July 10
Cyril of Alexandria (ca. 378-444) Church father and pastor
Today the Western churches commemorate Cyril, a patriarch of Alexandria and father of the Church.
He was born near Alexandria, Egypt around the year 378, but very little is known about his life before 412, the year he was elected patriarch of Alexandria.
Following in the footsteps of his uncle Theophilus, who had preceded him as patriarch of Alexandria, Cyril was an intransigent man who had very little interest in compromise - with pagans, with Jews, and with Christians whose views were different from his own. As a theologian, he had one of the most penetrating and speculative minds in Christian antiquity. He sketched out a christology and pneumatology that were faithful to the Gospel and to tradition, in works that laid theological foundations for the centuries to come.
One of Cyril's great achievements was defining the christology of the Great Church in opposition to the teachings of Nestorius, who was elected patriarch of Constantinople in 428. Cyril's own theological vision prevailed at the Council of Ephesus in 431, but during the course of the council both he and Nestorius were deposed from their respective patriarchal chairs.
By the end of his life, Cyril was softened by decades of pastoral experience and agreed to seek a formula that would help unite the different theological currents in the Church, which by that time had created painful and lasting divisions. He died in 444.
The Orthodox churches commemorate Cyril together with Athanasius on January 18. The Coptic Church, which considers him one of its most important saints, celebrates his feast on June 27 in the Julian calendar, which corresponds to our July 10.
BIBLICAL READINGS
2 Cor 4:5-5:11; 1 Pet 2:18-3:7; Acts 20:17-38; Jn 10:1-16
The 51 Jewish martyrs of Berlin (d. 1510)
In 1510, the Jews of Berlin were accused of profaning a Eucharistic host and stealing several sacred vessels from the church in the small village of Knoblauch. 111 members of Berlin's Jewish community were arrested, 51 were condemned to death, and 38 were burned alive at the stake that had been erected in Berlin's new market square. In 1539, the Diet of Frankfurt recognized the innocence of all of the victims.
THE CHURCHES REMEMBER...
WESTERN CATHOLICS:
Christopher (d. ca. 250), martyr (Spanish-Mozarabic calendar)
COPTS AND ETHIOPIANS (3 abib/hamle):
Cyril the Great, 24th patriarch of Alexandria (Coptic Church)
LUTHERANS:
William the Silent (d. 1584), supporter of Protestantism in Netherlands
MARONITES:
Martyrdom of the brothers Massabki and the Franciscan brothers of Damascus (d. 1860)
ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS AND GREEK CATHOLICS:
The 45 martyrs of Nicopolis, Armenia (d. ca. 319)
Luke of Jerusalem, Muchaisdze (d. 1273), monk (Georgian Church)
EAST SYRIAN ORTHODOX:
Brothers Massabki, martyrs (Malabar Church)