St.Cyril and Hypatia

smile4ever

Maybe some of u have heared of these allegations that St.Cyril the great killed the Alexandrian phylosopher Hypatia .. if u would like to share with me what u know about that and please mention the source if it's possible..

the reason i ask about this is because i read these allegations lately in the official book of Alexandria Library in a very offensive way , it says " ..this Cyril who killed Hypatia is considered a saint in Christianity!!" 

i tried to do a little search about this but i got confusing results

thank's in advance

gregorytheSinner

ya i heard the same thing and unfortunatley i didnt get any results researching it either
from what i understood was taht Hypatia was a pagan and St. Cyril was in some sort of conflict w/ her
Possibly a "control issue" b/w the Church and the Pagans and a mob was sent to kill here
Also i have heard that St. Cyril was responsible for the burning of the Library at Alexandria

smile4ever

you are right ..that's what i heared too ..some sources mention St.Cyril as the killer , others say it was a monk close to St.Cyril..and even the motives aren't clear.......

About Alexandria Library: what i know is that pope Theophile not St.Cyril who was responsible of the burning of the Serabium (the small Library/ the daughter library) , later on the mother library was burnt in the 7[sup]th[/sup] century.

PopeKyrillos

I don't think that it's true because the managemnet of the library is muslim. THey will do anything to make our faith look bad.

gregorytheSinner

well concerning the library's management were talking pre-arab invasion
so it is true regarding the Pope's actions?

smile4ever

which Pope do u mean? Theophile or Cyril?

About Pope Theophile and his role in the burning of the Serabium...it was mentioned in some coptic sources , unfortunately i can't remember any of them right now...

Let's stay focused on St.Cyril's case .. till now 59 read this topic but still no answer..

gregorytheSinner

well both popes were Pre-Arab invasion

Holmes

[coptic]+ Iryny nem `hmot>[/coptic]

Any and all historical documents are inherently biased, and so we will never be able to know for certain what happened.  Was St. Cyril involved in the murder of Hypatia?  Most likely.  How involved was he and what were his reasons?  We will probably never know for certain.  If you take a look at the Wikipedia article on Hypatia, you will see 4 references from 4 different authors (Socrates Scholasticus described her death thus in his Ecclesiastical History, John, Bishop of Nikiû, a 7th century author, Edward Gibbon in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Catholic Encyclopedia) that talk about her death.  You can see the inherent biases in them so the truth will never be known.

gregorytheSinner

Tension culminated in the forced, albeit illegal, expulsion of Alexandrian Jews in 414 and the murder of Hypatia, the most prominent Alexandrian pagan, by a fanatical mob of Christians in 415. The departure soon afterward of many scholars marked the beginning of the decline of Alexandria as a major centre of ancient learning.

This is from Encyclopedia Britianica, what I think could have happend is:
Pope Cyril tried to tdefend against neoplatanism by preaching to his flock and osme of the more fanatical flock took his words too far and killed Hypatia.  We'll never know for sure, but hey its just an idea.

Anglican

The best source for this is Professor McGuckin's book on St. Cyril and the Christological Controversy.

He shows quite conclusively that whilst Hypatia was certainly killed by a mob which called itself Christian, St. Cyril had nothing to do with it. It is true he was Patriarch at the time, but he can hardly be held to account for everything which happened under his episcopate.

This charge was first made against the great Saint by his enemies at the time, and it pops up now and then; it was not true then, is not true now, and never will be; but no doubt that will not stop people keeping it going.

In Christ,

Anglian

Safaa

I just want everyone to imagine what Christianity would be if our Lord and God Jesus Christ had not raised up great men like St. Athanasian the Apostle and St. Cyril the Pillar of faith.
These saints defended the faith that was handed down to the universal Church from the Holy Apostles, with the Divine help, and kept it pure from any heresy.
It is so obvious that they would suffer tribulation, mockery and persecution back then, after their departure and even up till now. The enemies of the Church, so many with Satan as their head, would never cease to through dirts to their glorious life.
If we realize this fact we will have the assurance that what the secular society writes about them would not diminish or tarnish their achievement to the Church and they will remain pillars throughout the generations of Christendom.

smile4ever

First of all i would like to thank u John for providing a source ,although i couldn't get a copy of this book online but just knowing that such a book exists is enough to use as a source..thank's very much.

Dear Safaa,
i agree with what u said ,but u can't use this as an argument to defend St.Cyril when talking with un christians..that's why i needed a source to back what u say.

At last i just wanted to say that even if St.Cyril was involved in such a thing that shouldn't affect our faith because saints are humans , they commited sins.

p

From the stories of which I heard, the Library of Alexandria was not burned by St. Cyril, but by radical Muslim invaders who were told to burn anything that was Christian. The Library of Alexandria contained many books on the Egyptian discoveries, but also had Bibles, (some of the first ever written) and therefore was forced to be burned down. Also, what is the chances of having a Pope that was a killer and destroyer of the Bible. I would say that the likelihood is very minimal.

Anglican

I think we ought to be clear here. St. Cyril was not involved in the murder of Hypatia, nor in the destruction of the great library.

That is not to say he was perfect or without sin - only Our Lord fits that bill, but it is to say that he was a great Christian leader and is rightly called the 'seal of the Prophets'; he deserves the highest honour.

His Christological writings are the basis for how the Church sees the Incarnation, and his commentaries and other writings endure as great landmarks in Christian history. Naturally our enemies seek to belittle this giant - but it is they who pale into insignificance next to his achievements. A great Christian soul - may he intercede for us all.

In Christ,

Anglian

p

[quote author=Anglian link=topic=5777.msg77657#msg77657 date=1191101223]
I think we ought to be clear here. St. Cyril was not involved in the murder of Hypatia, nor in the destruction of the great library.

That is not to say he was perfect or without sin - only Our Lord fits that bill, but it is to say that he was a great Christian leader and is rightly called the 'seal of the Prophets'; he deserves the highest honour.

His Christological writings are the basis for how the Church sees the Incarnation, and his commentaries and other writings endure as great landmarks in Christian history. Naturally our enemies seek to belittle this giant - but it is they who pale into insignificance next to his achievements. A great Christian soul - may he intercede for us all.

In Christ,

Anglian

I definitely agree with Anglian, nobody should let these rumors get stuck in their heads. It's all FAKE!!! It's a way that many people try to use to frame the Church. It is just one of the ways that the world just keeps talking. It is all impossible and does not make sense. Please let this post make this topic die.

Unknown

[quote author=Anglian link=topic=5777.msg77657#msg77657 date=1191101223]
That is not to say he was perfect or without sin - only Our Lord fits that bill, but it is to say that he was a great Christian leader and is rightly called the 'seal of the Prophets'

:o Just out of curiosity, is there any pre-Islamic record of St. Cyril being referred to as "Seal of the Prophets"?  :D