A Silent Patriarch Quotes

“According to his closest disciple who served him while patriarch, Fr Raphael Ava Mina, Kyrillos' diet was meager and austere. When he broke his fast around midday—having started the day with psalmody at three in the morning—it would inevitably be with a piece of bread (qorban) and dukkah. With much pleading, he could occasionally be convinced to add a few small spoons of beans. Often Kyrillos would be delayed by meetings and then he would have his breakfast only after three in the afternoon. For lunch, he would usually have some dried bread with a small number of cooked vegetables—but, Fr Raphael recalls, he would never actually eat the vegetables, but only dip his bread in their sauce. Before he slept, he would usually be satisfied with some fruit or bread at most. "I never saw him touch a piece of chicken or meat, or even have a sip of milk." That was during the non-fasting days. In fasting times, especially that of Lent and the Theotokos fast, even though he had been awake since the earliest hours of the morning, he would eat only once later in the evening.

At one point during the fifty days of Resurrection, Kyrillos gave his regular cook a few days of leave, upon which Fr Raphael, who in his own words "did not know how to cook," thought to take care of the kitchen. Each evening he would lay out roasted chicken, a few small pieces of meat, rice, bread and cheese; only to find the chicken and meat untouched, with the bread and cheese eaten. Given the poor refrigeration of the day, each evening would see a new meal largely wasted. "I need to tell you something...I don't think he likes chicken," the disciple recalls telling the cook when he returned. Confused, the cook rebuked Fr Raphael, saying, "He would never eat it like that....You need to cut chicken so fine and mix it with the rice so that he cannot see it!" A man of sixty, physically large and athletic, and yet they had to trick him, lest he eat only bread and cumin.”
― Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch

“The black habit does not save. The one who wears a white habit, the clothing of an ordinary person, and has the spirit of obedience, humility and purity, that one is an untonsured monk, one of interiorized monasticism.”
― Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch: Life and Legacy

“There is nothing of which prayer is incapable . . .” “Let prayer be the mirror by which you see yourself each day; let it be your scale upon which you weigh your heart . . .” —Pope Kyrillos”
― Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch: Life and Legacy

“Be simple, hidden, quiet, and small.” —Fr Thomas Hopko”
― Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch: Life and Legacy

“Thanks, praise, glory, honor, worship, and reverence to our great Redeemer. He is faithful and true to his promises, and always takes care of us. He is the greatest leader; he provides us with full armor, to enable us to stand before the enemies. Without him we can do nothing. We ask for his goodness to crown our struggles with success, and give us strength to complete the course, and at the end receive what he prepared for us, not that we are worthy of it, but only through his grace. Glory be to God forever and ever. Amen.”
― Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch: Life and Legacy

“In 1897, Bishop Morcos of Esna and Luxor (1848–1934) was celebrating the Liturgy at the local church, and after chanting the gospel in Coptic he was unable to locate an Arabic Katameros (daily lectionary). Mikhail, aged fourteen at the time, stood up before the Coptic lectionary and proceeded, in the sight of the visibly shocked bishop, to translate the Gospel “on the fly” from Coptic, chanting it in Arabic. Without the need for further inquiry, the bishop immediately sent the young boy to be admitted directly to the Theological College in Cairo.”
― Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch: Life and Legacy

“There are no bad days and good days, but there are days of prayer and days without prayer.”
—Pope Kyrillos VI”
― Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch

“that I could go to him any time...whenever I felt worn out I ran to him; he was my confession father. He never let one leave depressed, but rather only having hope. [In confession], he would look to the ground and quote sayings of the saints, ingling them with familiar words of wisdom and the Scriptures….He encouraged us to develop our gifts; each according to our strengths, not developing one style and obliterating another, but rather encouraging each person according to his personal inclination. He had a remarkable capacity to encourage….He embraced and uplifted people. We used to go to him burdened and threw everything on him; and he carried us with a smile, peace, and power.

—Abdelmessih Bishara (1923-2000), university study, eventually becoming Bishop Athanasius of Beni Suef”
― Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch

“In our confessions, he was never overbearing with the canon; all his spiritual canons were moderate….He gave freedom; for one he would instruct him in short prayers, “O my Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon me,” for another who liked to pray the agpeya [canonical] prayers he would instruct him to do so. [Fr. Mina] would remove conceit and complexes from a person, by showing him how to live in simplicity. He didn’t overburden people with more than what the Church recommends….He who loved hymns would be with him day and night chanting, he who loved the Holy Bible would study it day and night, he who loved psalmody would praise day and night he encouraged those who loved to serve…supporting them with supplies and money. He used to give us money for the Sunday school service and for the area of Old Cairo…

—Abdelmessih Bishara (1923-2000), university study, eventually becoming Bishop Athanasius of Beni Suef, speaking on Fr. Kyrillos”
― Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch

“…he shut all the doors of the world within himself—the desires and the needs—he gave up everything…he neglected the bodily needs so that they no longer had any authority over him. After he had tasted, participated, and lived with Christ…what need did he have for anything else?”
― Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch

“When asked to bless the lavish and opulent banquet set before him he struggled to hide his distress and whispered to one of his disciples, "My son...is that the food of monks?" Without causing a scene he quietly dispatched the same disciple to source some falafel and salad, to the awe and confusion of onlookers. It is little wonder that his brother, Hanna, ended his memoirs with the words: "Becoming pope did not change him.”
― Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch

“Whenever he entered during those five years, the disciple observed, Kyrillos would always, without exception, be found sleeping on his side with his legs stretched perfectly straight. Evidently, the years in the windmill and at St Menas' in Old Cairo must have been spent sleeping on a hard, narrow pew to give this unusual posture without bent knee.”
― Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch

“This exceedingly simple outer life reflected a far more severe inner life. It was well known that Kyrillos slept little. But just how little is for the most part unknown. Each day he would awake at three in the morning for psalmody and Liturgy that would finish some five hours later. The entire day, until late, would be spent in meetings and visits, only to be interrupted by "his work" of Vespers at six in the evening. Most nights he would retire to his patriarchal cell just before midnight. This would allow for three to four hours of sleep at most. Yet even this is called into question. An examination of his letters (unpublished and thus unknown until now) reveals that if a time of writing as specific, then it was consistently between the hours of one to two in the morning. Even the few hours of sleep, it appears, would be regularly sacrificed.”
― Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch

“Those who knew him well claim they knew him not at all.”
― Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch

“...that provoked criticism, from elders, bishops, priests, and foreigners...[was that they said], "we wanted a patriarch, and not a chanter...What is this, all day and night in psalmody, prayers, Matins, Vespers, Liturgy...and you just leave the Church the way it is?...the Church needs reform, healing, it needs one to go on its behalf to the government and President, one who can understand these issues and bring results for the Copts...." So arose the tide of criticism against him because of this one thing: prayer.”
― Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch

“Even those closest to him became frustrated—whenever they approached him with a concern, they were inevitably told to simply pray. On one occasion a group of priests from Alexandria visited Kyrillos with a "major" problem. On their way, still some distance off, one "who talked a lot but had a pure heart," moaned, "What's the point?...He will just tell us to pray.”
― Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch

“Kyrillos on one occasion casually approached the lions. Both he and the lions gently accepted the presence of the other. "Why be astonished?" the emperor is remembered as commenting to shocked onlookers, "He is a holy man.”
― Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch

“Whenever a president visits, my father [Nasser] farewells them at the guests' rooms door; but with Kyrillos, he farewells him at the car door and remains there standing until the car leaves.”
― Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch