Feast day: March 18
St. Cyril of Jerusalem
Bishop of Jerusalem whose lectures to new converts remain a master class in teaching the faith; exiled three times in the Arian crisis.
Cyril was born about 315 near Jerusalem and became bishop of that city around 350. He governed the Church in the very place of Christ's death and resurrection during one of its most turbulent centuries, and three times the Arian controversy drove him from his see into exile, for a total of some sixteen years.
His enduring monument is a series of instructions he gave to those preparing for baptism — the 'Catechetical Lectures.' Delivered in the great basilica Constantine had built over Calvary and the Holy Sepulchre, they are among the most precious records of early Christian belief, explaining the Creed, the sacraments, and the Eucharist to new converts in plain and vivid language.
Because they describe in detail how Christians of the fourth century were baptized, anointed, and given Communion, the lectures are a priceless window onto the ancient liturgy — and they make Cyril, in effect, a patron of catechists, those who hand on the faith.
He attended the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople in 381, which affirmed the orthodox faith he had suffered to defend. He died in 386, and in 1883 was declared a Doctor of the Church.
He spent 16 of his 35 years as bishop in exile — and still left us some of the most beautiful catechesis ever written.
“The dragon sits by the side of the road, watching those who pass. Beware lest he devour you. We go to the Father of souls, but it is necessary to pass by the dragon.”
— St. Cyril of Jerusalem
Image: AnonymousUnknown author (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.
Source: newadvent.org/cathen/04595b.htm
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