St. Cyril was born in or near Jerusalem about the year 315. He was ordained a priest about 345 by St. Maximus, who placed him in charge of preparing catechumens for baptism. 

The 24 sermons delivered by Cyril to the catechumens about 349 are known today as the Catechetical Instructions. Nineteen sermons were given before the baptism of the catechumens in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Cross, and the other five sermons were post-baptismal or “mystagogical” catecheses given in the city’s Church of the Resurrection. 

The 19 sermons in preparation for baptism covered topics such as the prerequisites for baptism, conversion from pagan morals, the sacrament of baptism, and the dogmatic truths contained in the Creed.

Cyril told the catechumens: “You are a fish caught in the net of the Church. Let yourself be taken alive: don’t try to escape. It is Jesus who is playing you on his line, not to kill you, but, by killing you, to make you alive. For you must die and rise again. Did you not hear the Apostle say: ‘dead to sin, but living to justice’? Die, then, to sin, and live to righteousness; from today be alive.”

The five “mystagogical” catecheses contained explanations on the rites of baptism, confirmation, the Holy Eucharist, and the Our Father.

Here is a text explaining the rites of baptism: 

“After these things, you were led to the holy pool of Divine Baptism, as Christ was carried from the Cross to the Sepulchre which is before our eyes. And each of you was asked, whether he believed in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and you made that saving confession, and descended three times into the water, and ascended again; here also hinting by a symbol at the three days burial of Christ. For as our Saviour passed three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, so you also in your first ascent out of the water, represented the first day of Christ in the earth, and by your descent, the night; for as he who is in the night, no longer sees, but he who is in the day, remains in the light, so in the descent, as in the night, you saw nothing, but in ascending again you were as in the day. And at the self-same moment you were both dying and being born; and that saving water was at once your grave and your mother. And what Solomon spoke of others will suit you also; for he said, in that case, There is a time to bear and a time to die; but to you, in the reverse order, there was a time to die and a time to be born; and one and the same time effected both of these, and your birth went hand in hand with your death.”

Cyril became bishop of Jerusalem about 350, at a time when the East was troubled by the Arian heresy, which held that Christ is a mere creature and not the Son of God.

Because Cyril upheld the Nicene faith that Christ is the true Son of God, he was banished three times by the Arians. On the death of the Arian Emperor Valens he returned to Jerusalem.

He was present at the second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople in 381. The bishops who were loyal to the Catholic faith assembled in the same city in 382 and wrote to Pope Damasus and to the western bishops regarding Cyril: “That the most reverend and beloved of God, Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, had been canonically elected by the bishops of the province, and had suffered many persecutions for the faith.”  

Cyril died in Jerusalem on March 18, 386, having been a bishop for about 35 years, 16 of which had been spent in exile. He was declared a doctor of the Church by Leo XIII in 1882.


啟祿教授慕道者                                                                                                     

聖啟祿約在公元315年出生於耶路撒冷，公元345年從聖馬斯密手中領受鐸品，隨即被委派主理為慕道者準備教授的要理。

約在公元349年，啟祿向慕道者的二十四次講道內容是要理的教授。慕道者接受聖洗聖事前，啟祿在耶路撒冷聖木大殿向他們作了十九次講道；在他們領洗後，啟祿在復活大殿又給他們作了五次「釋奧」的講道。

啟祿的十九次講道，提出受洗前先決條件，必須棄絕教外人的習俗，明白什麼是聖洗聖事，和信經內說明的當信道理。

啟祿告訴慕道者：「你們是教會網中的魚穫。要讓自己被生活地被捕捉：不要嘗試逃跑；因為是耶穌接收你們，不是為滅絕你們，反而是把你們置死而後生。因為你們必需死而復活。你們沒有聽宗徒說過『死於罪惡，活在公義』？ 要死在罪惡，活在義德。你們要由今天起活著。」

「釋奧」是講解聖洗、堅振、聖體三件聖事禮儀，以及「天主經」經文。

有關聖洗禮儀的解說：「這些事以後，你們會被領到神聖的聖洗池，就如基督在我們眼前，由聖架被帶進聖墓。當你們被問及是否相信聖父、聖子、聖神之名，而你們作出得救的宣言，便三次進落水裡，並從中上來；這是象徵基督被埋葬了三晝夜。正如基督在地心裡渡過了三日三夜，因此，你們第一次從水裡上來時，代表基督在地裡的第一日，你們進落水裡，代表夜晚；因為在黑夜的人不能看見，但在日間的人卻留在光中，因此在進落水時就如黑夜，你們的什麼也看不到，但從水裡上來時，你們就如在白天一樣。在同一時間，你們經歷死亡與重生；這救恩之水，同時是你們的墳墓，亦是你們的生母。撒羅滿的話正好適合你們；他説：生有時、死有時; 但為你們卻倒轉：死有時、生有時；你們的誕生與你們的死亡攜手，在同一時間兩者一同成就。」

約在公元350年或351年，啟祿晉牧為耶路撒冷主教。當時東方被亞略異端困擾。該異端哮嚷著「基督不是天主子，只不過是一般的受造物！」因為啟祿極力維護「尼西亞信經」，聲稱耶穌是真實的天主子，曾被亞略勢力放逐三次。傾信亞略異端的瓦侖思王去世後，啟祿返回耶路撒冷牧區。公元381年，啟祿出席了君士坦丁大公會議。公元382年，精忠於天主教信仰的主教們，再雲集在君士坦丁城，齊齊上書教宗達甦和西方的主教們，定證「這位最可敬和被天主所鐘愛的耶路撒冷主教啟祿被全省主教們依法揀選，他為了信德忍受了很多迫害。」

公元386年3月18日，啟祿在耶路撒冷逝世。他任主教三十五年，有十六年在被放逐中過活。公元1882年，教宗良十三世，尊啟祿為教會聖師。