St Cyril of Alexandria, Doctor of the Incarnation

St Cyril of Alexandria was the bishop of Alexandria, in Egypt, from 412 to 444, the man who led the Council of Ephesus in 431 against Nestorius and defended the title of the Blessed Virgin as Theotokos, Mother of God. Pope Leo XIII declared him a Doctor of the Universal Church in 1882, and the tradition calls him the Doctor of the Incarnation. In the calendar of 1962 his feast falls on 9 February, a feast of the third class whose Collect is a small summary of his whole life: it calls him the "unconquered defender of the divine motherhood of the most Blessed Virgin Mary".

Who was St Cyril of Alexandria?

Cyril was born in Egypt in the last quarter of the fourth century, of a distinguished family, and grew up in the shadow of his uncle Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria. The lessons of his feast in the Roman Breviary say that even as a young man he showed an outstanding mind, that he was well formed in letters and the sciences, and that he went to Jerusalem to be perfected in the Christian faith. When Theophilus died in 412, Cyril was raised to the see of Alexandria, the second see of Christendom after Rome.

Butler's Lives of the Saints, which follows the traditional account, does not hide the hard edges of the man. Cyril began his episcopate by closing the churches of the Novatians and by expelling the Jews of the city after violent clashes, which set him against Orestes, the imperial governor. In this climate of riot, a mob murdered Hypatia, the pagan philosopher most honoured in Alexandria, "to the great grief and scandal of all good men", Butler writes, "and especially, it may be believed, of St Cyril".

Butler also notes that Cyril shared his uncle's prejudice against St John Chrysostom and was slow to restore his name to the diptychs of his church. He sums him up as "a man of strong and impulsive character, brave but sometimes over-vehement". The Church did not canonize his temperament; she honoured his faith, and the faith he defended is hers.

St Cyril and Nestorius: the Council of Ephesus (431)

In 428 Nestorius, a monk of Antioch, became archbishop of Constantinople. He and some of his clergy taught, in Butler's words, "that there were two distinct persons in Christ, that of God and that of man, joined only by a moral union", and consequently refused to call the Blessed Virgin Mother of God, allowing only "mother of Christ". The faithful of the capital were scandalised, and protests rose on all sides.

Cyril first wrote to Nestorius with a mild remonstrance, and received only contempt. Both parties appealed to Pope St Celestine I, who examined the doctrine in a council at Rome, condemned it, and charged Cyril with carrying out the sentence. Cyril sent Nestorius a final summons with twelve propositions, the famous Twelve Anathemas, to be signed as proof of his orthodoxy. The first sets out the whole question in one sentence:

"If anyone will not confess that the Emmanuel is very God, and that therefore the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God (Θεοτόκος), inasmuch as in the flesh she bore the Word of God made flesh [...] let him be anathema."

Nestorius refused. The third general council met at Ephesus in June 431, about two hundred bishops strong, with Cyril presiding "by the delegated authority of Celestine", as the Breviary says. Nestorius was condemned and deposed, and the Catholic dogma was proclaimed: one divine Person in Christ, and the divine motherhood of the glorious Virgin Mary. The Breviary adds that the whole people, in incredible joy, escorted the bishop to his lodging by the light of torches.

The victory was not quiet. John of Antioch arrived with his bishops after the condemnation, held a rival assembly and "deposed" Cyril in turn; the emperor had both Cyril and Nestorius arrested. The arrival of the papal legates settled the matter: they confirmed the condemnation of Nestorius, approved Cyril's conduct and declared the sentence against him void. In 433 John of Antioch and his bishops made peace with Cyril on a clear profession of faith. Cyril governed his church until his death in 444, in the thirty-second year of his episcopate.

Ephesus is the reason we can say, without fear, Holy Mary, Mother of God. For what the title means and why it is not an exaggeration but a confession of Christ's divinity, see our page on Mary, the Mother of God. Cyril stands in the line of his great predecessor St Athanasius of Alexandria, who had fought for the divinity of the Son at Nicaea a century earlier: Athanasius defended who Christ is, Cyril defended that He is one.

