Hierarch Saint Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem

Saint Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem, was born around 313 near Jerusalem. Ordained a priest around 345, he became known as a zealous preacher and catechist. In 350, after the death of Archbishop Maximus, he was installed on the Jerusalem see.

He is celebrated as the author of the famous "Catechetical Lectures" and "Mystagogical Catecheses" — among the earliest and most complete surviving bodies of Christian catechetical instruction. For his firmness in Orthodox confession he was repeatedly persecuted by Arians and exiled from his see three times, spending roughly sixteen years total in exile.

He took part in the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople (381), which affirmed the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. During a famine in Jerusalem, he distributed church property, including sacred vestments, to feed the poor. He died in 386. His feast is kept March 18/31.