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#ASaintADay | 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝟏𝟖 • 𝐒𝐭. 𝐂𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐦

𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓

“Make your fold with the sheep; flee from the wolves: depart not from the Church,” Cyril admonished catechumens surrounded by heresy. These were prophetic words for Cyril was to be hounded by enemies and heretics for most of his life, and although they could exile him from his diocese he never left his beloved Church.

Cyril’s life began a few years before Arianism (the heresy that Jesus was not divine or one in being with the Father) and he lived to see its suppression and condemnation at the end of his life. In between he was the victim of many of the power struggles that took place.

We know little about Cyril’s early life. Historians estimate he was born about 315 and that he was brought up in Jerusalem. He speaks about the appearance of the sites of the Nativity and Holy Sepulchre before they were “improved” by human hands as if he were a witness. All we know of his family were that his parents were probably Christians and he seemed to care for them a great deal. He exhorted catechumens to honor parents “for however much we may repay them, yet we can never be to them what they as parents have been to us.” We know he also had a sister and a nephew, Gelasius, who became a bishop and a saint.

𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐑

𝘖 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱 𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘊𝘺𝘳𝘪𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘑𝘦𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘊𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘶𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘚𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺.