Kirill of Turov

Cyril of Turov, alternately Kirill of Turov (Church Slavonic: Кѷриллъ Туровськiй, romanized: Kürīllǔ Turovsǐkij, Belarusian: Кірыла Тураўскі, romanized: Kiryła Turawski, Russian: Кири́лл Ту́ровский, romanized: Kirill Turovskiy; 1130–1182) was a bishop and saint of the Russian Orthodox Church. He was one of the first and finest theologians of Kievan Rus'; he lived in Principality of Turov, now southern Belarus. His feast day in the Eastern Orthodox Church is on 28 April.

Cyril of Turov

For centuries Cyril of Turov enjoyed considerable prestige as a writer; his works were continuously copied and imitated. According to Zenkovsky's assessment of Cyril's heritage: "Cyril, Bishop of Turov, was probably the most accomplished master of Orthodox theology and the Byzantine style of writing. He had an excellent command of Greek and his literary achievements surpass those of any other Russian man of letters of that era ... Of all his works, Cyril's sermon with the triumphant description of spring as the symbol of the Resurrection was the most popular." Indeed, this sermon is one of his best known works in which he creates some of his more compelling images like a simile comparing the melting of ice in the spring and Thomas's dissolving doubts about Christ's resurrection: "Ныне зима греховнаа покаянием престала есть и лед невериа богоразумием растаяся... лед же Фомина невериа показанием Христов ребр растаяся." [Today the winter of sin has stopped in repentance, and the ice of unbelief is melted by wisdom spring appears...] It is often emphasized that Kirill was an accomplished author who exerted influence on subsequent generations of East Slavs (continuing through the 17th century). The question of Kirill's heritage is problematic to some degree. First of all, there is the problem with the historically verifiable existence of Kirill of Turov; the questions as to whether he ever existed and who he might have been have not been answered definitively.