There is not much information on Metropolitan Cyril and his deeds. In 1566, Cyril was appointed archmandrite at the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra. On November 11, 1568, he was elected metropolitan in favor of the recently deposed Metropolitan Philip. During Cyril's term, Ivan the Terrible's fierceness reached its climax. In 1571, a Crimean Khan Devlet I Giray attacked Moscow and ravaged the city. Metropolitan Cyril had to hide in the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Moscow Kremlin to avoid death. It was Cyril who had asked Ivan IV not to execute Ivan Mstislavsky, accused of bringing the Tatars to the capital.