The Collect
ALMIGHTY God, who hast enriched thy Church with the singular learning and holiness of thy servant Cyril: Grant us to hold fast the true doctrine of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, and to fashion our lives according to the same, to the glory of thy great Name and the benefit of thy holy Church; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Cyril was born in Jerusalem and became bishop of that city. The years between the Council of Nicea and the Council of Constantinople were difficult years, in which the Church, having committed itself at Nicea to the proposition that the Son is 'one in being' with the Father, began to backtrack and consider whether there was some other formula that would adequately express the Lordship of Christ but not be divisive. Cyril was among those who looked for a way of expressing the doctrine that would be acceptable to all parties. As a result, he was exiled from his bishopric three times, for a total of sixteen years, once by the Athanasians and twice by the Arians. He eventually came to the conclusion, as did most other Christians of the time, that there was no alternative to the Nicene formula and he attended the Council of Constantinople and voted for that position.
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