Memorial Day of Saints Athanasius and Cyril, Archbishops of Alexandria

On January 31, the Holy Church celebrates the Day of Saints Athanasius and Cyril, Archbishops of Alexandria Saint Athanasius was born in the third century AD in the Egyptian city of Alexandria and in his youth witnessed the terrible persecution of Christians by the Emperor Diocletian After the end of the persecution, the future saint received an excellent education in his hometown, because Alexandria was rightfully considered the center of learning It was here, along with ancient sciences, that Christian literature began to be studied During that period, a new teaching appeared in Alexandria, undermining the foundations of the Christian faith The priest Arius, a man of great learning, argued in his sermons that Jesus Christ is not god, but only a man Many believed his convincing evidence, and Deacon Athanasius had to convince the false teacher, pointing out his errors But Arius persisted and even called some church ministers to his side Athanasius was forced to convene a church council, which condemned the teachings of Arius as heresy During the period of struggle against Arianism, the saint wrote his great work “On the Incarnation of the Word,” where he connected the pressing problems of the church with the teachings of the apostles After these events, Athanasius becomes a bishop, despite being too young But the Arians found support at court, and supporters of the heretical teaching managed to convince the basileus of Arius’ repentance After the heretical priest returned from exile, confusion began in the Christian church, and Athanasius became the object of slander and slander For 10 years, the bishop's name was involved in many scandals, which displeased the emperor As a result, out of 50 years of episcopate, Athanasius spent about 12 years in exile, but the people always defended their beloved archpastor Saint Cyril lived in the first half of the 5th century After receiving an excellent education, Kirill retired to a monastery, where he spent six ascetic years After returning to Alexandria, Cyril was ordained deacon and then elevated to archbishop Having become the head of the Alexandrian church, the bishop was faced with injustices committed by some priests Novocian and his followers preached that those who stumbled could not return to the fold of the Christian faith Kirill condemned this position, saying that one can retreat even under torture, which means that those who repent must be forgiven Later, the heresy of the monk Nestorius spreads, and the foundations of the Orthodox faith again risk being undermined The assembly in Ephesus condemned Nestorius, but the monk continued to persist Slander flew towards Bishop Kirill, and the slander was followed by arrest After the truth was restored, Cyril returned to the leadership of the department, which he ruled until his peaceful death in 444 Folk omens associated the day of remembrance of the saints with particularly severe frosts It was believed that on the last day of January it was possible to fight evil spirits, for which amulets were made By weather phenomena one could find out what year it would be: - blizzard in late spring; - thaw for a stormy summer; - circling ravens to severe frosts; - clear sunset to long, prolonged frosts; - circles around the day and night luminaries mean a very strong cold snap