#SaintCyril

[whencyclopedia]

Saint Cyril

Saint Cyril (aka Kyrillos and Constantine the Philosopher, d. 867 CE) was a Byzantine linguist, teacher, scholar and missionary who famously preached Christianity to the Slavs in Moravia with his brother Methodius during the 9th century CE. He created the Glagolitic alphabet, the forerunner to the Cyrillic alphabet that bears his name, and did much to spread the religion, art and culture of the Byzantine empire into central Europe.

Early Life

Cyril is the monastic name the saint chose near the end of his life but he was born Constantine, the son of a military officer called Leo stationed in Thessaloniki; his mother may have been a Slav. He was a gifted linguist from an early age and was sent to Constantinople to further his education and study such languages as Syriac and Hebrew. Looked after by the eunuch Theoktistos, Cyril was ordained as a priest and served as an official at the Hagia Sophia church where he developed a close relationship with the Patriarch of Constantinople, the bishop Photios. The brilliant scholar quickly became the bishop's librarian. Cyril became a teacher of philosophy at the Magnaura university in Constantinople where he gained the epithet “Constantine the Philosopher”.

Cyril was next sent on two diplomatic missions, the first to the Muslim court at Samarra and the second to the Khazars, a Turkic tribe in the Caucasus, c. 860 CE. According to Cyril's 9th century CE biography, attributed to one of his disciples, the scholar monk was enthusiastic for the opportunity to spread the Gospel:

If you command, lord, on such a mission I shall gladly go on foot and unshod, lacking all the Lord forbade Hi disciples to bring.' The emperor answered, saying,: 'Well spoken, were you to do this ! But bear in mind the imperial power and honour, and go honourably and with imperial help.

Life of Constantine (in Shepard, 315)

The trip, unfortunately, ended in failure if it had intended to convert the Khazars to Christianity as the Byzantines only managed to baptise around 200 of them. The Khazaria state eventually adopted Judaism instead. Cyril did bring back souvenirs, though, said to be the relics of the exiled 1st century CE Bishop of Rome, Saint Clement. His ambitions were not dampened either as he promptly set off of his own accord into the Crimea to spread his message to the heathen Phoullai people. It is likely Cyril was not any more popular there, though, especially when he chopped down their sacred oak tree.

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[whencyclopedfr]

Monachisme Byzantin

Le monachisme, c'est-à-dire le fait pour des individus de se consacrer à une vie ascétique dans un monastère à des fins de dévotion, était une caractéristique omniprésente de l'empire byzantin. Les monastères devinrent de puissants propriétaires terriens et une voix très écoutée dans la politique impériale. Entre ascètes fanatiques et producteurs de vin très appréciés, les hommes et les femmes qui consacraient leur vie à la vie monastique constituaient une partie importante de la communauté. Les monastères offraient toutes sortes de services aux pauvres et aux nécessiteux, aux nobles en disgrâce, aux voyageurs fatigués et aux rats de bibliothèque avides de connaissances. De nombreux monastères byzantins sont encore en activité et leur architecture impressionnante embellit les paysages d'aujourd'hui, depuis Athènes jusqu'au Sinaï.

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[holylandartcompany]

St. Cyril of Alexandria (376-444) was the Patriarch of Alexandria from 412 to 444. He was enthroned when the city was at the height of its influence and power within the Roman Empire. Cyril wrote extensively and was a leading protagonist in the Christological controversies of the late-4th and 5th centuries. He was a central figure in the Council of Ephesus in 431, which led to the deposition of Nestorius as Patriarch of Constantinople. Nestorius was preaching that Mary was not the Mother of God since Christ was Divine and not human, and consequently she should not have the word theotokos (God-bearer) applied to her. He persuaded Pope Celestine I to convoke a synod at Rome, which condemned Nestorius, and then did the same at his own synod in Alexandria. Cyril wrote treatises that clarified the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation and that helped prevent Nestorianism and Pelagianism from taking long-term deep root in the Christian community. He was the most brilliant theologian of the Alexandrian tradition. His writings are characterized by accurate thinking, precise exposition, and great reasoning skills. Among his writings are commentaries on John, Luke, and the Pentateuch, treatises on dogmatic theology, and Apologia against Julian the Apostate, and letters and sermons. He was declared a doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII in 1882. - - - - - #stcyril #stcyrilofalexandria #saintcyrilofalexandria #saintcyril #theology #saint #saintoftheday #catholicmen #catholic #catholiclife #catholicism #catholicchurch #art #god #jesus #holy #holyspirit #religion #romancatholic #faith #pray #prayer #patronsaint #instacatholic #christianity #jesuschrist #blessed #alexandria #icon #orthodox https://www.instagram.com/p/CB8KZZ8hXmr/?igshid=1886owcy1f53y

[sowingseedsandshootinghoops]

St Cyril: If Christ Isn’t Both God and Man then We Aren’t Saved and Shouldn’t Call Ourselves Christians

St Cyril’s On the Unity Christ is one of seminal works which defends the thesis that Christ is both God and man.

The first thing that might be worth noting is that Cyril is talking to other Christians in this book and that’s why most of his “evidence” comes from the Bible. If you’re looking for someone who will make this argument using straight philosophy, then this isn’t the guy for you.

The first thing that Cyril says is that if you don’t believe that Christ was actually incarnated as a human being, then you shouldn’t believe in any of it because “how could God raise him from the dead if he did not die? And how could he have died if he had not been born according to the flesh? And if Christ is not raised then where is the Resurrection from the dead that inspired in the saints the hope of ever-lasting life?” (57-58). If Christ wasn’t authentically born as a human, then he did not die on the cross for our sins nor was he raised back to life, and if that’s all true than why are we Christian? It would make no sense, therefore he must have been as much a human as he was divine. The other thing that Cyril says is that our body is weak, but not evil. Christ took on a body that he might show us how to use the body for good instead of evil. But the body is not in itself an evil thing. The reason Christ that Christ comes and takes on our body is so that we might know that “our nature is greater than our death or corruption” (131). What he did was “restore [the] flesh to what it was in the beginning” (55). So not only is it not an insult to Christ to say that he took on a human body, it doesn’t make sense to be a Christian if you don’t believe that he did!

