Gifts to sons stick; to servants revert; Christ enriches free; law grace removable
Cyril: …sacred-workers, and he has ordered these to be saved for them always and unrejectable, necessarily that makes clear. For if it should become, he says, for one of the leaders or of the sacred-workers, to distribute to his own children from own lot some things, let the given be fixed, he says, and let the gift be unsellable for the one having taken. For the lot does not go upon some of the alien-born, but from priests unto sacred ones. And if indeed also he should gift to one of the household-servants, the one having taken will possess, he says, not firmly, and the lot of him will wholly run back upon the leader, in the year of the release. And he further orders the sacred-worker to shake off the desiring of the alien lots, for this, I think, is the, the leader will not take from the inheritance of his people. So then has the word become sufficient for you unto the clarifying of the matter?
Palladius: And very much.
Cyril: So then let it go unto the spiritual assay; for types at least are the in law, and the forming of the truth has been engraved in the shadows.
Palladius: True.
Cyril: So then firm and remaining lots, the from fathers unto children, and rejectable and going backward, the from masters unto the household-servants; for this the sacred Writing said.
Palladius: I understand.
Cyril: And one leader of us the justified in faith, Christ, having an own lot, that of God and Father. Therefore also he was saying, whenever he was making the words toward him as in a shape of prayer, that ‘All the mine are yours, and the yours mine, and I have been glorified in them.’ (John 17:10) And somewhere also the all-divine Melodist psalms, that having gone up unto height, he captured a captivity, he gave gifts to the humans; for whom he set in the Church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, and to one a word of wisdom has been given, and to another a word of knowledge, and the brother things to these. And simply with his own goods he fattens the souls of those loving him. So then firm and firmly-set for the sacred-workers and free is the possession of the things gifted. And for those having the slave spirit, that is, those from Israel, not accepting the free faith, but still lying under yokes of the profane and abominable sin, rejectable and removable also the grace given through Moses, that is the knowledge in law, pedagoguing toward truth. And altogether no lot with the saints, and no share with Christ. ‘For to the one having,’ (1 Corinthians 12:8) he says, ‘will be given and he will abound, and from the one not having, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.’ (Ephesians 4:8–11) And that Israel not having accepted the faith is without-lot, nor having been lit up with the dignities unto freedom, the Savior has signaled, bringing into midst, as I at least think, the power of this law. For he said thus to those having chosen to disobey (Matthew 25:29):
Greek
ἱερουργοῖς ἐκνενέμηνται κλῆροι, καὶ τούτους αὐτοῖς ἐσαεὶ διασώζεσθαι καὶ ἀναποβλήτους εἶναι προστέταχεν, ἀναγκαίως ἐκεῖνο δηλοῖ. Εἰ γὰρ γένοιτο, φησὶν, ἕνα τῶν ἡγουμένων ἤτοι τῶν ἱερουργῶν, τοῖς ἰδίοις διανεῖμαι τέκνοις ἐξ ἰδίου κλήρου τινὰ, πεπήχθω, φησὶ, τὸ δοθὲν, καὶ ἀνεκποίητον ἔστω τῷ λαβόντι τὸ δῶρον. Οἴχεται γὰρ οὐκ ἐπί τινα τῶν ἀλλογενῶν ὁ κλῆρος, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἱερέων εἰς ἱερούς. Εἰ δὲ δὴ καὶ ἑνὶ τῶν οἰκετῶν χαρίσαιτο, κεκτήσεται, φησὶν, οὐ βεβαίως ὁ λαβὼν, ἀναδραμεῖται δὲ πάντως ἐπὶ τὸν ἡγούμενον, ἐν τῷ ἔτει τῆς ἀφέσεως, ὁ κλῆρος αὐτοῦ. Προσεπιτάττει γε μὴν ἀποσείεσθαι τὸν ἱερουργὸν τοῦ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἐφίεσθαι κλήρου, τοῦτο γὰρ, οἶμαι, ἐστὶ τὸ, οὐ μὴ λάβῃ ὁ ἀφηγούμενος ἐκ τῆς κληρονομίας τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ. Ἆρά σοι γέγονεν ἀποχρῶν ὁ λόγος εἰς τὴν τοῦ πράγματος διασάφησιν;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ μάλα.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἴτω δὴ οὖν εἰς βάσανον τὴν πνευματικήν· τύποι γὰρ δὴ τὰ ἐν νόμῳ, καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας ἡ μόρφωσις ἐγκεχάρακται ταῖς σκιαῖς.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀληθές.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν κλῆροι μὲν ἀσφαλεῖς καὶ μένοντες, οἱ ἐκ πατέρων εἰς τέκνα, ἀπόβλητοι δὲ καὶ ἀνόπιν ἰόντες, οἱ ἐκ δεσποτῶν εἰς τοὺς οἰκέτας· τοῦτο γὰρ ἔφη τὸ Γράμμα τὸ ἱερόν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Συνίημι.
