St. Cyril of Jerusalem
March 18, 2026
Bishop of Jerusalem from 350-386, St. Cyril did much to maintain the traditional faith of the Church at one of the critical turning points of her doctrinal history. Before he was a bishop his catechetical instructions (preached to the catechumens and the newly baptized) formed a wonderful body of teaching on the sacraments and the Christina faith. On becoming bishop he was obliged to defend the divinity of Christ against all the subtleties of the Arian heresy; his unshakeable orthodoxy cost him sixteen years in exile. St. Cyril died in 386, shortly after the Council of Constantinople at which Arianism was condemned for the second time in a plenary meeting of bishops. The Church honors him as one of her Doctors.