A figure whose history points out the fact that church history is complex, and that conflict – even intra-church conflict on a serious level – is not a new thing.
But also illustrates the mechanisms that existed to work through these issues and a dynamic for decision-making and discipline that was not centered on the bureaucracy surrounding the Bishop of Rome.
From the Catholic Truth Society’s Facebook post:
It’s hard to imagine one Doctor of the Church accusing another Doctor of the Church of heresy, but that is what happened in the case of St Jerome and St Cyril of Jerusalem.
During the 4th century, Arianism (a heresy which denies the divinity of Christ) proved to be incredibly popular and St Cyril of Jerusalem was surrounded by it. Despite the accusations of St Jerome, as Bishop of Jerusalm Cyril attracted the enmity of a leading Arian of the time. It was perhaps for this reason that Cyril was accused of selling church property, and forced to endure several periods of exile, and in his absence Jerusalem was torn apart by heresy.
Despite these difficulties, Cyril would eventually become known as a champion of orthodoxy. At the Council of Constantinople 381, Cyril defended the term “homoousios” in the Nicene Creed, which is the doctrine that defines the Son as being of the same in essence as as the Father. Today he is known for his catechetical lectures, which he gave during Lent to those being baptised at Easter, leading to him being declared Doctor of the Church in 1882.
Pope Benedict, in his GA talk on Cyril:
Cyril was born at or near Jerusalem in 315 A.D. He received an excellent literary education which formed the basis of his ecclesiastical culture, centred on study of the Bible. He was ordained a priest by Bishop Maximus.
When this Bishop died or was deposed in 348, Cyril was ordained a Bishop by Acacius, the influential Metropolitan of Caesarea in Palestine, a philo-Arian who must have been under the impression that in Cyril he had an ally; so as a result Cyril was suspected of having obtained his episcopal appointment by making concessions to Arianism.
Actually, Cyril very soon came into conflict with Acacius, not only in the field of doctrine but also in that of jurisdiction, because he claimed his own See to be autonomous from the Metropolitan See of Caesarea.
Cyril was exiled three times within the course of approximately 20 years: the first time was in 357, after being deposed by a Synod of Jerusalem; followed by a second exile in 360, instigated by Acacius; and finally, in 367, by a third exile – his longest, which lasted 11 years – by the philo-Arian Emperor Valens.
It was only in 378, after the Emperor’s death, that Cyril could definitively resume possession of his See and restore unity and peace to his faithful….
….Of Cyril’s writings, 24 famous catecheses have been preserved, which he delivered as Bishop in about 350.
You can find those catecheses here.
An excerpt:
Blot out from your mind all earthly care: for you are running for your soul. You are utterly forsaking the things of the world: little are the things which you are forsaking, great what the Lord is giving.
Forsake things present, and put your trust in things to come.
Have you run so many circles of the years busied in vain about the world, and have you not forty days to be free (for prayer ), for your own soul’s sake?
Be still , and know that I am God, says the Scripture.
Excuse yourself from talking many idle words: neither backbite, nor lend a willing ear to backbiters; but rather be prompt to prayer.
Show in ascetic exercise that your heart is nerved.
Cleanse your vessel, that you may receive grace more abundantly. For though remission of sins is given equally to all, the communion of the Holy Ghost is bestowed in proportion to each man’s faith. If you have laboured little, you receive little; but if you have wrought much, the reward is great. You are running for yourself, see to your own interest.
That bolded sentence is an apt reminder for Lent.
Below are the Cyril-related pages.
Charlotte was Both 