Cyril was born in Palestine around AD 313. He must have completed his education in Jerusalem and Caesarea. In 335, he was ordained deacon and in 345 Maximus II of Jerusalem ordained him priest. He became the bishop of Jerusalem when Maximus died. He did not engaged in any doctrinal controversies but he opposed Arianism in his writings, and thus, the Arians later troubled him. He was a scapegoat of many wrong notions and so he was exiled three times. It was during his time that a great famine occurred in Jerusalem and its suburbs. Cyril had to sell even the things of the Church to support the helpless that came to him. He was a spiritual father to the pilgrims who came to Jerusalem and to the hermits who lived there. He attended the Synod at Constantinople in 381 and signed the final decision against Arius and Macedonius. He enjoyed the peace that followed the Synod for four or five years. He died in 18 March 386. Literary contributions of Cyril of Jerusalem Catechetical Lectures: The lectures are twenty-four in number. Of these, nineteen are pre-baptismal discourses delivered to the candidates during Lent. The last five, delivered to the newly baptized Christians during the Easter Vigil. These lectures give us an idea about the order of sacraments and worship that existed in the fourth century. Teachings of Cyril of Jerusalem The main aim of Cyril was to make the Christians and catechumens to know the mysteries of the Church. He gave them the complete instruction on Baptism, Chrismation and Eucharist. He insisted the Church to administer the baptism and the Chrismation together with the Eucharist. According to him, once the Trinity has been invoked, the baptismal water possesses sanctifying power in view of the fact that it is no longer mere water, but water united with the Holy Spirit, Who acts in and through it (Cat.3,3). He gives the meaning of Baptism as follows; it is the bath of regeneration in which we are washed both with water and with Holy Spirit. Its effects can be summarized under three main heads. First, the baptized person receives the remission of sins, i.e., all sins committed prior to baptism. Secondly, baptism conveys the positive blessing of sanctification ie., the illumination and deification, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the putting on of the new man, spiritual rebirth and salvation, adoption as God’s son by grace, union with Christ in His resurrection as in His suffering and death, the right to a heavenly inheritance. Thirdly, baptism impresses a seal on the believer’s soul. This sealing takes place at the very moment of baptism, and as a result of it the baptized person enjoys the presence of the Holy Spirit. About Chrismation, Cyril says that, after you had come up from the pool of the sacred streams, there was given chrism, and this is the Holy Spirit (21, 1). Beware of supposing that this is ordinary ointment. This ointment is symbolically applied to your forehead and to your other senses; and while your body is anointed with the visible ointment, your soul is sanctified by the Holy and Life creating Spirit (21, 3). The Lord has given a redemption of repentance, so that our chief sins, or rather, all our sins, may be cast off; and so that we may receive the seal of the Holy Spirit, and may thereby be made heirs of eternal life (4, 26). He professed the real person of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. By partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, you might become united in Body and Blood with Him. For thus do we become Christ-bearers, His Body and Blood being distributed through our members (22, 3). He emphasizes in many places that the holy Eucharist constitutes the blood and body of Christ. Do not regard the Bread and Wine as simply that; for they are, according to master’s declaration, the Body and Blood of Christ. Even though the senses suggest to you other, let faith make you firm. Do not judge in this matter by taste, but be fully assured the faith, not doubting that you have been deemed worthy of the Body and Blood of Christ (22, 6). The explanation he gives is that, in response to the celebrant’s prayer, God sends the Holy Spirit on the oblations so as to make them Christ’s Body and Blood, for whatever the Spirit touches is sanctified and transformed. Cyril was the nephew of Theophilus of Alexandria, and became the Patriarch of Alexandria in 412 after the death of his uncle. As soon as he became a bishop, Cyril started showing an uncompromising attitude to heresies. He said firmly that the true faith and security of the Church were his important concerns and that he would anything to protect them. He closed the church of Novatians, a schismatic group that denied the power of the Church to observe those who have lapsed in to idolatry during persecution. He was also involved in the expulsion of the Jews from Alexandria following their attacks upon Christians. In matters related to Church disputes, two things influenced him much. 1. It was Alexandria alone that once gave chief contributions to the study of Christian theology. Alexandria had its own continuous thought too. It was at this time that another centre of Christian thought, with several differences developed in Antioch. Gradually there occurred disputes, feuds and rivalry among Christian thinkers because of these two basic traditions. This rivalry, in a way, influenced the attitudes of various groups to the heresies. The toughness that Cyril showed to Nestorius was to some extent due to this rivalry. 2. When Constantinople grew into a Second Rome, the position of the Patriarch of Constantinople also was raised accordingly. As a result, the importance of Alexandria was reduced. It was the anxiety caused by this development that the Alexandrian Patriarchs Theophilus and Cyril had against John Chrysostom. What we see in the life of Cyril is the hard attempt to reestablish the vanishing glory of Alexandria. The beginning of Nestorianism and of the theological quarrel that has left its very distinct mark on all subsequent Christianity even to our own time dates to as early as 429 AD, when Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople or Mother of God, butpreached that Mary should not be called the , Mother of Christ. Eusebius, challenged him still a layman butthe afterwards Bishop of Dorylaeum, who posted on the doors of the Hagia Sophia a rebuttal accusing Nestorius of Adoptionism of Paul of Samosata. Eusebius sent copies of Nestorius’ sermons to Celestine, Pope of Rome. Cyril objected the position of Nestorius in a Festal Letter and in an encyclical letter to the monks of Egypt. Pope Celestine of Rome, hearing this news convened a Synod at Rome in 430, condemned the teaching of Nestorius, and warned him of deposition if he will not profess the Orthodoxy. In Alexandria Cyril called a Synod in November 430, at which Nestorius was condemned. Cyril then wrote his famous third letter to Nestorius, to which he attached twelve anathemas for Nestorius’ signature. Nestorius’ reply was to counter-charge Cyril with being an Apollinarist, and he invited the Emperor to call a council to settle the matter. The third Ecumenical Council met in June 431. Emperor Theodosius II ordered Cyril to preside the Council. Pope Celestine sent three delegates from Rome. Memnon of Ephesus assisted Cyril of Alexandria. The Council started long after the appointed date because John of Antioch and his delegates did not arrive in time. After a period of waiting, the council started in the absence of John of Antioch. Nestorius refused to attend; and in the opening session, one hundred and fifty-three bishops were present. The first day itself, i.e., on 22 June 431 the Council declared, the letters and anathemas of Cyril to Nestorius were Orthodox and they condemned Nestorius as a heretic, deposed and excommunicated. Finally, more than two hundred bishops signed to the deposition of Nestorius. The council proclaimed Holy Virgin Mary as. Four days after the first session John of Antioch and his delegates arrived at the city. They protested the Council is having proceeded without them and opened their own synod and deposed Cyril and Memnon. On July 17, the fifth session of Ephesus deposed and excommunicated John. The Emperor Theodosius II recognized and confirmed both assemblies, and imprisoned both Cyril and Nestorius. Cyril was in Prison for almost three months. Then, the Emperor condemned Nestorius and reinstated Cyril. Nestorius was sent back to his monastery in Antioch, while Cyril was permitted to return to Alexandria as Patriarch. However, reconciliation effected between Cyril and John and they together signed a new Creed (Formula of Reunion). Union of the two natures, without mixing and without division and Divine Maternity of Mary was main content of the Creed. Thus, a partial union was achieved in 433 AD. The last fifteen years of Nestorius’ life were spent in exile in Arabia, Libya, and finally in the desert of Upper Egypt. Cyril took great care in protecting the true faith. He also spent a lot of time in biblical studies. Gradually he withdrew from his eventful life and died in 444.