My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
On the 9th of June, Our Holy Orthodox Church
commemorates Saint CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA.
Saint Cyril was of noble birth and a close kinsman of Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, after whose death he was chosen as Patriarch. He fought three fierce battles in the course of his life: against the Novatianist heretics, against Nestorius and against the Jews of Alexandria. The Novatianists began in Rome, and were so called after their leader, the heretic priest Novatian. They were filled with pride at their virtues, went about dressed in white, banned second marriages and declared that one must not pray for those who had committed mortal sin nor receive back into the Church those who had once fallen away, however deeply they might repent. Saint Cyril overcame them and drove them out of Alexandria, together with their bishop. The battle with the Jews was harder and bloodier. The Jews had been in the ascendant in Alexandria right from the time that Alexander the Great founded the city. Their hatred towards the Christians was vicious and mindless. They killed Christians by treachery, by poison and by crucifixion. After a long and difficult struggle, Saint Cyril succeeded inducing the Emperor to drive the Jews out of Alexandria. His battle, however, against the heretic Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, was resolved at teh Third Ecumenincal Council in Ephesus. Saint Cyril himself presided at this Council, and also represented Pope Celestine of Rome at his request, he being prevented by old age from attending the Council. Nestorius was condemned, anathematized and exiled by the Emperor to the eastern borders of the Empire, where he died. After the end of these battles, Saint Cyril lived in peace and guided Christ’s flock with zeal. He went to the Lord in the year A.D. 444. It is said that he composed the hymn: "Rejoice, Mother of God and Virgin."
FOR CONSIDERATION
We sin if we reckon that we owe it to our kinsfolk to hate those whom they hate. Such a hate infects us like a hereditary disease. Adopting the loves of our kinsmen, we also adopt their hatreds. Even great spiritual giants were sometimes given to this weakness. Patriarch Theophilos could not bear Saint John Chrysostom, and remained his bitterest opponent to the end of his days. Saint Cyril, his kinsman and heir on the Alexandian throne, inherited his hatred for Saint John and carried it himself for a long time. Saint Isidore of Pelusium exhorted him in vain to change his mind about Chrysostom and inscribe him in the Diptych of Saints, but Cyril as unable to overcome his ill-will. Then the holy Mother of God, for whose honor and glory Cyril had fought so fiercely against the heretic Nestoriu, appeared to him in a vision, surrounded by Angels and accompanied by Saint John Chrysostom in great glory and the Holy and Most Pure begged Saint John to forgive Cyril and embrace him. This vision completely reversed Cyril’s attitude to Chrysostom, and he repented with shame that he had so hated him, doing his utmost for the rest of his life to glorify him as a great Saint of God. [Resources: The Prologue from Ochrid]
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
+ Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 