St. Luxury Of Alexandria Essay

St. Cyril of Alexandria lived a very fascinating life, living from 375 to 444 AD. St. Cyril of Alexandria was a Christian theologian and bishop in the 5th century. Cyril was ordained by his uncle and received a theological and classical education in Alexandria. He went with his uncle to Constantinople in 403 and attended the Synod of the Oak that had John Crysostom leading the program. Cyril was was greatly known for his campaign against Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, whose views on Christ’s nature were considered heretical. In 1882, Cyril was given the position as doctor of the church. He succeeded his uncle Theophilus, the patriarch of that city, as bishop of Alexandria in 412 AD and was disliked for his passion of orthodoxy. Cyril shut down the churches of the Novatians because it denied the power of the church to set free those who had lapsed into idolatry during persecution. He was also partly responsible for the expulsion of the Jews from Alexandria from their attacks on the Christians. Because of this awful tragedy mostly Jews started to form riots and chaos broke out. Since Cyril was involved in this he was sent to the civil government to talk to the authorities. He was sent to confront the council on Nestorius’ religion and how his faith is crippled. Cyril remained as a high class citizen of Egypt, and he was in some ways considered as a religious leader while struggling with Nestorius. Nestorius and Cryil’s conflict explained and talked about the doctrinal matter; it also made them aware that Constantinople might come and conquer them. The divine and human nature within Jesus Christ was involved in their religious argument. Cyril talked greatly heavily about the unity of two in one person. While on the other hand Nestorius, argued on how Christ was split up into two person working together. In their rivalry Cyril calls Mary Theotokos, which is Greek for “God-bearer”. To describe the unity of the two natures in the Incarnation. Nestorius refused to accept that he calls Mary, Theotokos, and so the matter was taken to a general council at Ephesus in 431. Cyril, was then granted the authority to represent Pope Celestine I and as well as himself, he then gathered the council and settled the problem. Emperor Theodosius II arrested He was very eager and did not wait for certain bishops from the East to get there, mainly from the see of Antioch, where Nestorius lived before he had become the bishop of Constantinople. Later …show more content…
Two years later, Archbishop John, who was representing the Antiochene bishops, and Cyril had come to an agreement and joined in the condemnation, and Nestorius was forced into exile and never to come back. During the rest of Cyril’s life he wrote these treatises that helped to clarify the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation, so that would help prevent Nestorianism and Pelagianism in the Christian community. He was the most brilliant and talented theologian of the Alexandrian tradition. His writings are characterized by logical thinking and great reasoning skills. In some of his writings are commentaries on John, Luke, and the Pentateuch. He was promoted to be a doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII in 1882. To celebrate this wonderful promotion he has a feast day do the 27th of June in the Western