Letter to the Bishops of Libya and the Pentapolis

Name: Letter to the Bishops of Libya and the Pentapolis
Author: Cyril of Alexandria

Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444 AD) · written c. 412–444 AD · PG 77

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Contents4 passages

1What the Monks of the Thebaid Reported
2Hasty Ordinations and Expelled Monks
3Examining Candidates Before Ordination
4Catechumens and Penitents Near Death

Author

Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444 AD) — Bishop of Alexandria from 412. He led the case against Nestorius at the Council of Ephesus in 431, defending the title Mother of God and the single person of Christ, and wrote long commentaries on both Testaments.

All works by Cyril of Alexandria

About this text

Cyril of Alexandria writes to the bishops of Libya and the Pentapolis after monks from the Thebaid report hasty ordinations. He asks them to examine every candidate's life before ordaining him, and to baptize and give communion to catechumens and penitents who are near death. A fresh English translation from the Greek.

A fresh English translation made from the Greek text printed in PG 77. No published English version was used for its wording.

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Translated from PG 77 (Greek)

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What the Monks of the Thebaid Reported§1

1By the same, to the bishops in Libya and the Pentapolis.

Preface

We must take care over everything that is useful and needful for building up the people, and that also contributes to the good name of the holy churches. For it is written, “Make the children of Israel careful” (Leviticus 15:31). Now fathers of monasteries in the province of the Thebaid, devout men whose way of life deserves admiration, came to Alexandria; and when I asked them about the state of the monasteries there, they told me that many are taking offence, for the following reason.

1. That no one should be ordained without examination

Some men who have only just married, and who have come down, as it were, straight from the bridal chamber, sweep along some of the most God-loving…

Greek · §1

The Greek is on each section page: §1

Hasty Ordinations and Expelled Monks§2

2…bishops; and since perhaps no one reports their circumstances, they are ordained clerics, or even presbyters.

2. On those who leave monasteries and are ordained

Others, expelled as disorderly from the monasteries themselves, then slip in to obtain ordination; and once they have become clerics, they enter even the very monasteries from which they were expelled, and wish to make the offering and to perform all that clerics are accustomed to do. And they do this, so that some who know them even stay away from the assemblies and cannot bear to share in communion while those men are officiating.

Greek · §2

The Greek is on each section page: §2

Examining Candidates Before Ordination§3

33. How and when one should ordain, and whom one should examine

Since, then, as I said, everything we do must be done for building up the people, let Your Reverence watch over these matters. If anyone is about to be ordained a cleric, let Your Reverence look carefully into his life: whether he has a wife or not, how or when he married her, and whether he has abstained; and whether he is one of those who have been expelled, either by another most God-fearing bishop or from monasteries. And then let Your Reverence ordain him, once he has been found blameless.

Greek · §3

The Greek is on each section page: §3

Catechumens and Penitents Near Death§4

4For in this way we shall keep both our own conscience pure and the holy and venerable liturgy beyond reproach.

On catechumens and penitents, if they draw near their end

If any who have been censured for their faults undergo separation, and then are about to die while they are still catechumens, let them be baptized; and let them not depart this life without a share in grace, that is, without communion. For this too seems to be in keeping with the ordinances of the Church.

Greet the brotherhood that is with you; the brotherhood that is with us greets you in the Lord.

Greek · §4

The Greek is on each section page: §4

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