patriarch Tikhon, he was unable to assume the office of Locum Tenens, and the Hieromartyr Metropolitan Peter (Polyansky) became Locum Tenens instead.
In 1887, Constantine graduated from the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy with the degree of Candidate of Theology. After he was married, on November 21st 1887 he was ordained a priest and assigned to the Church of the Resurrection of the Temperance Society in Saint Petersburg, while simultaneously serving as a teacher of religious instruction at the Elisavetpol Gymnasium and the Second Saint Petersburg Gymnasium.
Beginning in 1900, Father Constantine was appointed rector of the Holy Trinity Cemetery Church in Kronstadt. He had served as a priest for fifteen years. The unexpected death of his daughter Olga, who suffered terribly as she was dying after swallowing a needle, followed by the death of his wife, who did not survive her grief, moved Father Constantine, at the age of thirty-eight, to embrace monasticism that same year in 1902, taking the name Cyril. Soon afterward, he was appointed head of the Urmia Spiritual Mission in Persia and elevated to the rank of Archimandrite.
On August 6, 1904, Archimandrite Cyril was consecrated Bishop of Gdov, a vicar-bishop of the Saint Petersburg Diocese. Wishing the people to participate more fully in the divine services, the hierarch introduced congregational singing during the services at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
Before his death, Saint John of Kronstadt requested that the young Bishop Cyril, whom he had known through his service in Kronstadt, conduct his funeral service. From 1908 to 1928, the hierarch administered the Diocese of Tambov and Shatsk. He sought to travel as frequently as possible to the most remote parts of his diocese in order to be with his flock. In 1913, he was elevated to the rank of Archbishop. Through the hierarch’s efforts, Saint Pitirim of Tambov was glorified in 1914 (his feast day is July 28).
The hierarch’s firmness of faith was demonstrated in the following incident: when, in connection with the cholera epidemic of 1909, the sanitary commission ordered that only boiled water be blessed at Theophany, the hierarch refused to do so and blessed the river water instead. It is noteworthy that he expressed this same conviction—“Everything that does not proceed from faith is sin”—in one of his last letters, dated March 8, 1937.
During the events of February 1917, the hierarch warned from the ambo: “If we do not hold fast to our past, we will write such a page in our history that those who come after us will read it with a blush of shame on their faces. They will be ready to tear it out, but there are no scissors with which anything can be cut out of the memory of history.”
During the war, at the hierarch’s initiative, funds were collected for the needs of the front, infirmaries were organized at monasteries, shelters were established for children whose parents had been killed, and various committees were formed to assist soldiers.
At the Local Council, the hierarch was placed second among the twenty-five candidates initially nominated for the Patriarchal Throne. He was also elected a member of the Holy Synod under His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon.
On March 19, 1918, the hierarch was appointed to the Metropolitan See of Tiflis and Baku, as well as to the position of Exarch of the Caucasus; however, he was unable to travel to his place of assignment. In 1919, he was arrested in Moscow on the charge of “counterrevolutionary agitation through the distribution of appeals and communication with Kolchak and Denikin” and imprisoned by the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (V. Ch. K.).
In 1920, after his release, he was appointed to the See of Kazan and Sviyazhsk, but a month later he was arrested again in Kazan on the charge that he had “left Moscow for the city of Kazan without the permission of the V. Ch. K.” The hierarch was sentenced to five years in a labor camp. In Taganka Prison in Moscow, he was held in the same cell as the Hieromartyrs Archbishop Theodore (Pozdeevsky) and Bishop Gurias (Stepanov). In 1921, he was released under an amnesty and returned to Kazan, but in 1922 he was arrested again and, after being imprisoned in Moscow, was exiled to Ust-Sysolsk (now Syktyvkar).
In the Moscow prison, he had shared a cell with the Hieromartyr Thaddeus, Archbishop of Astrakhan (commemorated December 18). Together they wrote an appeal to the faithful concerning the “Living Church,” which they managed to distribute throughout Russia. The hierarch was then exiled to Ust-Kulom (Komi Autonomous Oblast), where he was together with Bishop Athanasius (Sakharov). Later, he was transferred to the city of Kotelnich in Vyatka Province. There are accounts that, while he was in Ust-Kulom, G. P. U. department head E. A. Tuchkov summoned Metropolitan Cyril to Moscow for negotiations, proposing that they “come to an agreement,” that is, make compromises. This attempt, however, ended unsuccessfully for the authorities.
