ilus,
and testifies[1] that he made it his rule never to advance any doctrine
which he had not learned from the ancient Fathers. His books against
Julian the Apostate show that he had read the profane writers. He often
says himself that he neglected human eloquence: and it is to be wished
that he had written in a clearer style, and with greater purity of the
Greek tongue. Upon the death of Theophilus, in 412, he was raised by the
people to the patriarchal dignity. He began to exert his authority by
causing the churches of the Novatians in the city to be shut up, and
their sacred vessels and ornaments to be seized; an action censured by
Socrates, a favorer of those heretics; but we do not know the reasons
and authority upon which he proceeded. He next drove the Jews out of the
city, who were very numerous, and enjoyed great privileges there from
the time of Alexander the Great. Seditions, and several acts of violence
committed by them, excited him to this, which grievously offended
Orestes the governor, but was approved by the emperor Theodosius: and
the Jews never returned. St. Cyril sent to conjure the governor by the
holy gospels that he would consent to a reconciliation, and that he
would join in sincere friendship with him: but his offers were rejected.
This unhappy disagreement produced pernicious effects. Hypatia, a pagan
lady, kept a public school of philosophy in the city. Her reputation for
learning was so great, that disciples flocked to her from all parts.
Among these was the great Synesius, who afterwards submitted his works
to her censure. She was consulted by philosophers of the first rank on
the most intricate points of learning, and of the Platonic philosophy in
particular, in which she was remarkably well versed.[2] She was much
respected and consulted by the governor, and often visited him. The mob,
which was nowhere more unruly, or more fond of riots and tumults than in
that populous city, the second in the world for extent, upon a {277}
suspicion that she incensed the governor against their bishop,
seditiously rose, pulled her out of her chariot, cut and mangled her
flesh, and tore her body in pieces in the streets, in 415, to the great
grief and scandal of all good men, especially of the pious bishop.[3][4]
He had imbibed certain prejudices from his uncle against the great St.
Chrysostom: but was prevailed on by St. Isidore of Pelusium, and others,
to insert his name in the Dyptics of his church, in 4