Cyril Of Alexandria

:''For other uses, see Cyril .''
Cyril I ( 376 – June 27 , 444 ), surnamed '''The Pillar of Faith''', was Patriarch Of Alexandria . He is revered as a Saint by the Roman Catholic Church , the Oriental Orthodox Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church . In 1883 the Holy See declared him a Doctor Of The Church .

Introduction

In the year 412, after the departure of Abba Theophilus, his nephew,
Abba Cyril the First, the 24th Pope of the See of Saint Mark, succeeded
him. He received various descriptive titles of honor such as ``the
Daring Lion,'' ``the Burnished Lamp,'' ``the Second Athanasius,'' and
more specifically ``the Pillar of the Faith.'' He was 36 years old when
he was unanimously elected to take the helm of his Church. Throughout
his life he made it a rule never to advance any doctrine which he had
not learnt from the ancient fathers.

His Enthronement

As a lad, Cyril was sent to the monastery of Saint Macari, where he
assimilated the wisdom of the desert Fathers. After having acquired all
the education the desert could give, he returned to Alexandria where he
was ordained a priest and then a Pope.

He began to exert his authority by causing the churches of the Novatians
to be closed and their sacred vessels to be seized. He next drove out
the Jews, who were numerous and who had enjoyed privileges in the city
since the time of Alexander the Great. Their generally seditious
attitude and the several acts of violence committed by them decided him
to take this step, which incensed Orestes the governor, although it was
approved by the Emperor.

His Christian Zeal

--
As soon as he was consecrated Pope of Alexandria, he dedicated all his
power to defend the Church against the apostasies of Emperor Julian and
the rise of the Nestorian heresy. Abba Cyril directly set himself to
refute them in terms that were clear, strong and convincing.

In the year 428 Nestorius, a priest-monk of Antioch, was made archbishop
of Constantinople; and he there taught with some of his clergy that
there were two distinct persons in Christ. According to the Nestorian
concept, Christ was two separate persons, the one divine and beyond the
reach of human frailty, and the other human and susceptible to all the
fragility of the flesh. The divine Christ could neither suffer or die,
and therefore, on the Cross it was the human Christ alone who suffered
and died apart from the divine Christ. Nestorius had spoken out against
calling the blessed Virgin Mary the ``Theotokos'' or ``Mother-of-God.''

Abba Cyril strongly contested these views expounding the Orthodox
doctrine of the indivisible union of the divine and human natures of
Christ, and arguing that if Jesus Christ is God, it follows that his
mother is the ``Mother-of-God'' who bore Him forever. This is what the
Apostles taught us and the doctrine of our Fathers. And just as the
human mother, has no share in creating the soul of her child, yet is
considered the mother of the whole person, and not merely the mother of
his physical nature; so it is with Mary who is the Mother of Christ in
His entirety.

Saint Cyril wrote letters to Nestorius urging him to stop promoting an
idea which is equivalent to blasphemy, but the later obstinately refused
to be convinced that he had fallen into a heretic way of thinking. A
situation developed that was somewhat similar to that which had
developed between Saint Athanasius and Arius. Saint Cyril was as full of
faith and fiery zeal in his tenacious stand against Nestorius as Saint
Athanasius had been against Arius. Just as Saint Athanasius had saved
the Faith concerning the Logos in the Nicene Creed, so did Saint Cyril
in defending the Theotokos maintaining the Orthodox Doctrine concerning
the incarnation of the Logos in the Introduction to the Creed which he
wrote in this regard.

Saint Cyril sent Nestorius a mild expostulation, but was answered with
haughtiness and contempt. He also sent a number of letters to the Heads
of other Churches (Antioch, Jerusalem, Rome and Aleppo), and to the
imperial family. He received several replies lauding his efforts and
siding with him. Saint Cyril also wrote another letter to Nestorius with
an exposition of the Nicene Creed and a second part, an affirmation of
the true faith, followed by 12 anathemas. Nestorius, however, showed
himself more obstinate than ever, refused to sign, and exerted every
effort to antagonize Emperor Theodosius against Saint Cyril.

