Saint Cyril of Jerusalem

c. 313–386 · 4th c. · 1 work

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem was archbishop of Jerusalem in the fourth century and a defender of Nicene orthodoxy, later named a Doctor of the Church. He is best remembered as a catechist, and his instructions are a principal witness to the worship and baptismal practice of fourth-century Jerusalem.

Born about 315 and raised in Christian piety, he became a presbyter and around 350 succeeded Maximus on the throne of Jerusalem. Caught up in the Arian controversy and at odds with Acacius of Caesarea, he was driven from his see three times and spent years in exile, returning at last under the emperor Theodosius.

He took part in the Second Ecumenical Council of 381, which affirmed the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. His chief surviving work is the Catechetical Lectures — eighteen instructions delivered in Lent to those preparing for baptism, grounded in the Jerusalem creed, together with five Mystagogical Catecheses explaining the sacraments to the newly baptized.

He died in 386. Venerated as a saint and honored as a patron of catechists, he is commemorated by the Orthodox Church on 18 March.

Sources: Orthodox Church in America — Life of St Cyril of Jerusalem · Encyclopædia Britannica — St. Cyril of Jerusalem