Cyril of Alexandria

St. Cyril I, 24th Patriarch of Alexandria.

Cyril of Alexandria was the Patriarch of Alexandria when the city was at its height in influence and power within the Roman Empire. Cyril wrote extensively and was a major protagonist in the Christological controversies of the fourth and fifth centuries. He was a central figure in the Council of Ephesus in 431 which led to the deposition of Nestorius as Archbishop of Constantinople. Cyril is counted among the Church Fathers and the Doctors of the Church, and his reputation within the Christian world has led to his acquiring the title "Seal of all the Fathers." His feast day is celebrated on June 9 and, with St. Athanasius of Alexandria, on January 18.

Life

Cyril was born about 378 in the small town of Theodosios, Egypt, near modern day Malalla el Kobra. His mother’s brother, Theophilus, was a priest who rose to the powerful position of Pope (Patriarch) of Alexandria. His mother remained close to her brother, and under his guidance Cyril was well educated. Cyril's education showed through his knowledge, in his writings, and his influence on other Christian writers of his day, including Eusebius, Origen, Didymus, and writers of the Alexandrian church. Although considered on of the Greek Fathers, he showed a knowledge of Latin through his extensive correspondence with the Bishop of Rome, Pope Celestine. His formal education consisted of grammatical studies at ages 12 to 14 (390-392 C.E.), Rhetoric/Humanities at ages 15 to 20 (393-397), and Christian theology and biblical studies in his 20s (398-402).

He was tonsured and ordained as a reader by his uncle Theophilus in the Church of Alexandria and soon advanced in both knowledge and position. He supported his uncle in the removal of St. John Chrysostom as archbishop of Constantinople on administrative grounds. Later Cyril supported John's return on doctrinal grounds in opposition to the Christological views of Nestorius.

After Theophilus died in October 412, Cyril was made pope (patriarch) on October 18, over the opposition of the party supporting the archdeacon Timothy. The position had become powerful and influential, rivaling that of the city prefect (mayor) in a city known for its competing pagan, Jewish, and various Christian factions.

Controversy

Cyril moved forcefully in early years as patriarch. He began to exert his authority by causing the churches of the Novatianist Christians to be closed and their sacred vessels to be seized.

Cyril vs. the Jews

He also ordered all Jews be expelled from the city, which house one of the most influential Jewish communities of the Roman Empire. This was opposed by the prefect of Alexandria, Orestes, but Cyril paid no heed and the Jews were expelled.

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.

Cyril led a mob of Christians against the Jews in the city, plundering and destroying the synagogues as well as killing Orestes himself . Though there is no clear agreement among historians, he is often blamed for burning the Library of Alexandria during this rampage.

The death of Hypatia

Cyril has also been linked to the murder of Hypatia, the venerable female mathematician, neo-Platonist philosopher, and teacher, who was a frequent guest of Orestes'. Recent studies show, although Cyril may not have been directly responsible, Hypatia's death was indeed the result of the struggle between two Christian factions—a more tolerant one led by Orestes and supported by Hypatia, and the more rigid one led by Cyril.

Struggle against Nestorianism

Cyril greatest fame, however, was won in the context of the rivalry between the Alexandrian and Antiochian schools of theological reflection, piety, and discourse. These issues came to a head in 428 when the See of Constantinople became vacant. Nestorius, from the Antiochian party, was made patriarch of Constantinople. Against him Cyril taught the use of the term Theotokus—referring to the Virgin Mary as "God-bearer"—in his Easter letter for 429. A correspondence with Nestorius followed, in a more moderate tone than might have been expected. Nestorius insisted that Christokos was sufficient in honor and more accurate theologically. He sent his sermons to Pope Celestine, but he received no reply. The pope himself, meanwhile wrote to Cyril for further information, having become suspicious of Nestorius for offering hospitality to certain Pelagian clerics whom the pope had condemned. To Pope Celestine, Cyril was not only the leading prelate of the East, he was also the inheritor of the orthodox tradition of Athanasius.

Cyril took the lead in opposing Nestorius' views in the imperial court and with the pope at Rome. After much infighting, Augusta Pulcheria, older sister of the Emperor Theodosius II, sided with Cyril against Nestorius. To rid himself of Cyril, Nestorius recommended to the emperor that an Ecumenical Council be convened in Constantinople. Theodosius did call the council, but in Ephesus, a city somewhat friendly to Cyril. After months of maneuvering the Council of 431 ended with Nestorius being removed from office and sent into exile.

