Cyril of Astrakhan

Holy Venerable Cyril of Astrakhan was an archimandrite of the Holy Trinity monastery in Astrakhan. In 1568 he was sent by the abbot to a newly founded monastery. The venerable one built churches in the monastery in honour of the Most Holy Trinity, the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple, and Saint Nicholas the Hierarch.

He laboured zealously for the enlightenment of the Astrakhan region and by his meekness and piety won the respect even of Muslims, who called him Kara-⁠Daud, "Black David", to distinguish him from the holy prophet and king David.

He reposed in the Lord around the year 1576. The saint's icon was painted in 1676, in fulfilment of a vow of Yemelyan Parfentiev, whom Venerable Cyril had saved when he was drowning in the Volga. His life was composed in 1790, and a troparion and a kontakion to him are also known.

The saint is commemorated on 31 March, in the new style, and on 24 May, with the Synaxis of the Saints of the Astrakhan Metropolis. His name is not in the present calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church.