Voices and influences
Cyril of Alexandria
A patriarch whose early years in office were genuinely violent, and whose defense of the one Christ shaped every council that came after him.
Summary
This site quotes Cyril of Alexandria 632 times across 25 books, and lists 0 works.
- Lived died 444.
- Quoted here most in John: 328 of 632.
Cyril of Alexandria
- Lived
- died 444
- Tradition
- Patristic
5 of 632 quotations
Own words
Quoted in full, because Cyril of Alexandria died in 444 and these works are out of copyright. Each citation below names its edition and its year. A citation naming a modernised text means that edition makes its own editorial changes, and that edition's terms are not in this site's record.
The fact that the world should have been offended because of Christ, after the increase in the flocks of believers, and that it, excited by its anger, would have reacted, does not need to be confirmed with a long speech.
GLAPHYRA ON Genesis, 5.5, 444
The rest of the quotation
Just see how Laban, together with his sons, pursued Jacob, who was running away, and recalled him. Christ himself, in a sense, departed from the world with his brides, that is, the churches, and moved out with the entire household by spiritually addressing his companions with these words: "Arise, let us go from here."
Genesis 31:21 So he fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and headed for the hill country of Gilead. BSB
This forecasts the coming of the Savior and our redemption by his coming. It also foretells the granting of riches to those who believe in him.… Concerning that which is new, that is, the church, it may be fittingly said that it is the daughter…
The rest of the quotation
of Zion.… For whom does he order to proclaim good news to Zion? Those holy spiritual guides, of course, who took on the leadership role in the church and whose job it was to open the gates and to remove the stones from their midst. And what were they to announce?
Isaiah 62:11 Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the ends of the earth, “Say to Daughter Zion: See, your Savior comes! Look, His reward is with Him, and His recompense goes before Him.” BSB
But perhaps you say that the outcome of these matters grieves you not moderately. Will there then be an affliction in a city, perchance, which the Lord has not done?
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It is like as if one should say: Will there then be anyone among men able to afflict a city either with diseases or sieges or destructions of crops or even in some other such way? But if no one of men could do such things, and it lies rather in the authority and power of God, why are you angry with those who announce it beforehand?
Amos 3:6 If a ram’s horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? If calamity comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it? BSB
The divine nature of the only begotten Son was already scorching the demons in unspeakable flames. Christ was shutting up the fiercest demons in blocked roads. He was undoing the devil's tyranny. "You have come before the time," they cried out.
FRAGMENT 101, 444
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For they knew from the Scriptures that Christ was going to come and would judge them. Treating the incarnation as if it had happened at the wrong time, they pled that he had come in an untimely way. This misrepresentation is not surprising. In their deceptiveness, they did not hesitate to say even this.
Matthew 8:28–29 When Jesus arrived on the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, He was met by two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. “What do You want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have You come here to torture us before the appointed time?” BSB
Peter did not say "you are a Christ" or "a son of God" but "the Christ, the Son of God." For there are many christs by grace, who have attained the rank of adoption [as sons], but [there is] only one who is by nature…
FRAGMENT 190, 444
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the Son of God. Thus, using the definite article, he said, the Christ, the Son of God. And in calling him Son of the living God, Peter indicates that Christ himself is life and that death has no authority over him.
Matthew 16:16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” BSB
Influence, on the record
This site quotes Cyril of Alexandria 632 times across 25 books.
This site’s own count of what it does with the voice
The life, in order
The life told as one accountfrom this site's record
Cyril was born in Egypt about 376 and raised for the church by his uncle Theophilus, the patriarch of Alexandria. When Theophilus died in 412, Cyril succeeded him after three days of street fighting between rival factions. He held the see for thirty-two years. His early years in office were violent, and the record should be stated plainly. He closed the churches of the Novatianists and seized their goods. After a riot, the Jewish community of Alexandria — ancient, large, and long established — was driven out of the city. He quarreled bitterly with Orestes, the imperial prefect. In 415 the philosopher Hypatia, a friend of Orestes, was dragged from her carriage by a mob and murdered in a church. Socrates Scholasticus, a contemporary historian hostile to Cyril, lays the atmosphere at his door; no source proves he ordered it. Both facts belong in the account. The work he is honored for began in 428, when Nestorius became bishop of Constantinople and objected to calling Mary Theotokos, the God-bearer. Nestorius preferred Christ-bearer, holding that the title as used made God the subject of birth. Cyril saw what was underneath the word: if the one born of Mary is not God the Son himself, then the one who died on the cross is not God the Son himself, and the incarnation dissolves into a partnership between a divine person and a human one. He wrote to Nestorius, to the monks of Egypt, to Rome, to the emperor and empresses. He drew up Twelve Anathemas that even his allies found hard. At the Council of Ephesus in 431 he presided, opened the council before the Syrian bishops arrived, and had Nestorius deposed. The Antiochenes arrived and deposed Cyril in return. It took the emperor, imprisonment, enormous bribes to the court, and two years of negotiation before Cyril and John of Antioch signed the Formula of Reunion in 433 — Cyril accepting language about two natures he had resisted, and John accepting Theotokos. Underneath the politics is a vast body of exegesis. Cyril wrote commentaries on John, Luke, Isaiah, the Twelve Prophets and the Pentateuch, an enormous refutation of the emperor Julian's attack on Christianity, and On the Unity of Christ. His single sentence — that in Christ God the Word made a human life his own — is the foundation Chalcedon built on twenty years after his death. He died in 444. Rome named him a Doctor of the Church in 1882; the Coptic and Orthodox churches have honored him as the Pillar of the Faith without interruption. Sources: The Acts of the Council of Ephesus; Socrates Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History, book VII; Cyril of Alexandria, On the Unity of Christ; Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. III.
