Cyril of Jerusalem

Cyril of Jerusalem was a distinguished theologian of the early Church; d. 386.

Life and Character.

Little is known

of his life before he became bishop; the assignment

of the year 315 for his birth rests on mere

conjecture. He seems to have been ordained deacon by

Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem about 335, and priest

some ten years later by Maximus. Naturally

inclined to peace and conciliation, he

took at first a rather moderate

position, distinctly averse from Arianism,

but (like not a few of his undoubtedly

orthodox contemporaries) by no means eager

to accept the uncompromising term homooussios.

Separating from his metropolitan, Acacius of

Caesarea (q.v.), a partizan of Arias, Cyril took the

side of the Eusebians, the "right wing" of the

post-Nicene conciliation party, and thus got into

difficulties with his superior, which were increased

by Acacius's jealousy of the importance assigned

to Cyril's see by the Council of Nicaea. A council

held under Acacius's influence in 358 deposed Cyril

and forced him to retire to Tarsus. On the other

hand, the conciliatory Council of Seleucia in the

following year, at which Cyril was present, deposed

Acacias. In 360 the process was reversed through

the metropolitan's court influence, and Cyril

suffered another year's exile from Jerusalem, until

Julian's accession allowed him to return. The

Arian emperor Valens banished him once more in

367, after which he remained undisturbed until his

death, his jurisdiction being expressly confirmed

by the Second Council of Nicaea (381), at which he

was present.

Theological Position.

Though his theology was at first somewhat indefinite in phraseology, he undoubtedly gave a thorough adhesion to the Nicene orthodoxy. Even if he does avoid the debatable term homoousios, he expresses its sense in many passages, which exclude equally Patripassianism, Sabellianism, and the Arian formula "There was a time when the Son was not." In other points he takes the ordinary ground of the Eastern Fathers, as in the emphasis he lays on the freedom of the will, the autexousion, and his imperfect realization of the factor so much more strongly brought out in the West--sin. To him sin is the consequence of freedom, not a natural condition. The body is not the cause, but the instrument of sin. The remedy for it is repentance, on which he insists. Like many of the Eastern Fathers, he has an essentially moralistic conception of Christianity. His doctrine of the Resurrection is not quite so realistic as that of other Fathers; but his conception of the Church is decidedly empirical-- the existing catholic Church form is the true one, intended by Christ, the completion of the Church of the Old Testament. His doctrine on the Eucharist is noteworthy. If he sometimes seems to approach the symbolical view, at other times he comes very close to a strong realistic doctrine. The bread and wine are not mere elements, but the body and blood of Christ.

Catechetical Lectures

His famous twenty-three catechetical lectures (Gk. Katecheseis), which he delivered while still a presbyter in 347 or 348, contain instructions on the principal topics of Christian faith and practise, in rather a popular than a scientific manner, full of a warm pastoral love and care for the catechumens to whom they were delivered. Each lecture is based upon a text of Scripture, and there is an abundance of Scriptural quotation throughout. After a general introduction, eighteen lectures follow for the competentes, and the remaining five are addressed to the newly baptized, in preparation for the reception of the communion. Parallel with the exposition of the creed as it was then received in the church of Jerusalem are vigorous polemics against pagan, Jewish, and heretical errors. They are of great importance for the light which they throw on the method of instruction usual in that age, as well as upon the liturgical practises of the period, of which they give the fullest account extant.

---

Initial text from Schaff-Herzog Encyc of Religion