The writings of St Cyril of Alexandria

Cyril wrote abundantly, "both to refute pagans and heretics and to explain the Holy Scriptures and the Catholic dogmas", as his lessons put it. Among his principal works:

• His letters to Nestorius, especially the second and the third with the Twelve Anathemas, which the Fathers of Ephesus received.
• On the Unity of Christ (Quod unus sit Christus), a dialogue that explains why the Word made flesh is one and the same Son.
• Commentaries on Scripture, among which the great Commentary on the Gospel of St John and commentaries on the prophets.
• Against Julian, a reply to the Emperor Julian the Apostate's attack on Christianity, which shows that Cyril had read the pagan authors too.
• The Paschal Letters, which the bishop of Alexandria sent each year to announce the date of Easter.

Butler recalls the rule he set himself: never to put forward any doctrine he had not learned from the ancient Fathers. His Greek is heavy and his style not elegant, but no Father is more exact on the mystery of the Incarnation, and the Council of Chalcedon in 451, which received the Tome of Pope St Leo the Great, also honoured Cyril's letters.

St Cyril of Alexandria on the Eucharist: quotes

The Doctor of the Incarnation is also a witness to the Real Presence, because the flesh received in Communion is the flesh of the Word. Butler quotes two passages. In his letter to Nestorius, received by the Fathers of Ephesus, Cyril wrote:

"We celebrate the bloodless sacrifice in our churches; and thus approach the mystic blessings, and are sanctified by partaking of the holy flesh and the precious blood of Christ the Saviour of us all. And we receive it, not as common flesh (God forbid) [...] but as really the life-giving and very flesh of the Word Himself."

And to Calosyrius, bishop of Arsinoe, against those who said the consecrated Host lost its power if it was kept to another day:

"Christ is not altered, nor will His holy body be changed; but the power of the consecration and the life-giving grace still remain in it."

That is the faith of the Church in the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament, written in the fifth century. You can read its full doctrine in our page on the Holy Eucharist.

The prayer of St Cyril of Alexandria (Missal of 1962)

The most authentic prayer to St Cyril of Alexandria is the one the Church herself prays on his feast. Its Collect is unusual: it names the dogma he defended and asks, through him, for the protection of the Mother of God.

Collect, 9 February

Deus, qui beátum Cyríllum Confessórem tuum atque Pontíficem divínæ maternitátis beatíssimæ Vírginis Maríæ assertórem invíctum effecísti: concéde, ipso intercedénte; ut, qui vere eam Genetrícem Dei crédimus, matérna eíusdem protectióne salvémur. Per eúndem Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.

O God, who didst make blessed Cyril, Thy Confessor and Bishop, the unconquered defender of the divine motherhood of the most Blessed Virgin Mary: grant, through his intercession, that we who believe her to be truly the Mother of God may be saved by her motherly protection. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

Secret

Múnera nostra, omnípotens Deus, benígnus réspice: et, intercedénte beáto Cyríllo, præsta; ut unigénitum tuum Jesum Christum, Dóminum nostrum in tua tecum glória coætérnum, in córdibus nostris digne suscípere mereámur: Qui tecum vivit et regnat.

Look kindly, almighty God, upon our offerings, and through the intercession of blessed Cyril grant that we may be worthy to receive fittingly into our hearts Thine only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, co-eternal with Thee in Thy glory: Who with Thee liveth and reigneth.

Postcommunion

Divínis, Dómine, refécti mystériis, te súpplices deprecámur: ut, exémplis et méritis beáti Cyrílli Pontíficis adjúti, sanctíssimæ Genetríci Unigéniti tui digne famulári valeámus: Qui tecum vivit et regnat.

Refreshed by the divine mysteries, O Lord, we humbly beseech Thee that, helped by the example and the merits of blessed Cyril, Thy Bishop, we may be able worthily to serve the most holy Mother of Thine only-begotten Son: Who with Thee liveth and reigneth.

The three prayers form a single line: the Collect confesses Mary as Mother of God, the Secret asks to receive her Son worthily, the Postcommunion asks, after Communion, to serve His Mother. The rest of the Mass is taken from the Common of Doctors, In medio Ecclesiæ.

When is the feast day of St Cyril of Alexandria?

