Wash not enough; Sabbath rest vs sacred works; self-offering
Cyril: …Isaiah saying, that ‘Lord will wash-out the filth of the sons and of the daughters of Zion, and the blood he will cleanse-out from a middle of them in a spirit of judgment, and in a spirit of burning.’ (Isaiah 4:4) So then, O Palladius, of the in Christ being-understood righteousness the manner would be completed toward us, as in at least alone the needing to be wiped? and the ancient for us to rub-off defilements? Would it suffice, tell me, toward a glory for us holy-fitting, and with the highest crownings honors? Or then, will somehow the according to us be in better things, and with the unto an extremity praises will we solemnize reasonably our own heads, as it were some gift-bearing spiritual, and a sacred truly dedication bringing-forward to God, the in sanctification and holiness life, and a spiritual service very well completing?
Palladius: Thus I say.
Cyril: For indeed also the matter is with the sacred laws agreeing, and for God having-been-graced, and of the as most having-been-approved; to cease on the one hand of every work he has ordered on a Sabbath, and to do then altogether he was letting some not even somehow anything then, thus saying in the Exodus: ‘Remember the day of the Sabbaths to sanctify it. Six days work, and you will do all your works; and on the day the seventh, Sabbaths, a rest for Lord your God, you will not do in it every work.’ (Exodus 20:8-10) The in spirit clearly Sabbathism of the type signaling, when also unto a ceasing and a holding-back of every work fleshly, and of miserable eagernesses, through him we have been called of the Christ, the of the sin burden having shaken-off, and the from the badness loving a standing-away, and
Palladius: Most-excellently you spoke.
Cyril: But God was legislating on the one hand also of old, the needing all to be idle on a Sabbath. Yet those with the divine liturgy having been crowned, and with the holy tent to sit-before having been ordered, again were completing the sacred things; and profaning the Sabbath, according to the of the Savior voice, were blame-less, the upon the to have been loosed the law not enduring a writing. (Matthew 12:5) So then of earthly eagernesses also we ourselves will cease in Christ, the intelligible fulfilling Sabbathism, and we will hold-off not of the sacred works, of the needing, I say, to bring-forward to God sacrifices spiritual and intelligible gift-bearings. And following as it were the tracks of the Christ, according to the having-been-written, ourselves we will priest, not with sheep-slaughters and of calves bloods the of the wholes honoring God, ourselves then rather
Palladius: Rightly you think-through; yet go then again, and from
Greek
Ἡσαΐας λέγων, ὅτι «Ἐκπλυνεῖ Κύριος τὸν ῥύπον τῶν υἱῶν καὶ τῶν θυγατέρων Σιὼν, καὶ τὸ αἷμα ἐκκαθαριεῖ ἐκ μέσου αὐτῶν ἐν πνεύματι κρίσεως, καὶ ἐν πνεύματι καύσεως.» Ἆρ' οὖν, ὦ Παλλάδιε, τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ νοουμένης δικαιοσύνης ὁ τρόπος διαπεραίνοιτο ἂν πρὸς ἡμῶν, ὡς ἔν γε δὴ μόνῳ τῷ διασμήχεσθαι δεῖν; καὶ τὸ ἀρχαίους ἡμᾶς ἀποτρίψασθαι μολυσμούς; ἀρκέσειεν ἂν, εἰπέ μοι, πρὸς δόξαν ἡμῖν ἁγιοπρεπῆ, καὶ ταῖς ἀνωτάτω στεφανώσει τιμαῖς; ἤγουν, ἔσται πως τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐν ἀμείνοσι, καὶ τοῖς εἰς ἄκρον ἐπαίνοις κατασεμνυνοῦμεν εἰκότως τὰς ἑαυτῶν κεφαλὰς, οἷάπερ τινὰ δωροφορίαν πνευματικὴν, καὶ ἱερὸν ἀληθῶς ἀνάθημα προσκομίζοντες τῷ Θεῷ, τὴν ἐν ἁγιασμῷ καὶ ὁσιότητι ζωὴν, καὶ πνευματικὴν λατρείαν εὖ μάλα διαπεραίνοντες;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὕτω φημί.