632 quotations across 25 books
Where this voice is quoted
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and learned from them the exact time the star had appeared.
“It wasn't the words of the magi that troubled Herod. It was the speculations of the legal experts about the words of the believing prophets. For the magi were seeking a king, but the Jews were declaring that Christ had been born.”
And sending them to Bethlehem, he said: “Go and search carefully for the Child, and when you find Him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship…
“Herod treats the magi as ambassadors. For after a certain manner, they had come to the King of Israel in order to intercede that there might be peace between them and the Israelites.”
Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance.
“One might say that the fruits of repentance are, by way of anticipation, faith in Christ. They are also the evangelical society that exists "in newness of life," changed from the present dullness of the letter.”
When Jesus heard that John had been imprisoned, He withdrew to Galilee.
“It was not out of fear that he withdrew. By doing the things he did, he taught us to escape from persecutors. He "withdrew" from Judea to the Gentiles.”
the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.”
“And the "great light" is Christ our Lord and the brightness of the gospel preaching. It is not, in fact, the law, which was likened to a lamp.”
or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
“For this reason Jesus prohibits us from swearing by heaven or by the earth. This is in order that we should not give to creation an honor surpassing creation. Do not deify creation.”
When Jesus saw a large crowd around Him, He gave orders to cross to the other side of the sea.
“But it is only to the disciples that Jesus "gave orders to cross over to the other side," lest, from the crowds pressing about him, his disciples should be prevented from hearing those very teachings that were most appropriate for them.”
When Jesus arrived on the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, He was met by two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs.
“The divine nature of the only begotten Son was already scorching the demons in unspeakable flames. Christ was shutting up the fiercest demons in blocked roads. He was undoing the devil's tyranny. "You have come before the time," they cried out.”
Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
“Here Jesus calls the departure of life from the body the "loss of life," speaking figuratively. "He who finds his life" refers to anyone who too highly values transitory existence and as it were sells it at a profit.”
So will it be at the end of the age: The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous,
“The calling that is through Christ is to be extended throughout the whole world. The net of gospel preaching seeks to gather together people out of every nation.”
“Do you still not understand?” Jesus asked.
“"Without understanding" is what the Lord calls those who, like the Pharisees, make a fuss about external matters and have not yet discovered the inner life.”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
“Peter did not say "you are a Christ" or "a son of God" but "the Christ, the Son of God." For there are many christs by grace, who have attained the rank of adoption [as sons], but [there is] only one who is by nature…”
Since the man was unable to pay, the master ordered that he be sold to pay his debt, along with his wife and children and everything he owned.
“The sale of his wife and the rest of his family shows the complete and utter separation from the joys of God. For the sale shows quite clearly alienation from God.”
But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii.
“The God of all releases us from the difficulties of our faults, according to the parable. This is what is signified by the ten thousand talents.”
He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
“He gives to all "their single denarius," which is the grace of the Spirit, perfecting the saints in conformity with God and impressing the heavenly stamp on their souls and leading them to life and immortality.”
‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. So he told them, ‘You also go into my vineyard.’
“The last ones, receiving the generosity of the Master instead of troubles, are first to receive their reward, since all those after the Lord's coming have become—through baptism and the union with the Spirit—"sharers in God's nature" and are called sons of God.… For the…”
So when the original workers came, they assumed they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarius.
“Among these [workers] the first seem to have toiled more than the last as having been subject longer to the devil's fanaticism—sin and death and corruption not yet being overpowered.”
Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
“Therefore the first commandment teaches every kind of godliness. For to love God with the whole heart is the cause of every good. The second commandment includes the righteous acts we do toward other people.”
The greatest among you shall be your servant.
“Since those who have arrived teaching new beliefs for the most part do so from conceit and arrogance, I will say something concerning the value of the teaching. The Lord cuts short this opinion and way as leading to destruction.”
So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.
“We will carefully investigate what the Savior says. The forefathers of the Jews killed the holy prophets who were transmitting the divine word to them in those times. They surely have become witnesses for some of them, because the prophets are now revered and honored.”