Kirill Pavlov

Archimandrite Kirill (Cyril) Pavlov (in the world Ivan Dmitrievich, 1919-2017) was the confessor of the Trinity Lavra of Saint Sergius and the spiritual father of three patriarchs of Russia. He is venerated by the faithful as a spiritual elder, without synodal canonization.

He was born on 8 October 1919 in the village of Makovskie Vyselki, in the Ryazan province, into a devout peasant family. From the age of twelve he lived with an unbelieving brother and, under the influence of his surroundings, drifted from the faith. He graduated from an industrial technical school and worked as a technologist at a metallurgical works in Katav-⁠Ivanovsk. Called up in 1939, he served in the Far East and then fought in the war as a lieutenant, commanding a platoon at Stalingrad, fighting near Lake Balaton in Hungary in a self-⁠propelled gun regiment, and ending the war in Austria. He was demobilised in 1946.

At Stalingrad, in April 1943, keeping watch among the ruins, he found a Gospel in the rubble of a house, and there he returned to the faith. After the war he enrolled at the seminary in Moscow, which had been opened at Novodevichy Convent, and then at the Theological Academy, from which he graduated in 1954. On 25 August 1954 he was tonsured a monk at the Trinity Lavra of Saint Sergius. At first he was sacristan; from 1965 he was confessor to the brotherhood and from 1970 treasurer of the Lavra. He was raised to the rank of archimandrite.

He was the confessor of Patriarch Alexy II and for that reason moved to Peredelkino, where the patriarchal residence stands, without ceasing to guide the monks of the Lavra. According to some authors he was also the confessor of Patriarchs Alexy I and Pimen, which is why he was called "the confessor of all Russia". He received the orders of Saint Sergius of Radonezh and of Saint Prince Vladimir. He wrote sermons and instructions, guided young monks tonsured at the Lavra, and sent each year, by report, up to five thousand letters of greeting and counsel to bishops, priests, laity and spiritual children. He urged the keeping of love, peace and unity, and avoided sharp public statements that might bring division into the Church.

On 4 December 2003 he suffered a stroke that took away his ability to move and to communicate with the world. He reposed in the Lord on the evening of 20 February 2017, in the patriarchal residence at Peredelkino, and was buried at the Trinity Lavra. In 2012 a book appeared with the recollections of those who met him.