The Episcopal Church Commemorates:
Cyril of Jerusalem
Bishop and Theologian, 386 (18 March)
Born in Jerusalem about 315, Cyril became bishop of that city probably in 340. Cyril is the one we have most to thank for the development of catechetical instruction and liturgical observances during Lent and Holy Week. His Catechetical Lectures on the Christian Faith, given before Easter to candidates for baptism, were probably written sometime between 348 and 350. It is likely that it was Cyril who instituted the observances of Palm Sunday and Holy Week during the latter years of his episcopate in Jerusalem. Cyril’s writings have greatly enriched the observance of Holy Week in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer.
