The Great Saint Pope Kyrillos VI

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The Great Saint Pope Kyrillos VI

• Model for the Spiritual Life

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Brief Outline of His Life

• Born Azer Youssef Atta on August 2(?), 1902 in
  Damanhour
• Grew up in a very pious Christian home during
  his childhood the evidence of a spiritual person
  were evident in his love for the church and his
  behavior
• In July 1927, he entered into the monastery of
  El-Baramous
• Stayed as a novice until February of 1928 when he
  was tonsured a monk and given the name Monk Mina
  El-Baramousy, then ordained a priest in July 1931.

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Brief Outline of His Life(contd)

• Escaped ordination to the Episcopate by fleeing
  to the monastery of St. Shenouda in Sohag but
  when he returned at the request of the Pope he
  pleaded his case to be a solitary and his wish
  was granted.
• He lived as a solitary in a cave that was
  approximately one hours-walking distance from the
  monastery (El-Baramous).

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Brief Outline of His Life(contd)

• In 1936 he continued to live as a solitary but in
  an old abandoned wind mill in Old Cairo until
  1941 where he was appointed as the abbot of the
  Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor in
  El-Kalamun near Maghaga (this is the monastery of
  St. Andrewes and many other holy men). He was
  successful in renovating and improving the
  conditions of this monastery.

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Brief Outline of His Life(contd)

• In 1947 he moved to Old Cairo where he built the
  Church of St. Mina his beloved saint. During
  this time many university students (whose homes
  were outside Cairo) surrounded him so he
  established a dormitory for them and attended to
  their spiritual needs. Many of these students
  became priests, monks and bishops including H.H.
  Pope Shenouda III.
• In May 1959 he was chosen to be Pope and
  Patriarch of the See of St. Mark under the name
  Kyrillos VI.

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Brief Outline of His Life(contd)

• During his life as Patriarch the Church witnessed
  many great things
• The monastery of St. Mina in Mariut
• Processed the Holy Myron for only the 26th time
  in Coptic Church history.
• Renovation of St. Marks cathedral in Cairo.
• The unprecedented apparition of the Holy Mother
  of God over the Church in Zeitoun.
• The return of the relics of St. Mark the Apostle
  to Egypt.
• Liturgical revival in the Coptic Church
• Spiritual revival in the Coptic Church.

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Brief Outline of His Life(contd)

• Departed this world March 9, 1971
• His miracles continue to be documented in over
  fifteen separate volumes in Arabic and slowly are
  being translated into English and other
  languages.

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Spiritual Gifts

• Miracles
• Clairvoyance
• Spirit-Borne
• Although one cannot study the life of this Holy
  Saint without noting the thousands of miracles
  granted through his prayers and his blessed life,
  let us defer this to another time and study his
  virtues to see how we can benefit in our own
  lives.

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Model for the Spiritual Life

• In the life of this great saint we find a school
  of virtues and a complete picture of how one can
  be in perfect communion with God while in this
  world. He is a true witness in the 20th century
  that God is still working in his saints.
  Although there is too much to discuss to even
  gain a glimpse into the life of this hero, let us
  look at a few of his virtues, namely
• Humility
• Life of Prayer/Asceticism
• Love/Service

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Humility

• Let us disappear that God may be manifested in
  His glory (First Papal Epistle of Pope Kyrillos
  VI)
• If I, your Lord and Teacher have washed your
  feet, you also ought to wash one anothers feet
  (John 1314)
• His Grace Bishop Mina El-Samueli said, Father
  Mina considered everyone better than himself.

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Humility (contd)

• His Grace Metropolitan Athanasius of Beni Suef
  said that once he gave a sermon in the Cathedral
  when the Pope was present. After the sermon the
  Pope gently admonished him saying, Brother, why
  do you yell at, and order the people as you
  instruct them...Who knows who is better than
  whom
• One of Pope Kyrillos relatives said that when
  Fr. Mina lived in St. Minas Church in Old Cairo
  with other monks and novices, he used to assign
  them work to do. However, he kept to himself the
  chore of cleaning the washrooms without letting
  anyone notice it. He never assigned this job to a
  hired hand or anyone else.

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Humility (contd)

• Fr. Raphael Ava Mina, the private deacon to the
  Pope, on many occasions would forget that the
  Pope had requested a cup of tea, for example.
  After an hour or so he would remember but would
  then be too embarrassed to go to him. When one of
  the other workers went to the Pope, the pope
  would ask him about the tea but the worker would
  respond that Raphael has not requested anything
  from me The Pope would reply, Never mind my
  son, Raphael works so hard, he gets tired, God
  help him.

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Humility (contd)

• Many people tried to convince the Pope (including
  a delegate from the Vatican) to refurnish and
  repaint his residence at the Patriarchate to suit
  the level of a pope and he would respond, It is
  still better than the manger in which our Savior
  Jesus Christ was born.
• Fr. Raphael also said this I often heard him
  (the Pope) abasing himself saying, the boy
  became a patriarch and if he asked for something
  and found many people responding to his request
  he would say, his shirt is at his knees and ten
  are at his service or he is still in grade
  school and the world is waiting on him

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HumilityQuestions

• 1. In the life of Pope Kyrillos we see humility
  has two sides, the positive and the negative,
  what are they? Has our view only been one-sided?
• 2. Why is it that the Scriptures and the Fathers
  speak of humility as the most essential virtue
  and key to communion with God? How is this shown
  in the life of Pope Kyrillos?
• 3. What are some ways we can practice humility
  based on the example of Pope Kyrillos?

