تفسير انجيل لوقا للقديس كيرلس الاسكندرى

by Cyril of Alexandria, نصحي عبد الشهيد (Translator)

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Genres: Religion

776 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1859

About the author

Cyril of Alexandria (Greek: Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας; c. 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 later 4th and 5th centuries. He was a central figure in the First Council of Ephesus in 431, which led to the deposition of Nestorius as Patriarch of Constantinople.

Cyril is counted among the Church Fathers and the Doctors of the Church, and his reputation within the Christian world has resulted in his titles Pillar of Faith and Seal of all the Fathers, but Theodosius II, the Roman Emperor, condemned him for behaving like a "proud pharaoh", and the Nestorian bishops at the Council of Ephesus declared him a heretic, labelling him as a "monster, born and educated for the destruction of the church."

Cyril is well-known due to his dispute with Nestorius and his supporter Patriarch John of Antioch, whom Cyril excluded from the Council of Ephesus for arriving late. He is also known for his expulsion of Novatians and Jews from Alexandria.

The Roman Catholic Church did not commemorate Saint Cyril in the Tridentine Calendar: it added his feast only in 1882, assigning to it the date of 9 February. The 1969 revision moved it to 27 June, considered to be the day of the saint's death, as celebrated by the Coptic Orthodox Church. The same date has been chosen for the Lutheran calendar. The Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Church celebrate his feast day on 9 June and also, together with Pope Athanasius I of Alexandria, on 18 January.

Reviews

[Lucas Sipe · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very large text, this commentary also includes the Scripture being talked about/ commented upon by St. Cyril. I wasn't able to fully determine where the translation came from, it's familiar but also quite distinct, so it might have been Cyril's own translation. Regardless, this text is a lot less of an academic commentary and rather a collection of sermons commenting on and drawing out the mysteries of the Christian faith from the relevant Gospel passages. Cyril primarily had two aims with his commentaries and kept coming back to them: the nature of Jesus Christ and vilification of the Jews.

Above all else, Cyril is known for his defense of the Christological doctrine that Christ was both fully God and fully man. Known as the Hypostatic Union, this dogmatic point became binding upon the Churches in the 400's. At the time, however, there was intense debate between various schools. This text, as a result, is very much a part of those disputes. Above all else, the sermons are concerned with identifying Christ as God and man - in one person with two wholly distinct and complete natures - against the errors of the opposing parties. When an opportunity is presented, Cyril will latch onto it and make explicit the doctrine to his hearers (and now readers.) While not quite one note, after a while the emphasis becomes worn out and "old" (for lack of a better word.) Theologically rich, the text is so focused on that other interpretations of the Gospel passages become crowded out. Obviously, Cyril isn't a 21st century critic of the text so some of the interpretations were novel. This will be of importance for the second thematic element but the rich man asking how he might be saved is portrayed in a much more negative light than I've ever seen before.

This brings us to the second and more problematic (to modern ears) of the thematic elements. Cyril is obsessed with demonstrating that the Jews have lost their inheritance and are now devoid of the promises of God. Over and over again, Cyril hammers home how the Jews killed Christ, hated him, hated the law, misunderstood their scriptures, and were blinded by pride, greed, and envy. There isn't any caricature making per se but Cyril *hated* the Jews of the scriptures. Every parable or scene or interaction is interpreted as being against the Jews in some way. The prodigal son parable, for example, is reformatted to show how the eldest son is a type of Jewish figure. Obviously, the tone and tenor of the text is unpalatable for modern ears. Beyond that, however, I find it most disconcerting how the modern Churches (Roman Catholic mainly but Orthodox churches too) seem to have turned wholesale on this. It is undeniable that a strain of anti-Semitism imbues so much of the older Church texts and teachers that the modern stance (in the VII declarations on the topic but other ones following) clearly is at odds. St. Cyril would not be welcome in the Church today which is disconcerting for a Church that claims to be the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

All that being said, I found Cyril to be a theological rich exegetist of the Gospel of Luke! He's a brilliant theological mind who has a deep knowledge of the tradition and scriptures'. But the quality of the text (i.e. my copy) was so poor that I had to give it only two stars. In the middle of the book, the font, color, and size of the typeface all change for like 30 pages. Numerous things are misspelled. For exmaple, there were a few instances of "hi3" and at one time "Halt" was used for salt. There were many more instances of such misspellings. Line breaks in the middle of a sentence would happen from time to time. The editing of the text was so poor that I couldn't focus on the text itself at times.

That's a shame because more people would benefit from reading these ancient commentaries. Not only for their theological/ spiritual insights but as history as well. Intellectual historians of the period likely know this but more common, arm chair historians would enjoy the richness of text such as these. I would recommend getting a better version than mine, however, were you to get St. Cyril's commentary.

[w gall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This holy Father, who contributed much to our understanding of Christ's Person, for the most part simply reiterates the Gospel texts, though with numerous clarifications of phrases which are open to other meanings. There is a lot of focus on condemning the Jews; too much it seems to me. Perhaps, though, the Jewish people in Alexandria at that time were a serious threat to many in the Church, with their more literal interpretation and practice of the Old Testament Scriptures, and their alternate view of Jesus as a pseudo Messiah. But it seems to me his commentary in this regard consisted in more heat and anger than necessary.