Calling a General Council in Ephesus

The people of Constantinople themselves urged the Emperor to call a
Council of all the bishops to deal with this subject. This occasioned
the summoning of the third general Council which was held at Ephesus in
June 431, attended by 200 bishops who elected Saint Cyril to preside
over them on the authority of his own dignity. The attitudes of the
Emperor and of Nestorius towards him had not been changed; they called
him ``the proud pharaoh.'' Nestorius was present in the town, but
refused to appear; so after his sermons had been read and other evidence
received against him, his doctrines were condemned, and a sentence of
excommunication and deposition was pronounced by the 200 who proved
themselves to be indeed the worthy successors of the Nicene Fathers. The
people of Ephesus who had gradually gathered outside the Church, and on
hearing the verdict of the Council, they shouted for joy, lit torches,
brought their incense-burners, and formed a long procession for the
bishops escorting them to their abodes.

Six days later there arrived at Ephesus Archbishop John of Antioch, with
several of his bishops who had not been able to reach Ephesus in time.
They were in favor of Nestorius, although they did not share his errors,
of which indeed they deemed him innocent. Instead of associating
themselves with the council, they assembled by themselves and presumed
to depose Saint Cyril, accusing him in turn of heresy. Both sides
appealed to the Emperor, by whose order Saint Cyril and Nestorius were
both arrested and kept in confinement and the verdict of the Council
annulled. When three legates arrived from the Roman Church, the matter
took another turn. After a careful consideration of what had been done,
the legates condemned Nestorius, approved Saint Cyril's conduct, and
declared the sentence pronounced against him void.

With the obstinacy of the Emperor in this regard, anger and
consternation seized the people of Ephesus who supported the Ephesian
Council. At their head was the hermit Dalmatius who had never gone out
of his cell for 48 years, and whom Emperor Theodosius venerated highly.
Dalmatius broke his habit and lead the people to the imperial palace
chanting the psalms in the streets. The Emperor afterwards was
completely changed and vindicated Saint Cyril with honor and ratified
the sentence passed on Nestorius and ordered his exile. Though the
bishops of the Antiochene province continued their schism for a while,
they made peace with Saint Cyril in 433, when they condemned Nestorius
and gave a clear and orthodox declaration of their own faith.

His Great Devotion

--
We have to thank Saint Cyril for the firm and uncompromising stand he
took with regard to the dogma of the Incarnation - an attitude which led
to the clear statements of the great council over which he presided. We
ought indeed to be grateful that we, in our generation, are left in no
doubt as to what we should believe with regard to that holy mystery upon
which we base our faith as Christians. He was declared a doctor of the
Universal Church in 1882.

The great devotion of this Saint to the Blessed Sacrament is manifest
from the frequency with which he emphasizes the effects it produces upon
those who receive it worthily. Indeed, he says that by Holy Communion we
are made concorporeal with Christ. And it must surely be difficult for
those who profess to hold the same faith as that defined in the first
six general councils to shut their eyes to the vigour and conviction
with which Saint Cyril before the year 431 affirmed his eucharistic
doctrine. In a letter to Nestorius, which received the general and
formal assent of the fathers at Ephesus, he had written:

``Proclaiming the death according to the flesh of the only
begotten Son of God, that is, Jesus Christ, and confessing
His resurrection from the dead and ascent into Heaven, we
celebrate the bloodless sacrifice in our churches; and
thus approach the mystic blessings, and are sanctified
by partaking of the holy flesh and the precious blood
of Christ the Savior of us all. And we receive it, not
as common flesh (God forbid), nor as the flesh of a
man sanctified and associated with the Word according to
the unity of merit, or as having a divine indwelling, but
as a really the life-giving and very flesh of the Word
Himself.''

His Later Works

---
One of the noblest legacies bequeathed by Saint Cyril to the Church is
the Liturgy which bears his name. According to tradition, it had been
given orally by Saint Mark himself, but Saint Cyril completed it and
wrote it. This Liturgy overflows with deep spiritual insight and
reverberates the inmost yearnings towards God. It is an ancient custom
in the Coptic Church to chant it during Lent and during the month of
Koyahk.

His ceaseless activity took heavy toll of his health. Worn out by labors
rather than by years, he entered into the joy of his Lord after steering
the Church through storm and calm for 31 years.

REFRENCES

http://www.coptic.net/synexarion/CyrilPillarOfFaith.txt

EXTERNAL LINKS

Cyril of Alexandria, Five Tomes against Nestorius - 1881 translation.

Cyril of Alexandria, Scholia on the incarnation - 1881 translation.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the gospel of John - 1874-1885 translation.

Cyril of Alexandria, 2nd Letter to Nestorius - NPNF translation

Cyril of Alexandria, 3rd Letter to Nestorius with the 12 anathemas

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John

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Cyril Of Alexandria