In 1924, the hierarch returned from exile and met with the Holy Patriarch Tikhon in Moscow, successfully persuading him to reject reconciliation and cooperation with the Renovationist V. Krasnitsky. The G. P. U. was pressuring His Holiness to take these steps, promising that the hierarchs would then be released from prison. In response to these promises, the hierarch said to His Holiness: “Your Holiness, do not concern yourself with us, the bishops. We are now good for nothing but prisons...” After hearing this, His Holiness crossed Krasnitsky’s name out of the document he had signed.
From Moscow, the hierarch moved to a place near Yelsk and then to Perervolok. By the testamentary directive of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon dated December 25, 1924, he was appointed the first candidate for the position of Patriarchal Locum Tenens. Soon afterward, the hierarch was sent into exile again. For this reason, after the repose of the Holy Patriarch Tikhon, he was unable to assume the office of Locum Tenens, and the Hieromartyr Metropolitan Peter (Polyansky) became Locum Tenens instead.
In 1926, the idea arose among the episcopate of secretly electing a Patriarch. Seventy-two episcopal signatures were collected under the act electing Metropolitan Cyril, whose term of exile was nearing its end (at that time, there was only one signature for Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky)). Thus, Metropolitan Cyril was elected Patriarch, but his enthronement did not take place because the G. P. U. learned of this action.
When Tuchkov learned the results of the vote, he declared that he would permit Metropolitan Cyril’s enthronement on the Patriarchal Throne only on the condition that, in the future, when appointing bishops, he would follow Tuchkov’s instructions. The hierarch replied: “Evgeny Alekseyevich, you are not a cannon, and I am not a shell with which you hope to destroy the Russian Church.”
A wave of arrests soon followed. The hierarch Cyril, who was already in exile, was arrested and imprisoned in the city of Vyatka. He was sentenced to an additional three years of exile and, beginning in April 1927, was sent to the Khantaika settlement in the Turukhansk District of the Krasnoyarsk Region, and then to the city of Yeniseysk.
After Metropolitan Sergius issued his Declaration in 1927, the hierarch separated himself from communion with him, since he did not wish to participate in something that his “conscience... had recognized as sinful.” He saw the Temporary Patriarchal Holy Synod established by Metropolitan Sergius as a threat to the integrity of the Patriarchal system and as a substitution of that system by collegial administration.
In the administrative ecclesiastical activity of Metropolitan Sergius, the hierarch, like the Locum Tenens, the Hieromartyr Metropolitan Peter (Polyansky), discerned an excess of the powers granted to him by his title of Deputy Locum Tenens, which had led to a schism in the Church. The hierarch considered it meaningless and harmful to preserve the central ecclesiastical authority at such a price. In circumstances in which the legal organization of the central ecclesiastical administration was impossible, and when it had become clear that “Metropolitan Sergius governs the Church without the guidance of Metropolitan Peter,” he called upon the bishops to follow the decree of Holy Patriarch Tikhon of November 20, 1920, according to which bishops were to establish local self-government so that, later, under more favorable circumstances, they could render an account of their activities to a Council.
From May to November 1929, the hierarch corresponded with Metropolitan Sergius, attempting to persuade him to abandon his harmful course of compromises. These letters of the hierarch, deeply considered and clearly reasoned, reveal the spiritual and moral essence of the problem.
Metropolitan Sergius responded with threats of canonical penalties, demanding that ecclesiastical discipline be maintained. The hierarch, however, defended those who had confessed their disagreement with the ecclesiastical course of the Deputy Locum Tenens and who did not wish to “participate in what their conscience had recognized as sinful.” In response to this demand, he wrote:
“This confession is being regarded as a violation of ecclesiastical discipline. But discipline is capable of preserving its effectiveness only so long as it remains an effective reflection of the hierarchical conscience of the conciliar Church. Discipline can in no way take the place of this conscience. As soon as it makes demands not on the basis of the directives of this conscience, but for reasons alien to the Church or insincere reasons, the individual hierarchical conscience will inevitably stand guard over the conciliar-hierarchical principle of the Church’s existence, which is by no means the same thing as external ‘unity at any cost.’”
In December 1929, Metropolitan Sergius brought the hierarch before a court of bishops and removed him from the administration of the Kazan See.
