St. Cyril of Jerusalem
Image: Catholic Online
Bishop of Jerusalem and Doctor of the Church, little is known of Cyril except from information that one gathers from his younger contemporaries Epiphanius, Jerome and Rufinus, together from 5th century historians Socrates, Sozomen and Theodoret.
Raised in Jerusalem and well educated, especially in the Scriptures, Cyril was ordained a Priest by the Bishop of Jerusalem according to Franciscan Media and given the task of catechizing during Lent those preparing for baptism and during the Easter season the newly baptized. Cyril’s ‘Catecheses’ remain valuable as examples of the ritual and theology of the Church in the 4th century.
The crisis the Church faces today may seem minor when compared with the threat posed by the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Jesus Christ and almost overcame Christianity during the 4th century–Cyril was caught up in the controversies, accused later of Arianism by St. Jerome (345-420) but ultimately vindicated in his own time. In the Synodal Letter of 382 after the 2nd Council of Constantinople (381) writes Idle Speculations the Eastern Bishops, officially recognized Cyril’s flawless doctrine.
Cyril became Bishop of Jerusalem according to Justus Anglican.org in about 349 his ‘Catechetical Lectures’ found here at Amazon and here at SQPN.com remain invaluable resource documents for the Church’s early teachings.