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.”
A Silent Patriarch: Kyrillos VI (1902–1971)
Fr. Daniel Fanous