(St) patriarch of Alexandria, succeeded Theophilus, his uncle, in 412. Scarce was he installed, when he began to exert his authority with great vigour; he drove the Novatians and Jews from Alexandria, andria, permitting their wealth and synagogues to be taken from them. This proceeding highly displeased Orettes, the governor of the city, who saw that if the bishop's authority was not soon suppressed it might grow too strong for that of the magistrate. Upon which a kind of civil war broke out between Orettes and the bishop; many tumults were raised, and some battles fought in the very streets of Alexandria. St Cyril distinguished himself by his zeal against Nestorius bishop of Constantinople, who, in some of his homilies, had asserted that the Virgin Mary ought not to be called the mother of God. The dispute at first proved unfavourable to Cyril, whose opinion was not only condemned, but himself deprived of his bishopric and thrown into prison. But he was soon after released, and gained a complete victory over Nestorius, who in 431 was deposed from his see of Constantinople. Cyril returned to his see at Constantinople, where he died in 444. St Cyril also wrote against Theodore of Mopsuestia, Diodorus of Tarsus, and Julian the apostate. He composed commentaries on St John's gospel, and wrote several other books. His works were published in Greek and Latin in 1638, in five volumes folio.