Cyril of Alexandria and the Incarnation

This study of Cyril’s Christology shows the brutal clarity of his grasp of the Incarnation. Nestorius wanted to affirm the unity of Christ but was unable to do so adequately because he started by separating the human Jesus and the divine Word. Cyril, by contrast, saw that the Incarnation means that Jesus is none other than the divine Word himself, made flesh. This difference manifested itself in particular in the affirmation that the Virgin Mary was Theotokos, the one who gave birth to God. Nestorius was not willing to affirm this. In the course of the controversy Cyril repeatedly affirmed that Jesus is the Word made flesh, applying this belief to a range of issues, including the affirmation that it was the Word that suffered for us on the cross, not a separate human being who had a close relationship with the Word. This study focuses especially on Cyril’s infamous Twelve Anathemas, showing how in these Cyril is not making twelve different points but repeating one basic point, which he expresses in many different ways: Jesus Christ is not a human being who was in a unique relationship with God the Word, but he is himself the divine Word, made flesh. This comes down to a test of whether we really believe in the Incarnation. This article is a shortened and translated version of my «Cyril of Alexandria and the Incarnation».