Venerable Cyril of Beloozero (White Lake)

St. Cyril of Beloozero (Kirill Belozersky), born Kozma in Moscow in 1337, was orphaned early and raised by his relative, the boyar Timofei Velyaminov, in whose household he served as treasurer. Longing for monastic life, he entered the Simonov Monastery in Moscow, tonsured under Archimandrite Theodore. Renowned for strict asceticism and humility, Cyril was appointed archimandrite of Simonov in 1388 but soon withdrew from administration to pursue solitude. Following a vision of the Mother of God, he journeyed north with the monk Therapon and in 1397 founded a monastery dedicated to the Dormition on the shore of Lake Siverskoye near Beloozero — the future Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, which became one of medieval Russia's most important spiritual centers, later a place of exile for deposed tsars and patriarchs. He reposed on June 9, 1427, aged ninety, and was glorified at the Moscow Council of 1547.