Explanation of St. Cyril of Alexandria's Christology

    Hello all. After my last two posts I have received requests to write a more detailed post explaining St. Cyril's Christology. St. Cyril was the Archbishop of Alexandria and taught a form of Christology that became known as Monophysitism. As explained earlier, this is a belief that Christ possesses only one nature. In the Western Church and among the Eastern Orthodox there is a belief that Jesus Christ is one person who consists fully of a divine nature and fully of a human nature. Monophysitism believes that Christ only possesses one united nature. This nature is the result of the divine and human natures becoming united. Thus, there is one person, Jesus Christ, and this person has only one, united, nature. 

    St. Cyril wrote an Epistle where he highlights his Christology. He writes that the Word (Jesus Christ), consisting of the same substance of the Father, came to earth and was born in the flesh. Thus, Jesus is fully divine while also existing as a human person. St. Cyril also rejects the idea that Christ consists of two persons- one divine and one human. Cyril also writes that "While the natures that were brought together into this true identity were different, nonetheless there is one Christ and one Son from out of both" (The Second Epistle). Thus, Cyril is proclaiming that there were originally two natures- one divine and one human, and that they become united in the flesh of Jesus Christ. As I noted in the last post, this is similar to the Western and Eastern Orthodox views of Christology which has enabled Oriental Orthodox Churches to make great strides towards unity with other churches. They claim that there are two natures, just like the East and West; however, they take it a step further by claiming that these two natures are united into a single nature. This is what originally sparked the controversy at the Council of Chalcedon where the Oriental Orthodox Churches left the rest of the Christ Church. This may seem like a petty move to make, but there were other factors at play. Language differences allowed for misconceptions about each movement's Christology to abound alongside the various cultural and political differences that existed between the churches that would make up the Oriental Orthodox Communion and the rest of the Christ Church at that time. 

    An interesting thing to note about St. Cyril is that in his Commentary on John, he writes that It is so that we might see side by side the wound together with the remedy, the patient together with the physician, that which had sunk towards death together with him who raised it up towards like, that which has been overcome by corruption together with him who drove out corruption, that which had been mastered by death together with him who was superior to death, that which was bereft of life together with who is the provider of life" (Commentary on John). This reveals Cyril's teaching that Christ suffered to the greatest extent humanly possible. This suffering reveals that Jesus was fully human and that he can understand what you and I go through in our lives when we suffer. Christ has been there and he is right there with us when we suffer. He knows what it is like and provides us comfort. It is clear that Christ suffered greatly which makes his resurrection even more miraculous. Christ truly died but was truly raised. This is why we shout "Alleluia!" during our Easter service. This is something in which to rejoice indeed. There is something to be learned from St. Cyril of Alexandria I believe and hopefully you have reached a fuller understanding that his Christology is not as different from ours as originally thought. Peace!

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