The “All Saints Days” column of June 27: Saint Cyril of Alexandria.
June 27th marks the optional memorial of Saint Cyril of Alexandria. Nephew of Theophilus, who ruled the diocese of Alexandria in Egypt as bishop from 385, Cyril was probably born in the same city between 370 and 380. He was soon introduced to ecclesiastical life and received a good education, both cultural and theological. In 403, following his uncle, he participated in the Synod known as the Oak, which led to the deposition of the bishop of Constantinople, John Chrysostom, and the predominance of the Alexandrian see over the rival one, the residence of the emperor. Upon the death of Theophilus in 412, the young Cyril was elected bishop of the influential Church of Alexandria, which he governed with great energy for 32 years, always aiming to strengthen its primacy throughout the East. Having affirmed the Christian faith towards paganism and Judaism, going so far as to eliminate the flourishing Jewish community in the city of Alexandria in Egypt, Saint Cyril was very involved in the conflicts that emerged within the Eastern Church. With the election of Nestorius in 428, the theological disputes between the two bishoprics were rekindled: the new bishop of Constantinople, in his preaching, preferred for Mary the title of “Mother of Christ” (Christotókos), instead of of «Mother of God» (Theotókos), leaning towards the duophysite doctrine on the natures of Jesus Christ, thus privileging the presence of human nature in Jesus to the point of relegating the divine nature to the background. During the Council of Ephesus, Cyril’s position was to underline the unity of the person of Christ: in Him the two natures, divine and human, are reunited. The thesis of Monophysitism was reconfirmed by Pope Leo I in the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and the pontiff recognized the merits of his theological lesson to the bishop of Alexandria. Saint Cyril died on 27 June 444 and was proclaimed Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII in 1882.
From the point of view iconographicis depicted in bishop’s clothes and with a pastoral staff.
