"Attain inner peace, in the first place"
In Memory of Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov)
♰ 20 February 2017
"When we pray, we converse with God, and when we read the Gospel, the Lord speaks to us. Read the Gospel as much as possible!" These words belong to Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov), an outstanding ascetic of our time.
The future ascetic was born on 8 October 1919, on the feast day of the repose of St Sergius of Radonezh. His parents named him Ioann (John), in honour of John the Theologian, whose feast is celebrated the following day. Thus, it was as if the Apostle John, with his evangelical love, drew the newborn soul towards him, while St Sergius of Radonezh invisibly determined his spiritual path with his heavenly protection.
Raised in a devout family, little Vanya (a diminutive of Ivan) embraced a love for the church, nature, animals, and simple peasant labour with childlike purity. He also had a great fondness for folk songs. Later, after becoming a monk, he gladly carried out obediences in the choir, immersing himself in the moving meaning of church hymns. Simple, slender, and calm, in many ways resembling St Sergius, Ivan remained indifferent to material wealth, clothing, and food from childhood to the end of his life. Modesty was always a defining trait of his character. He lived quietly and simply. When, in his old age, grey-haired and ill, he was asked, "Father, do you ever lose heart?" he would reply, "Why should I?" – and everyone would smile.
In the village of Makovskiye Vyselki, where Vanya lived, there was no primary school. At the age of 12, his father took him to study with his elder brother in the village of Pustotino, where the latter worked as a school deputy head. His brother, as it turned out, had fallen under the influence of the anti-religious movement, and in such an environment, the future spiritual beacon of Russia lost his childhood faith and drifted away from religion.
Years passed. Ivan Pavlov graduated from the Kasimov Industrial College and worked at a metallurgical plant. In 1939, he was drafted into the Red Army. As she bade him farewell, his grandmother placed an icon of the Iveron Mother of God around his neck. The prayer "Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos", which she had taught him in childhood, he never forgot.
Then came the war, and the young man's life became intertwined with the fate of the entire nation. Ivan Pavlov served in the Far East and was wounded in the arm and leg. After a stay in hospital, he returned to the front. As a sergeant, he took part in the famous defence of Stalingrad, commanding a platoon.
In April 1943, an event occurred that would change his life forever. Amidst the horror, blood, and death, Ivan Pavlov found a Gospel in the ruins of a destroyed house. "I began to read the book," he later recalled, "and felt something so dear and sweet to my soul. I found such comfort! The Gospel stayed with me all the time. I walked with it and feared nothing. It was as if the Lord was right beside me."
Through the Gospel, Christ knocked on Ivan’s heart. Thanks to the Word of God, his soul was transformed, as if all the past generations of Christian Pavlovs had come alive within him.
The war revealed to Ivan Pavlov the harsh and unappealing sides of human nature.
"It was especially difficult to endure human cowardice and treachery. In moments of mortal danger, both the best and worst qualities of a person become sharply apparent. There was betrayal, informing to the authorities, and sneaky transfers to rear-line positions. In essence, there was no real sense of a secure rear. The enemy was in front of you, but beside you were always new people who you didn’t know and couldn’t trust. That was worse than hell," the elder recalled.
During the war, his faith was put to the test. He refused to join the Communist Party due to his religious convictions – a decision that could have sent him to a penal battalion, a near-certain death sentence. But once again, the Lord and the Mother of God protected their chosen one from inevitable doom. His path through the war took him across Romania and Hungary, and he ended the war in Austria. The memories of those years remained with him forever in the form of wounds on his body, damaged lungs, and a persistent dry cough. The hardships of the war years strengthened his resolve to leave behind a world lost in unbelief. His soul longed for the priesthood, for monastic life.
In August 1946, he entered a theological seminary, and upon completing it, continued his studies at the academy. It seemed only recently that he had been freezing in the trenches, hearing the explosions of shells, and now he was surrounded by the bright halls of the academy, filled with icons and oil lamps, among teachers, in the strict silence of libraries. Everywhere, prayers were being offered. The miraculous changes in a person's life occur by God's grace, as a result of an inner transformation of the soul that has firmly resolved to seek salvation. The Lord led His disciple up the steps toward spiritual fulfilment.
In 1954, upon graduating from the academy, Ivan Pavlov made the decision to take monastic vows. On 25 August of that same year, Archimandrite Pimen, the future Patriarch, tonsured him a monk and gave him the name Kirill, in honour of St Kirill of Belozersk. That same year, he was ordained a hierodeacon, and soon after, a hieromonk. Thus began his more than half-century-long journey of pastoral service as the spiritual father of all Russia and mentor to three Patriarchs.
The elder Kirill’s spiritual son, Hieromonk Simon (Bezkrovny), recalled his first meeting with Archimandrite Kirill: "The prayerful image of the elder-monk, who stood before me at confession, completely changed all my preconceptions about monastic life. On his thin, emaciated face, with hollow cheeks framed by snow-white strands of hair, it was his deep, thoughtful eyes that first drew attention. In them shone a faint, almost imperceptible, yet profoundly endearing smile, healing and comforting the whole heart that it was hard not to weep. His pale face radiated, from the depths of his eyes, a wise meekness, a certain spiritual calmness and clear inner light. This man was spiritually immeasurably higher and purer than anyone I had ever met before."
