Today, let all the faithful come together and praise the holy and righteous couple, Kirill and Maria. Together with their beloved son, Venerable Sergius, they pray before God in the Holy Trinity: to strengthen our homeland in true faith; to guard our homes in peace; to free our youth from troubles and temptations; to strengthen old age; and to save our souls.
(Kontakion, Tone 4)
Among Russia's many saints, two humble figures shine quietly and gently: Saints Kirill and Maria, parents of Venerable Sergius of Radonezh. For seven centuries now, God's people have honoured them deeply. Through their life pleasing to God, they showed what Christian goodness means — a pure marriage, raising children with faith and good sense. And with great humility, they turned to the monastic path as the crowning step of the Christian calling.
How quiet and hidden from the world is the work of an honourable marriage! Just two people, husband and wife, who love one another and pray side by side before their household icons... What difference can this make? How could this serve others, our country, or even all mankind?
And yet, from these pure springs burst mighty rivers, full and strong, bringing renewal and holiness to the world. Little has come down to us about the lives of this blessed couple. Yet, with Metropolitan Platon (Levshin), we can say: "The fruit they bore shows better than any fine words the goodness of the blessed tree. Happy are those parents whose names live forever through their children and descendants! Happy, too, are the children who not only avoid bringing shame, but also increase and lift up the honour and dignity of their parents and noble ancestors — for true nobility lies in virtue!"
We do know that this holy couple were high-born boyars. Their estate lay near Rostov the Great, by the banks of the Ishnya River. Venerable Kirill first served Prince Konstantin II Borisovich of Rostov, and later Konstantin Vasilyevich. As a trusted adviser, Kirill often travelled with his lord to the Golden Horde. Although Kirill had wealth fitting his high rank, he lived simply, following the customs of his day. He spent much time in the countryside and did not overlook honest labour on the land.
Venerable Epiphanius the Wise, who wrote the first Life of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, tells us that Kirill and Maria were noble, faithful, and upright — “servants of God, righteous before God and men, filled with all virtues and adorned by them.” They carefully observed all church rules and loved God's house and prayer. Above all, they delighted in acts of kindness: helping those in need, welcoming travellers, and giving freely to the poor. These were the virtues they passed on to their children.
Rostov the Great is where Saint Sergius was born; here stood the estate of his parents, the boyars Kirill and Maria
The honourable marriage of Kirill and Maria, as described by Metropolitan Vladimir (Ikim), is “a Christian feat. Through trials of daily work and long separations, through wealth and poverty, honour and shame, youthful desires and old age's weakness, righteous Kirill and Maria nurtured their mutual love in purity, sealed by devotion to God. They kept their hearts from growing cold with passing years, from worldly emptiness, from pride in times of plenty or despair in hardship. Always they stayed faithful — to each other and to God — and showed compassion to all around them. The bond between these holy spouses bore fruit most clearly in how they raised their children — in righteousness and faith, preparing their souls for the Kingdom of God."
The couple already had a son named Stefan when God blessed them again with another child — the future founder of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, Venerable Sergius.
Even before his birth, God's providence revealed a sign that this child would be especially favoured by the Lord. The Life of Venerable Sergius tells us that, during the Divine Liturgy, righteous Maria and those praying with her heard the unborn infant cry out three times: first before the reading of the Gospel, again during the Cherubic Hymn, and finally after the priest proclaimed, "Holy things for the holy." Kirill and Maria felt deeply touched by God's mercy. Their sincere faith moved them to show thanks to God by making a solemn vow. Like Saint Anna, mother of the prophet Samuel, righteous Maria and her husband pledged to dedicate their child to God, the Giver of all good things.
After this promise, Maria took even greater care with her spiritual life, knowing she carried a child set apart to be a vessel for the Holy Spirit. She kept away from anything unclean or impure, observing strict fasts. Often, she prayed alone in silence, her tears flowing as she prayed that God would keep both her and her child safe.
