Pope St. Cyril of Alexandria (ca. 378 - ca. 444) was the
Pope of Alexandria when the city was at its height in influence and power within the Roman Empire. Cyril wrote extensively and was a
leading protagonist in the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries. He was
a central figure in the First Council of Ephesus in 431 which led to the deposition
of Nestorius as Archbishop of Constantinople. Cyril is among the patristic fathers, and the Doctors of the Church, and his
reputation within the Christian world has resulted in his titles "Pillar of Faith" and "Seal of all the Fathers". His
feast day is celebrated on June 9 and, with St. Athanasius of Alexandria, on January 18.
Early life
Cyril was born about 378 in the small town of Theodosios, Egypt, near modern day El-Mahalla El-Kubra. A few years after his birth, his mother's brother (or uncle) Theophilus rose to the powerful position of Pope of Alexandria. His mother remained close to her brother and under
his guidance, St. Cyril was well educated. His education showed through his knowledge, in his writings, of Christian writers of
his day, including Eusebius, Origen,
Didymus, and writers of the Alexandrian
church. He received the formal education standard for his day: he studied grammar from age twelve to fourteen (390-392),
rhetoric and humanities from fifteen to twenty (393-397) and finally theology and biblical studies (398-402).
He was tonsured a reader by his uncle, Pope
Theophilus, and under his guidance advanced in knowledge and position. In 403, he accompanied his uncle to Constantinople,
where Theophilus presided at the "Synod of the Oak" that deposed John Chrysostom as archbishop of Constantinople. Cyrill supported
this act as an issue of discipline, not of doctrine, as he later celebrated John's purity of doctrine as an example in his
struggle with Nestorius.
Theophilus died on October 15, 412, and Cyril was made
Pope on October 18, 412, against the a party favouring Archdeacon Timothy.
Thus, Cyril followed his uncle in a position that had become powerful and influential, rivaling that of the city prefect in a
time of turmoil and (frequently violent) conflict between the cosmopolitan city's pagan,
Jewish, and Christian inhabitants.[1]
He began to exert his authority by causing the churches of the Novatians to be closed and
their sacred vessels to be seized.
Next he moved against the Jews and demanded that they be removed from the city. Orestes, prefect of the city, refused but Cyril led a mob of Christians against the Jews in the city,
plundering and destroying the synagogues, as well as killing Orestes.[2][3]
According to some historians, all Jews were expelled from Alexandria, while others consider this an exaggeration and that only a
portion of the local Jewish population was expelled [4]
Some of the tensions between Jews and Christians was prompted by a slaughter of Christians at the hands of Alexandrian Jews
who, after instigating the death of monk Hierax, lured Christians in the streets at night
claiming that the church was on fire.[1]
During his conflict with Orestes, Cyril was also involved in the murder of the female mathematician and philosopher
Hypatia, who was a frequent guest of Orestes'. [5][6]
Newer studies show Hypatia's death as the result of a struggle between two Christian factions, the moderate Orestes, supported
by Hypatia, and the more rigid Cyril. [7] According to
lexicopgrapher William Smith,
| “ |
She was accused of too much familiarity with Orestes, prefect of Alexandria, and the
charge spread among the clergy, who took up the notion that she interrupted the friendship of Orestes with their archbishop,
Cyril. |
” |
Others contend that neither the riots nor the murder of Hypatia can rightly be attributed to Cyril. In the case of the riots,
he had intended only to lead a delegation to the Jews, but he lost control of the situation; and in the murder of Hypatia, a
group of his followers acted on their own initiative without consulting him. As John Anthony McGuckin puts it[8],
| “ |
At this time Cyril is revealed as at the head of dangerously volatile forces: at their
head, but not always in command of them. |
” |
Another major conflict was that between the Alexandrian and Antiochian schools of ecclesiastical reflection, piety, and discourse. The conflict came to a head in
428 after Nestorius, who originated in Antioch, was made Archbishop of Constantinople.
Nestorius intervened in an argument about the proper rendition of Mary’s position in relation to Christ by renouncing both the terms "mother of man" and "mother of God" as
improper, suggesting "mother of Christ" instead. This however only stoked the fires. Finally, Emperor Theodosius II convoked an council to Ephesus to solve the dispute. Ephesus was friendly to Cyril and after months of maneuvering the Council of Ephesus in 431 ended with Nestorius being deposed exiled.
Cyril died on about 444, but the controversies were to continue for decades, from the "Robber Synod" of Ephesus (449) to the Council of
Chalcedon (451) and beyond.
Theology
Cyril regarded the embodiment of God in the person of Jesus Christ to be so mystically powerful that it spread out from the body of the God-man into the rest of the race, to reconstitute human nature into a graced and deified condition of
the saints, one that promised immortality and transfiguration to believers.
Nestorius, on the other hand, saw the incarnation as primarily a moral and ethical example to
the faithful, to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Cyril's constant stress was on the simple idea that it was God who walked the
streets of Nazareth (hence Mary was Theotokos (Mother of God)), and God who had appeared in a
transfigured humanity. Nestorius spoke of the distinct 'Jesus the man' and 'the divine Logos' in
ways that Cyril thought were too dichotomous, widening the ontological gap between man and God
in a way that would annihilate the person of Christ.
Legacy
Cyril was a scholarly archbishop and a prolific writer. In the early years of his active life in the Church he wrote several
exegeses. Among these were: Commentaries on the Old Testament [1],
Thesaurus, Discourse Against Arians, Commentary on St. John's Gospel [2], and Dialogues on the Trinity. In 429
as the Christological controversies increased, his output of writings was that which his opponents could not match. His writings
and his theology have remained central to tradition of the Fathers and to all Orthodox to this day.
Sources
- McGuckin, John A. St. Cyril of Alexandria and the Christological Controversy. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary
Press, 2004. ISBN 0-88141-259-7
- Wessel, Susan. Cyril of Alexandria and the Nestorian Controversy:The Making of a Saint and a Heretic. Oxford 2004.
ISBN 0-19926-846-0
External links
Works
References
- ^ a b Preston Chesser, "The Burning of the Library of
Alexandria"., eHistory.com
- ^ James Everett Seaver, "The Persecution of the Jews
in the Roman Empire (300-428)"., University of Kansas Publications, 1952.
- ^ Socrates, Hist. Eccl., VII, 13; PC, LXXXII, 759 ff., tr. in
Bohn Library (London, 1888), pp. 345 ff.; dated by Socrates 412; but Juster, II, p. 176, has plausibly argued that it could not
have happened before 414.
- ^ McGuckin, p. 12
- ^ Socrates Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History, VII.15.
- ^ Gibbon: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
XLVII.
- ^ Maria Dzielska, Hypatia of Alexandria, Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard
University Press, 1995. (Revealing Antiquity, 8), p. xi, 157. ISBN 0-674-43775-6
- ^ John Anthony McGuckin, Introduction to his translation of Cyril's On the
Unity of Christ, Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1995, p. 13-14.
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