578 



CYRIL CVKUS. 



Jerusalem. Being a zealous Catholic, he engaged in 

 a warm controversy with Acacius, tile Arian Ehfaop 

 of Caesarea. In addition to their dispute upon 

 doctrinal points, Acacius accused him of having sold 

 some valuable church ornaments, which he had in- 

 deed done, but for the laudable purpose of support- 

 ing the needy during a famine. A council assem- 

 bled at Caesarea, by Acacius, in 357, deposed Cyril ; 

 hut the council of Seleucia, in 359, restored him 

 and deposed his persecutor. Acacius, by his artifices, 

 succeeded in depriving him again of his dignity the 

 next year, and, after the emperor Constantius, on his 

 accession to t he throne, had once more recalled him, 

 he was a third time deposed by the emperor Valens, 

 after whose death lie finally returned to Jerusalem. 

 In 381, the council of Constantinople confirmed him. 

 lie died in 386. We hare twenty-three catecheses 

 composed by him, in a clear and simple style, which 

 are esteemed the oldest and best outline of the Chris- 

 tum dogmas (Paris, 1720, folio). 



2. Cyril of Alexandria was educated by his un- 

 cle Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria ; and spent 

 five years in the monasteries of Nitria, where he 

 was instructed by the abbot Serapion. He then 

 went to Alexandria, where his graceful form and 

 pleasing delivery gained him so many adherents, that 

 after his uncle's death, in 1412, he succeeded him 

 in the patriarchal dignity. Full of zeal and ambition, 

 he was not satisfied with ecclesiastical honour alone, 

 but exercised secular dominion also. To punish the 

 Jews, by whom Christian blood had been shed, dur- 

 ing an insurrection, he assailed them, at the head of 

 the populace, destroyed their houses and their furni- 

 ture, and drove them out of the city. Orestes, the 

 prefect of Egypt, who complained of such lawless 

 violence, so Inconsistent with the character of a 

 bishop, was soon after attacked in the streets by 500 

 furious monks, one of whom, having wounded Orestes, 

 was apprehended, condemned to death, and expired 

 under the blows of the lictors. Cyril caused his body 

 to be carried in a solemn procession to the cathedral, [ 

 gave him the name of Thaumasius, and extolled him j 

 as a martyr and a saint. The assassination of Hy- 

 patia, the learned daughter of Theon, the mathema- 

 tician, who had excited the envy of Cyril, by the ap- 

 plause which she had gained by her knowledge of 

 geometry and philosophy, took place at his instiga- 

 tion. In the notorious synod ol 403, hi concurrence 

 with his uncle, he had planned the condemnation of 

 St Chrysostom, and it was only after an obstinate re- 

 sistance, that he was persuaded to submit to the de- 

 crees of the Catholic church, in respect to that pre- 

 late. Still more fierce were his disputes with Nes- 

 torius, successor to Clirysostom, who distinguished 

 between the divine and human nature of Christ, 

 acknowledging Mary as the mother of Christ, but 

 refusing to her the appellation of mother of God. 

 Cyril contended long and violently against these doc- 

 trines, and appointed pope Celestine umpire, who im- 

 mediately condemned them. He drew up twelve 

 anathemas, directed against John, patriarch of Anti- 

 och, which, in the opinion even of theologians, are not 

 wholly free from heresy, and called upon Nestorius 

 to subscribe them. To settle the dispute between 

 these two prelates, the council of Ephesus was sum- 

 moned. Both parties appeared with a great number 

 of adherents and servants between whom innumer- 

 able disputes arose. Cyril opened the council before 

 the arrival of the patriarch of Autiocb ; and although 

 Xestorius refused to recognize his enemies as judges; 

 although sixty-eight bishops were in his favour, and 

 a magistrate, in the name of the emperor, demanded 

 a delay of four days ; yet, in a single day, Nestorius 

 was condemned, deposed, and declared to be a second 

 Judas. Soon after, the patriarch of Antioch arrived, 



and held a synod of fifty bishops, who, with eijusu 

 h;:ste. condemned Cyril as yuiliy of heresy, and de- 

 clared him a monster horn tor the ruin of the church. 

