Saint Cyril of Turov: Orthodox Bishop, Preacher and Spiritual Writer of Kyivan Rus
A twelfth century monk, bishop and writer, remembered for Easter sermons and penitential prayers, whose life is known mainly from a later account.
At a Glance
- Born
- About 1130 to 1140, traditionally in Turov (UNCERTAIN)
- Died
- April 28, about 1182 or 1183 (UNCERTAIN)
- Titles
- Saint; Hierarch; Bishop of Turov; monk, preacher and hymn writer; called the second Chrysostom
- Feast
- April 28 (Julian calendar), May 11 on the civil calendar; also with the Saints of Belarus on the third Sunday after Pentecost
- Veneration
- Orthodox; local veneration that spread; no dated canonization found; no separate Catholic canonization
- Patronage
- No established patronage; sacred writing and contemplative solitude are devotional themes
- Who Was Saint Cyril of Turov?
- Birth and Education
- From Inheritance to the Monastery
- The Bishop and Preacher
- Controversy and the Church of Rus
- Retirement, Death and Burial
- Traditions About Cyril
- Sermons, Parables and Prayers
- Veneration and Where to Look
- Saint Cyril and the Eastern Churches
- Frequently Asked Questions
Who Was Saint Cyril of Turov?
Saint Cyril of Turov, also written Kirill Turovsky or Cyril of Turau, is remembered as a twelfth century bishop, monk and writer of Kyivan Rus. Turov stood on the Pripyat River in lands that are now part of Belarus. Orthodox tradition honors him as a hierarch, and later generations called him a second Chrysostom because of the power of the sermons linked to his name.
The sources need careful handling. A body of sermons, prayers and allegories has long been attributed to Cyril, and he is firmly part of Orthodox veneration. Yet scholars point out that no surviving source from his own time names him, and that his short Life dates from no earlier than the middle of the thirteenth century. Even his identity as a bishop cannot be independently proven beyond doubt (UNCERTAIN).
This article therefore separates three layers: the writings, the later Life, and the devotion of the Church. It marks TRADITION where a story comes from the Life, and UNCERTAIN where dates or identities are disputed. The prayer card for Saint Cyril speaks of burnout, writing and hidden places, and we will see which of these themes the sources actually support.
Birth and Education
The date of the birth of Cyril is not recorded. The Encyclopedia of Ukraine gives an approximate range of 1130 to 1140, and tradition places his birth in Turov (UNCERTAIN). No parents, siblings or early teachers are named in any reliable source.
According to his Life, he was born into a wealthy family in Turov. That detail depends on the later Life and not on household records, so it should be treated as UNCERTAIN. The same account describes a gifted young man who loved sacred books and studied Scripture deeply.
His education is shown better by his writings than by any account of his youth. The texts attributed to him display biblical learning, familiarity with Byzantine preachers and skill in rhetoric. Whether he could read Greek in the original cannot be proven from independent evidence, but his work shows that he adapted Greek models into the language of Rus.
From Inheritance to the Monastery
No conversion from another faith is recorded. Cyril grew up in the Christian culture of Kyivan Rus, and his Life presents his vocation as a gradual turning from privilege toward asceticism. The account says that he gave up his inheritance and entered the monastery of Saints Boris and Gleb in Turov, where he gave himself to fasting, prayer, obedience and the study of Scripture.
The identification of that monastery is traditional, and surviving evidence does not confirm it (UNCERTAIN). It fits what we know of monastic life in Rus, and the tradition has long been repeated, but a careful reader should not treat it as certain.
The Life adds a striking episode (TRADITION). It says that Cyril withdrew into a pillar, a form of strict seclusion, where he read Scripture, prayed at length and received visitors who sought counsel. This has led some to call him a stylite, but the medieval word may mean an enclosed cell and not an open column like that of Saint Simeon Stylites. The existence and location of the enclosure are UNCERTAIN.
The Bishop and Preacher
The Life says that the local prince and people asked Cyril to become bishop of Turov, and that the metropolitan consecrated him (TRADITION). It presents the story as the familiar pattern of a contemplative monk called out of solitude to serve others. The date and circumstances of his election are not documented.
His greatest importance lies in his writing. Modern scholars recognize a body of early East Slavic religious literature linked to him. Simon Franklin describes a fairly stable core of eight sermons and three narrative or teaching works, while other lists are longer. The Encyclopedia of Ukraine mentions about ten sermons, and the different counts reflect different judgments about authorship.
The best known sermons belong to the season from Palm Sunday through the Sundays after Easter. They treat the entry into Jerusalem, the Resurrection, the meeting of Thomas with the risen Christ, the myrrh bearing women, the healing of the paralytic, the healing of the blind man, the Ascension and the Fathers of the First Council of Nicaea. In the sermon for the Sunday of Thomas, the spring renewal of nature becomes a picture of the Resurrection.
Controversy and the Church of Rus
Cyril lived in a time of political division in Kyivan Rus, when princes competed for influence and church appointments could be caught up in their ambitions. The best known controversy tied to his name concerns Bishop Theodore, sometimes called Feodorets, and Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, who wanted a church in Vladimir that was more independent of the metropolitan in Kyiv.
