prayer, and were not admitted to baptism till they
had given proof of their morals and conduct, as well as of their
constancy in the faith.[2] This office St. Cyril performed for several
years; but we have only the course of his catechetical sermons for the
year 348, or 347. Perhaps the others were never committed to writing. He
succeeded Maximus in the see of Jerusalem about the end of the year 350.

The beginning of his episcopacy was remarkable for a prodigy by which
God was pleased to honor the instrument of our redemption. It is related
by Socrates,[3] Philostorgius,[4] the chronicle of Alexandria, &c. St.
Cyril, an eye-witness, wrote immediately to the emperor Constantius, an
exact account of this miraculous phenomenon: and his letter is quoted as
a voucher for it by Sozomen,[5] Theophanes,[6] Eutychius,[7] John of
Nice,[8] Glycas, and others. Dr. Cave has inserted it at length in his
life of St. Cyril.[9] The relation he there gives of the miracle is as
follows: "On the nones (or 7th) of May, about the third hour, (or nine
in the morning,) a vast luminous body, in the form of a cross, appeared
in the heavens, just over the holy Golgotha, reaching as far as the holy
mount of Olivet, (that is, almost two English miles in length,) seen not
by one or two persons, but clearly and evidently by the whole city. This
was not, as may be thought, a momentary transient phenomenon: for it
continued several hours together visible to our eyes, and brighter than
the sun; the light of which would have eclipsed it, had not this been
stronger. The whole city, struck with a reverential fear, tempered with
joy, ran immediately to the church, young and old, Christians and
heathens, citizens and strangers, all with one voice giving praise to
our Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, the worker of miracles;
finding by experience the truth of the Christian doctrine, to which the
heavens bear witness." He concludes his letter with wishes that the
emperor may always glorify the holy and consubstantial Trinity.[10]
Philostorgius and the Alexandrian chronicle affirm, that this cross of
light was encircled with a large rainbow.[11] The Greek church
commemorates this miracle on the 7th of May.

{609}

Some time after this memorable event, a difference happened between our
saint and Acacius, archbishop of Caesarea, first a warm Semi-Arian,
afterwards a thorough Arian. It began on the subject of metropolitical
jurisdiction, which Acacius unj