Cyril of Jerusalem

Cyril was the Bishop of Jerusalem when the earthquake(s) of 363 CE struck. After the earthquake, Cyril is believed to have written a letter describing the event and its effects. The surviving text, however, may have been composed later under his name — a case of attributed authorship or pseudepigrapha — using Cyril’s original letter as a source. Cain and Lenski (2009) argue that the letter is probably not genuine and was likely composed in Syriac during the 5th century CE. Although they doubt Cyril’s authorship, they acknowledge that the letter may have been based on an earlier Jerusalem document, given its precise knowledge of the city’s topography and unique details about the Christian community’s actions. Brock (1977) also observed that the internal consistency of the chronological information strengthens the letter’s credibility.