Today is the feast of St. Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria and Doctor of the Church. From his Commentary on Hosea, chapter 2:
We are therefore saved when God has mercy and compassion on us; we have been made righteous, "not because of any works of righteousness that we have done, but according to the abundance of his mercy," as Scripture says. We were also sumoned to the spiritual relationship through faith, and by being thus summoned we come to know the one who is God by nature. Consequently, he says, I shall betroth you to myself in faith, and you will know the Lord. Faith made its entrance in advance, therefore, and we were enriched also in this way by knowing Christ -- and this, in my view, is the meaning of what is said to some: "If you will not believe, neither will you understand." Now, the fact that the clear understanding of the mystery of Christ achieves a share in eternal life for those worthy of it the Son himself confirms in speaking to God the Father in heaven: "Now, this is eternal life, that they may know you, the one true God,a nd Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."
[St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Twelve Prophets, Volume 1, Robert C. Hill, tr., The Catholic University of America Press (Washington, DC: 2007) p. 90.]
