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| St. Cyril of Jerusalem |
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem
Bishop of Jerusalem and Doctor of the Church, born about 315; died
probably 18 March, 386. In the East his feast is observed on the 18th of March,
in the West on the 18th or 20th. Little is known of his life. We gather
information concerning him from his younger contemporaries, Epiphanius, Jerome,
and Rufinus, as well as from the fifth-century historians, Socrates, Sozomen
and Theodoret. Cyril himself gives us the date of his "Catechesis" as
fully seventy years after the Emperor Probus that is about 347, if he is exact.
Constans (d. 350) was then still alive. Mader thinks Cyril was already bishop,
but it is usually held that he was at this date only as a priest. St. Jerome
relates (Chron. ad ann. 352) that Cyril had been ordained priest by St.
Maximus, his predecessor, after whose death the episcopate was promised to
Cyril by the metropolitan, Acacius of Caesarea, and the other Arian bishops, on
condition that he should repudiate the ordination he had received from Maximus.
St. Cyril attended the great Council of Constantinople in 381, at
which Theodosius had ordered the Nicene faith, now a law of the empire, to be
promulgated.
The extant works of St. Cyril of Jerusalem include a sermon on the
Pool of Bethesda, a letter to the Emperor Constantius, three small fragments,
and the famous "Catechesis". The
letter describes a wonderful cross of light, extending from Calvary to the
Mount of Olives, which appeared in the air on the nines of May, after
Pentecost, toward the beginning of the saint's episcopate. The catechetical lectures are among the most
precious remains of Christian antiquity. They include an introductory address, eighteen
instructions delivered in Lent to those who were preparing for baptism, and
five "mystagogical" instructions given during Easter week to the same
persons after their baptism. They
contain interesting local references as to the finding of the Cross, the
position of Calvary in relation to the walls, to the other holy places, and to
the great basilica built by Constantine in which these conferences were
delivered.
St. Cyril's doctrine is expressed in his creed, which seems to have run thus:
"I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of
Heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus
Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten by the Father true God before
all ages, God of God, Life of Life, Light of Light, by Whom all things were
made. Who for us men and for our salvation came down, and was incarnate by the
Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary, and was made man. He was crucified . . . and
buried. He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures, and sat at
the right hand of the Father. And He cometh in glory to judge the living and
the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end. And in one Holy Ghost, the
Paraclete, Who spoke by the prophets; and in one baptism of repentance for the
remission of sins, and in one holy Catholic Church, and in the resurrection of
the body, and in life everlasting."
St. Cyril's teaching about
the Blessed Sacrament is of the first importance,
for he was speaking freely, untrammeled by the "discipline of the
secret". On the Real Presence he is
unambiguous: "Since He Himself has
declared and said of the bread: This is My Body, who shall dare to doubt anymore?
And when He asserts and says: This is My
Blood, who shall ever hesitate and say it is not His Blood?" Of the
Transformation, he argues, if Christ
could change water into wine, can He not change wine into His own Blood?
The bread and wine are symbols: "In
the type of bread is given thee the Body, in the type of wine the Blood is
given thee"; but they do not remain in their original condition, they
have been changed, though the senses cannot tell us this: "Do not think it mere bread and wine, for it
is the Body and Blood of Christ, according to the Lord's declaration".
"Having learned this and being assured of it, that appears to be bread is
not bread, though perceived by the taste, but the Body of Christ, and what
appears to be wine is not wine, though the taste says so, but the Blood of
Christ . . . strengthen thy heart, partaking of it as spiritual (food), and
rejoice the face of thy soul".
Learn more about St. Cyril of Jerusalem by going to
the link below.
Excerpts taken from Catholic Encyclopedia-- http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04595b.htm
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