From 1932, the hierarch was in exile in the Turukhansk Region. For half the year, night prevailed there, interrupted only by the Northern Lights; for the other half of the year, the inhabitants of this region were cut off from the entire world: no letters, no newspapers, no parcels. The frost reached sixty degrees below zero. There was a short polar summer and countless tormenting mosquitoes and gnats, scurvy, and an absence of necessities... Such were the conditions of exile beyond the Arctic Circle. Many of the exiled bishops lived in small settlements far from one another, so that they could not meet. The hierarch was able to spend a short time with only the Hieromartyr Bishop Damascene (Tsedrik), and from then on they remained friends for life.
After his release in August 1933, the hierarch lived for a short time in the city of Gzhatsk. Clergy who shared his views persistently urged the hierarch to assert his rights and take upon himself the burden of administering the suffering Church. But the hierarch considered it impossible for him to do so until he had fully understood the situation that had developed. In 1934, the hierarch came to Moscow and went to the Patriarchate. A guard on duty prevented him from entering, but the tall, once-powerful Metropolitan pushed him aside and stepped into Metropolitan Sergius’s office. A few moments later, the hierarch came out; evidently, everything had become clear to him. This was their last meeting.
When Tuchkov learned the results of the vote, he declared that he would permit Metropolitan Cyril’s enthronement on the Patriarchal Throne only on the condition that, in the future, when appointing bishops, he would follow Tuchkov’s instructions. The hierarch replied: “Evgeny Alekseyevich, you are not a cannon, and I am not a shell with which you hope to destroy the Russian Church.”
A wave of arrests soon followed. The hierarch Cyril, who was already in exile, was arrested and imprisoned in the city of Vyatka. He was sentenced to an additional three years of exile and, beginning in April 1927, was sent to the Khantaika settlement in the Turukhansk District of the Krasnoyarsk Region, and then to the city of Yeniseysk.
After Metropolitan Sergius issued his Declaration in 1927, the hierarch separated himself from communion with him, since he did not wish to participate in something that his “conscience... had recognized as sinful.” He saw the Temporary Patriarchal Holy Synod established by Metropolitan Sergius as a threat to the integrity of the Patriarchal system and as a substitution of that system by collegial administration.
In the administrative ecclesiastical activity of Metropolitan Sergius, the hierarch, like the Locum Tenens, the Hieromartyr Metropolitan Peter (Polyansky), discerned an excess of the powers granted to him by his title of Deputy Locum Tenens, which had led to a schism in the Church. The hierarch considered it meaningless and harmful to preserve the central ecclesiastical authority at such a price. In circumstances in which the legal organization of the central ecclesiastical administration was impossible, and when it had become clear that “Metropolitan Sergius governs the Church without the guidance of Metropolitan Peter,” he called upon the bishops to follow the decree of Holy Patriarch Tikhon of November 20, 1920, according to which bishops were to establish local self-government so that, later, under more favorable circumstances, they could render an account of their activities to a Council.
From May to November 1929, the hierarch corresponded with Metropolitan Sergius, attempting to persuade him to abandon his harmful course of compromises. These letters of the hierarch, deeply considered and clearly reasoned, reveal the spiritual and moral essence of the problem.
Metropolitan Sergius responded with threats of canonical penalties, demanding that ecclesiastical discipline be maintained. The hierarch, however, defended those who had confessed their disagreement with the ecclesiastical course of the Deputy Locum Tenens and who did not wish to “participate in what their conscience had recognized as sinful.” In response to this demand, he wrote:
“This confession is being regarded as a violation of ecclesiastical discipline. But discipline is capable of preserving its effectiveness only so long as it remains an effective reflection of the hierarchical conscience of the conciliar Church. Discipline can in no way take the place of this conscience. As soon as it makes demands not on the basis of the directives of this conscience, but for reasons alien to the Church or insincere reasons, the individual hierarchical conscience will inevitably stand guard over the conciliar-hierarchical principle of the Church’s existence, which is by no means the same thing as external ‘unity at any cost.’”
In December 1929, Metropolitan Sergius brought the hierarch before a court of bishops and removed him from the administration of the Kazan See.
From 1932, the hierarch was in exile in the Turukhansk Region. For half the year, night prevailed there, interrupted only by the Northern Lights; for the other half of the year, the inhabitants of this region were cut off from the entire world: no letters, no newspapers, no parcels. The frost reached sixty degrees below zero. There was a short polar summer and countless tormenting mosquitoes and gnats, scurvy, and an absence of necessities... Such were the conditions of exile beyond the Arctic Circle. Many of the exiled bishops lived in small settlements far from one another, so that they could not meet. The hierarch was able to spend a short time with only the Hieromartyr Bishop Damascene (Tsedrik), and from then on they remained friends for life.
