Cyril Of Jerusalem, a saint and doctor of the church, born at or near Jerusalem about A. D. 315, died in 386. He was ordained priest by Maximus, bishop of Jerusalem, and was intrusted with the charge of the catechumens, and sometimes with the duty of preaching in the place of the bishop. When, in 350, the see of Jerusalem became vacant, Cyril was promoted to it, and consecrated by Aca-cius of Caesarea, the metropolitan of Palestine. Acacius was an Arian, and it has been affirmed that Cyril, in keeping fellowship with him and the Arian party, while professing orthodox sentiments, was guilty of duplicity. But he was never considered Arian by the Arians themselves, or as in any way favorable to that party in the matter of theology, although in his banishment and misfortune he accepted the hospitality of friends who were semi-Arian. Acacius was for many years his bitter enemy and persecutor, and in 358 procured a sentence of deposition against him. Cyril was accused of having sold the furniture and ornaments of his church, gifts of the emperor Constantine; but his plea was that he did this in time of famine to save the poor from starving. The sentence, palpably unjust, was reversed at the council of Seleucia in 359, but was repronounced the next year, with an additional imperial decree of banishment.

On the accession of Julian in 361, Cyril was enabled to return to Jerusalem. But the favor of the tolerant pagan did not prevent the Christian zeal of the bishop, who condemned, on grounds of Scripture and prophecy, the emperor's attempt to rebuild in the holy city the Jewish temple. The emperor Valens in 367, repealing Julian's act of amnesty, again sent Cyril into exile, and only after 11 years was he able to regain his seat and to stay unmolested. He had the satisfaction in his last years of seeing the orthodox faith fully established, and of taking part in the council of Constantinople, which decreed the condemnation of the Arian, semi-Arian, and Macedonian heretics. - The writings of Cyril which remain are: a course of 23 " Catechetical Lectures;" a single sermon, suggested by the Scripture narrative of the healing of the paralytic, and treating sin as the origin of all misery and suffering; and a letter to the emperor Constantius relating the prodigy of the luminous cross at Jerusalem. His works have been frequently printed both in Greek and in Latin. The editions of Cologne (1564) and Paris (1589) are in a single octavo volume. The fine edition of the Benedictine Touttee (folio, Paris, 1720) is in both languages.

A French translation of the "Catechetical Lectures," with notes and commentaries, was made by Grandcolas. An English translation of the same work, very faithful and spirited, edited by John Henry Newman, was published in Oxford in 1838.