Saint Cyril of Alexandria. Icon of Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

The Christian name Cyril, which is not popular these days, has a very rich history and powerful spiritual patrons. Its origin is ancient Greek, in literal translation it means "lord", or "lord". Men bearing this name should be aware of their patron and remember to honor St. Cyril's day.

Righteous named Cyril

The Orthodox Church, starting from the 4th century, canonized three dozen righteous people who bore this name and lived on the territory of Byzantium, the Western Roman Empire and Russia. Cyril, the patriarch of the Egyptian city of Alexandria, is one of the first in this personality. He was glorified approximately in 451. Our most famous compatriots are St. Cyril of Radonezh, the father of Sergius of Radonezh, who took monastic vows at the end of his life, and Cyril of Belozersky. Saint Cyril is the founder of the idea of enlightened monasticism and the comprehensive social service of the church.

Most often, boys at baptism are called an ancient Christian name in honor of St. Cyril, the Enlightener of the Slavs. Every saint has his owniconographic image. The day of celebration of the heavenly patron is called the day of the Angel. And the heavenly patron himself is sometimes called a guardian angel. This term is conditional and not entirely correct. This is a completely different personal non-material essence. One of the manifestations of respect for one's heavenly patron is a prayer appeal through his icon-painting image. An icon is a window to the higher world. It should contribute to the inner concentration of a person.

Beware of fetishism

In fact, a completely different picture is obtained. On countless sites, it is offered to purchase icons of saints and the Virgin with detailed instructions on what exactly this or that image helps. Moreover, one can meet supposedly competent believers who will advise whom and in what case one should pray. This reduces the lofty meaning of the icon to an ordinary object of religious worship. The reasons are both the ignorance of the clergy and the banal desire for profit: clients pay for the result. In some churches, you can see a price tag similar to offers in the secular service sector, offering to serve a prayer service to a saint with almost a guaranteed result: about a lost thing, about a successful search for a groom so that your teeth do not hurt, etc. This is also facilitated by the incompetence of believers who identify the holy image with a drug in a pharmacy. I bought paracetamol, swallowed it - and it became easier. A very pernicious delusion that can lead to negative consequences over time. After all, fire can not only warm, but alsoburn severely. You can have huge treasures with you all your life and not be able to use them correctly. Grace will not be added from a huge number of icons, but, on the contrary, a careless and unworthy attitude towards them can be punished. The sacred image requires appropriate veneration. You should know that prayer in front of any icon can help alleviate any trouble.

How to properly honor the icons of saints

An icon should not be treated like a book or a photograph stored on a shelf that can be used from time to time. If you have acquired a holy image, then even the smallest icon requires an appropriate reverent attitude. When venerating the icons of saints, one must first of all study the earthly life of the archetype. This brings the inner world of the praying person closer to the heavenly patron. And on the other hand, a person located in another dimension is located in a somewhat special way to the microcosm of an earthly person, showing reverent attention to her.

Icon of the heavenly patron

You should definitely have in your house an icon of your heavenly intercessor, that is, the saint in whose honor the person is named. It is not easy to store somewhere in a sideboard behind glass, as a kind of souvenir. When looking at the icon, one should daily pray to the patron, even if it is brief. It is also preferable to pay attention to a righteous person close in occupation - the patron of labor activity. For example, Saint Cyril, the Enlightener of the Slavs, by virtue of the labors incurred during earthly life, is traditionally consideredpatron of teachers and students. As well as the apologist of the ancient church, Patriarch Kirill of Alexandria earned the fame of a great preacher and writer. The icon of St. Cyril, the guardian angel and patron of Orthodox theologians, is revered by theologians.

Outstanding personality of the Middle East

Saint Cyril was an extraordinary church leader, and on the other hand, a typical representative of his era. The exact date of his birth is unknown. He came from a noble Greek family. In Alexandria, there was a kind of dynastic succession in the hierarchy. The tradition was started by Patriarch Athanasius, who was succeeded by his nephew Peter. So Cyril took the chair after the death of his uncle Theophilus. According to the church historian Socrates Scholastic, Cyril's enthronement was accompanied by riots in the city. Many parties fought for the throne, including heretics. It was possible to calm down the citizens only thanks to the intervention of the troops. Saint Cyril was a very active person and, having settled down in the pulpit, he began to claim the possession of the powers of a secular ruler. Then it was the call of the times. The first Christian communities were not only engaged in preaching the doctrine among the non-believers and spiritually nourishing the flock, but also carried a huge burden of social service to society.

In the 5th century, the Church struggled with numerous heretical teachings. By order of Cyril, all the parishes of the Novatians were closed in Alexandria. Contemporaries testify that Saint Cyril not only waged an uncompromising struggle against heresies and remnantspagan ideology, but also distinguished by aggressive anti-Semitism. The persecution of the Jews led to clashes with the Roman governor Orestes. The authority of the Egyptian see allowed the patriarch to openly fight the heresy of Nestorius, who in 428 occupied the See of Constantinople. It was on the initiative of Cyril that the Third Ecumenical Council was convened, which approved the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He ruled the local church of Alexandria for 32 years and died in 444. Cyril wrote many dogmatic treatises. The most outstanding exegetical works are the interpretations of the books of the Old Testament prophets, the Gospel of Luke, John the Evangelist and the epistle of the Apostle Paul.