{ΚΥΡ.} Καὶ γάρ τοι τὸ χρῆμά ἐστι τοῖς ἱεροῖς συμβαῖνον νόμοις, καὶ Θεῷ κεχαρισμένον, καὶ τῶν ὅτι μάλιστα δεδοκιμασμένων· καταλήγειν μὲν ἔργου παντὸς προστέταχεν ἐν Σαββάτῳ, δρᾷν δὲ δὴ ὅλως ἠφίει τινὰς οὐδ' ὅπως τι οὖν, οὕτω λέγων ἐν τῇ Ἐξόδῳ· «Μνήσθητι τὴν ἡμέραν τῶν Σαββάτων ἁγιάζειν αὐτήν. Ἓξ ἡμέρας ἐργᾶ, καὶ ποιήσεις πάντα τὰ ἔργα σου· τῇ δὲ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ, Σάββατα, ἀνάπαυσις Κυρίῳ τῷ Θεῷ σου, οὐ ποιήσεις ἐν αὐτῇ πᾶν ἔργον.» Τὸν ἐν πνεύματι δηλονότι Σαββατισμὸν τοῦ τύπου κατασημαίνοντος, ὅτε καὶ εἰς κατάληξιν καὶ ἀνακωχὴν παντὸς ἔργου σαρκικοῦ, καὶ μοχθηρῶν σπουδασμάτων, δι' αὐτοῦ κεκλήμεθα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, τὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἄχθος ἀποσεισάμενοι, καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς φαυλότητος ἀγαπῶντες ἀπόστασιν, καὶ τῶν ἔξω νόμου τὴν ἀργίαν· ἀπελείπετο μὲν γὰρ ὁ τοιόσδε Σαββατισμὸς τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσραήλ. Εἰσβεβήκασι γὰρ οὐδαμῶς εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ μακαρίου Παύλου φωνήν. Ἡμᾶς δὲ κατέπαυσεν ὁ Χριστὸς, καὶ Σαββατίζειν ἀνέπεισε νοητῶς, ἀνιεμένους εἰς ἀρετὴν, καὶ καλὴν πλημμελημάτων ἀργίαν ἐπιτηδεύοντας.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἄριστα ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀλλ' ἐθεσμοθέτει μὲν καὶ πάλαι Θεὸς, τὸ δεῖν ἅπαντας ἀργεῖν ἐν Σαββάτῳ. Πλὴν οἱ τῇ θείᾳ λειτουργίᾳ κατεστεμμένοι, καὶ τῇ ἁγίᾳ σκηνῇ προσεδρεύειν ἐπιτεταγμένοι, πάλιν ἐτέλουν τὰ ἱερά· καὶ βεβηλοῦντες τὸ Σάββατον, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Σωτῆρος φωνὴν, ἦσαν ἀναίτιοι, τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ λελύσθαι τὸν νόμον οὐχ ὑπομένοντες γραφήν. Οὐκοῦν ἐπιγείων μὲν σπουδασμάτων καὶ ἡμεῖς αὐτοὶ καταλήξομεν ἐν Χριστῷ, τὸν νοητὸν πληροῦντες Σαββατισμὸν, ἀφεξόμεθα δὲ οὐχὶ τῶν ἱερῶν ἔργων, τοῦ χρῆναι, φημὶ, προσκομίζειν Θεῷ θυσίας πνευματικὰς καὶ νοητὰς δωροφορίας. Ἑπόμενοι δὲ ὥσπερ τοῖς ἴχνεσι τοῦ Χριστοῦ, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, ἑαυτοὺς ἱερεύσομεν, οὐ μηλοσφαγίαις καὶ μόσχων αἵμασι τὸν τῶν ὅλων τιμῶντες Θεὸν, ἑαυτοὺς δὲ μᾶλλον εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας ἀνατιθέντες αὐτῷ. Ἀρέσομεν γὰρ ὑπὲρ μόσχον νέον, κέρατα ἐκφέροντα καὶ ὁπλὰς, κατά γε τὴν τοῦ Ψάλλοντος φωνήν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὀρθῶς διανοῇ· πλὴν ἴθι δὴ πάλιν, καὶ ἐξ
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 16 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 16 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 16 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 16)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 16)
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.