In the traditional calendar of 1962 the feast of St Cyril of Alexandria is kept on 9 February, as a feast of the third class, in white vestments, with a commemoration of St Apollonia, virgin and martyr, whose day it also is. When Lent has already begun by 9 February, which happens in the years of a very early Easter, the Lenten weekday takes precedence and St Cyril is kept by a commemoration. You will find the day in its place in our traditional Catholic calendar of 1962.

The Breviary lessons, which call him "the illustrious defender of the Catholic faith and the light of the Eastern Church", note that it was Pope Leo XIII who extended his Office and Mass to the universal Church. In 1944, at the fifteenth centenary of his death, Pope Pius XII devoted the encyclical Orientalis Ecclesiae to him.

In the reform of the calendar promulgated in 1969, his feast was moved to 27 June. The calendar of 1962, which is the calendar of this app, keeps him on 9 February.

Is St Cyril of Alexandria a patron saint?

We have found no patronage attached to St Cyril of Alexandria by the tradition that we could confirm, and we would rather say so than invent one. His Collect itself shows what the Church asks of him: help to believe rightly about Christ and His Mother, and the protection of Our Lady. He is naturally honoured by those who teach the faith, and his name is carried by parishes that take him as their titular saint. The Coptic Church of Egypt, which descends from his see, also venerates him as one of its greatest fathers.

He belongs, with St Cyril of Jerusalem, whom Leo XIII declared a Doctor in the same year, to the great Greek Fathers whose lives are told on our page of Catholic saints.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was St Cyril of Alexandria?

He was the bishop of Alexandria from 412 to 444, nephew and successor of Bishop Theophilus. He presided over the Council of Ephesus in 431, which condemned Nestorius and proclaimed the Blessed Virgin Mother of God. He is a Doctor of the Church since 1882.

Why is St Cyril of Alexandria important?

Because he defended the unity of Christ: one divine Person, the Word, who truly became man. From that faith follows the title Theotokos, Mother of God, which the Council of Ephesus confirmed under his leadership. His writings on the Incarnation and on the Eucharist remain classic witnesses of Catholic doctrine.

When is the feast of St Cyril of Alexandria?

On 9 February in the calendar of 1962 (feast of the third class). The calendar of 1969 moved him to 27 June.

When was St Cyril of Alexandria canonized?

He was never canonized by a formal process, which did not exist in his day. Like the other Fathers of the first centuries, he was venerated as a saint by the Church from antiquity. Leo XIII extended his feast to the universal Church and declared him a Doctor in 1882.

When was St Cyril of Alexandria born?

The year is not known with certainty. He was born in Egypt in the last decades of the fourth century, became bishop in 412 and died in 444.

What did St Cyril of Alexandria write?

Letters against Nestorius with the Twelve Anathemas, the dialogue On the Unity of Christ, commentaries on Scripture (notably on the Gospel of St John), a refutation of Julian the Apostate, and the annual Paschal Letters.

Was St Cyril of Alexandria responsible for the death of Hypatia?

Butler, following the ancient historians, presents the murder of Hypatia as the work of an Alexandrian mob, in a city "more prone to lawless acts of violence" than any other, and calls it a grief and a scandal to all good men, "especially, it may be believed, of St Cyril". His responsibility has been disputed since antiquity; Butler, who follows the traditional account, does not lay the crime to his charge, and places it against the background of the hostility between the bishop and the governor.

What is the prayer to St Cyril of Alexandria?

The Collect of his feast in the Roman Missal, Deus, qui beatum Cyrillum, given above in Latin and English, with its Secret and Postcommunion.

The Iter Fidei app carries the calendar of 1962 with every feast, the Roman Missal and the Breviary in Latin and English, so you can pray the Mass and Office of St Cyril on his day. Join early access here.

Sources. Butler, Lives of the Saints, 9 February (St Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria, Doctor of the Church). Roman Missal (1962), Proper of Saints, 9 February. Roman Breviary (edition before 1960), 9 February, lessons of the second nocturn (in the Breviary of 1962 this third-class feast has a single, contracted lesson). St Cyril of Alexandria, Third Letter to Nestorius and the Twelve Anathemas (Council of Ephesus, 431).