Places where Venerable Kirill and Maria of Radonezh performed their life's exploits
On 16 May 1314 (or 3 May, by the old calendar), a great joy came to the devout couple: they welcomed their son into the world. Forty days later, the baby was baptised and given the name Bartholomew, meaning ‘son of joy’ or ‘son of comfort’, because his baptism fell on 24 June, the feast day of the Apostle Bartholomew. Father Mikhail sensed something special about this child. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, he foretold: "Rejoice and be glad, for this child will be a chosen vessel of God, a dwelling-place and servant of the Holy Trinity."
The parents soon noticed remarkable signs in their infant's behaviour. From the very start, he amazed them all with his fasting. He refused his mother's milk on Wednesdays and Fridays. On other days, he would not feed if Maria had eaten meat. It was as if the child, having fasted in the womb, was now asking his mother to do the same. Maria willingly accepted this discipline and stopped eating meat altogether. From then on, except for Wednesdays and Fridays, the child took her milk without difficulty.
As Bartholomew grew older, he kept to his strict fasts. He took no food on Wednesdays and Fridays and ate only plain fare on other days. Maria worried that such strictness might harm her son. She gently urged him to ease his fasts, but Bartholomew asked her not to dissuade him from his way. Seeing her son's resolve, his faithful mother let him follow the path he had chosen.
It was not only God who saw the goodness in Kirill and Maria’s lives. They were dutiful in following the ways of the Church and helped the poor and the sick. Above all, they lived by the Apostle Paul’s command: "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels" (Hebrews 13:2). They taught their children the same, always telling them never to miss a chance to welcome a travelling monk or any weary stranger into their home.
Moving from Rostov to Radonezh — a detail from the hagiographical icon of Saints Kirill and Maria of Radonezh
So it was that, from the cradle to his adult years, the future abbot of the Russian land breathed the pure air of holiness. His parents' love and faith lifted his spirit, ready to soar to heavenly heights.
Those were hard times. The Mongol-Tatar raids and harsh famine reduced Kirill, once a nobleman in Rostov, to poverty. The headstrong Moscow governors who ruled Rostov may have ordered him to leave. Whatever the reason, around 1328 the devout family moved from the principality of Rostov to that of Moscow, settling in the town of Radonezh. Custom dictated that Kirill should be given an estate, but he was too old to serve the Moscow prince. Instead, his eldest son Stefan took on this duty, already married by then. Kirill and Maria's younger son Peter also married, while Bartholomew continued his ascetic ways in Radonezh. When he reached about twenty, he asked his parents' blessing to enter monastic life. Kirill and Maria did not object, but asked him to wait until after their deaths. Their two older sons were married and living apart; without Bartholomew, they would have no one left to care for them. Their loving son obeyed and did everything possible to comfort his ageing parents, who never pressed him towards marriage.
The Intercession Convent in the 17th century (model). Museum of the Khotkovo Intercession Monastery
Before his death, believed by church historians to have occurred in 1337, Kirill and his wife, Maria, both embraced monastic life at the Intercession Monastery in Khotkovo, about three versts from Radonezh. Many Russians followed this practice.
Their eldest son had already entered monastic life there as Stefan, after his wife Anna died. She, too, lies buried at Khotkovo. Both monks and nuns lived in this monastery, under the spiritual guidance of the priest of the Intercession Church. In the fourteenth century, the church stood slightly apart with its graveyard and clergy house nearby, while simple wooden cells for monks and nuns occupied the lower southern end of the Khotkovo hill.
In their later years, people from every walk of life in old Russia, from commoners to princes and boyars, often took monastic vows. Locals from the Radonezh volost founded the Intercession Monastery at Khotkovo. That the loved ones of Saint Sergius chose such a humble “peasant” community for their vows spoke of providence and revealed their humility and plain way of life.
