Today June 27

Today is the feast of St. Cyril of Alexandria (? - 444). Wow -- this guy. It's paradoxical to read the thumbnail sketch of him, which is nearly universally negative:
he condemned St. John Chrysostom at the Synod of the Oak in 403;
he was prejudiced, brutal, and ruthless;
he was less kind and considerate than even his arch-rival, the heretic Nestorius;
he favored the expulsion and confiscation of property of the Jews, Novatianists, and heretics;
he was implicated in the murder of Hypatia (of which he was no doubt innocent).
And then to read his writing, which is beautiful, graceful and wholly orthodox! We know that individuals are not canonized just because of their writings. How is this guy even a saint?

Well, let's look at the life of this bishop. He was wholly reconciled with Chrysostom in 417. He was only following his uncle in prejudice, his uncle who was patriarch of Alexandria before him. His position was the last remaining hope of his beaten-back people and he was "something of the pharaoh" because of it. - Angelus Book of Saints. He was so orthodox he could brook no compromise with Nestorius, no matter how refined the latter was. The truth of our faith is not a personality contest, thank God. Many Buddhists I know are entirely more attractive in disposition than Christians but that does not make true the doctrine of nirvana, or any other doctrine of the Buddha!

It is true that were Cyril of a more temperate nature, the whole controversy with Nestorius might have died out and not become a heresy and a schism. Also, were he more moderate toward the Jews and pagans, the horrid crime of the dragging, stripping naked, and hacking to death with a roofing tile of the lovely pagan philosophy teacher Hypatia on the steps of a church in Alexandria might not have happened (William A. Jurgens asserts that it "would not have happened" The Faith of the Early Fathers, vol. 3, p. 206, my emphasis). So though he is a saint, doubtless he could have been even more of one.