Cyril
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the name of three saints or fathers of of the Christian Church. Cyril of Jerusalem, born there about A. D. 315, was ordained presbyter in 345; and in 350 or 351 became Patriarch of Jerusalem. He engaged in a warm controversy with Acacius, the Arian Bishop trov of Cæsarea, by whose artifices he was more than once deposed from his episcopal dignity. He died in 386 or 388. There are extant some writings composed by him. Cyril of Alexandria was educated by his uncle Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, and in A. D. 412 succeeded him as Patriarch. In this position his ambitious spirit brought the Christians into violent quarrels. At the head of the populace he assailed the Jews, destroyed their houses and drove them out of the city. Orestes, the prefect, having complained of such violence, was attacked by y 500 furious monks. The assassination of Hypatia took place, it is said, at his instigation. His quarrel with. Nestorius and with John, Patriarch of Antioch, regarding the two-fold nature of Christ, convulsed the Church, and much blood was shed between the rival factions at the Council of Ephesus in 431, the emperor having at last to send troops to disperse them. Cyril closed his restless career in 444. St. Cyril, "the Apostle of the Slavs," a native of Thessalonica. He converted the Chazars, a people of Hunnish stock, and the Bulgarians, about A. D. 860. He died about 868. He was the inventor the Cyrillian Letters, which the author of the Apologies which bear his name.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's account of the three Cyrils in 1921 still holds in outline, but one of its claims has been reassigned: scholars now hold that Cyril devised the Glagolitic alphabet for the Moravian mission of 863, and that the Cyrillic letters named after him were developed after his death, most likely by disciples working in Bulgaria under Clement of Ohrid. Collier's also follows the older tradition that the brothers went to the Bulgarians; the mission that made their name was to Great Moravia, at the invitation of Prince Rastislav. Cyril of Alexandria's part in the killing of Hypatia in 415 is still argued over much as it was then, with modern historians divided between direct instigation and responsibility for the mob he had inflamed. Since 1921 Cyril and Methodius have been raised in official standing, proclaimed co-patrons of Europe by Pope John Paul II in 1980 alongside St Benedict.
Written for this edition, 2026.