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Cyril had learnt prudence. Peter had attempted unsuccessfully to appoint a Bishop of Constantinople; Theophilus had deposed another. Cyril, though in this case Alexandria was in the right, does not act in his own name, but denounces Nestorius to St. Celestine, since ancient custom, he says, persuaded him to bring the matter before the pope. He relates all that had occurred, and begs Celestine to decree what he sees fit (typosai to dokoun—a phrase which Dr. Bright chooses to weaken into "formulate his opinion"), and communicate it also to the Bishops of Macedonia and of the East (i.e. the Antiochene Patriarchate).

The pope's reply was of astonishing severity. He had already commissioned Cassian to write his well known treatise on the Incarnation. He now summoned a council (such Roman councils had somewhat the office of the modern Roman Congregations), and dispatched a letter to Alexandria with enclosures to Constantinople, Philippi, Jerusalem, and Antioch. Cyril is to take to himself the authority of the Roman See and to admonish Nestorius that unless he recants within ten days from the receipt of this ultimatum, he is separated from "our body" (the popes of the day had the habit of speaking of the other churches as the members, of which they are the head; the body is, of course the Catholic Church). If Nestorius does not submit, Cyril is to "provide for" the Church of Constantinople. Such a sentence of excommunication and deposition is not to be confounded with the mere withdrawal of actual communion by the popes from Cyril himself at an earlier date, from Theophilus, or, in Antioch, from Flavian or Meletius. It was the decree Cyril has asked for. As Cyril had twice written to Nestorius, his citation in the name of the pope is to be counted as a third warning, after which no grace is to be given.

St. Cyril summoned a council of his suffragans, and composed a letter which were appended twelve propositions for Nestorius to anathematize. The epistle was not conciliatory, and Nestorius may well have been taken aback. The twelve propositions did not emanate from Rome, and were not equally clear; one or two of them were later among the authorities invoked by the Monophysite heretics in their own favour. Cyril was the head of the rival theological school to that of Antioch, where Nestorius had studied, and was the hereditary rival of the Constantinopolitan would-be patriarch. Cyril wrote also to John, Patriarch of Antioch, informing him of the facts, and insinuating that if John should support his old friend Nestorius, he would find himself isolated over against Rome, Macedonia, and Egypt. John took the hint and urged Nestorius to yield. Meanwhile, in Constantinople itself large numbers of the people held aloof from Nestorius, and the Emperor Theodosius II had been persuaded to summon a general council to meet at Ephesus. The imperial letters were dispatched 19 November, whereas the bishops sent by Cyril arrived at Constantinople only on 7 December. Nestorius, somewhat naturally, refused to accept the message sent by his rival, and on the 13th and 14th of December preached publicly against Cyril as a calumniator, and as having used bribes (which was probably as true as it was usual); but he declared himself willing to use the word Theotokos. These sermons he sent to John of Antioch, who preferred them to the anathematizations of Cyril. Nestorius, however, issued twelve propositions with appended anathemas. If Cyril's propositions might be might be taken to deny the two natures in Christ, those of Nestorius hardly veiled his belief in two distinct persons. Theodoret urged John yet further, and wrote a treatise against Cyril, to which the latter replied with some warmth. He also wrote an "Answer" in five books to the sermons of Nestorius.

As the fifteenth-century idea of an oecumenical council superior to the pope had yet to be invented, and there was but one precedent for such an assembly, we need not be surprised that St. Celestine welcomed the initiative of the emperor, and hoped for peace through the assembly. (See EPHESUS, COUNCIL OF.) Nestorius found the churches of Ephesus closed to him, when he arrived with the imperial commissioner, Count Candidian, and his own friend, Count Irenaeus. Cyril came with fifty of his bishops. Palestine, Crete, Asia Minor, and Greece added their quotient. But John of Antioch and his suffragans were delayed. Cyril may have believed, rightly or wrongly, that John did not wish to be present at the trial of his friend Nestorius, or that he wished to gain time for him, and he opened the council without John, on 22 June, in spite of the request of sixty-eight bishops for a delay. This was an initial error, which had disastrous results.