After his release in August 1933, the hierarch lived for a short time in the city of Gzhatsk. Clergy who shared his views persistently urged the hierarch to assert his rights and take upon himself the burden of administering the suffering Church. But the hierarch considered it impossible for him to do so until he had fully understood the situation that had developed. In 1934, the hierarch came to Moscow and went to the Patriarchate. A guard on duty prevented him from entering, but the tall, once-powerful Metropolitan pushed him aside and stepped into Metropolitan Sergius’s office. A few moments later, the hierarch came out; evidently, everything had become clear to him. This was their last meeting.
Soon afterward, in the summer of 1934, he was arrested in Gzhatsk on the charge of “counterrevolutionary activity” and confined in the special internal detention unit of Butyrka Prison in Moscow. The hierarch was sentenced to three years of exile, which he served in the settlement of Yany-Kurgan (South Kazakhstan Region). Metropolitan Joseph (Petrovykh) was living nearby in the same place of exile, and the two elderly Metropolitans were comforted by the opportunity to communicate, however limited. “With Metropolitan Joseph,” the hierarch wrote, “I am in brotherly communion, gratefully acknowledging that it was precisely with his blessing that the first protest against Metropolitan Sergius’s undertaking was expressed by the Petrograd Diocese, and that everyone was warned of the danger to come.”
According to the words of his faithful follower and confessor, Bishop Athanasius Sakharov (commemorated October 15), the hierarch considered it permissible, as a form of protest, not to attend “Sergianist” churches. At the same time, he condemned the disparagement by unreasonable zealots of the divine services celebrated there. As for himself, he considered it permissible to go to confession to a “Sergianist” priest only in a case of extreme necessity. In one of his letters from 1929, the hierarch wrote:
“The substitution of authority carried out by him (Metropolitan Sergius) certainly cannot be called a falling away from the Church, but it is undoubtedly the gravest sin of a fall. I will not call those who commit this sin graceless, but I will not participate with them in Communion, nor do I bless others to do so, since I have no other means of reproving a brother who is sinning.”
He wrote directly to Metropolitan Sergius:
“I apply my abstention in its full extent only to you, but not to the ordinary clergy, and still less to the laity. Among the ordinary clergy, there are very few conscious ideologues of your ecclesiastical activity.”
However, as the hierarch wrote in 1934, “for those who clearly understand the falsehood that exists in Sergianism,” their failure to oppose it “reveals a criminal indifference to the desecration of the Church.”
But this moderate position of the hierarch became somewhat stricter during the final years of his life, possibly as a result of his association in exile with the Hieromartyr Metropolitan Joseph (Petrovykh), as well as the fact that all the time allowed for waiting for Metropolitan Sergius to repent of his harmful course of ecclesiastical policy had expired.
On July 7, 1937, the hierarch was arrested in exile and imprisoned in the city of Chimkent. During the interrogation, in which he was accused of “leading all the counterrevolutionary clergy,” the hierarch conducted himself with great courage and took upon himself all responsibility for the charges brought by the investigators. On November 6, he was sentenced to death by the UNKVD troika.
On November 7 (November 20, New Style), the hierarch was shot at Fox Ravine near Chimkent, together with the Hieromartyrs Metropolitan Joseph (Petrovykh) and Bishop Eugene (Kobranov).
According to the words of his faithful follower and confessor, Bishop Athanasius Sakharov (commemorated October 15), the hierarch considered it permissible, as a form of protest, not to attend “Sergianist” churches. At the same time, he condemned the disparagement by unreasonable zealots of the divine services celebrated there. As for himself, he considered it permissible to go to confession to a “Sergianist” priest only in a case of extreme necessity. In one of his letters from 1929, the hierarch wrote:
“The substitution of authority carried out by him (Metropolitan Sergius) certainly cannot be called a falling away from the Church, but it is undoubtedly the gravest sin of a fall. I will not call those who commit this sin graceless, but I will not participate with them in Communion, nor do I bless others to do so, since I have no other means of reproving a brother who is sinning.”
He wrote directly to Metropolitan Sergius:
“I apply my abstention in its full extent only to you, but not to the ordinary clergy, and still less to the laity. Among the ordinary clergy, there are very few conscious ideologues of your ecclesiastical activity.”
However, as the hierarch wrote in 1934, “for those who clearly understand the falsehood that exists in Sergianism,” their failure to oppose it “reveals a criminal indifference to the desecration of the Church.”
