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'Pope St Kyrillos VI
of Alexandria:
Intercessor of Students'
By Andrew Youssef
16/11/09 Content:
1. Multimedia Presentation
2. Pope Kyrillos VI: Intercessor of Students
3. A Few Accounts of Pope Kyrillos' Miracles for Students
The late and saintly Pope Kyrillos VI, Patriarch of Alexandria, developed, and continues to maintain even after his departure, a legacy—amongst many others—of being a friend and intercessor of students. A student at the time of the Saint’s papacy, reflecting on his and his peers’ experience with the Pope, wrote affectionately to the departed Saint:
My saintly father…you were distinguished by many…strong and lively virtues…amongst which was your profound love for the common congregant. This fact is well-known; but allow me, father, to make particular mention of that unique love that you shared for your children, the students, who had a special place in your heart…Oh father, how it pleased you to have us surround you with all of our books and notes. How often we interrupted your daily papal affairs to seek your help, yet you always remained patient with us. How often we insisted that you guide us, and how you would always pray for us with compassion. Oh father, who sought your prayers and was not helped by power from above? Who cried unto you and did not find you by his side? …When all doors were shut in the faces of some, you opened them with the trust of hope. Truly did you have a special affection flowing for us from within your heart. Even after your departure you continue to demonstrate your unique love in this regard, for you remain, even now, the helper and supporter of students. This is not my belief and experience alone, but that of thousands upon thousands who experience your countless miracles which continue to echo the fact that you are truly the intercessor, shepherd, friend and beloved of students.
The scene of students rushing to the Saint with textbooks piled under their arms, seeking his general blessings and prayers and the benefits of his remarkable clairvoyant ability to mark those pages and chapters pertinent to the exams for which they were preparing, was commonplace in the Patriarch’s time. It is noteworthy to recall the very reason why such a scene was even possible in the first place, let alone in the ordinary course of things.
How could a man of the demanding position of Patriarch of an entire autocephalous church of hundreds of millions of faithful, and thousands upon thousands of clergy, have the time or energy to entertain the educational concerns of students? The answer is, quite simply, love—which knows not, and transcends, the constraints and pressures of time and duty. It is a popularly known fact that the Saint was the first Pope in history to activate an “open-door policy” whereby everyone and anyone was welcome to approach the door of his papal residence directly, without reservation, and at any time. A disciple of the Saint befittingly termed this an “open-heart policy”.
Pope Kyrillos’ affectionate service to students began well before his papacy, when he was still a hieromonk by the name of Fr. Mina at the church he built in Old Cairo in the name of his patron Saint. His saintly character had attracted numerous students to him, many of whom had come from outside of Cairo for the purpose of their studies. To cater to the needs of these travelling students, he began what came to be known as the very first ever Church-affiliated dormitory, from which sprang many of today’s renowned Church leaders, including his successor, the present Patriarch of Alexandria, His Holiness Pope Shenouda III.
Though having naturally acquired the dignity and respect of master and teacher amongst the students, the saintly Patriarch never conceived of himself, nor acted, in such a capacity but rather dealt with the students as their servant. At the time when he was but Fr. Mina, the saintly Pope served the dormitory, the creation of which he was responsible for, not by authoritatively exerting control and enforcing a regimented system of rules, but rather by humbly cleaning it and its restrooms in particular. He did this in his spare time, in the dark, refusing to allow anyone else to endure the humiliation of such a service. By denying the honour of a teacher and submitting to the dishonour of a voluntary janitor, he earned the true honour of a true teacher.
Although Patriarch of the esteemed Church which introduced to the world the first and world-renowned Catechetical School—the School of Alexandria—Pope Kyrillos VI denied himself even the dignity of the great teacher of faith that he was. Being nevertheless pastorally concerned for the spiritual education of his congregation, he disavowed the role of teacher only to entrust it to one who has remarkably contributed to the Church's present system of education—His Holiness Pope Shenouda III. When electing the present Patriarch to the position of General Bishop of Education, he said to him, “You educate the people; I will pray for them”.
Indeed, it was through and because of his profound life of prayer which the saintly Pope was able to maintain consistently from his previous life as a solitary desert monk to his life as Patriarch amidst the urban capital of Egypt, that he became a teacher and theologian par excellence, as per the maxim of St Evagrius of Pontus: “A theologian is one who prays, and one who prays is a theologian.”
The Saintly Pope would by no means have been considered well-educated—even in a “theological” sense—by worldly standards. When asked by an interviewer of Al-Ahram Daily Newspaper what he thought of the philosophy of 'Existentialism', the Pope’s response was simply, “I have not so much as heard of the term.” When asked what type of non-religious reading he liked to engage in, the Pope responded, “Monasticism and seclusion provide a unique philosophy of life; a philosophy that seeks that alone which binds man to God.” The only question on reading and education that permitted the Saintly Pope a straightforward and positive response was that concerned with his favourite spiritual reading, to which he unhesitatingly appealed to the works of St Isaac the Syrian.