{ΚΥΡ.} Εἷς δὲ ἡμῶν τῶν ἐν πίστει δεδικαιωμένων καθηγητὴς, ὁ Χριστὸς, κλῆρον ἔχων ἴδιον, τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρός. Τοιγάρτοι καὶ ἔφασκεν, ὅταν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐποιεῖτο τοὺς λόγους ὡς ἐν σχήματι προσευχῆς, ὅτι «Πάντα τὰ ἐμὰ, σά ἐστι, καὶ τὰ σὰ ἐμὰ, καὶ δεδόξασμαι ἐν αὐτοῖς.» Ψάλλει δέ που καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος Μελῳδὸς, ὅτι ἀναβὰς εἰς ὕψος, ᾐχμαλώτευσεν αἰχμαλωσίαν, ἔδωκε δόματα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις· οὓς μὲν γὰρ ἔθετο ἐν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ, πρῶτον ἀποστόλους, δεύτερον προφήτας, τρίτον διδασκάλους, καὶ ᾧ μὲν δέδοται λόγος σοφίας, ἄλλῳ δὲ λόγος γνώσεως, καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἀδελφά. Καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς τοῖς ἰδίοις ἀγαθοῖς τὰς τῶν ἀγαπώντων αὐτὸν καταπιαίνει ψυχάς. Βεβαία δὴ οὖν καὶ ἐρηρεισμένη τοῖς ἱερουργοῖς τε καὶ ἐλευθέροις τῶν δεδωρημένων ἡ κτῆσις. Τοῖς δὲ τὸ δοῦλον ἔχουσι πνεῦμα, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ, τὴν ἐλευθέραν πίστιν οὐ προσιεμένοις, ἀλλ' ὑπὸ ζυγὰ κειμένοις ἔτι τῆς βεβήλου καὶ βδελυρᾶς ἁμαρτίας, ἀπόβλητος καὶ ἀφαιρετὴ καὶ ἡ δοθεῖσα χάρις διὰ Μωσέως, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἡ ἐν νόμῳ γνῶσις, παιδαγωγοῦσα πρὸς ἀλήθειαν. Καὶ κλῆρος μὲν ὅλως μετὰ τῶν ἁγίων οὐδεὶς, μερὶς δὲ οὐδεμία μετὰ Χριστοῦ. «Τῷ γὰρ ἔχοντι,» φησὶ, «δοθήσεται καὶ περισσευθήσεται, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ μὴ ἔχοντος, καὶ ὃ δοκεῖ ἔχειν ἀρθήσεται ἀπ' αὐτοῦ.» Ὅτι δὲ ἀπόκληρος ὁ Ἰσραὴλ τὴν πίστιν οὐ προσηκάμενος, οὐδὲ τοῖς εἰς ἐλευθερίαν ἀξιώμασιν ἐκλελαμπρυσμένος, διαμεμήνυκεν ὁ Σωτὴρ, τὴν τοῦδε τοῦ νόμου, καθάπερ ἐγῷμαι, δύναμιν παρακομίζων εἰς μέσον. Ἔφη γὰρ ὧδε τοῖς ἀπειθεῖν ἑλομένοις·
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 13 of a seventeen-book dialogue — not the whole work.
English follows Migne PG 68 (Aubert reprint). The PDF and a cleaned text of the same print were checked against each other. This page is Book 13 of seventeen. This is a reading translation for study, not a new critical edition of the Greek.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Migne PG 68 De adoratione Book 13 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 13)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 13)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.