Kirill of Kafsokalyvia

Kirill of Kafsokalyvia was a Russian schemamonk, for almost fifty years a hermit in a hut near the skete of Kavsokalyvia on Mount Athos. He reposed on 27 December 1909 and is venerated by the faithful, without a synodal canonization.

It is not known where he was born or how he lived before Athos, and of his life on the Holy Mountain only the memories of Father Denasios (Yushkov), who visited him, have survived. He relates that he knocked many times at the gate of the small yard before the old man, sickly and dressed in a worn fur coat, opened to him. It was a poor hut, with no order around it, but with the book of St Symeon the New Theologian lying open on a shelf. Speaking about sins, Kirill remarked that it is better not to call the passions weaknesses but passions, and when the visitor coughed he gave him his felt boots and his coat. From the few conversations a life of self-⁠denial could be seen, which he concealed. He let only his love for his neighbour show: he taught that we should learn to love as children learn their letters.