The monastic tonsure of Saints Kirill and Maria of Radonezh, detail from a life icon of the saints, Intercession Khotkovo Monastery
Now schema-monks, but frail with illness and old age, the noble couple did not remain long in their new calling. In 1337 they peacefully departed to the Lord, having first given Bartholomew their blessing for his monastic path. Their children laid them to rest beneath the sheltering walls of the Intercession Convent. Thereafter, it became the family’s burial place.
In the Life of Venerable Sergius we read: "The Lord, Who willed that such a light should shine on the Russian land, did not allow that this devout branch should spring from an irreverent root, and granted him worthy parents, adorning them with every virtue, so that the praise of both the one born and those who bore him might be mutually increased to the glory of God."
Believers have always strongly felt the spiritual bond between Saint Sergius and his holy, humble parents — the schema-monks. Tradition tells us that before visiting Saint Sergius himself, he instructed people to pray at his parents' grave for their peace. And so, a custom grew. Pilgrims on their way to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra would first stop at Khotkovo. They wished "to venerate the grave of his righteous parents, so as to appear before the gracious son from the dear grave as if with a blessing from the righteous parents themselves." Tradition also says that Saint Sergius himself often left his woodland hermitage to visit the resting place of Kirill and Maria.
Veneration of Schema-monk Kirill and Schema-nun Maria began soon after their son’s passing. Church tradition offers many accounts of their holiness dating to the sixteenth century and before. Even in the Illustrated Life of Saint Sergius, his parents are shown with halos. Their relics have always remained in the Intercession Cathedral at Khotkovo Monastery, even through countless rebuildings.
At the tomb of Saints Kirill and Maria, monks and laypeople read the Psalter and held memorial services without ceasing. The chronicles of the Intercession Convent record many miracles and healings from serious illness through prayers to Kirill and Maria of Radonezh. In the 1770s, prayers at their tomb halted a plague that ravaged Russia; in the eighteenth century, their intervention twice ended outbreaks of cholera.
In the nineteenth century, reverence for Venerable Kirill and Maria grew widely across Russia, as the calendars of that time show.
The Khotkovo Intercession Monastery still keeps an icon of the family. In this image, the Most Holy Theotokos blesses the tomb of Kirill and Maria, as well as those standing nearby: Venerable Sergius of Radonezh, Venerable Stefan with his wife Anna, and Peter with his wife Catherine. Each member of this holy family enhances and enlightens the others, so that a single, holy light seems to shine from them all.
Icon of the holy family: Venerable Stefan, Sergius, their brother Peter, and Saint Theodor of Rostov at the tomb of Venerable Kirill and Maria
In the twentieth century, our Orthodox land entered a time of revolutionary upheaval, tearing apart a way of life centuries in the making. Russian monasteries stood as living witnesses to the deep sorrow that overtook our homeland in those painful years. The troubles did not spare the Intercession Monastery at Khotkovo, which had by then become a convent. In 1922, the monastery closed, though church services continued. The nuns were given only a poorhouse to live in, far too small to shelter all. Many of the sisters sought refuge in the nearby villages. Soon the monastery became a cooperative workshop. The sisters — skilled workers and gifted artisans — made embroidered scarves, towels and quilts for sale. From leftover cloth they created toys, decorated with coloured foil, twisted wire threads and embroidered crosses. Now and then, the nuns would travel to the local villages with baskets of toy balls for sale.
“The Khotkovo convent was renowned for its skill in sewn toys and fine gold and silk embroidery” (B.V. Shergin, diaries)
Throughout the Khotkovo area, the convent’s toys were well known. Klavdiya Yegorovna Andreyeva of Mutovka village recalled: “Even now I see those nuns in black habits crossing the green fields toward us, baskets in hand. Inside were toys — hares, squirrels — but mostly balls. They sold them in our village. When our parents bought one, you tossed it in the air, and it rattled. You would leap with joy, hardly able to believe your luck!”
