A monument to Cyril of Turau was erected in the town of Turov, Zhytkavichy District, Gomel Region, Belarus
Kirill of Turov was born on April 28, 1130 in Turov, Zhytkavichy District, Gomel Region, Belarus. He descended from a prosperous family.
Kirill of Turov received this monastic name from the one of the town of Turau, the capital of Turau Principality (currently the town Turau, Homel Region), his birthplace, closely connected with Kirill’s life.
Kirill of Turov received a classical education of that time (the place of getting education is unknown). He obtained the knowledge of higher sciences and arts from Greek teachers.
Most of the information about Kirill of Turov is provided in his Hagiography. This is a canonical church biography, written by an unknown author in the late 12th century.
In c. 1123, Kirill of Turov went to the St.Nikolas monastery. After three years of penance, he took monastic vows. In c.1143 he became a celibate priest, in 1144 – a superior. In 1148, Kirill of Turov cloistered himself in a monastic tower with his library, in order to devote himself to thinking, praying, literary activities, thus becoming the first well-known stylite (pillar hermit) in Rus.
In search of solitude, Kirill of Turov achieved a counter effect. His isolated life became an important event in Turau and its surroundings. Kirill’s fame and authority grew enormously. As one of the best-educated people of that time, he deeply knew the Byzantine culture as well as the works of the church fathers. He exceeded in knowledge his contemporaries not only in Belarus, but also in the whole East Slavic world. Thorough education, morality and excellent oratory skills made Kirill of Turov highly respected by the prince and residents of Turov who chose him as Head of the Episcopacy. His Episcopal consecration was fulfilled in 1161. As Kirill of Turov’s hierarch he was engaged in establishing the eparchy, preaching, political and literary activities as well as founding temples. Kirill’s thoughts and words spread over Ancient Rus. In 1169, he came out at Kiev Council with an accusatory speech upon the case of Bishop Theodor of Rostov, who made use of the ambitious plans of Prince Andrey Bogoliyubsky and started the dissent of the Orthodox Church in Rus, attempting to create a separate branch within the principality. By sending messages to Andrey Bogoliyubsky, the enlightener tried in a Christianly way to influence the prince of Central Rus, where the center of the future Russia was moving to.
Having become a bishop, Kirill of Turov was famous as preacher and church orator, who took care of his countrymen’s spiritual life. He made up homilies, prayers and praises to Saints, admonitions on the themes of the Gospels and Prophets’ Scriptures, parables and canons (as a pattern he took the antique and Byzantine oratorical prose).
In c. 1184 (1182),Kirill of Turov left the prelatic cathedra, lived in the cell of St.Nikolas Church in Turau and continued writing. He died during the last decade of the 12th century in the Monastery of SS. Boris and Gleb in Turau.
Perhaps, beginning with the early 13th century, Kirill of Turov was honoured as a Saint, although the data about his official canonization have not been revealed. In Turau, they may have treated him as a Saint immediately after his death.
Kirill's extraordinary literary skills brought him lasting and great fame in the East and South Slavic world. For many centuries, his works were widely popular. They were circulated through records of the 12th-17th centuries and published in Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania and Russia during the 19th-20th centuries.
At present, about 70 works of this author are known. This number is really amazing, as the works have survived during 800 years. They were translated from the Church Slavonic language into Russian, Polish, English and recently into Belarusian; thus, coming back to Belarus in a renewed form.
In 1993, the public, scientific, cultural and educational Kirill of Turov Society was formed in Gomel. A monument to him was erected in the town of Turau.
Kirill of Turov developed the Christian theological tradition of the eastern fathers of the Christian church. In his last works, Kirill indirectly revealed the imperfection of the political system, and of earthly power in general, as serving to a sinful human nature and not to spiritual perfectionism. He exposed a social and ethic sense of monastic life - to give a human being and society the patterns of being with God, in purity and in accordance with God’s truth.
