One of the noblest legacies bequeathed by him to
the Church is the Liturgy which bears his name.
According to tradition, it had been given orally by St.
Mark himself, but Kyrillos completed it and had it
manuscribed.^38 This Liturgy overflows with deep spiritual
insight and reverberates the inner most yearnings towards
God. It is an ancient custom in the Coptic Church, to
chant it during Lent and during the Coptic month of
Kyahk (the month at the end of which Christmas is
celebrated and in which the Theotokos is specifically
glorified).
Abba Kyrillos continued the tradition decreed by
the Nicean Council of writing the Paschal epistle in which
he announced to the Churches the date of Easter. The
homilies he wrote on different occasions all had but one
aim which was the spiritual guidance of his flock, pointing
to the importance of prayer, fasting, penitence, and other
church practices. Among his many other writings may be
cited commentaries on all the books of the Old and the
New Testaments, a treatise in dialogue form on the
Trinity, a book ‘On the Right Way’ and another ‘On the
Incarnation’, and numerous others. In all mystical,
apologetical and theological subjects, he was prolific and
forceful, and what is extant of his writings proves the
wide sweep of his erudition, and his mastery of exegetic
science.^39
- To many people, Abba Kyrillos may seem
enigmatic, for they cannot conceive of a man who accepts
open attacks and severe criticism – even from his friends –
in defence of an abstraction. But to Abba Kyrillos, this
abstraction was life. He fully realised the import of the
great deposit of which he was guardian; and for this
sacred deposit he was willing to forego any insult aimed