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Life of Prayer

• Fr. Raphael says this about the Popes prayer
  life His Holiness prayed unceasingly. He never
  stopped praising God, either in his cell, during
  meetings, while walking, or even while eating. He
  was always lifting up his heart and all his
  senses as he sang psalms. Prayer was his source
  of comfort and the tool for solving difficult
  problems. He spent prolonged periods of time
  alone in his cell just in prayer. The popes life
  was always full of prayer, and eventually prayer
  became his life

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Life of Prayer (contd)

• Bishop Mina El-Samueli says this about Fr. Mina
  the Hermit when he was in the windmill Fr. Mina
  used to wake up at 2 a.m., start the midnight
  agpeya prayers, do the praise service (tesbeha),
  bake the korban, raise the morning incense,
  then serve the holy liturgy which would end
  around 8 a.m.in the evening after fasting all
  day he would raise the vespers incense. During
  the night he would make praises for several
  saints

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Life of Prayer (contd)

• As Pope, Fr. Raphael said this Pope Kyrillos
  started his day at 3 a.m., no matter how late he
  went to bed the night before. He would wake up
  for midnight prayers, and then go to the church
  for the raising of incense before the divine
  liturgy...he used to pray with a low voice, bowed
  head, and closed eyes with fear and respect. He
  never allowed himself to lean against the altar
  nor to talk with anyone during the liturgy. While
  praying he used to shed many tearswe deacons
  found ourselves shedding many tears with him

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Life of Prayer (contd)

• His Holiness was also committed to the Prayers
  of Raising Incense which he said every morning
  and eveninghe insisted on raising incense by
  himself. When a young priest monk offered to
  raise the incense for him, as was the practice of
  some bishops, the Pope told him, And why can I
  not raise the incense? Are we not all raising it
  to the glory of God? There is no great or small
  person in the eyes of God. We are all the same in
  front of him

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Life of Prayer Questions

• Given the extremely busy schedule of a Pope, what
  does the prayer life of Pope Kyrillos teach us?
• What does Pope Kyrillos emphasis on the
  Eucharist and the traditional prayers of the
  Church show us?
• What is the goal of prayer as manifested in the
  Popes life?
• 4. Based on the life of Pope Kyrillos what are
  some ways we can deepen our prayer life?

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Love/Service

• Fr. Raphael tells these incidents
• Once when the Pope was residing at St. Minas
  monastery, some families came to visit him.
  Before they left, His Holiness ordered food for
  them. Shortly after, he asked me to bring his own
  dinner to the children. I explained that we
  already took care of their food, but he insisted.
  So, I took the food and gave it to them, and he
  remained without food.
• On many occasions the Pope would see an elderly
  gentleman who needed a blessing but could not
  reach him because of the crowd. The Pope would
  then go to him and pray for him.

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Love/Service(contd)

• One day H.H. heard the that one of the deacons
  criticized the way a priest chanted the mass. He
  had said that the priests hymns barely had a
  tune. The Pope wanted to gently reform the
  deacons behavior. He did so at a Divine Liturgy
  attended by the priest and that deacon. He said
  to the deacon, Do you hear how Abouna is
  praying? The prayers are coming from his heart.
  If two or three people like him existed in this
  world, God would have turned away his wrath. The
  deacon was embarrassed and asked the Pope for his
  forgiveness.

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Love/Service(contd)

• One day H.H. had finished the Divine Liturgy,
  and had not yet eaten breakfast. A large number
  of visitors arrived asking for his blessings.
  When he asked me about the number of visitors, I
  told him there were too many. I noticed that the
  Pope looked tired and I beseeched him to quickly
  dismiss them. The Pope looked right at me and
  asked sharply, What do you mean?! I felt
  ashamed of my conduct. He then asked me to invite
  the visitors in and he had long conversations
  with them. The visits were not over until late
  afternoonIn order to draw my attention to my
  mistake, H.H. said If I had listened to you I
  would not have been that late for breakfastI
  left H.H. weeping. I was touched by his great
  compassion and love for his flock. Moreover,
  H.H. would ask me, before going to his room to
  rest, to check that there were no more visitors
  waiting on the ground floor.

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Love/ServiceQuestions

• Based on the example of Pope Kyrillos, what is
  the relationship between love and service? Love
  and compassion?
• How did the Pope deal with hearing negative
  things about others?
• What are some practical ways we can emulate the
  love of this great saint?

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Final thoughts

• In addition to what we have discussed above, it
  is impossible to forget the Popes intimate
  relationship with the Mother of God and the
  saints, especially St. Mina the Wonderworker,
  whom he use to converse with and see regularly.
  His life is a witness to the close communion that
  exists between the church militant and the church
  triumphant.
• O Lord, through the prayers of your beloved
  saint Pope Kyrillos VI, have mercy on us and
  forgive us our sins!