Hierarch Saint Cyril of Alexandria

Saint Cyril of Alexandria was born around 376 in Egypt, a nephew of Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria. In 412, after his uncle's death, he was elevated to the Alexandrian see, which he held until his death in 444.

He zealously defended the Orthodox teaching on the Incarnation against the heresy of Nestorius, who rejected the title "Theotokos" for the Virgin Mary. In 431 he presided at the Third Ecumenical Council of Ephesus, which condemned Nestorianism and affirmed the union of the divine and human natures in Christ.

He authored numerous dogmatic, exegetical, and polemical works — including the "Twelve Anathemas against Nestorius" and commentaries on the Gospels and Pentateuch — and is counted among the foremost Fathers of the patristic era. He died in 444. His feast is kept June 9/22 (repose) and January 18/31, jointly with St. Athanasius the Great.