St., bishop of Jerusalem, was born in that city about A.D. 315. He was ordained priest by Maximus the patriarch, under whom he held the office of catechist; and chiefly through the influence of Acacius of Cesarea he was chosen to fill the vacant see of his spiritual father (A.D. 351). The opening of his episcopate was signalized by the ap- pearance, during the festival of Pentecost, of a luminous cross in the heavens, stretching for two miles from Golgotha to Olivet; but the prestige of the omen did not prevent the immediate outbreak of a quarrel between him and the rival metropolitan of Cesarea. The subject of dispute was the consubstantiality of the Son; but the real origin of the dis- agreement may be traced to the firmness of Cyril in main- taining the independence of his see. After contesting their claims with various success before the synod of the bishops of Palestine, the emperor Constantius, and the synod of Seleucia, Cyril was at length deposed by the council of Constantinople. After a short period of retirement spent at Tarsus, he returned to his see on the accession of Julian, but was a second time expelled by the Arian bishop of Con- stantinople. He was finally restored, under the Trinitarian Theodosius, by the council of Constantinople (A.D. 381). The principal works of Cyril are his Eighteen Catechetical Discourses, consisting of brief expositions of Christian doc- trine to the catechumens of his diocese. The last five, enti- tled Mystagogical Lectures, are devoted chiefly to an ex- position of the sacraments. Independently of the prodigy of the radiant cross that marked the commencement, and the prophecy of the miraculous interruption of Julian's at- tempt to rebuild Jerusalem, that signalized the close of his career, we have ample proof in his writings of the supersti- tious caste of Cyril's mind. He was particularly enthu- siastic in inculcating the adoration of the cross, and firmly believed in the miraculous multiplication of its fragments. Amongst other doctrines, we find great prominence given to the perpetual virginity of Mary, and transubstantiation. His writings are valuable as giving elaborate accounts of the ritual of the church over which he presided.

St., patriarch of Alexandria, was educated under his uncle Theophilus, the bishop of that place, and spent a considerable part of his youth in the adjacent monasteries of Nitria. From this solitude, however, he was recalled by his uncle, who installed him as preacher in the cathedral, and instilled into his mind those lessons of zeal and dominion which the unscrupulous antagonist of Chrysostom was so well qualified to impart. On the death of Theophilus the clergy were divided in their choice of a successor; but a resistless multitude asserted the cause of their favourite archi- deacon, and the ambitious Cyril was duly installed in the throne of Athanasius. Like Nestorius, the contemporary bishop of Constantinople, he began his patriarchal reign with a vigorous persecution of heretics; and the first victims were the Novatians, the most innocent of all the existing sects. His next stroke was aimed at the Jews, whom he attacked at the head of a sedulous multitude, and levelled their synagogues with the ground. Hypatia, the daughter of Theon the mathematician, was the next to excite his jealousy; and having been represented as alienating the mind of the governor from the clergy, she was dragged to the church and murdered by a band of merciless fanatics. (See HYPATIA.) One step only remained to gratify his am- bition; and the phraseology of Nestorius (acquired in the Syrian school) in regard to the two natures of Christ, afforded an admirable opportunity for the degradation of the Byzan- tine pontiff. After a short correspondence, the patriarch of Alexandria denounced to the emperor the heresy of Nes- torius, and carried his plea to the Vatican. Pope Celestine, ignorant of Greek, and therefore incapable of realizing the defence of the accused, hastily assembled a council, which condemned Nestorius and degraded him from his rank. From Rome the contest travelled back to Ephesus, and there the arrival of the Eastern bishops under John of Antioch converted the ecclesiastical quarrel into a warlike feud. The intrigues of Cyril, however, triumphed over every ob- stacle; and after an appeal to Theodosius the emperor, the belligerents, partially reconciled, concurred in the condem- nation of Nestorius. On returning to Alexandria, Cyril was engaged in a controversy with Theodore, which lasted till his death, A.D. 444. The principal works of Cyril are his Glaphyra, or commentaries, and a variety of contro- versial treatises and epistles. The former are disfigured by a constant rage for allegorizing; and the latter, besides the obscenity arising from the abstruse nature of their subjects, are involved in additional uncertainty by the ruggedness and obscurity of his style.