Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/828

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
*
716
*

CYRIL. 716 Ixviii.-lxxvii. ) . Certain of his works have been published in critical editions by English scholars, among them his commentaries on Luke (1859), John (1872), Minor Projihets (18GS), and Fice Tomes Against Xestorius (1881). For his biog- raphy, consult Kopallik (Maj'ence, 1881). Charles Kingsley's brilliant romance Bi/patia gives a view of Cyril tinged with the author's prejudices against nionasticism. CYRIL, Saint (c.315-86). A bishop of Je- rusalem and an eminent Church Father. He was born in Jerusalem about a.d. 315, and ordained a deacon in 334, a presbyter in 345, and, on the death of Maximus, in 351 was elected bishop of his native city. His metropolitan was the Ariah bishop Acacius of C.-esarea, with whom he was soon engaged in hot conflict concerning originally the rights of his office, but ultimately their differences of doctrine. Acacius accused Cyril before a council at Cfesarea in 358, whose competency Cyril did not aeknoAvledge, of selling the treasures of his church in a time of famine to feed the poor, and this Arianizing assembly undertook to depose him. He appealed to a larger synod, which was held at Seleucia (359), and was by it restored to his office; but once more, through the persevering hostility of Aca- cius, he was deposed by a council assembled in Constantinople in 360. On the death of the Em- peror Constantius (361) he was again restored to his episcopate. Soon after hi^ old enemy Aca- cius died, but Cyril was immediately involved in new difficulties, and after considerable strife was banished, by order of the Emperor Valens, in 367 ; nor did he return till the Emperor's death in 378. He died March 18, 386. Cyril's writings are extremely valuable, not because of their vigor, profundity, or beauty, but on account of their theology. They consist of twenty-three treatises, eighteen of which are addressed to catechumens and five to the newly baptized. The former are for the most part doclrinal, and present to us in a more complete and systematic manner than the writings of any other father the creed of the Church ; the latter are ritual, and give us a minute account of bap- tism, chrism, and the Lord's Supper. Their style is simple and unattractive. Cyril's works were published hy A. A. Touttee, the Benedictine monk (Paris. 17'20; Venice, 1761) ; they were reprinted in Migne, Patrol. Grceca, xxxiii., and by G. C. Reischl and J. Rupp (2 vols., Munich, 1848-60; Eng. trans, by E. H. Gifford in T)ie Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2d series, vol. vii., New York, 1894). Consult Delacroix, Saint Ci/rille de J^rusnlem. sa vie et ses oeuvres (Paris, '1865). CYRIL and METHO'DIUS. The apostles of the Slavs-in the ninth century. They were brothers, and sprang from a respectable family living in the half-Slavic, half-Greek town of Thessalonica. Hav- ing been ordained priest, Cyril (whose name was properly Constantine) became secretary to the Pa- triarch of Constantinople, and later prominently connected with the anti-.Tewish polemics. The lat- ter interest it was which induced him to go forth, during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Michael III., to evangelize the Khasars, dwelling by the Caspian Sea under a .Jewish king who allowed .Tews, Mohammedans, and Christians to live poacpfully together. His labors were very successful, the Khan himself being among the CYRTOCERAS. converts. At this time Methodius, his elder brother, ^•as abbot of a famous monastery in Constantinople. The Duke of Jloravia, Rostis- lav, having established an independent Slavic kingdom and driven out the German priests, applied to Constantinople for Christian teach- ing. The patriarch sent him Cyril and Metho- dius (864). Cyril invented the Slavic alphabet, and the brothers, assisted by a number of tlieir pupils, completed their translation of the Holy Scriptures, which is in use to the present day among all Greek Catholic Christians (Russians, Bulgaria.ns, and Serbs). Feeling the necessity of linking the Moravian Church to the power of Rome, the brothers, after three and one-half years of work, went to Rome. There they were cordially received and were ordained. The younger of the two brothers died February 14, 869, as monk in a monastei'y at Constanti- nople, where he had taken the name of Cyril. ilethodius continued the work among the Slavs, but in Pannonia, not in Moravia. In 870 the Pope made him a bishop and in 873 archbishop. Supjiorted by the Pope, he long kept up a con- stant fight with the German emissaries. He died at Wehlerad, April 6, 885. Consult: Ginzel, Geschichte der Slaicenapostel Cyril und Metho- dius (2d ed., Vienna, 1861) ; Diimmler and Miklosich, Die Legende vom heiligen Cyrillus (Vienna, 1870) ; Goetz, Geschichte der Slaircii- apostel Constantini^s (Cyrillus) und Methodius (Gotha, 1897) ; also Vita San<:ti Methodii, ed. by Miklosich (Vienna, 1870). The Apologia Moralis ascribed to Cvril was published by Cor- ter (Vienna, 1630). CYRIL'LA (named in honor of Domenico Ci- rillo or Cyrillo, an Italian physician). An ever- green tree or shrub, of which there is but one species, leatherwood (Cyrilla racemiflora) , found from tlie southern United States to Brazil. In the I'nited States it occurs from North Carolina to Texas, and is" hardy as far north as Phila- delphia. It has bright green leaves, and white flowers in racemes. The species is variable, and under cultivation some of the varieties are very ornamental. CYRIL 'Lie ALPHABET, A method of writing invented by C^-ril, apostle of the Slavs (see Cyril; Methodius) between 855 and 863. It is based upon the Greek uncials of the eighth or ninth century, with the addition of some signs to represent sounds not found in Greek. It originally consisted of thirty-eight characters, to which ten more were added later. With some modifications, introduced chiefly by Peter the Great, it is the alphabet now used in Russia, Bulgaria, and Servia. Consult Tavlor, Tlie Al- phabet, vol. ii. (London, 1899). CYR'IL LTJ'CAR. See Lucaris, Cyril. CYROP.a:'DIA (Lat., from Gk. Kipov iroc- Sela, Kyrou paidcia, education of Cyrus), The. The longest w'ork of Xenophon, purporting to give a history of the early life and training of Cynis the Great, but in reality an historical ro- mance. Its elaborate scheme of government and education are Spartan rather than Persian, and the whole work is to be regarded as the exposi- tion of an ide.nl government. The story of Abra- datas and Panthea is the earliest specimen of the love romance. CYRTOCERAS, sertos'eros (Neo-Lat.. from Gk. Kvprht, Kyrtos, curved + K4pas, keras, horn).