CHAP. to exaggerate the abfurd or impious conclufions XLVII. Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, that might be extorted from the principles of their adverfaries. To escape from each other, they wandered through many a dark and devious thicket, till they were astonished by the horrid phantoms of Cerinthus and Apollinaris, who guarded the oppofite iffues of the theological labyrinth. As foon as they beheld the twilight of fenfe and herefy, they started, measured back their steps, and were again involved in the gloom of impenetrable orthodoxy. To purge themselves from the guilt or reproach of damnable error, they difavowed their confequences, explained their principles, excused their indifcretions, and unanimously pronounced the founds of concord and faith. Yet at latent and almost invisible spark ftill lurked among the embers of controverfy: by the breath of prejudice and paffion, it was quickly kindled to a mighty flame, and the verbal difputes 19 of the Oriental fects have fhaken the pillars of the church and state. The name of CYRIL of Alexandria is famous in controverfial ftory, and the title of faint is a mark that his opinions and his party have finally pre 19 I appeal to the confeffion of two Oriental prelates, Gregory Abulpharagius the Jacobite primate of the East, and Elias the Neftorian metropolitan of Damafcus (fee Affeman. Bibliothec. Oriental. tom i. p. 291. tom. iii. p. 514, &c.), that the Melchites, Jacobites, Neftorians, &c. agree in the do&rine, and differ only in the expression. Our most learned and rational divines-Bafnage, Le Clerc, Beaufobre, La Croze, Mofheim, Jablonski—are inclined to favour this charitable judgment; but the zeal of Petavius is loud and angry, and the moderation of Dupin is conveyed in a whisper. XLVII. A. D. 412, Oct. 18 June 27. vailed. In the house of his uncle, the archbishop CHAP. Theophilus, he imbibed the orthodox leffons of zeal and dominion, and five years of his youth were profitably spent in the adjacent monafteries of A. D.444. Nitria, Under the tuition of the abbot Serapion, he applied himself to ecclefiaftical studies, with fuch indefatigable ardour, that in the course of one sleepless night, he has perused the four gospels, the catholic epiftles, and the epiftle to the Romans. Origen he detefted: but the writings of Clemens and Dionyfius, of Athanafius and Bafil, were continually in his hands: by the theory and practice of dispute, his faith was confirmed and his wit was fharpened; he extended round his cell the cobwebs of scholastic theology, and meditated the works of allegory and metaphysics, whose remains, in feven verbose folios, now peaceably flumber by the fide of their rivals 20. Cyril prayed and fasted in the defert, but his thoughts (it is the reproach of a friend ") were still fixed on the world; and the call of Theophilus, who fummoned him to the tumult of cities and fynods, was too readily obeyed by the aspiring hermit. With the approbation of his uncle, he affumed the office, and acquired the fame, of a popular preacher. His comely perfon 20 La Croze (Hift, du Chriftianifme des Indes, tom. i. p. 24.) avows his contempt for the genius and writings of Cyril. De tous les ouvrages des anciens, il y en a peu qu'on life avec moins d'utilité; and Dupin (Bibliothéque Ecclefiaftique, tom. iv. p. 42-52.), in words of respect, teaches us to despise them. 21 Of Ifidore of Pelufium (1. i. epift. 25. p. 8 ). As the letter is not of the most creditable fort, Tillemont, lefs fincere than the Bol. landists, affects a doubt whether this Cyril is the nephew of Theophilus (Mem. Ecclef, tom. xiv. p. 268.). CHAP. adorned the pulpit, the harmony of his voice reXLVII. founded in the cathedral, his friends were ftationed His tyranny, A.D. 413 414, 415, &c. to lead or fecond the applaufe of the congregation 22, and the hafty notes of the scribes preserved his discourses, which in their effect, though not in their compofition, might be compared with those of the Athenian orators. The death of Theophilus expanded and realised the hopes of his nephew. The clergy of Alexandria was divided; the foldiers and their general fupported the claims of the archdeacon; but a refistless multitude, with voices and with hands, afferted the cause of their favourite; and, after a period of thirty-nine years, Cyril was feated on the throne of Athanafius 23. The The prize was not unworthy of his ambition, At a distance from the court, and at the head of an immense capital, the patriarch, as he was now ftyled, of Alexandria had gradually ufurped the state and authority of a civil magistrate. public and private charities of the city were managed by his difcretion; his voice inflamed or appeased the passions of the multitude; his com mands were blindly obeyed by his numerous and fanatic parabolani, familiarised in their daily office 22 A grammarian is named by Socrates (1. vii. 13.) deaævp da ακροατης τα επισκοπο Κυρίλλα καθέςως, και πέρι το κροτες εν ταις δίδασκα λίαις αυτο εγείρειν ην σπουδανοτοτοί. 