The Metropolitan Who Fought with a Pen
St. Cyprian of Kyiv was robbed, expelled, and barred from his see. He answered with letters, books, and canons, and before his death he forgave everyone.
On a June night in 1378, a stripped, hungry, shivering man sat in confinement. He had been traveling to Moscow as the lawful primate of Rus', with the blessing of the Patriarch of Constantinople and with a retinue. Now he had no retinue, no clothes, and no horses. Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy had ordered Metropolitan Cyprian stopped, assigned a "tormentor," Nikifor, to him, and expelled him from his domains.
The saint later recalled: "They shut me up at night, naked and hungry. And after that cold night I suffer even now." His servants were led out of the city "down to their shirts," left without boots or hats. Of the forty-six horses, Cyprian writes, not one returned intact.
What does a person usually do after such humiliation? He either submits or looks for a chance at revenge. Metropolitan Cyprian sat down to write a letter.
Shepherd of a Scattered Flock
He was born around 1330 in the Bulgarian city of Tarnovo, labored on Mount Athos, and joined the circle of Patriarch Philotheos of Constantinople. The times that fell to him were difficult. The Metropolis of Kyiv was coming apart at the seams. Metropolitan Alexis supported Moscow, and the Lithuanian princes would not let him into their dioceses. Communication between the dioceses was severed, and the western lands were left without a supreme pastor. The Lithuanians demanded a separate metropolitan and threatened to accept one "from the Latin church." In 1375 a Catholic ecclesiastical province had already appeared in Halych.
On December 2, 1375, Patriarch Philotheos ordained Cyprian "Metropolitan of Kyiv and Lithuania," on the condition that the Moscow part of the metropolis would also come under his omophorion. The new archpastor arrived in Kyiv. Later he described what he saw there: "The priests, and the monks, and all the Christians are like cattle without a shepherd."
The saint ransomed and freed captives, built churches, and brought to Baptism those who did not yet know Christ. In Volhynia, the Diocese of Vladimir, in his words, had for many years "stood without a bishop and fallen into desolation." He appointed a bishop there and restored order. When Metropolitan Alexis died in 1378, Cyprian rightfully set out for Moscow. But no one there was expecting him.
A Curse in Cipher
The letter written after his expulsion is addressed to two abbots – Sts. Sergius of Radonezh and Theodore of Simonov. The historian G. M. Prokhorov, who published it in translation, calls this text "no longer a private letter, but a work of polemical journalism." According to him, Cyprian "resorted to the pen as a means of struggle."
The metropolitan had no armed escort, but he had the canons in his arsenal. Left without external protection, he cites the rules of the holy apostles and of the Council of Antioch, stating that church authority may not be handed down by inheritance or obtained by bribery and "princely force." The main principle runs thus: "It is not fitting for princes to punish hierarchs. I have a patriarch, greater than us, I have the Great Council."
The manuscript contains a remarkable detail at the place where the saint pronounces an anathema on the ruler.
Where the words "let them be excommunicated," directed against the grand prince, should stand, there is a cipher. Scribes, it seems, were afraid and felt it was dangerous to write such a thing openly.
Whoever tries to burn or conceal the letter, the saint threatens with the same excommunication.
The letter ends without complaint, with dignity: "And I am going to Constantinople to defend myself with God, the holy patriarch, and the Great Council. And those men rely on money and on the Franks, but I rely on God and on my own righteousness."
Three years later, those very abbots helped persuade the prince to invite St. Cyprian to Moscow. In 1381 he entered with honor the city from which he had once been driven out, robbed.
The Book Is Mightier than the Sword
St. Cyprian understood that the unity of the Church rests not only on charters. Common books, common prayer, and a common rule are needed.
In 1387, already as metropolitan, he copied out with his own hand in Constantinople the "Ladder" of St. John of Sinai. This manuscript has survived to our day. In 1403 he commissioned the Lenten and Flowery Triodia for the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. He translated the canons of Patriarch Philotheos and composed a service to St. Peter – the oldest in Rus' according to the Jerusalem typikon. He also contributed to the compilation of the "List of Russian Cities, Far and Near" – a register of the Orthodox cities of the entire Metropolis of Kyiv. On this parchment, the politically fractured land looked united once again.
Together with the Athonite scribes, the Jerusalem typikon came to Rus'. The reform of the liturgy under the auspices of Metropolitan Cyprian proceeded gently, though the work went rather slowly.
Firmness Without Bitterness
It would be untrue to portray Cyprian as a meek pacifist. He excommunicated the Novgorodians who refused him ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and a war led by the grand prince followed. He relied on princely power and yielded to strong rulers when circumstances required. He lived in a cruel age and prudently adapted to it.
And yet, having gained his end, he lifted the bans and blessed yesterday's opponents.
While still the patriarch's envoy, he reconciled Prince Michael of Tver with Metropolitan Alexis. When in 1395 Khan Timur was approaching Moscow, at his suggestion a church of the Meeting of the Lord was built at the place where the Vladimir Icon was met. Thus a feast appeared in Rus' that is still celebrated by the whole Church today.
The Last Kiss
On September 12, 1406, the ailing metropolitan dictated his spiritual testament. The man who had once cursed his offenders in cipher now gave Christians "peace and blessing" and forgave everyone who had done him wrong. To Grand Prince Vasily, the son of Dmitry Donskoy, he left "peace, blessing, and the last kiss." Four days later, on September 16 (September 29 by the new style), the saint departed to the Lord in Golenishchevo near Moscow.
Today the Church in Ukraine again lives under the pressure of a government that considers itself entitled to judge bishops and to dispose of holy things. The stance of St. Cyprian underscores that church unity is preserved by fidelity to the canons and by living prayer. And by a heart that, at the end of its earthly journey, is ready to forgive all offenders and enemies.
