As the title of this work broadly indicates, it is the translation into English of St. Cyril of Alexandria’s commentary on the Gospel of Luke. This manuscript document had recently been acquired by Oxford University in Syriac. Payne Smith published an edition, but quickly realized that the work would largely go ignored if it were not translated into English. Few scholars of his day were as able to undertake this task as Payne Smith. Cyril represented the extremely influential Alexandrian school of early Christianity that gave the church much of the material that would lead eventually to the doctrine of the Trinity. Needless to comment, Cyril’s own interpretation of one of the Gospels focuses a crucial eye on a major source for understanding early Christianity. Scholars of the Christian Scriptures will find a useful cross-section of early interpretation here, and students of the major figures of the Alexandrian school will garner some of Cyril’s considerable insights into Scripture. This book retains its value to students of many specializations in Late Antiquity.

Robert Payne Smith (1819-1895) was a priest who had studied Classics at Pembroke College, Oxford University. He later became Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford University. He was eventually appointed the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral. He was most noted for his Syriac lexicon entitled Thesaurus Syriacus.