Iconographic image of Cyril of Alexandria

The tradition of Christian painting has ancient roots of Syro-Palestinian origin. It is customary to depict saints on icons in accordance with the image of their earthly life. As a rule, a picturesque image is created by the time of the canonization ceremony. Sometimes, more than a dozen years pass between the death of a righteous person and his canonization, and the image on the icon may not quite correspond to the portrait resemblance. Unfortunately, due to the iconoclastic heresy that raged on the territory of Byzantium in the 8th century, many ancient icons were irretrievably lost. The most ancient images depicting the great patriarch of Alexandria, St. Cyril, have not been preserved either. The icon in a modern version depicts the saint in liturgical vestments corresponding to his hierarchal service. An obligatory detail of the composition is the Gospel in the hands. In accordance with the iconographic tradition, emphasizing the reverent attitude to the Holy Scriptures, the saint holds the book not with an open hand, but through the fabric of his vestments.

Saints Athanasius and Cyril of Alexandria

The memory of St. Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria, is celebrated on June 22 in a new style. However, the church established another veneration - January 31. On this day, the triumph of Cyril is celebrated together with another outstanding teacher of the church, his predecessor in the department, Athanasius of Alexandria. The joint celebration is determined in memory of the recognition of their merits and deeds in defense of the dogmatic teaching of the Church. Saints Athanasius and Cyril are two great representatives of the Alexandrian theological school. Their works are of great importance not only for internal church use, but are also very relevant for sociologists, historians and psychologists.

Apostle of Eastern Europe

The greatest contribution to the culture of our fatherland was made by two brothers, Cyril and Methodius. Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril, before taking monastic vows, bore the name Constantine. He and his brother Methodius came from a pious Slavic family. Their father was a military commander in the Greek city of Thessalonica (modern Thessaloniki). Constantine received a brilliant classical education at the court of the emperor, for which he received the nickname of a philosopher. They became famous in connection with the unprecedented work on the enlightenment of the East Slavic tribes. For the effective impact of Christian preaching, they werea new alphabet was compiled and put into circulation for the Slavic tribes speaking related languages. By the name of one of the creators, this monument was named Cyrillic. The brothers translated many liturgical books and the Gospel into Slavonic. In order to be able to perform divine services in a dialect understandable to the Slavs, Konstantin was consecrated to the rank of bishop. Shortly before his death, which followed in 869, he took the monastic rank.

It should be noted that the clergy of the Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian and some other East Slavic churches have been using the original script for more than a millennium. And if the modern languages of kindred peoples are already incomprehensible to each other, then the language of worship is absolutely identical. The feat of the preaching activity of Constantine-Cyril is equated by church consciousness with the feat of the apostles, therefore, during the canonization, the saint was given the title "equal to the apostles", and the days of celebration were not set on May 24 and February 27. In every Orthodox educational institution, in a place of honor is the icon of St. Cyril, the guardian angel and patron of students and teachers.

Images of the Enlightener of the Slavs

Artistic images of the great teacher are widespread. In Orthodox churches in Eastern Europe, you can find authentic frescoes depicting St. Cyril. The icon has several canonically approved versions. Constantine-Cyril is most often depicted in the vestments of a monk-schemnik. He took monastic vows of special severity - the schema. When the two brothers-enlighteners are jointly written, Cyril is depicted only in monastic vestments. Since the saint was ordained to the priesthood, there are icons where he is written in the liturgical robes of a bishop. Invariably in the hands of the saint are either a scroll with the Slavic alphabet, or an open book, most often the Gospel of John with the first lines of Scripture. Cyril passed away at the age of 42. In modern tradition, at about this age, he is depicted. On the few surviving ancient icons, the Slavic guardian angel Saint Cyril appears as an old man with a rather long beard forked at the end.

Name Day

The Primate of the Russian Church, His Holiness Patriarch of All Russia Kirill took this name during his monastic vows. The new name is named as a sign of renunciation of the past life and the beginning of a new, ascetic, subject to completely different worldview principles. At the same time, the enlightener of the Slavs, Saint Cyril, became the heavenly patron of the future hierarch in monasticism. The Patriarch of Moscow sets an example of honoring his heavenly patron. According to Christian canons, on the day of your Angel, you should certainly partake of the holy Mysteries of Christ. On May 24, the Orthodox world celebrates the holiday of Slavic writing and culture. On the day of his heavenly patron, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill without fail celebrates the Liturgy, if possible in a church dedicated to the saint. Also, every believer who bears the name Cyril, if he really wants to honor his heavenlypatron, must take part in public worship on this day, or at least go to the temple to light a candle.

Spiritual Conversation

Regardless of whether a person believes or not, the laws of the spirit world apply. An analogy can be drawn with the laws of physics. Even if a person has never heard of Newton's law and the free fall acceleration constant, universal gravitation works, and those who neglect it can suffer greatly. The world of metaphysics is still waiting for its researchers and discoverers, but for now, one should listen to the thousand-year experience of the church. Appeal to the saints is usually called prayer. There are canonical prayers for liturgical use, which believers can also use at home. In prayer to St. Christians turn to Cyril of Alexandria as an assistant in the defense of all truth and piety. Preservation and spread of faith is impossible without preaching. The success of a speaker is based on talent, comprehensive education and dedication. Such in the church consciousness is Saint Cyril, the guardian angel, for all those striving for enlightenment. Prayer to the righteous Equal to the Apostles expresses requests for granting assistance in overcoming fraternal strife between peoples and preserving fatherly traditions and traditions.