Saint Cyril of Alexandria
Bishop and Doctor of the Church
- Feast Day
- June 27
- Life
- 376–444
- Doctor of the Church
- 1883
- Born
- Theodosios (or Didouseya), Egypt
Saint Cyril was born in Egypt about 376, nephew of Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria. He succeeded his uncle as Patriarch of Alexandria in October 412. The first decade of his episcopate was marked by sharp local conflicts with Novatianists, Jews, and pagan partisans of the Neoplatonist philosopher Hypatia, whose murder in 415 by a Christian mob has been variously connected with Cyril; the chronicler Socrates Scholasticus describes the event but does not implicate the patriarch directly.
Cyril is principally remembered for his defense of the unity of the Person of Christ and the divine motherhood of Mary against the teaching of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople (428-431). Nestorius preached that Mary should be called Christotokos (Christ-bearer) but not Theotokos (God-bearer), implying two distinct subjects, divine and human, in Christ.
Cyril's twelve anathemas against Nestorius, sent in 430 with the approval of Pope Saint Celestine I, formulated the Catholic position. At the Council of Ephesus (431), the third Ecumenical Council, presided over by Cyril as papal legate, the doctrine of the Theotokos was solemnly defined and Nestorius condemned. Cyril's subsequent Formula of Reunion (433) with John of Antioch reconciled the Antiochene party to the Council's teaching while preserving its substance.
His extensive theological output includes the Commentary on the Gospel of John, the Treatise on the Trinity, and twelve books On the Right Faith. He died at Alexandria on June 27, 444. Pope Leo XIII declared him a Doctor of the Universal Church in 1883.
Cyril is the principal patristic source for the Catholic dogma of the hypostatic union: that the Word of God, eternally begotten of the Father, took flesh of the Virgin Mary so that one and the same Christ, true God and true man, was born, suffered, died, and rose. The title Theotokos, defined at Ephesus through his labor, is the foundation of all subsequent Marian doctrine, including the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption.
Patronages
Alexandria
Catholic Churches Named After Saint Cyril of Alexandria
20 parishes on Catholic Church Times share Saint Cyril of Alexandria's name. Find their Mass times, confession schedules, and adoration hours:
- Saint-Cyrille — Saint-Cyrille-de-Lessard, QC
- Saint Cyril Catholic Church — Geyser, MT
- Saints Cyril and Methodius — Wayland, MI
- St. Cyril — Nashville, MI
- St. Cyril of Alexandria — Tucson, AZ
- St. Cyril of Jerusalem — Encino, CA
- Sts. Cyril and Methodius [Ruthenian] — Spokane Valley, WA
- Sts. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church — Shiner, TX
- St. Cyril — Flatwoods, LA
- Saint Cyrils Roman Catholic Church — Los Angeles, CA
- Saints Cyril and Methodius — Minneapolis, MN
- S.S. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church — Coaldale, PA
- St. Cyril Parish — Wilsonville, OR
- SS Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church — Granger, TX
- Sts. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church — Dubina, TX
- svatý Cyril a Metoděj
- svatý Cyril a Metoděj
- sv. Cyril a Metoděj
- svatý Cyril a Metoděj
- kaple sv, Cyrila a Metoděje
Sources