June 27 is the feast of St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376-444), bishop of Alexandria and Doctor of the Church. Nephew of his predecessor Theophilus, he became bishop in 412 and ruled the see for thirty-two years. He presided over the Council of Ephesus in 431, which defined that Mary is Theotokos — the Mother of God — and condemned the teaching of Nestorius, who had held that Christ was two persons and that Mary was only the mother of the human person.
Cyril's writings — the Twelve Anathemas against Nestorius, the treatises On the Unity of Christ and That Christ is One — are the foundation of the Catholic doctrine of the hypostatic union: one person, two natures, divine and human, in the one Christ. He was a controversial figure in his lifetime — forceful, combative, involved in the expulsion of the Jews from Alexandria and in the condemnation of Hypatia — but his theological work has been the touchstone of Catholic Christology since.
Cyril was proclaimed Doctor of the Church in 1882 by Pope Leo XIII. From Alexandria, where he was bishop, to Ephesus, where he presided over the council, the June 27 feast is the feast of the doctor of the Incarnation.
Connected Destinations
Alexandria
Egypt · Africa
Alexandria holds profound Catholic significance as the historical seat of St. Mark the Evangelist and center of early Christianity, with St. Catherine's Cathedral serving as the main Catholic pilgrimage destination.
Mt. Koressos (Ephesus)
Turkey · Asia
Mount Koressos houses the Virgin Mary's final dwelling, a sacred Catholic pilgrimage site where tradition holds she spent her last years under St. John's care.