In 351, Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem,wrote to Emperor Constantius II a letter concerning a miraculous appearance of luminous cross in the sky over Jerusalem during the Easter season on 7 may. The text and the event had an exceptional fortune in the Byzantine tradition both in the historiography and in the liturgy. 351 A.D. was a particularly troubled year of Constantius’ reign both on the eastern front for the threat of the Sasanides and on the western front where Magnenzio had been proclaimed Emperor and controlled the West. Cyril, for his part, was also in a phase of delicate passage: he was a bishop of recent appointment (348), raised to the episcopal throne in circumstances reported differently by ecclesiastical historians. Cyril intends to attract imperial attention to Jerusalem and enhance its position over against Caesarea. He presents the city of Jerusalem and the lineage of the Constantinians intimately interwoven both with the cross, the one made of wood– still preserved in the basilica built by Constantine- and that which has just appeared in the sky, which anticipates the one of the end times according to Mt 24, 30.

Lettera a Costanzo II di Cirillo di Gerusalemme. L’apparizione della croce

Adele Monaci Castagno
2019-01-01

Abstract

In 351, Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem,wrote to Emperor Constantius II a letter concerning a miraculous appearance of luminous cross in the sky over Jerusalem during the Easter season on 7 may. The text and the event had an exceptional fortune in the Byzantine tradition both in the historiography and in the liturgy. 351 A.D. was a particularly troubled year of Constantius’ reign both on the eastern front for the threat of the Sasanides and on the western front where Magnenzio had been proclaimed Emperor and controlled the West. Cyril, for his part, was also in a phase of delicate passage: he was a bishop of recent appointment (348), raised to the episcopal throne in circumstances reported differently by ecclesiastical historians. Cyril intends to attract imperial attention to Jerusalem and enhance its position over against Caesarea. He presents the city of Jerusalem and the lineage of the Constantinians intimately interwoven both with the cross, the one made of wood– still preserved in the basilica built by Constantine- and that which has just appeared in the sky, which anticipates the one of the end times according to Mt 24, 30.
2019
85
2
461
471
Cirillo di Gerusalemme, culto delle reliquie, apparizioni, croce
Adele Monaci Castagno
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1715890
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