Saint Cyril of Alexandria, 376-444
Athanasius is the champion against Arianism, Cyril is the champion against Nestorianism, for the Mother of God Doctor of the Church.

    Patriach of Alexandria. Suppressed the Novatians. Worked at the Council of Ephesus. Fought against Nestorius who taught the heresy that there were two persons in Christ. Catechetical writer. Wrote a book opposing Julian the Apostate. Greek Father of the Church. Doctor of the Church.

    Nestorianism: The heresy of Nestorius consist in that he claims in Jesus Christ there two persons, one divine and another human, so May is the mother of the human Jesus, but not the mother of divine Jesus. the truth is that in Jesus christ there is only on person, fully human and fully God.
    The controversy centered around the two natures in Christ. Nestorius would not agree to the title “God-bearer” for Mary. He preferred “Christ-bearer,” saying there are two distinct persons in Christ (divine and human) joined only by a moral union. Nestorius said Mary was not the mother of God but only of the man Christ, whose humanity was only a temple of God. Nestorianism implied that the humanity of Christ was a mere disguise

    Presiding as the pope’s representative at the Council of Ephesus (431), Cyril condemned Nestorianism and proclaimed Mary truly the “God-bearer” (the mother of the one Person who is truly God and truly human). In the confusion that followed, Cyril was deposed and imprisoned for three months, after which he was welcomed back to Alexandria as a second Athanasius (the champion against Arianism).

Born 376 at Alexandria, Egypt

Died 444 at Alexandria, Egypt of natural causes; relics in Alexandria

 

Additional Information

http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintc15.htm
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/SaintOfDay/default.asp?id=1427
Letter of Cyril to Nestorius
Letter of Cyril to Nestorius with the XII Anathematisms
 

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Readings

By nature, each one of us is enclosed in his own personality, but supernaturally, we are all one. We are made one body in Christ, because we are nourished by one flesh. As Christ is indivisible, we are all one in him. Therefore, He asked His Father "that they may all be One as We also are one."

- Saint Cyril of Alexandria

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That anyone could doubt the right of the holy Virgin to be called the Mother of God fills with astonishment. Surely she must be the Mother of God if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, and she gave birth to him! Our Lord's disciples may not have used those exact words, but they delivered to us the belief those words enshrine, and this has also been taught us by the holy fathers.

The divinely inspired Scriptures affirm that the Word of God was made flesh, that is to say, he was united to a human body endowed with a rational soul. He undertook to help the descendants of Abraham, fashioning a body for himself from a woman and sharing our flesh and blood, to enable us to see in him not only God, but also, by reason of this union, a man like ourselves.

It is held, therefore, that there is in Emmanuel two entities, divinity and humanity. Yet our Lord Jesus Christ is nonetheless one, the one true Son, both God and man; not a defied man on the same footing as those who share the divine nature by grace, but true God who for our sake appeared in human form. We are assured of this by Saint Paul's declaration: "When the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law and to enable us to be adopted as sons.

from a letter by Saint Cyril of Alexandria