We know little about Cyril's early life. Historians estimate that he was born by around 315 AD and was brought up in Jerusalem. His parents were probably Christians and he seemed to care for them a great deal. He had a sister and a nephew, Gelasius, who became a bishop and a saint.

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 within the Church.

After being ordained a deacon and then a priest, his bishop Saint Maximus put him in charge of the instruction of catechumens. His ‘Catecheses’ remain valuable as examples of the ritual and theology of the Church in the mid-fourth century.

He exhorted catechumens to honour their parents "for however much we may repay them, yet we can never be to them what they as parents have been to us."

"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.

When a famine hit Jerusalem, the poor turned to Cyril for help. Cyril, seeing the poor starving to death and having no money, sold some of the goods of the churches to support them, which turned out to be a controversy in the end.

Conflicts did arise between Cyril and Acacius, bishop of the nearby see of Caesarea. In fact, the initial cause of the falling out between Acacius and Cyril was territory, not beliefs. As bishop of Caesarea, Acacia had authority over all the bishops of Palestine. Cyril argued that his authority did not include Jerusalem, because Jerusalem was an "apostolic see", one of the original sees set up by the apostles. When Cyril did not appear at councils that Acacius called, Acacius accused him of selling church goods to raise money and had him expelled. Half of Cyril’s episcopate was spent in exile and his first experience was repeated twice.

Cyril attended two Councils of the Church, the first being the Council of Seleucia in 359 AD. In 381 AD, he attended the Council at Constantinople as well, where the Nicene Creed and orthodoxy triumphed and Arianism was finally condemned. Cyril received justice at the same Council where he was cleared of all previous allegations and the Council commended him for fighting "a good fight in various places against the Arians."

Eleven years after the exile, Cyril was allowed to go back, only to find a Jerusalem destroyed by heresy and strife. He was never able to put things completely right and died in 386 AD, at about seventy years old.

Saint Cyril is known as Greek Father of the Church and for his profound teachings, the Church reveres him as Doctor of the Church as well.

Other Saints of the Day

1. Saint Edward the Martyr
2. Saint Anselm of Lucca the Younger
3. Saint Frigidian of Lucca
4. Saint Narcissus of Gerona
5. Saint Braulio of Saragossa

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