Did Saint Cyril Kill Hypatia?
I got an email that said:
A group of his [Cyril's] followers - stirred up by him - were responsible for the gruesome murder of the Alexandrian scholar Hypatia.[in 422 A.D.] He does not deserve sainthood. On that point, history has made its judgment - I doubt there is anything that could be said in his defense.
The implications of this email are that the Catholic Church does not have integrity in its choice of saints and that its claim of infallibility on these matters is invalid.
The accusation here is that Cyril, who was later canonized as a Catholic saint, assembled a mob of monks and had Hypatia dragged into a church where the monks tore her flesh with potsherds 'til she died. The story he is advancing is that Hypatia was young and beautiful woman, a magnet of the people and that Cyril had her murdered out of jealousy.
This theory was advanced by Mangasar Mugurditch Mangasarian (1859-1943) a man who admired pagan religions, and pretty much dismissed Christianity. He was also hung up on the beautiful Hypatia. The story was picked up by Evangelicals to demonstrate the Church's lack of integrity when canonizing Saints.
The story has several flaws:
-
Hypatia was not a young woman at the time, she was old.
-
Monks did not kill Hypatia, nor did the clergy, the Alexadrians led by a lector named Peter did it. The mob of monks that Mangasar is talking about were around several years before this scene in 419 A.D. and they rescued Christians from death at the hands of the Alexandrian Jews.
-
Cyril did not instigate the mob nor was he there.
Catholics acknowledge Hypatia's integrity and the tragedy of her death at the hand of radicals. Hypatia was highly-respected teacher of neo-Platoism. Hypatia was a friend of Orestes, the Prefect (Governor) of Egypt and Orestes was very fond of Hypatia who influenced him towards a neo-pagan set of beliefs.
It was a very violent time in history. Lots of riots. Cyril and Orestes had a falling out because Cyril had a mob of
monks come and drive the Jews, who had been killing Christians, out of
Alexandria. Many
Christians at that time believed that Hypatia prevented a reconciliation
between the prefect (Orestes) and patriarch (Cyril). That is why a mob led by
a lector, named Peter, dragged her to a church and tore her flesh with
potsherds 'til she died. This brought great disgrace, says Socrates, on the
Church of Alexandria and on its bishop; but a lector at Alexandria was
not a cleric (Scr., V, xxii), and Socrates does not suggest that Cyril himself
was to blame. (note: this is not Socrates the Greek philospher of 400 years earlier but rather well repected man of the time.)
The story about how Hypatia died during a riot is true, but the statement that
Cyril was responsible is a different matter. Socrates did not lay the blame of
Cyril. Cyril was not there according to him. Damascius, indeed, accuses Cyril
but he is a late authority and a hater of Christians.
I think it is a mistake to quote the writings of a Christian hater like Damascius rather
than a man of integrity and respect like Socrates. That logic is dubious. By
showing how stupid the Catholic Church is in its choice of Saints, they can derail the
Church's integrity and also attack the infallibility thing.
Quoting Damascius as a reliable source for history in Christendom is like
asking Stalin (communist Russia) to write our history books about
Christianity in this 20th century.
St. Cyril was a great influence on the direction of Christianity. Cyril is
responsible for defending the Dogma of the Trinity against Nestorius who just
about won out when trying to convince the Church that the Human and Devine Nature of
Jesus were separate. Basically, Nestorius would
have turned Christ's sacrifice on the Cross to nothing but another death of a
Profit and would have turned Christianity into a New Age fallacy. St. Cyril
stood up against this heresy. Without Cyril, it is doubtful that we
Christianity today would understand the Trinity of God as three persons in
One, and the unity of Christ's human and divine nature. I think theologians and historians can greatly appreciate
the magnitude of Cyril's contribution to Christianity.
A source for this is Catholic Encyclopedia article is here. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04592b.htm
| Copyright notice |