According to the Life, Cyril opposed the way Theodore had been appointed and wrote letters against it. The Orthodox Church in America links Cyril with the condemnation of Theodore in 1169, and passages in the attributed writings are read by scholars as aimed at an improperly appointed bishop. The letters named in the Life have not survived, so his personal part cannot be shown from direct evidence (UNCERTAIN).
His writings return often to hypocrisy, disobedience, pride, repentance and the misuse of spiritual authority. These are broad monastic concerns and do not necessarily record events in his own life. Scholars have also studied hostile language about Jews in texts attributed to him, and such passages need to be read in their historical setting and not repeated without comment. No source shows that Cyril himself was imprisoned, exiled or killed, and none shows burnout in the modern sense.
Retirement, Death and Burial
The last years of Cyril are obscure. The Life says that he gave up his episcopal duties and returned to prayer and writing. The Orthodox Church in America notes that a Bishop Laurence is recorded at Turov by 1182, which led some historians to place the death of Cyril before that year, while others suggest that he retired and lived on.
Letters addressed to an abbot named Basil, usually identified with a head of the Kyiv Caves Monastery whose rule began in 1183, are sometimes cited to show that Cyril was alive after that year. That argument depends on questions about who wrote the letters and when, so the common dates of 1182 or 1183 should be treated as UNCERTAIN.
Tradition connects his burial with Turov, sometimes with the area of the monastery of Boris and Gleb, but his grave is not securely identified. No authenticated reliquary or present possession of relics by any church could be established from the sources examined (UNCERTAIN).
Traditions About Cyril
Cyril is not remembered chiefly through a long list of miracles. No healing, apparition or posthumous wonder was found in an early independent source, and a careful biography should not invent any. His holiness is shown through his monastic life, his teaching and the lasting use of his words.
TRADITION tells of the monk in the pillar and of the monk called to be bishop against his own wish. Both stories express ideals common in Eastern hagiography: the strict seclusion that frees a person for God, and the spiritual leader who accepts responsibility without seeking honor. Their historical details remain unproven.
TRADITION also calls him the second Chrysostom, after Saint John Chrysostom of Constantinople, because of the literary force of the sermons. This is a title of praise found in his hagiographical tradition. It is not a formal office, and it does not make him a Doctor of the Church.
Sermons, Parables and Prayers
Among his best known allegories is the Parable of the Lame Man and the Blind Man, a story about shared responsibility in wrongdoing and about divine judgment. Another work treats the soul and the body, with themes of sin, repentance, resurrection and judgment. Monastic writings attributed to him discuss the duties of monks and the link between outward practice and inner obedience.
Some works are addressed to an abbot named Basil. The exact relation between Cyril and Basil, and the authorship and dating of all these letters, are still under study (UNCERTAIN). The corpus also includes about thirty prayers arranged for the days of the week, together with penitential hymns and a long alphabetical penitential canon, whose links to the works named in the Life are not settled.
His prayers were copied for centuries, and the earliest surviving manuscripts date from the thirteenth century. Copies circulated among East and South Slavic Christians, and a collection of prayers attributed to him was printed at Vilnius in 1596. Cyril founded no monastery, order or school that can be proven, and his lasting gift was literary and spiritual.
Veneration and Where to Look
Cyril is an established saint of the Orthodox tradition, yet no dated act of canonization was found. This is common in medieval Eastern Christianity, where local veneration often came first. His short Life already calls on him as a saint, and the Orthodox Encyclopedia places the start of his cult soon after his death, first around Turov and then more widely.
His feast is April 28 in the Julian calendar, which falls on May 11 on the civil calendar, and he is also remembered with the Saints of Belarus on the third Sunday after Pentecost. Orthodox services include a troparion in the fourth tone, which we do not quote here.
Because his tomb is unknown, there is no established pilgrimage to a shrine of relics. Readers who wish to know him can do so through his texts, in English translation in the work of Simon Franklin and in studies such as the volume edited by Ingunn Lunde, and through the services of his feast.
Lord, You gave Saint Cyril a love for Your word and a voice to teach Your people. When I am tired in prayer or cannot find You, lead me to quiet, to Scripture and to honest repentance. Through the prayers of Saint Cyril, renew my heart and help me to find You in hidden places. Amen.
This is a short original devotional prayer, not an official liturgical text, and it was not written by Saint Cyril of Turov.
Saint Cyril and the Eastern Churches
Cyril belongs to the Christian world of medieval Rus, before many of the later church and national divisions. His writings show how Byzantine theology and spirituality were received among East Slavic Christians, and his history touches Belarus, Ukraine and Russia alike.
For Orthodox readers he is a model of early Slavic preaching, biblical interpretation and monastic life. For Eastern Catholics who keep Byzantine Slavic traditions, his works are a witness to a shared inheritance of Scripture, liturgy and monasticism. No separate Roman Catholic canonization or universal feast was found, and the sources do not show that every Eastern Catholic calendar lists him (UNCERTAIN).
The prayer card speaks of burnout, writing and hidden places. Sacred writing and contemplative solitude are well supported by his tradition. Burnout is a modern need, and a person who feels worn down may ask his prayers, with the understanding that this is a devotion drawn from his life and not an ancient patronage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ask His Prayers
Saint Cyril of Turov leaves words of repentance and Easter joy that are still prayed today. If you wish to ask his prayers when you are weary or seeking God in quiet, you may keep his prayer card by your place of prayer.
View Prayer Card