Cyril Succeeds Theophilus at Alexandria

Shortly afterward Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria, fell into a deep stupor and died on the fifteenth of October, in the ninth consulship of Honorius and the fifth of Theodosius. A great contest at once arose over who would succeed him. Some sought to place Timothy the archdeacon in the bishop’s chair; others wanted Cyril, who was Theophilus’s nephew. A riot broke out among the people over this, and Abundantius, the commander of the troops in Egypt, took Timothy’s side. But Cyril’s party won. So on the third day after Theophilus’s death, Cyril came into possession of the office of bishop, with greater power than Theophilus had ever exercised. For from that time on the bishopric of Alexandria went beyond the limits of its priestly functions and took over the management of secular affairs. Cyril at once shut the churches of the Novatians at Alexandria and seized all their consecrated vessels and ornaments, and then he stripped their bishop Theopemptus of everything he had. [a]