But this moderate position of the hierarch became somewhat stricter during the final years of his life, possibly as a result of his association in exile with the Hieromartyr Metropolitan Joseph (Petrovykh), as well as the fact that all the time allowed for waiting for Metropolitan Sergius to repent of his harmful course of ecclesiastical policy had expired.
On July 7, 1937, the hierarch was arrested in exile and imprisoned in the city of Chimkent. During the interrogation, in which he was accused of “leading all the counterrevolutionary clergy,” the hierarch conducted himself with great courage and took upon himself all responsibility for the charges brought by the investigators. On November 6, he was sentenced to death by the UNKVD troika.
On November 7 (November 20, New Style), the hierarch was shot at Fox Ravine near Chimkent, together with the Hieromartyrs Metropolitan Joseph (Petrovykh) and Bishop Eugene (Kobranov).
Metropolitan Cyril is one of the most outstanding hierarchs in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church. This archshepherd, endowed with exceptional spiritual strength, was sent by the Lord in an era of unprecedented persecutions as an example of steadfastness in confessing the faith. He was an exemplary hierarch, combining the ascetic labor of prayer with active archpastoral work, the dignity of his high rank with genuine simplicity, humility, and love. In every place where the hierarch served, his special gift became evident: people were drawn to him, attracted by his spiritual beauty and unwavering faith.
He was numbered among the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia at the Jubilee Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in August 2000, for veneration throughout the entire Church.
He was numbered among the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia at the Jubilee Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in August 2000, for veneration throughout the entire Church.
Troparion in Tone 3
The Russian Church has found in you a great comforter in times of sorrow, O holy Cyril. For in a time of persecution, having received the cup of sufferings, you gathered together those who thirsted for righteousness, as a heavenly eagle gathers its young beneath its wings, and taught all the noble confession of the faith. Therefore, numbered among the New Martyrs, you stand before the Throne of God, praying for those who lovingly honor your memory.
Another Troparion in Tone 5
Today your memory has shone forth like a radiant sun, O hierarch and confessor Cyril, illuminating the hearts of the faithful with the rays of grace, to the glory of God, who is wondrous in His saints, and who granted you strength in confessing the faith and patience in times of sorrow. Do not be silent concerning us, O servant of Christ, but deliver us from every evil. Preserve the Russian Church from divisions and disorder, ask for peace for the world, and obtain great mercy for our souls.
Kontakion in Tone 5
Enlighten us with your radiant grace, as we sing of the strength of your courage, which was inaccessible to the warriors of darkness; and by your prayers establish the Russian Church in unity of mind, and protect our homeland from dangers, O Hierarch Cyril, glorious martyr.
Another Kontakion in Tone 3
Having become a pillar and sacrifice of the Church of Christ, O Father, you wisely preserved her unshaken by the temptations of the evil one. With steadfast mind you destroyed the schemes of the enemy, and proclaimed the Church to be one and apostolic. O blessed Cyril, boast of the Russian hierarchs, pray that our souls may be saved.
The Russian Church has found in you a great comforter in times of sorrow, O holy Cyril. For in a time of persecution, having received the cup of sufferings, you gathered together those who thirsted for righteousness, as a heavenly eagle gathers its young beneath its wings, and taught all the noble confession of the faith. Therefore, numbered among the New Martyrs, you stand before the Throne of God, praying for those who lovingly honor your memory.
Another Troparion in Tone 5
Today your memory has shone forth like a radiant sun, O hierarch and confessor Cyril, illuminating the hearts of the faithful with the rays of grace, to the glory of God, who is wondrous in His saints, and who granted you strength in confessing the faith and patience in times of sorrow. Do not be silent concerning us, O servant of Christ, but deliver us from every evil. Preserve the Russian Church from divisions and disorder, ask for peace for the world, and obtain great mercy for our souls.
Kontakion in Tone 5
Enlighten us with your radiant grace, as we sing of the strength of your courage, which was inaccessible to the warriors of darkness; and by your prayers establish the Russian Church in unity of mind, and protect our homeland from dangers, O Hierarch Cyril, glorious martyr.
Another Kontakion in Tone 3
Having become a pillar and sacrifice of the Church of Christ, O Father, you wisely preserved her unshaken by the temptations of the evil one. With steadfast mind you destroyed the schemes of the enemy, and proclaimed the Church to be one and apostolic. O blessed Cyril, boast of the Russian hierarchs, pray that our souls may be saved.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
