In the bustling Mediterranean city of Alexandria in Egypt during the 5th century lived a bishop named Cyril, one of Christianity’s greatest theologians. The Roman Empire still stood, though cracks had already begun to appear in its walls, and Alexandria was one of the greatest cities in the world, filled with scholars, merchants, sailors, philosophers, and endless debates. And few debated more fiercely than Bishop Cyril.
Today, Saint Cyril is remembered as one of Christianity’s greatest theologians. His books and letters are filled with long arguments, difficult ideas, and enough Greek terminology to make many modern readers quietly close the book and walk away.
Yet beneath all the debates and theological language were questions simple enough for a child to ask.
Imagine if Saint Cyril were sitting on a park bench today and a child walked up to him.
“Was the baby in Bethlehem really God?” the child asks.
Cyril would probably smile.
“Yes. The tiny baby who needed to be fed, carried, and protected was God who had become one of us.”
The child pauses.
“So God was once a baby?”
“Yes.”
“Did He cry?”
“Yes.”
“Did He get hungry?”
“Yes.”
“Did He fall asleep in Mary’s arms?”
“Yes.”
The child thinks for a moment.
“Then God knows what being a child feels like.”
“Exactly,” Cyril replies.
Another question follows.
“When Jesus was sad because His friend died, was that really God being sad?”
“Yes. Jesus cried real tears.”
“When Jesus was tired from walking?”
“Yes.”
“When people were mean to Him?”
“Yes.”
“When He felt lonely?”
“Yes.”
The child grows quiet.
“Then God knows what it feels like to be me.”
Perhaps beneath all the difficult words and debates, this was one of the truths Cyril was trying to protect: God did not remain far away from human life. He entered it. He knew hunger, friendship, laughter, pain, tears, and love.
Jesus once learned to walk, asked for food and water, and fell asleep in His mother’s arms.
For Saint Cyril, this was never merely a puzzle for scholars to solve.
It was a truth too beautiful to lose.
Let’s keep learning the saints’ way—day by day.
⌨ ᴛʸᵖⁱⁿᵍ ᴏᵘᵗ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ʙˡᵘᵉ ᵈᵃʳᵉᵐ ᵐᵘˢⁱᶜ ᵇˡᵒᵍ
