St. Cyril of Alexandria, (412-444)
by VP
Posted on Friday February 09, 2024 at 12:00AM in Saints
All hail to thee, Mary, Mother of God, Virgin Mary!
Our Lady and Child, Saint John Baptist Catholic Church, Front Royal VA
"466.The Nestorian heresy regarded Christ as a human person joined to the divine person of God's Son. Opposing this heresy, St. Cyril of Alexandria and the third ecumenical council, at Ephesus in 431, confessed "that the Word, uniting to himself in his person the flesh animated by a rational soul, became man."(89) Christ's humanity has no other subject than the divine person of the Son of God, who assumed it and made it his own, from his conception. For this reason the Council of Ephesus proclaimed in 431 that Mary truly became the Mother of God by the human conception of the Son of God in her womb: "Mother of God, not that the nature of the Word or his divinity received the beginning of its existence from the holy Virgin, but that, since the holy body, animated by a rational soul, which the Word of God united to himself according to the hypostasis, was born from her, the Word is said to be born according to the flesh."(90)" Catechism of the Catholic Church
St. Cyril of Alexandria before the Fathers of the Council of Ephesus:
"Hail thou bearer of light, incorruptible vessel!
Hail Mary! At once Virgin, Mother, and Handmaid.
Virgin because of Him who is born of thy virginity;
Mother because of Him whom thou didst bear upon thy breast and whom thou has nourished with thy milk;
Handmaid because of Him who has taken to Himself the position of a slave.
Hail Mary! Temple in which God has been received, the great holiness of which the prophet David proclaimed when he said: Thy temple is holy and wonderful in thy justice (Ps. Lxiv.60)
Hail Mary! The jewel of the earth; Hail Mary! Incorruptible dove; Hail Mary, Inextinguishable lamp, for of thee is born the Sun of Justice; Hail Mary! Dwelling-place of Him whom no other dwelling can contain; thou, in whom was contained the only Son of God, the God-word; thou, who with neither toil nor sowing hast made the undying ear of corn to flourish; Hail Mary! Mother of God, of whom the prophets have foretold, and through whom the shepherds gave glory to God at the manger, singing with the angels that moving hymn, Glory to God on high in heaven: peace on earth among men of goodwill; Hail Mary! Mother of God, because of whom the choirs of angels sing, the archangels exult and chant hymns which make us tremble."
Source: Christian Spirituality, Volume 1 Newman Press, 1922 - Asceticism page 240
