St Cyril of Jerusalem

Reflection

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem

Reflection by Father Robin Gibbons, Greek Catholic Melkite priest; and Advisor and Chaplain to FACE.

One of the great gifts that Cyril gives us is a sense of firm foundation on Christ and the community of the Apostolic Church, because through him we get glimpses of the life of the 4^th century Christian community at its source in Jerusalem. Here we see Cyril as an active and prayerful bishop and teacher of his flock, at a time when Christianity was on the point of becoming a new force, a legalised state religion. Nevertheless, we get from Cyril a series of illuminating and energising catechetical lectures on the development of a Christian’s faith; in particular the wonderful gift of the Sacraments of Initiation, which is the beginning of our family journey into the fullness of the Kingdom.
 
Cyril is a direct link between ourselves and the early Christian community in the land of Jesus, whose legacy is to be found in contemporary Eastern Christians living in those biblical lands. Despite their diminishing number, they somehow keep alive the living tradition of those places associated with Christ, with a spirit-filled and energised faith that shows itself in the sometimes disharmonious cacophony of the Jerusalem Church today.
 
We owe Cyril a great debt for bringing before us our vocation to help people become Christians, through teaching, guiding and praying with them, and also to develop our own faith further. In one of his homilies we discover Cyril speaking to those catechumens preparing for Baptism:
 
“Great is the Baptism that lies before you: a ransom to captives; a remission of offences; a death of sin; a new-birth of the soul; a garment of light; a holy indissoluble seal; a chariot to heaven; the delight of Paradise; a welcome into the kingdom; the gift of adoption!”
 
In that small collection of phrases, key theological, foundational Christian concepts emerge, which are essential for our own spiritual understanding. These are the nature of Baptism itself and the remission of our sins, as well as hope in the new life of the Kingdom as the adopted children of the light that is our God. If we ever talk about mission and ministry we could do no better that use Cyril as our guide and help; there is an energy in his words that comes from the Divine Light of Christ.

But Cyril is also full of the role of the Holy Spirit. In this he is totally at one with the gifted theology of the Eastern Church, particularly the Byzantine tradition. Speaking about the second stage of the Sacraments of Initiation, Chrismation, which we call Confirmation in the West, he speaks to us in these words:
 
“And to you in like manner, after you had come up from the pool of the sacred streams, there was given an Unction, the anti-type of that wherewith Christ was anointed; and this is the Holy Ghost; of whom also the blessed Esaias, in his prophecy respecting Him, said in the person of the Lord, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me: He hath sent Me to preach glad tidings to the poor.”
 
If anything, this ‘Spirit-anointing’ needs reiterating in our church life today. Faced with the awful events in Ukraine, we have an opportunity to reach out and nourish those beleaguered and down-trodden people, yet also to support, understand and respect the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic traditions that they hold, especially since we will need great pastoral sensitivity towards many of them who come to us as refugees.
 
Cyril offers us more. Initiation is not simply Baptism and the Sealing of the Spirit in Chrismation. That is not an end sacrament, but an entry into a lifetime of growth and challenge with the Lord.
 
The reception of the Holy Mysteries, celebrating and receiving the Holy Eucharist is the final stage, but one without an end. From our first communion until viaticum, the Christ gives himself to us, that we may become ONE with Him and in Him. It is not for nothing that some of the Church Fathers tell us that we are the true icons of Christ, but it is also a very important reminder that the Holy Eucharist is primarily given to us to eat and drink, and in so doing we begin to see, in one another, the Christ whom we shall one day see in full glory!
 
Cyril speaks of this too:
“Wherefore with full assurance let us partake as of the Body and Blood of Christ: for in the figure of Bread is given to you His Body, and in the figure of Wine His Blood; that you by partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, may be made of the same body and the same blood with Him. For thus we come to bear Christ in us, because His Body and Blood are distributed through our members; thus it is that, according to the blessed Peter, we become partakers of the divine nature”.
 
This is profound theology and truly liturgical spirituality which we really need to grasp; in other words, by reception of the Holy Eucharist, we become what is signified!  I would comment, as an aside, that this theology from Cyril and the East is wanting in some of our churches today.  I leave a final comment to the great saint as a gift to us at this time in life, and at this point on our Christian journey:
 
Hold fast these traditions undefiled and, keep yourselves free from offense. Sever not yourselves from the Communion; deprive not yourselves, through the pollution of sins, of these Holy and Spiritual Mysteries. And the God of peace sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit, and soul, and body be preserved entire without blame at the coming of  our Lord jesus Christ. 

(1 Thessalonians 5:23: To whom be glory and honour and might, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and world without end. Amen.)