Cyril

Cyril, St. (315-386), a patriarch of Jerusalem and a father of the Greek Church. He was made patriarch in 350, and in 351 the appearance of what seemed to be a cross in the heavens was thought to approve the appointment and led to many conversions. He was chased from his see by the Arians, but came back in 301 under the system of toleration practised by Julian. In 367 an edict of Valentius again drove him forth, but in 379 he was back again, and two years later agreed in the condemnation of the semi-Arians and the Macedonians at the Council of Constantinople. He left behind him twenty-three catechetical treatises, for in his earlier years he had been instructor of catechumens. His feast-day is the 18th of March.