Cyril of Turaw - Biographic Details

Biographic Details

Biographic details are scant and because none come from sources contemporary with Kirill, many are debated. All we have in terms of his biography is a short Synaxarion Life: Life of Kirill of Turov (28 April) which was written no earlier than the mid thirteenth century. This terse formulaic composition draws heavily on the hagiographic conventions and yields very few historical details. He was born in a thriving town of Turov, the son of wealthy parents. He was characterized by extreme piety at a young age and he entered a monastery still a young man. In the monastery he was respected for his asceticism and his learned interpretation of biblical texts. He is said to be the consecrated bishop of Turov in 1160s. With the support of the Metropolitan in 1169 he became involved in deposing Fedor, who occupied the bishopric of Rostov. Usually he is thought to have died in 1182. According to an alternative line of thought, he became a bishop after 1182, remaining a monk throughout the period of 1160s and 1170s. Even the dates of Kirill’s life and work are debated. The dates 1130-1182 had been commonly accepted but among notable scholars, Simon Franklin vigorously disputes them. (See Simon Franklin’s Sermons and Rhetoric of Kievan Rus’). Kirill’s title the Bishop of Turov is usually agreed to be a later invention arising out of a desire to designate an appropriately high status to the author of extremely popular and influential words. Even though Kirill came to be known as the Bishop of Turov his works deal most extensively with a theme of monasticism. It is often emphasized that Kirill’s points of reference are located within the walls of the monastery. Monks are Kirill’s most frequent addressees.