Blackwell Reference Online

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Bishop of Alexandria 412–44: one of the greatest theologians of the early church, prolific writer and preacher, and the main opponent of Nestorius at the Council of Ephesus in 431. At the Council of Chalcedon in 451 his doctrine of the Incarnation was the touchstone against which that contained in the Tome of Pope Leo the Great (d. 444) was measured. His writings include commentaries on Luke and John. Cyril's theology is of contemporary importance to discussions between Oriental Orthodox and eastern orthodox or Catholics, since his formula of ‘the one incarnate physis of the Logos’ (Epistle 46) is accepted by chalcedonians and anti-Chalcedonians alike as orthodox. The hostile portrait of Cyril in Gibbon's Decline and Fall and the equally negative fictional portrait of Cyril in Charles Kingsley's Hypatia have clouded his reputation in the English-speaking world. Cyril is commemorated in the Byzantine calendar on 18 January. ( 1994 ), St Cyril of Alexandria: The Christological Controversy . Leiden : Brill . ... log in or subscribe to read full text