One day, a young hieromonk approached Father Kirill and said, "Father, I’m worried. How will I hear confessions?" "What is the problem?" the elder asked. "I don’t even know what penance to give for each sin…" The elder gently embraced him and said, "Father, what penance? Cover everything with love. Our people have already suffered so much – they are so unhappy, their souls are distorted. What penance do they need?"
Archimandrite Kirill heard confessions with such love that the monks of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra would say, "For us, the elder is not just a father – he is like a mother." Here is a quote from Father Kirill himself: "Love is the law of the human heart, the law of every moral and rational being. This law unites all living things, all creation, into a single harmony. And if humanity does not submit to this law, it condemns itself to suffering, delusion, and death. Why? Because, by His very nature, God is the God of love and the God of peace."
It is impossible to walk the path of salvation without facing trials that purify the soul. Father Kirill was no exception. At one point, while serving as the Lavra’s treasurer, he was falsely accused by ill-wishers of misusing and appropriating funds. One can only imagine the pain in his impeccably honest heart when faced with such unjust accusations. Yet Father Kirill did not engage in meaningless justifications – he simply placed the keys on the superior’s desk in silence and walked out of the office.
There was another incident. A certain individual, coached by secret service agents, cruelly slandered the chaste elder, offering no evidence for her claims. The press eagerly seized upon the lie. Enduring the disgrace with great humility, Father Kirill never attempted to justify himself, let alone accuse anyone else. He prepared himself for expulsion from the monastery and even imprisonment. However, God did not allow this to happen, and the fabricated KGB case against the elder collapsed.
Father Kirill triumphed simply and quietly, without resistance or violence, just as he had always done in life.
Hieromonk Simon (Bezkrovny) recalls: "Time and again, repenting at confession, I turned to Elder Kirill in tears, begging him to help me rid myself of selfishness, irritability, and resentment towards others – all those things in myself that had become so hateful to me. 'Attain inner peace – this is the first and foremost task,' the elder taught. 'Understand that you must once and for all choose a calm and unwaveringly kind attitude towards everyone, especially towards those who offend us. Wherever you are and whomever you interact with, wish salvation for all, for the Lord Himself desires that all be saved. This is where love begins, this is where the salvation of the soul begins.'"
Dostoevsky once wrote: "There is no greater happiness for a Russian person than to weep upon an elder’s chest." But how does one become an elder? True monks do not immerse themselves in the affairs of the world, for they have left it behind. Yet they never cease to pray for the world, just as they pray for their own salvation. Monks, like spiritual warriors, stand guard over this world, watching over every soul, for they are the light of the world! People come to them seeking the saving lessons of the Gospel’s truth. A monk does not boast of his holiness; he is deeply rooted in humility and meekness. A God-loving and discerning monk, ready to give his life for all of humanity by serving it with his love, becomes an elder.
One day, a man with a hardened gaze appeared at the Lavra, wearing a cassock with a white clerical collar. He had been placed among the monks by the secret services. Many tried to avoid him, while some mocked him. But this soul, which had never known God, could not withstand the healing power of Archimandrite Kirill’s grace-filled words. The elder often prayed for the lost man’s correction, and unexpectedly, he changed. He repented and asked the entire brotherhood for forgiveness. From then on, the former KGB officer attended services daily, observed all church rules, and remained under Father Kirill’s spiritual care until the end of his life.
Every person was important to Archimandrite Kirill. He remembered the names of all who had confessed to him, even just once. Each year, he sent up to 5,000 letters filled with greetings and spiritual guidance.
"One must lead people to God," Father Kirill would say.
The elder never hurried, nor did he ever seem rushed, yet he always managed to be everywhere he was needed. He loved to gift his visitors with small icons and sweets, which were highly treasured as a blessing from their dear spiritual father. It was touching to witness how the workers of the Lavra and the pilgrims greeted Father Kirill as he walked through the courtyard: some smiled joyfully, others shed tears of love, some kissed the hem of his cassock as he passed, while others ran ahead like little children, eager to catch a glimpse of him.
And what an impact the elder’s reading of the Gospel had on all who heard it! Whether he read during a service or in his private prayer rule, it was always an indescribable experience. Father Simon (Bezkrovny) recalls: "Many of the monks who visited the elder during his private prayers would observe closely how he read the Holy Scriptures. With this book, so dear and beloved to him, he was entirely immersed: his whole being was attention, focus, reverence. He lived through every word of the Gospel with his soul. One could say that the entire life of Archimandrite Kirill was centred on one thing – complete immersion in the evangelical Christ-like love."
The Lord granted Father Kirill a long life, wholly dedicated to serving God and His people. The elder entered eternal life on 20 February 2017, at the age of 98. In his final years, he suffered greatly from illness and was bedridden.
Hieromonk Simon writes: "For Father Kirill, illness became the final and highest ascetic struggle of the spirit. His active cross was now behind him, and he had ascended to the height of the contemplative cross. During this time, we saw him so radiant – both in face and in body – that we could not hold back our tears. For all of us who knew and loved him, he remains a true example of holiness – he is deeply Russian, profoundly Orthodox. What is the death of a righteous man? It is when even our tears and mourning at parting with him turn into a wondrous, triumphant hymn in honour of his resurrected soul, shining in the incorruptible light of the Holy Spirit! This is the song of eternal life, which the departed righteous one has attained; this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith, when time shall be no more!"
