Readings

March 18: Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop and Theologian, 386

The Collect of the Day

Cyril of Jerusalem

Strengthen, O God, your church in the sacraments of your grace, that we, in union with the teaching and prayers of your servant Cyril of Jerusalem, may enter more fully into your Paschal mystery; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Cyril of Jerusalem

Strengthen, O God, thy church in the sacraments of thy grace, that we, in union with the teaching and prayers of thy servant Cyril of Jerusalem, may enter more fully into thy Paschal mystery; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Born in Jerusalem about 315, Cyril became bishop of that city probably in 349. In the course of political and ecclesiastical disputes, he was banished and restored three times. 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.

The work consists of an introductory lecture, or Procatechesis, and eighteen Catecheses based upon the articles of the creed of the church in Jerusalem. All these lectures (the earliest catechetical materials surviving today) may have been used many times over by Cyril and his successors, and considerably revised in the process. They were probably part of the pre-baptismal instruction that Egeria, a pilgrim nun from western Europe, witnessed at Jerusalem in the fourth century and described with great enthusiasm in the account of her pilgrimage. Many of the faithful would also attend these instructions.

Cyril’s five Mystagogical Catecheses on the Sacraments, intended for the newly baptized after Easter, are now thought to have been composed, or at least revised, by John, Cyril’s successor as Bishop of Jerusalem from 386 to 417.

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. In doing so, he was taking practical steps to organize devotions for countless pilgrims and local inhabitants around the sacred sites. In time, as pilgrims returned to their homes from Palestine, these services were to influence the development of Holy Week observances throughout the entire church. Cyril attended the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople, in 381, and died in Jerusalem on March 18th, 386.

Cyril’s writings have greatly enriched the observance of Holy Week in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer.

Lessons and Psalm

First Lesson

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Psalm

1I will bless the Lord at all times; *his praise shall ever be in my mouth.

2I will glory in the Lord; *let the humble hear and rejoice.

3Proclaim with me the greatness of the Lord; *let us exalt his Name together.

4I sought the Lord, and he answered me *and delivered me out of all my terror.

5Look upon him and be radiant, *and let not your faces be ashamed.

6I called in my affliction and the Lord heard me *and saved me from all my troubles.

7The angel of the Lord encompasses those who fear him, *and he will deliver them.

8Taste and see that the Lord is good; *happy are they who trust in him!

Gospel

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Mark 9:38–41

38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 Whoever is not against us is for us. 41 For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

Ecclesiasticus 47:2–10

2 As the fat is set apart from the offering of well-being,    so David was set apart from the Israelites. 3 He played with lions as though they were young goats,    and with bears as though they were lambs of the flock. 4 In his youth did he not kill a giant,    and take away the people’s disgrace, when he whirled the stone in the sling    and struck down the boasting Goliath? 5 For he called on the Lord, the Most High,    and he gave strength to his right arm to strike down a mighty warrior,    and to exalt the power of his people. 6 So they glorified him for the tens of thousands he conquered,    and praised him for the blessings bestowed by the Lord,    when the glorious diadem was given to him. 7 For he wiped out his enemies on every side,    and annihilated his adversaries the Philistines;    he crushed their power to our own day. 8 In all that he did he gave thanks    to the Holy One, the Most High, proclaiming his glory; he sang praise with all his heart,    and he loved his Maker. 9 He placed singers before the altar,    to make sweet melody with their voices. 10 He gave beauty to the festivals, and arranged their times throughout the year, while they praised God’s holy name, and the sanctuary resounded from early morning.