From the Prologue of Ochrid
Of noble origin and a close relative of Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, after whose death he was consecrated as patriarch. He waged three fierce battles during his lifetime: with the Novatian heretics, with the heretic Nestorius, and with the Jews of Alexandria. The Novatians arose in Rome and were so named after Novatian the presbyter, the originator of the heresy. They prided themselves on their virtue, walked about dressed in white clothing, forbade second marriages, and held that one should not pray for those who commit mortal sin, nor accept back into the Church those who once fall away from the Church, no matter how bitterly they repent. Cyril defeated them and expelled them from Alexandria together with their bishop. The struggle with the Jews was much more difficult and bloody. The Jews had grown powerful in Alexandria from the very beginning, when Alexander the Great founded that city. Their hatred toward Christians was furious and frenzied. They killed Christians treacherously, by poisoning, by crucifixion. After a long and difficult struggle, Cyril succeeded in obtaining from Emperor Theodosius the Younger the expulsion of the Jews from Alexandria. His battle against Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, was resolved by the Third Ecumenical Council in Ephesus. Cyril himself presided over that Council, representing at the same time Pope Celestine of Rome, at the latter's request, as he was unable to come to the Council due to old age. Nestorius was condemned, anathematized, and banished by the emperor to the eastern border of the empire, where he died a terrible death (for worms ate through his tongue, with which he had blasphemed the Most Holy Theotokos by calling her Christotokos). After the conclusion of the struggle, Cyril lived in peace and zealously shepherded the flock of Christ. He departed to the Lord in the year 444. He is credited with having composed the prayer "Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos!"
