St. Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria for thirty-two years in the first half of the fifth century, was a great champion of the faith against heresy; he opposed Novatianism, Neoplatonism, and Judaism. His principal struggle, however, was with Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople. Cyril vehemently defended the application of the word Theotokos, which means 'Godbearer', to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Nestorius, representative of the Antiochene theological school, held that the Blessed Virgin was the mother only of the humanity of Christ. This great Christological controversy and the Council of...
St. Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria for thirty-two years in the first half of the fifth century, was a great champion of the faith against heresy; he o...
This second and final volume of the letters of St. Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria (412-444), takes up in medias res the great Christological controversy about the term Theotokos and the events which lead up to its resolution at the Council of Ephesus in 431. Defending the doctrines of the Trinity and the Person of Christ in the Alexandrian tradition of St. Athanasius these letters reveal Cyril's brilliant theological acumen and deep personal faith. Letters 51 to 61 are concerned with the question of John of Antioch and the bishops who, with him, supported Nestorius in the tradion of the...
This second and final volume of the letters of St. Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria (412-444), takes up in medias res the great Christological controver...