Cyril of Jerusalem
| Saint Cyril of Jerusalem | |
|---|---|
| Bishop, Confessor and Doctor of the Church | |
| Born | ca. 313 possibly near Caesarea Maritima, Palestine |
| Died | 386 Jerusalem, Palestine |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church Anglican Communion |
| Feast | March 18 |
Cyril of Jerusalem (Greek Κύριλλος Α΄ Ἱεροσολύμων) was a distinguished theologian of the early Church (ca. 313[1] – 386). He is venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion. In 1883, Cyril was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII.
Contents |
Life and character
Little is known of his life before he became a bishop but some is known; the assignment of the year "315" for his birth rests on mere conjecture and appears to be actually closer to 313. St. Cyril was ordained a deacon by Bishop St. Macarius of Jerusalem about 335, and a priest some eight years later by Bishop St. Maximus. About the end of 350, he succeeded St. Maximus in the See of Jerusalem and became its bishop.[2] Naturally inclined to peace and conciliation, St. Cyril at first took a rather moderate position, distinctly averse from Arianism, but (like not a few of his undoubtedly orthodox contemporaries) was by no means eager to accept the uncompromising term homoousios (ὁμοούσιος) (that is, that Jesus Christ and God are of the "same substance" and are equally God). Separating from his superior, Metropolitan, Acacius of Caesarea (a partisan of Arius, who taught that Jesus was a divine being created by--and therefore inferior to-- God the Father), St. Cyril took the side of the Eusebians, the "right wing" of the post-Nicene conciliation party, and thus got into difficulties with his superior, which were increased by Acacius's jealousy of the importance assigned to St. Cyril's See by the Council of Nicaea. A council held under Acacius's influence in 358 deposed St. Cyril and forced him to retire to Tarsus (in present-day Turkey). At that time he was officially charged with selling church property to help the poor, although the actual motivation appears to be that St. Cyril was teaching Nicene, and not Arian, doctrine in his catechism. On the other hand, the conciliatory Council of Seleucia in the following year, at which St. Cyril was present, deposed Acacius. In 360 the process was reversed through the metropolitan's court influence, and Cyril suffered another year's exile from Jerusalem, until Emperor Julian's accession allowed him to return. The Arian Emperor Valens banished him once more in 367. St. Cyril was able to return again, at the accession of Emperor Gratian, after which he remained undisturbed until his death in 386. St. Cyril's jurisdiction over Jerusalem was expressly confirmed by the First Council of Constantinople (381), at which he was present. At that council, he voted for acceptance of the term homooussios, having been finally convinced that there was no better alternative.[2]
Theological position
Though his theology was at first somewhat indefinite in phraseology, he undoubtedly gave a thorough adhesion to the Nicene orthodoxy. Even if he did avoid the debatable term homooussios, he expressed its sense in many passages, which exclude equally Patripassianism, Sabellianism, and the formula "there was a time when the Son was not" attributed to Arius. In other points he takes the ordinary ground of the Eastern Fathers, as in the emphasis he lays on the freedom of the will, the autexousion (αὐτεξούσιον), and his imperfect realization of the factor so much more strongly brought out in the West: sin. To him sin is the consequence of freedom, not a natural condition. The body is not the cause, but the instrument of sin. The remedy for it is repentance, on which he insists. Like many of the Eastern Fathers, he has an essentially moralistic conception of Christianity . His doctrine of the Resurrection is not quite so realistic as that of other Fathers; but his conception of the Church is decidedly empirical: the existing catholic Church form is the true one, intended by Christ, the completion of the Church of the Old Testament. His doctrine on the Eucharist is noteworthy. If he sometimes seems to approach the symbolic view, at other times he comes very close to a strong realistic doctrine. The bread and wine are not mere elements, but the body and blood of Christ.
Catechetical lectures
His famous twenty-three catechetical lectures (Greek Κατηχήσεις), which he delivered while still a presbyter in 347 or 348, contain instructions on the principal topics of Christian faith and practise, in rather a popular than a scientific manner, full of a warm pastoral love and care for the catechumens to whom they were delivered. Each lecture is based upon a text of Scripture, and there is an abundance of Scriptural quotation throughout. After a general introduction, eighteen lectures follow for the competentes, and the remaining five are addressed to the newly baptized, in preparation for the reception of Holy Communion. These last instructional addresses are called mystagogic (μυσταγωγικαί), because they deal with the mysteries (μυστήρια) i.e. Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist.[3]
Parallel with the exposition of the Creed as it was then received in the Church of Jerusalem are vigorous polemics against pagan, Jewish, and heretical errors. They are of great importance for the light which they throw upon the method of instruction usual of that age, as well as upon the liturgical practises of the period, of which they give the fullest account extant.
St. Cyril's feast day is commemorated on March 18.
References
- ↑ Walsh, Michael, ed. Butler's Lives of the Saints. (HarperCollins Publishers: New York, 1991), pp 83.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 *"Lives of the Saints, For Every Day of the Year" edited by Rev. Hugo Hoever, S.O.Cist., Ph.D., New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1955, p. 112
- ↑ *"The Penguin Dictionary of Saints, 3rd Edition", Donald Attwater and Catherine Rachel John, New York: Peguin Putnam Inc., 1995, p. 101
- "The Penguin Dictionary of Saints, 3rd Edition", Donald Attwater and Catherine Rachel John, New York: Peguin Putnam Inc., 1995, ISBN 0-14-051312-4
- "Lives of the Saints, For Every Day of the Year" edited by Rev. Hugo Hoever, S.O.Cist., Ph.D., New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1955
- Omer Englebert, "Lives of the Saints" New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1994, ISBN 1-56619-516-0
External links
- The Life, Writings and Doctrine of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
- Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Cyril of Jerusalem
- EWTN Library: St. Cyril, Confessor, Archbishop of Jerusalem
- Tradition In Action - Saint of the Day: St. Cyril of Jerusalem - March 18
| Preceded by Maximus III |
Bishop of Jerusalem 350–386 |
Succeeded by John II |
This article includes content derived from the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, 1914, which is in the public domain.
Pope Portal 
Catholicism Portal
|
|||||