Pope Kyrillos VI is quoted by a disciple of his to have once profoundly stated:
When I was young I prayed for wisdom and love; but growing up, I learned to pray for the Wisdom of Jesus our Lord and the Love of the Crucified Jesus, our King and Saviour.
Shaped by the philosophy, not of books of academia, but of the ascetic life, and nurtured by that wisdom which is foolishness to the world, the Saintly Pope became one of the greatest teachers and theologians of our times. In drawing all students to himself, and lovingly addressing their educational concerns through pastoral tenderness, lowly servitude, and miraculous feats, Pope St Kyrillos was naturally embedded in the students’ hearts and minds as teacher par excellence, thereby inspiring a natural tendency to imitate his divine ways of life and thinking. It is no wonder that many of those who sought his assistance at times in their life with their minds set on being doctors, pharmacists, engineers, lawyers etc. ultimately renounced the positions they worked so hard to earn for consecrated lives of complete service to the Lord.
A Few Accounts of the Miracles Performed by Pope Kyrillos VI on Behalf of Students:
Account 1:
A certain priest related that when the Pope would open the students’ textbooks to mark out those pages that would be relevant to their examinations, he would mark 2-3 pages on average. On one occasion, however, he opened a Commerce student’s textbook and tagged more than 12 pages. This perplexed the student, as it was ordinarily expected that the exam would be based on but a few questions each requiring hour-long answers. The student left confused by the Pope’s actions, as he did not believe it possible on account of time for the exam to be concerned with so many issues. Upon sitting the exam and receiving the question paper, however, he finally was able to make sense of the Pope’s response. The examiners had made a sudden and unexpected change to the question settings, adopting the “American style” multiple-choice format. How could the Pope have possibly known this?
Account 2:
Mr Faroul Fahmi Yousif of Tanta relates: “In my third year of law, Dr. Hassan Kierra taught Labour Law and he was renowned for setting difficult exams. He was known to say, “a pass from me is a distinction from others” which implied that a pass would count as a fail to him. He would make all the students anxious by such words. As Pope Kyrillos was usually in Alexandria around that time, I used to go to receive his blessings before and after my exams. On the day of this subject’s exams, I received the Pope’s blessings then went to sit my exam. The exam consisted of three questions, the first two of which I was able to answer completely, and the last of which I was only able to answer half of. I was very convinced given what was popular knowledge of the time in regard to how my professor treated incomplete answers, that he would disallow my partial answer and only regard my answers to the first two questions. I thus regarded myself as having answered only two questions, and, on my way to the patriarchate, kept repeating to myself, “It’s impossible that I should pass having only answered two questions” to the point that I had completely forgotten all about my partial answer to the third question. When I saw the Patriarch, I was discouraged and told him that I muddled the day’s exam. “No, you did well!” proclaimed the Patriarch. Thinking that he was simply being politely optimistic, I insisted, “No, I only answered two questions, and it is impossible that my professor will pass me on the basis of answering only two questions.” In full confidence, Pope Kyrillos rebutted, “No, you answered two and a half questions. God-willing, you shall pass with a Credit. The professor will be so pleased with your answers to the first two questions and, realising that you are a hard-worker, will not deny you a pass.” I was amazed that though it was I who had taken the exam, I had momentarily forgotten exactly how many questions I had answered, and yet this Saint was able to know precisely what had happened and what was to come.
Account 3:
A certain Mrs F.G.G. relates: “One of my colleagues at work, a non-Christian, was weeping and complaining that her step-son had decided to drop out of school and skip his graduation exams. He was not eating nor sleeping, and was suffering from anxiety and insomnia. He was examined by several specialists, including psychologists and internists, but they could not diagnose him or suggest any treatment. The graduation exams were a month away, and she had asked me to pray for him at church. Without even thinking, I found myself pulling out of my purse a medallion with Pope Kyrillos’ picture. I told her to place the medallion under her son’s pillow.
After a short time, this colleague of mine told me that her younger daughter witnessed a man dressed in black, wearing a turban and carrying a stick, walk into her step-brother’s room. Shortly thereafter, the boy began to study, harder than ever before. He managed to cover a significant portion of his courses in such a short period of time, and everytime he went to bed to take a break, he felt as if someone was pushing him out of bed to continue studying… When it came to exam time, my colleague informed me that whatever topics her son had focused on in the evening, he found to be the subject of examination the next morning. When the results came, he scored 80%. As soon as my colleague found out, she broke down in tears of happiness and gratitude to the great saint of God.
May the prayers of Pope St Kyrillos VI be with us all, and glory be to the Holy Trinity, forever. Amen. |