The legates from Rome had not arrived, so that Cyril had no answer to the letter he had written to Celestine asking "whether the holy synod should receive a man who condemned what it preached, or, because the time of delay had elapsed, whether the sentence was still in force". Cyril might have presumed that the pope, in agreeing to send legates to the council, intended Nestorius to have a complete trial, but it was more convenient to assume that the Roman ultimatum had not been suspended, and that the council was bound by it. He therefore took the place of president, not only as the highest of rank, but also as still holding the place of Celestine, though he cannot have received any fresh commission from the pope. Nestorius was summoned, in order that he might explain his neglect of Cyril's former monition in the name of the pope. He refused to receive the four bishops whom the council sent to him. Consequently nothing remained but formal procedure. For the council was bound by the canons to depose Nestorius for contumacy, as he would not appear, and by the letter of Celestine to condemn him for heresy, as he had not recanted. The correspondence between Rome, Alexandria, and Constantinople was read, some testimonies where read from earlier writers show the errors of Nestorius. The second letter of Cyril to Nestorius was approved by all the bishops. The reply of Nestorius was condemned. No discussion took place. The letter of Cyril and the ten anathemaizations raised no comment. All was concluded at one sitting. The council declared that it was "of necessity impelled" by the canons and by the letter of Celestine to declare Nestorius deposed and excommunicated. The papal legates, who had been detained by bad weather, arrived on the 10th of July, and they solemnly confirmed the sentence by the authority of St. Peter, for the refusal of Nestorius to appear had made useless the permission which they brought from the pope to grant him forgiveness if he should repent. But meanwhile John of Antioch and his party had arrived on the 26th and 27th of June. They formed themselves into a rival council of forty-three bishops, and deposed Memnon, Bishop of Ephesus, and St. Cyril, accusing the latter of Apollinarianism and even of Eunomianism. Both parties now appealed to the emperor, who took the amazing decision of sending a count to treat Nestorius, Cyril, and Memnon as being all three lawfully deposed. They were kept in close custody; but eventually the emperor took the orthodox view, though he dissolved the council; Cyril was allowed to return to his diocese, and Nestorius went into retirement at Antioch. Later he was banished to the Great Oasis of Egypt.

Meanwhile Pope Celestine was dead. His successor, St. Sixtus III, confirmed the council and attempted to get John of Antioch to anathematize Nestorius. For some time the strongest opponent of Cyril was Theodoret, but eventually he approved a letter of Cyril to Acacius of Berhoea. John sent Paul, Bishop of Emesa, as his plenipotentiary to Alexandria, and he patched up reconciliation with Cyril. Though Theodoret still refused to denounce the defence of Nestorius, John did so, and Cyril declared his joy in a letter to John. Isidore of Pelusium was now afraid that the impulsive Cyril might have yielded too much (Ep. i, 334). The great patriarch composed many further treatises, dogmatic letters, and sermons. He died on the 9th or the 27th of June, 444, after an episcopate of nearly thirty-two years.

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Cyril died on June 27, 444, but the controversies were to continue for decades, from the Robber Council of Ephesus in 449 to the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and beyond.

Legacy

As noted above, 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.

Source

• McGuckin, John A. St. Cyril of Alexandria and the Christological Controversy. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2004. ISBN 0-88141-259-7

External links

• Life and Writings of Cyril of Alexandria as relates to the Christological Controversy
• Early Church Fathers Includes text written by Cyril of Alexandria

Works

• Second Epistle of Cyril to Nestorius
• Third Epistle of Cyril to Nestorius (containing the twelve anathemas)
• Formula of Reunion: In Brief (A summation of the reunion between Cyril and John of Antioch)
• The 'Formula of Reunion' between Cyril and John of Antioch
• Five tomes against Nestorius (Adversus Nestorii blasphemias)
• That Christ is One (Quod unus sit Christus)
• Scholia on the incarnation of the Only-Begotten (Scholia de incarnatione Unigeniti)
• Against Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia (fragments)
• Against the synousiasts (fragments)
• Commentary on the Gospel of Luke
• Commentary on the Gospel of John

References

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cs:Cyril Alexandrijský de:Kyrill von Alexandria es:Cirilo de Alejandría fr:Cyrille d'Alexandrie it:San Cirillo di Alessandria nl:Cyrillus van Alexandrië pl:Cyryl z Aleksandrii pt:Cirilo de Alexandria ru:Кирилл Александрийский sr:Кирило Александријски sv:Kyrillos av Alexandria zh:亞歷山大的區利羅

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