On Adoration and Worship in Spirit and Truth, Book 17 · §22

Third feast = seventh month; end-age storehouse; trumpet memorial

Cyril: ‘Three times in the year keep a feast to me.’ (Ex 23:14) Since our account of two has already been sufficient, shall we say what the third is, and upon what it is kept? For you learned the occasion of each: the one, that Christ saved us by enduring death for the salvation of us all; the other, that after dissolving corruption he lived again and renewed us into new life — and it was usefully completed.

The season of the first is first among the year’s months and at the beginnings; of the second, the one next and joined to it, in which it was reasonable for the reaper’s iron to press upon the ears, and the other seeds to be gathered — for countless are the things in the fields.

Come then also to the third feast-season — the seventh month — when the year’s storehouse is filled, a trumpet memorial is sounded, and the end-age mystery is sketched. (Lev 23:23-25; Num 29:1; 1 Thess 4:16)

Greek

καιροὺς τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ἑορτάσατέ μοι. Βούλει δὴ οὖν, ἐπὶ δυσὶν ἤδη γεγονότος ἡμῖν ἀποχρώντως τοῦ λόγου, τίς ὁ τρίτος, καὶ ἐφ' ὅτῳ περ ἂν τελοῖτο λέγωμεν; Διεπύθου γάρ που τὴν ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ πρόφασιν, ἡ μὲν γὰρ, ὅτι σέσωκε τὸν ὑπέρ γε τῆς ἁπάντων ἡμῶν σωτηρίας ἀνατλὰς θάνατον ὁ Χριστός· ἡ δὲ, ὅτι καταλύσας τὴν φθορὰν, ἀνεβίω πάλιν, καὶ εἰς νέαν ἡμᾶς ἀνεκαίνισε ζωὴν, ἐπετελεῖτο χρησίμως. Καὶ τῆς μὲν πρώτης ὁ καιρὸς ἐν τοῖς μησὶ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ, πρῶτός τε καὶ ἐν ἀρχαῖς· τῆς δὲ δευτέρας ὁ γείτων εὐθὺς καὶ παρεζευγμένος, καθ' ὃν ἦν εἰκὸς, ἐπείγεσθαι μὲν τοῖς ἀστάχυσι τὸν ἀμητῆρα σίδηρον. συγκομίζεσθαι δὲ δεῖν τὰ ἕτερα τῶν σπερμάτων. Μυρία γὰρ ὅσα τῶν ἐν ἀγροῖς. Φέρε δὴ οὖν καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ τρίτῳ τῆς ἑορτῆς καιρῷ τὰ εἰκότα λέγωμεν, πολυπραγμονοῦντες εὖ μάλα τὸ ὅπως τε καὶ ἐπὶ τίσιν ἀποπεραίνεσθαι χρὴ καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τῷδε γνῶσιν, τὸν νόμον ἐξαιτήσωμεν, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν ληψώμεθα τῶν ἱερῶν Γραμμάτων· ἴοι γὰρ ἂν οὕτω πρὸς τὸ ἀληθὲς ὁ λόγος. Εἰ οὐκ ὀρθῶς σοι τοῦτο φάναι τε δοκῶ καὶ διεσκέφθαι πάλιν;

{ΠΑΛΛ.} Παντάπασι μὲν οὖν.

{ΚΥΡ.} Γέγραπται τοίνυν ἐν τῷ Λευϊτικῷ· «Καὶ ἐλάλησε Κύριος πρὸς Μωσῆν, λέγων· Λάλησον τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ λέγων· Τοῦ μηνὸς τοῦ ἑβδόμου, μιᾷ τοῦ μηνὸς, ἔσται ἡμῖν ἀνάπαυσις, μνημόσυνον αἰώνιον σαλπίγγων, κλητὴ ἁγία τῷ Κυρίῳ. Πᾶν ἔργον λατρευτὸν οὐ ποιήσετε, καὶ προσάξετε ὁλοκαυτώματα τῷ Κυρίῳ.» Ἔοικε τοίνυν ἡμῖν ὁ ἕβδομος μὴν τὸν ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τε καὶ ἐπ' ἐσχάτοις ὑπαινίττεσθαι καιρόν. Μηνὶ γὰρ ἑβδόμῳ πάντα τὰ ἐξ ἀγρῶν οὐκ εἰς τὴν ἅλω ποθὲν συγκομιστέον, ὦ τᾶν, ἀλλ' ἐν αὐτοῖς ἤδη τοῖς ἑκάστου θησαυροῖς εἰσκλείεσθαι πρέποι. Καὶ παροίχεται μὲν ὁ τῆς εὐκαρπίας καιρὸς, ἀνίσχει δὲ ἤδη χειμῶνος ἀρχὴ, φθίνει τε φυτὰ, καὶ ἄνθη μαραίνεται. Φέρε δὴ οὖν ὡς ἐπί γε σφίσιν αὐτοῖς τὰ ἐκ τοῦ καιροῦ μεθιστάντες, λέγωμεν, ὅτι πρὸς τὸ τέλος ἤδη διέρποντος τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, καὶ ὥσπερ τινὸς ἐπηρτημένου, καὶ εἰσελαύνειν μέλλοντος, καθ' ὃν ἀνάγκη κολάζεσθαι τοὺς φιλαμαρτήμονας, σωρεύσει μὲν ἕκαστος τὸ ἐξ ἰδίων πόνων, εἴγε σωφρονοῖ, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄνω θησαυροῖς εἰσκομιεῖ. Μεμνήσεται δὲ λέγοντος τοῦ Χριστοῦ· «Μὴ θησαυρίζετε ὑμῖν θησαυροὺς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ὅπου σὴς καὶ βρῶσις ἀφανίζει, καὶ ὅπου κλέπται διορύσσουσι καὶ κλέπτουσι· θησαυρίζετε δὲ μᾶλλον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς.» Οὐκοῦν ἐπείπερ ἐγηγερμένου Χριστοῦ, τῆς συντελείας ἡμᾶς εἰς ἀνάμνησιν οἱ τῶν ἁγίων μυσταγωγῶν ἀποφέρουσι λόγοι, ἄνω γὰρ καὶ κάτω διακεκράγασιν, Ἐσχάτη ὥρα ἐστὶν, συγκομιζέσθω, φησὶν, ἐν θησαυροῖς ἤδη τοῖς ἄνω τὰ παρ' ἑκάστου, φησὶ, λοιπόν. Ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ νεομηνίᾳ, φησὶ, τοῦ μηνὸς, καθ' ὃν ἂν εἰσκλείετε τοὺς καρποὺς, ἔσται ὑμῖν ἀνάπαυσις, μνημόσυνον σαλπίγγων. Θησαυρίζει γὰρ ἕκαστος τὰ ἐξ ἰδίων ἱδρώτων ἀγαθὰ, καὶ τῆς εἰς αἰῶνα τρυφῆς τε καὶ ἀναπαύσεως προνοήσεται καὶ ἐπιμελήσεται, μεμνημένος ὅτι, καθά φησιν ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος, «Αὐ

About this text

Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 17 of a seventeen-book dialogue — the final book of the series.

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 17 of seventeen. This is a reading translation for study, not a new critical edition of the Greek.

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