23 See the youth and promotion of Cyril, in Socrates (1. vii. c. 7.) and Renaudot Hift. Patriarch. Alexandrin. p. 1c6 108.). The Abté Renaudot drew his materials from the Arabic hiftory of Severns, bishop of Hermopolis Magna, or Ashmunein, in the xth century, who can never be trusted, unless our affent is extorted by the internal evidence of facts. 24 The Parabolani of Alexandria were a charitable corporation, inftituted during the plague of Gallienus to vifit the fick and to bury the XLVII. office with scenes of death; and the præfects of CHAP. Egypt were awed or provoked by the temporal power of these Chriftian pontiffs. Ardent in the prosecution of herefy, Cyril aufpiciously opened his reign by oppreffing the Novations, the most innocent and harmless of the fectaries. The interdiction of their religious worship appeared in his eyes a just and meritorious act; and he confifcated their holy veffels, without apprehending the guilt of facrilege. The toleration, and even the privi leges of the Jews, who had multiplied to the number of forty thousand, were, fecured by the laws of the Cæfars and Ptolemies, and a long prescription of seven hundred years fince the foundation of Alexandria. Without any legal sentence, without any royal mandate, the patriarch, at the dawn of day, led a feditious multitude to the attack of the fynagogues. Unarmed and unprepared, the Jews were incapable of refiftance; their houfes of prayer were levelled with the ground, and the epifcopal warrior, after rewarding his troops with the plunder of their goods, expelled from the city the remnant of the unbelieving nation. Perhaps he might plead the infolence of their profperity, and their deadly hatred of the Chriftians, whofe blood they had recently shed in a malicious or acci the dead. They gradually enlarged; abufed and fold the privileges of their order. Their outrageous conduct under the reign of Cyril provoked the emperor to deprive the patriarch of their nomination, and reftrain their number to five or fix hundred. But these reftraints were tranfient and ineffectual. See the Theodofian Code, 1. xvi. tit. ii. and Tillemont, Mem. Ecclef. tom. xiv. p. 276 mm 278, T 4 dental XLVII. CHAP. dental tumult. Such crimes would have deferved the animadverfion of the magiftrate; but in this promifcuous outrage, the innocent were confounded with the guilty, and Alexandria was impoverished by the loss of a wealthy and industrious colony, The zeal of Cyril expofed him to the penalties of the Julian law; but in a feeble government, and a fuperftitious age, he was fecure of impunity, and even of praise. Oreftes complained; but his juft complaints were too quickly forgotten by the minifters of Theodofius, and too deeply remembered by a priest who affected to pardon, and continued to hate the præfect of Egypt. As he paffed through the streets, his chariot was affaulted by a band of five hundred of the Nitrian monks; his guards fled from the wild beaft of the defert; his proteftations that he was a Chriftian and a Catholic, were answered by a volley of stones, and the face of Oreftes was covered with blood. loyal citizens of Alexandria hastened to his rescue; he inftantly fatisfied his juftice and revenge against the monk by whofe hand he had been wounded, and Ammonius expired under the rod of the lictor. At the command of Cyril, his body was raised from the ground, and tranfported, in folemn proceffion, to the cathedral; the name of Ammoniųs was changed to that of Thaumafius the wonderful; his tomb was decorated with the trophies of martyrdom, and the patriarch ascended the pulpit to celebrate the magnanimity of an affaffin and a rebel. Such honours might incite the faithful to combat and die under the banners of the faint; and he The foon |