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 CYRILLIC

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CYRILLIC

baptism, how the water receives the power of sancti- fying: as it cleanses the body, so the Spirit seals the soul. 4. An abridged account of the Faith. 5. On the nature of faith. 6-18. On the Creed: 6. On the monarchy of God, and the various heresies which deny it. 7. On the Father. 8. His omnipotence. 9. The Creator. 10. On the Lord Jesus Christ. 11. His Eternal Sonship. 12. His virgin birth. 13. His Pas- sion. 14. His Resurrection and Ascension. 15. His second coming. 16-17. On the Holy Ghost. 18. On the resurrection of the body and the Catholic Church. The first mystagogical catechesis explains the renimcia- tioiLS of Satan, etc. which preceded baptism; the sec- ond is on the effects of baptism, the third on confirma- tion, the fourth on Holy Communion, and the fifth on holy Mass for the living and the dead. The hearers are told to observe the disci plina arcani; Rom. they must repeat nothing to heathens and catechumens; the book also has a note to the same effect.

A few points may be noted. The mythical origin of the Septuagint is told, and the story of the phcenix, so popular from Clement onwards. The description of Mass speaks of the mystical washing of the priest's hands, the kiss of peace, the "Sursvmi Corda", etc., and the Preface with its mention of the angels, the Sanctus, the Epiclesis, the transmutation of the ele- ments by the Holy Ghost, the prayer for the whole Church and for the spirits of the departed, followed by the Paternoster, which is briefly ex])lained. Then come the "Sancta Sanctis" and the Communion. "Approaching, do not come with thy palms stretched fiat nor with fingers separated. But making thy left hand a seat for thy right, and hollowing thy palm, receive the Body of Christ, responding Amen. And having with care hallowed thine eyes by the touch of the Holy Body, take it, vigilant lest thou drop any of it. For shouldst thou lose any of it, it is as though thou wast deprived of a member of thy own body." "Then after Communion of the Body of Christ, ap- proach the Chalice of His Blood, not extending thy hands, but bending low, and with adoration and reverence saying Amen, sanctify thyself by receiving also the Blood of Christ. And while thy lips are yet wet, touch them with thy hands, and sanctify thy eyes and thy forehead and thy other senses" (Cat. Myst., V, 22, 21-22). We are to make the sign of the cross when we eat and drink, sit, go to bed, get up, talk, walk, in short, in every action (Cat. iv, 14). Again: " if thou should be in foreign cities, do not simply ask where is the chiu-ch (KvpiaKbv), for the heresies of the impious try to call their caves KvptaKd, nor simply where is the Church (iKKXtia-la), but where is the Catholic Church, for this is the proper name of this holy Mother of all" (Cat. xviii, 26).

Doctrine. — St. Cyril's doctrine is expressed in his creed, which seems to have run thus: "I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten by the Father true God before all ages, God of God, Life of Life, Light of Light, by Whom all things were made. Who for us men and for our salva- tion came down, and was incarnate hy the Hob/ Ghost and the Virgin Mary, and was made man. He was crucified . . . and buried. He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures, and sat at the right hand of the Father. And He cometh in glory to judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end. And in one Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, Who spake l)y the prophets; and in one baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, and in one holy Catholic Church, and in the resurrection of the body, and in life everlasting." The italicized words are un- certain. St. Cyril teaches the Divinity of the Son with iicrfect plainness, l>ut avoids the word ''coiisub- Btantial", which he probably (hought lialilc to niisim derstanding. He never mentions .Arianisin, though

he denounces the Arian formula, "There was a time when the Son was not". He belonged to the Semi- Arian, or Homoean party, and is content to declare that the Son is "in all things like the Father". He communicated freely with bishops such as Basil of Aneyra and Eustathius of Sebaste. He not only does not explain that the Holy Trinity has one Godhead, but he does not even say the Three Persons are one God. The one God is for him always the Father: " There is one God, the Father of Christ, and one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of the only God, and one Holy Ghost, Who sanctifies and deifies all things" (Cat. iv, 16). But he rightly says: "We do not divide the Holy Trinity as some do, neither do we make a melting into one like Sabellius" (Cat. xvi, 4). CjTil never actually calls the Holy Ghost God, but He is to be honoured together with the Father and the Son (Cat. iv, IG). There is therefore nothing incor- rect in his doctrine, only the explicit use of the Nicene formula is wanting, and these, like St. Meletius and others of his party, he fully accepted at a later date.

St. C>Til's teaching about the Blessed Sacrament is of the first importance, for he was speaking freely, untrammelled by the " discipline of the secret ' '. On the Real Presence he is unambiguous: " Since He Him- self has declared and said of the bread: This is My Body, who shall dare to doubt any more? And when He asserts and says: This is My Blood, who shall ever hesitate and say it is not His Blood?" Of the Trans- formation, he argues, if Christ could change water into wine, can He not change wine into His own Blood? The bread and wine are symbols: "In the type of bread is given thee the Body, in the type of wine the Blood is given thee ' ' ; but they do not remain in their original condition, they have been changed, though the senses cannot tell us this: "Do not think it mere bread and wine, for it is the Body and Blood of Christ, according to the Lord's declaration". "Having learned this and being assured of it, that what appears to be bread is not bread, though per- ceived by the taste, but the Body of Christ, and what appears to be wine is not wine, though the taste says so, but the Blood of Christ. . . . strengthen thy heart, partaking of it as spiritual (food), and rejoice the face of thy soul". It is difficult not to see the whole doc- trine of Transubstantiation in these explicit words. Confirmation is with blessed chrism: "As the bread of the Eucharist after the invocation of the Holy Ghost is not bread, but the Body of Christ, so this holy myrrh is no longer simple, as one might say, after the invocation, but a gift of Clirist and capable by the presence of the Holy Ghost of giving His divinity" (ii, 4). St. Peter and St. Paul went to Rome, the heads (Trpoa-riiraO of the Church. Peter is 6 KopixpatSraTos Kai irpojTOffTdTtjs tujv aTrocr6\wv. The Faith is to be proved out of Holy Scriptiu-e. St. Cyril, as the Greek Fathers generally, gives the Hebrew canon of the Old Testament omitting the deutero-canonical books. But yet he often quotes them as Scriptiu-e. In the New Testament he does not acknowledge the Apocalj'pse.

There have been many editions of St. CjtU's works:— (Vienna, l.WO); G. Morel (Paris, 1564); J. Pr(5vot (Paris, 1608); T. Milles (London, 1703); the Benedictine edition of Dom Toutt^e (Paris, 1720; re- printed at Venice, 1763); a new edition from MSS., by G. C. Reischl, 8vo (Munich, 1848; 2nd vol. by J. Rupp, 1860); Migne gives the Bencd. ed. in P. G., XXXIII; Photius Alexandrides (2 vols., Jerusalem, 1807-8); Eng. tr. in Library of the Fathers (Oxford).

TiLLEMONT, Mrmoircs poiiT scrvir, etc., VIII; Touttke in his edition, and Hkischl; Acta SS.. March, II; Dklacroix. Sainl-Cyritlc de Jrrusalem (Paris. 1S65>; Mader, Dcr hi. Cyrtt- lus, Biscliof von Mrusalem (Einsiedehi, 1901).

John Chapman.

Cyrillic Alphabet. See Russian Church. ■

Cyrillic Prophecy. See Cyril, of Constantinoplb.