Cyril of Jerusalem

Cyril of Jerusalem, St, was born probably about 315, but his descent and birthplace are unknown. About 334 he was ordained a deacon, and about 345 a presbyter. During the Arian controversies he endeavoured to maintain a neutral attitude, and in 351 was ordained Bishop of Jerusalem by Acacius, Bishop of Cæsarea, who was an Arian. Cyril having repeatedly disregarded citations by Acacius, his metropolitan, was deposed by him in 358, and by a synod at Constantinople in 360; but on the accession of Julian in 361 he returned to his flock, which he ruled in peace till 367, when, by order of Valens, he was again expelled. He returned to Jerusalem on the death of Valens in 378, took part in the second oecumenical council at Constantinople, and died on the 18th (according to other accounts, on the 11th or 20th) March 386. The genuine writings of Cyril are his Katēchēsis (or instructions to catechumens), eighteen of which are addressed to candidates for baptism, and five to the newly baptised. They are not in the form of question and answer, but are connected lectures, written in a style of great simplicity and clearness, and making constant reference to Scripture. The articles of the creed (called by Cyril Pistis, or the 'Faith') on which the teaching is based can be gathered with tolerable certainty from the last thirteen of the first series of the Katēchēsis, and are distinguished from those of the Nicene Creed by the avoidance of its distinctive word Homousios ('of the same substance'). The best editions are by Touthée (Paris, 1720; new ed. 2 vols. 1844) and by Reischl and Rupp (2 vols. 1845-60). There is an English translation by Dean Church in the Oxford Library of the Fathers (vol. iii. 1838). See also works on Cyril by Plitt (1855), Gonnet (1876), and Mader (1891).