 Both parties rushed to arms : the streets of the city, 

 and the cathedral itself, became the theatre of iheii 

 fury, and were polluted with blood. The emperor 

 Theodosius sent troops to Ephesus, to disperse- this 

 pugnacious council. This measure, however, only 

 changed the theatre of the war; for it was continued 

 three years longer, between John of Antioch and 

 Cyril. Soon alter, Nestorius, not le<s violent than 

 Cyril, obtained from the emperor a command tor 

 Cyril to appear again before a council at Kphcsiis. 

 Both parties appeared, with their adherents in anus. 

 Cyril was maltreated and even imprisoned. J le e*- 

 caped from his keepers, however, and fled to Alex- 

 andria. From that place, he contrived, by distribut- 

 ing bribes, to excite an insurrection in Constanti- 

 nople, which struck terror into the timid emperor. 

 Negotiations were begun : Cyril was prevailed upon 

 to mitigate his anathema, and, against his will, to 

 acknowledge a two-fold nature in Christ. But Nes- 

 torius, as he was determined never to renounce his 

 opinions, was compelled to lay down his offices, and 

 to retire to a monastery. He was afterwards banished 

 to Thebais. In 339 or 340, he died. Cyril closed 

 his restless career in 344. His opinions prevailed 

 both in the Eastern and Western empire, and the 

 church gave him a place among the saints. The best 

 edition of his works, in which there is neither clear- 

 ness nor accuracy of style, is that of 1038, in folio. 



3. St Cyril, a native of Thessalonica, by way of 

 distinction, was called Constantine, and, at ConsUiiK 

 tinople, where he studied, received the name of the 

 Philosopher. At the recommendation of St Ignatius, 

 the emperor Michael III. sent him to the Chaznrs 

 a people of the stock of the Huns. He converted 

 the khan, after whose example the whole nation 

 were baptized. He then preached the gospel, with 

 Methodicus, to the Bulgarians, and baptized their 

 king Bojaris, A. D. 860. They had the same suc- 

 cess in Moravia and Bohemia. Still later, they went 

 to Rome, where they both died. According to Do- 

 browsky, Cyril died in 868 : according to Xav. Rich- 

 ter, he died in 871 or 872. The two apostles were 

 both declared saints. The Greeks and Russians cele- 

 brate the festival of St Cyril on Feb. 14. He was 

 the inventor of the Cyrillian Letters which took their 

 name from him, and is probably the author of the 

 Apologies which bear his name. 



CYRILLIAN LETTERS ; characters called, in 

 Sclavonic, Czuralha; one of the modes of writing 

 the Sclavonic language, of which there are three : 

 1. Roman or German letters, used by the people of 

 Poland, Bohemia, and Lusatia ; 2. Cyrillian, so 

 called from their inventor, Cyrillus. They are 

 much used by the Russians. 3. From these Cyril- 

 lian characters, probably through the artifices of cal- 

 ligraphy, a peculiar alphabet was formed, which is 

 sometimes used in printed books, but nowhere in 

 common life. 



CYRUS; a celebrated conqueror. The only two 

 original authorities concerning him, Herodotus and 

 Xenophon, differ so greatly, tliat they cannot be re- 

 conciled. According to Herodotus, he was the son 

 of Cambyses, a distinguished Persian, and of Man- 

 dane, daughter of the Median king Astyages. He 

 founded the Persian monarchy. (See Assyria.) A 

 short time before his birth, the soothsayers at the 

 court of Astyages divined from a dream of his, that his 

 future grandson was to dethrone him. Upon this, he 

 gave orders that Cyrus should be destroyed immedi- 

 ately after his birth. For this purpose he was deliv- 

 ered to a herdsman, who, moved with compassion, 

 brought him up, and named him Cyrus. His cour- 



