Section 01: Foundations
The foundational section of the St. Cyril of Jerusalem compendium, establishing the historical and institutional setting of his episcopate: the rising prestige of the Jerusalem see in the decades after Constantine, the Holy Sepulchre / Anastasis–Martyrium complex that would be the stage of his teaching, the canonical subordination to the metropolitan of Caesarea (Nicaea 325, Canon 7) that framed his later conflicts, his ordination by Acacius of Caesarea, and the broad arc of his thirty-five-year life and times.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Church Father)
Contents
| File | Topic |
|---|---|
| Jerusalem and the See | The post-Constantinian rise of the Jerusalem see; the Constantinian building program and the Anastasis (Rotunda over the tomb) and Martyrium basilica on Golgotha (dedicated 335); Nicaea Canon 7 and the honor of Aelia under the metropolitan rights of Caesarea; the holy places and pilgrimage as the engine of the see’s prestige; Cyril’s ordination by Acacius and the hostile-source allegations (Jerome, Rufinus) reported as attributed allegations |
| Life and Times | A connected biography: birth c. 313, formation in Scripture, the presbyterate and catechetical charge under Maximus, accession c. 350; the shape of a thirty-five-year episcopate marked by catechesis, three exiles under Acacian pressure, vindication at Constantinople 381, and death in 386; his honored status as Father and (in the West) Doctor of the Church |
How to Use
- Read Jerusalem and the See first for the institutional foundation — the see Cyril inherited, the sacred topography that gave it weight, and the canonical knot with Caesarea that would later snap into open conflict.
- Then read Life and Times for the biographical spine, which gestures toward the material treated in full elsewhere (the Lectures in Section 02, the exiles in Section 07).
- Throughout, note the methodological discipline: where ancient sources are hostile (the Arian-tainting of his ordination) or the dates are uncertain (his birth year, his exact accession), the files attribute and qualify rather than assert.
Cross-References
- For Cyril’s place among the Fathers, see Church Fathers
- For the councils of the pre-schism era, see Ecumenical Councils
- For the wider late-antique ecclesial world, see Pre-Schism Church
- For the contemporary champion of Nicaea and the other great exiled anti-Arian bishop, see St. Athanasius
- For the later, distinct holder of a great eastern see (and to keep the two Cyrils apart), see St. Cyril of Alexandria
References
- See each content file for full bibliographic entries. The principal sources for this section are Cyril’s own Catechetical Lectures (NPNF Series 2, Vol. 7; McCauley & Stephenson, FOTC 61/64), the church historians Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret (NPNF Series 2, Vols. 2–3), and the modern study of Jan Willem Drijvers, Cyril of Jerusalem: Bishop and City (Leiden: Brill, 2004).