A married layman of Phileota near Constantinople who took up a strict ascetic and hesychast life and became renowned for clairvoyance and miracles (reposed 1110).
Feast Day
December 2
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Our Venerable Father Cyril of Phileotes, the Wonderworker
Life
Cyril of Phileotes was a Byzantine ascetic of the eleventh and early twelfth centuries who pursued a rigorous life of prayer and self-denial first as a married layman and later as a monastic. He was born around 1015 in the village of Philea, also recorded as Phileota, near Derkos in Thrace, and was baptized with the name Kyriakos. Sources record that he married at a young age and had children, and that he worked for a period as a sailor before devoting himself wholly to the ascetic life.
Although he wished to withdraw into monastic life, his wife would consent neither to a separation nor to entering a monastery herself, so for a time he lived as an ascetic within his own household, restricting his diet and building a small cell in his house where he could kneel and pray. He later took up the monastic name Cyril and became associated with a monastery in his home village. He grew widely known in the religious circles of Constantinople, was visited by the imperial family, and was renowned for receiving divine revelations and for the gift of clairvoyance. He reposed on 2 December 1110, and his memory is kept on December 2.
Timeline7 momentsReadHide
c. 1015Birth at PhileaCyril is born in the village of Philea (Phileota), near Derkos in Thrace, and is baptized with the name Kyriakos.
c. 1035Marriage and early ascetic lifeBy tradition he married at about the age of twenty and had children. Drawn to the ascetic life, he restricted his diet and built a small cell within his house for kneeling prayer; when his wife would not agree to a separation or to monastic life, he continued his asceticism at home.
11th centurySailor and pilgrimHe worked for some three years as a sailor, and on one occasion is recorded to have visited Rome.
c. 1060Monastic life and a village monasteryHe took the monastic name Cyril and became associated with a monastery in his home village. One source records that he founded such a monastery in 1060, while another relates that he entered a monastery in his village founded by his brother Michael.
c. 1081 onwardRenown in ConstantinopleCyril became known to religious circles in the capital. He was patronized by Anna Dalassena and connected with court figures such as George Palaiologos and Eumathios Philokales, and Emperor Alexios I Komnenos brought his family on visits to Cyril at his monastery, granting it a full tax exemption.
2 December 1110ReposeCyril reposes in peace. His feast is kept on December 2.
c. 1121Translation of his relicsBy tradition, eleven years after his repose his disciple Nicholas opened his tomb and found his head incorrupt and giving off a fragrance of sanctity; his head became a source of reported miracles.
Contributions & Legacy
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Ascetic Life
Cyril's discipline is notable for having begun in the world rather than in the cloister. Married and a father, and for a time employed as a sailor, he nonetheless adopted a strict regimen of self-restraint, limiting his diet and his manner of life and setting aside a small cell within his own house for prayer. His weekly devotion is said to have included a walk every Friday from his home village to attend the service at the Church of St. Mary of Blachernae in Constantinople.
His later life as a monastic continued this severity. He was associated with a monastery in his native village and was widely regarded as a man of prayer and ascetic accomplishment, drawing visitors from the capital who sought his counsel.
Clairvoyance and Spiritual Gifts
Cyril is remembered for receiving divine revelations in visions and dreams. His Life relates, among other incidents, an occasion on which he saw a man dressed in white who helped him chant the entire Psalter twice. Tradition holds that he possessed the gift of clairvoyance and was esteemed as a wonderworker.
Relics and Shrines
By tradition, eleven years after his repose his disciple Nicholas opened his tomb and found his head incorrupt and exuding a fragrance of sanctity. His sacred head is reported to have become the source of many miracles.
Sources and Legacy
Cyril's Life (Vita) was written by his disciple Nicholas Kataskepenos within a few years of his death, and is valued as a source for Byzantine monasticism and society of the Komnenian age. A critical edition was published by E. Sargologos as La Vie de saint Cyrille le Philéote, moine byzantin (†1110) (Brussels, 1964).
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