In 1928, everyone remaining in the convent was forced out. Many of the sisters were sentenced to labour camps. In 1931, Mother Varsanophia, the abbess, was arrested — she never survived the harsh journey and died en route to Kazakhstan. Even then, however, faithful souls still came to the ruined convent seeking the help and prayers of Venerable Kirill and Maria, whose relics had been hidden earlier near the Intercession church.
Pilgrims at the resting place of Saints Kirill and Maria during the Soviet years, before the monastery was reopened
In 1989, the Intercession Cathedral was returned to the care of the Russian Orthodox Church. From that moment, the monastery began to rise again — it now has stavropegial status, declaring to the world that the Russian Church lives on.
The holy struggle and patience of Venerable Kirill and Maria shine brightly. This saintly couple stood as a spiritual root from which grew beautiful and pleasing fruits for our land and all people — foremost among them, their remarkable son, Venerable Sergius, a great comfort and perpetual intercessor for us all. Today, ever greater numbers of pilgrims, leaving behind worldly cares, come to his parents to touch something of eternity, to find comfort, and to ask the venerable saints for help and strength. For Orthodox believers living in the world, building a faithful Christian home is their greatest act of devotion. Even after their repose, Kirill and Maria stand prayerfully before God's throne, watching over the families of the faithful and supporting the bonds of Christian marriage. For monks and nuns, the humble prayers and quiet self-denial of schema-monks Kirill and Maria reveal the very heart of monastic life.
In 1992, six hundred years after Venerable Sergius died, the Church glorified Venerable Kirill and Maria. Their canonisation was held on 3 April, capping six centuries of honour for Sergius’s parents and their saintly example. Today, their relics — the chief treasure of the Khotkovo monastery — rest in the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, as they did in times past.
Professor Archimandrite Matfey (Mormyl) of the Moscow Theological Academy wrote: "Many infants found healing at the tomb of Venerable Kirill and Maria in the Intercession Monastery when their parents prayed to these saints." The prayers of Venerable Sergius's parents continue to work wonders; to this day, miracles are granted through prayer at their relics.
Relics of Venerable Kirill and Maria of Radonezh in the Intercession Cathedral of the Khotkovo Monastery
Venerable Kirill and Maria are remembered on 31 January, 11 October, and 19 July as part of the Assembly of the Saints of Radonezh, as well as on the Thursday of the Week of the Publican and the Pharisee.
Let us commemorate with grateful hearts the righteous parents of the abbot of Russia, turning to them with burning faith, hope, and prayer: "Pray earnestly to the Lord to send us a spirit of love and humility, so that in peace and unity we may glorify the Consubstantial Trinity."
Come, faithful, let us joyfully praise the Venerable Kirill and Maria. With love, let us honour their precious relics and cry out: Rejoice, blessed ones, who lived in devotion to God, showing mercy to your neighbours, serving as an example of honest marriage and loving care for your children, who gained humility and dwelt in fasting. Now, standing before the Most Holy Trinity, by your prayers, holy ones, protect our homeland from its enemies, heal the sick, and deliver all who remember you in faith from every temptation.
(Sedalen, Tone 2)
Prepared by the editorial team of obitel-minsk.ru
Photographs from the Internet
Sources:
1. On the Sacrament of Marriage. Sermon for the Day of Commemoration of Venerables Kirill and Maria of Radonezh — Orthodox Sermons / Azbuka.ru
2. Metropolitan Vladimir (Ikim). Orthodox Marriage. Siberian Blagozvonnitsa, 2015
3. Parents of Venerable Sergius / Pravoslavie.ru
4. Khotkovo Intercession Stavropegial Convent / Organisations / Patriarchia.ru
5. Righteous Kirill and Maria, who revealed Venerable Sergius to us / Pravoslavie.ru
6. Service to Venerables Kirill and Maria, parents of Sergius of Radonezh / Khotkovo.net.ru
7. Khotkovo Intercession Monastery — Articles — Church-Scientific Centre “Orthodox Encyclopaedia” / Sedmitsa.ru
8. Khotkovo Intercession Monastery: dmitry_sasin — LiveJournal