On the other side of the coin, talking to those who believed that Christ wasn’t really divine, he said the following. First he points to the beginning St John’s Gospel where it says that “The Word became flesh” (John 1:1). It doesn’t that the Word became something that looked like flesh, it says that it became flesh. But beyond that, he has something else to say to those who believe Christ was a “son by grace”, or that he was a normal human who became divine because God the Father adopted him at some point after his birth. His problem with that is that if Christ is only the Son of God by adoption, which means that he has no divinity in him inherently, then he cannot promise us anything regarding the afterlife because any divine power that he has can be taken away from him by the father. In the same way that someone who is not a blood relative can be easily stripped of the material possessions of his adopted father through something like a will. The power of the one who is a prince by blood is more sure and stronger than the power of one who is prince by adoption. In other words, if Christ was merely the adopted Son of God than there is no way that he could guarantee our salvation in the way that he does, and if you believe that then you shouldn’t a Christian.  

Then there were still others who believed the Spirit of Christ just came down and took possession of someone elses’ body. But this doesn’t make sense either because it would mean that the divine Spirit of Christ, rather than making his own body for himself, had to conform to working within the body of another. A divine power that doesn’t have the ability to create his own body doesn’t seem that powerful. Also, on another level, it would mean that we weren’t saved by the blood of Christ, but “rather by the blood of someone else” (112). Which, considering the fact that we call ourselves Christians, would be very odd indeed; there would be no point in calling ourselves Christians if we weren’t saved by the actions of Christ. If we were saved saved by someone else who was merely, as it were, under the inspiration or power of the Holy Spirit, then that person would have been something closer to a profit and we would have taken on his or her name and said that he or she was our Lord and Savior. But we did not because Christ himself is both truly divine and truly human.  In Cyril’s mind, neither the people who believe Christ is only divine, nor those who believe that he is only human should call themselves Christians. Neither position makes any sense.

[jianassassinshao]

'I think I'm falling for you'

Send me: 'I think I'm falling for you' to see how my muse reacts!

Shao blushed at those words, kissing Cyril's cheek before crouching on the ground with a soft smile on her lips.

"Cyril..." She whispered, slowly tracing a finger along the ground and looking back up at him before looking down again with apple red cheeks.

[ezio-archives]

Replies, replies and replies

So, I will be replying to the threads as soon as I can. School is making me busy again. So, stay awesome and carry on RPing! 

[whencyclopedia]

Bohemian Reformation

The Bohemian Reformation (c. 1380 to c. 1436) was the first concerted effort by Catholic clergy to reform the abuses and corruption of the medieval Church. Bohemian clerics and theologians called for reform and, like later advocates, initially had no intention of breaking with the Church until the martyrdom of Jan Hus in 1415.

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[whencyclopedfr]

Réforme de Bohême

La Réforme de Bohême (c. 1380 à c. 1436) fut le premier effort concerté du clergé catholique pour réformer les abus et la corruption de l'Église médiévale. Les ecclésiastiques et les théologiens de Bohême appelèrent à la réforme et, à l'instar des partisans ultérieurs, n'avaient initialement aucune intention de rompre avec l'Église jusqu'au martyre de Jan Hus en 1415.

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[thebyzantinespy]

[deaths-chessmate]

Fellow roleplayer appreciation time: it's time to tell some of your favorite blogs that you acknowledge, and appreciate their work; let them know that you love them. Spread the love to 10 of your favorite blogs. ♥

asjdagsdkjd THANK YOU!

I can't choose only 10 though so um...I LOVE ALL OF YOU SO MUCH!

[jianassassinshao]

‡ (childhood AU!!)

Send me ‡ for my character's reaction to yours climbing in the tub with mine.

"No!"

Cyril looked up and found his mother coming in with a struggling Shao, who was just as filthy as he was, both having been playing in the mud and rain earlier that day.

"I can bathe myself! I promise!"

"Come now, wouldn't you rather talk to Cyril as you wash up?"

"He needs privacy! As do I!"

Shao was settled into the wash basin, a pout on her face as she felt water being poured over her hair before she could dive out and run free naked.

The tiny boy lit up with a blush and quickly covered his manly bits as his mother did the same, washing both children in turn even though they were embarrassed to share the same tub.

If it got them both clean, so be it.

[ezio-archives]

The Mun said all the replies will be done as soon as he can. And it's time for me to be in bed with him now (we're not doing that sexy thing, okay?). So, stay awesome. -- Ezio 

[vanguardhonor]

saintcyril started following you

Have we met before? Those robes look familiar. 

[whencyclopedfr]

Saint Cyrille

Saint Cyrille (alias Kyrillos ou Constantin le Philosophe, mort en 867) était un linguiste, enseignant, érudit et missionnaire byzantin qui prêcha le christianisme aux Slaves de Moravie avec son frère Méthode au cours du IXe siècle. Il créa l'alphabet glagolitique, précurseur de l'alphabet cyrillique qui porte son nom, et fit beaucoup pour diffuser la religion, l'art et la culture de l'empire byzantin en Europe centrale.

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[animus3pointo]

☒

☒: a frantic text message

»WARNING»WARNING»WARNING»WARNING

»IN NEED OF ASSISTANCE 

[deaths-chessmate]

+4

howling-blood

grippedfromperdition

saintcyril

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