On Adoration and Worship in Spirit and Truth, Book 2
Justification is not in the Law but in Christ§1
1Book 2. That it is impossible to escape the death that comes from sin, and the devil's greed, except through the sanctification that is according to Christ; and that justification is not in the Law but in Christ.
Cyril said: So then, Palladius, a not ignoble argument has shown us that it is a thing to love to keep clear of what is naturally hurtful, and that we must desire the slavery under God, as both honorable and profitable.
Palladius said: Indeed it has.
Cyril: And we were quite sure that, leaving the more shameful things entirely, we ought to seek the better.
Palladius: Very much so.
Cyril: And so it seemed we must, putting as far away as we can the love of pleasure in this world's life and the bustle that goes with it, be eager to sacrifice to God, and — as if we had come into a desert by a disposition of mind — practice for him a worship that is unhurried and most clean, not to be entered by defilements, beautiful and acceptable.
Palladius: It did seem so.
Cyril: And that, when Satan from greed was shutting us up under himself and wanting to hold us, a divine law was calling us into a free dignity, setting the teaching about the best things against his abominations, and tutoring us toward the better — was this not made white-clear from ten thousand examples?
Palladius: True.
Cyril: God, then, is the giver of salvation, and the steward of all our well-being, showing the road of kinship with himself, Christ mediating. Or would not Moses' mediation be a type, and a very clear one, of the mediation through Christ?
Greek · §1
ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΕΝ ΠΝΕΥΜΑΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΑΛΗΘΕΙΑΙ ΠΡΟΣΚΥΝΗΣΕΩΣ ΚΑΙ ΛΑΤΡΕΙΑΣ ΛΟΓΟΣ ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΣ Ὅτι ἀμήχανον διαφυγεῖν τὸν ἐξ ἁμαρτίας θάνα τον, καὶ τὴν τοῦ διαβόλου πλεονεξίαν, εἰ μὴ δι' ἁγιασμοῦ τοῦ κατὰ Χριστὸν, καὶ ὅτι οὐκ ἐν νόμῳ ἡ δικαίωσις, ἀλλ' ἐν Χριστῷ. Χρῆμα μὲν οὖν, ὦ Παλλάδιε, τὸ ἀπονοσφίζεσθαι φιλεῖν τοῦ κατασίνεσθαι πεφυκότος, ἐφίεσθαι δὲ δεῖν τῆς ὑπὸ τῷ Θεῷ δουλείας, ὡς εὐκλεές τε καὶ ὀνησιφόρον, οὐκ ἀγεννὴς ἡμῖν διέδειξε λόγος.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐ γὰρ οὖν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ὁλοτρόπως γε μὴν τῶν αἰσχιόνων ἀπαίροντας, τὰ ἀμείνω ὅτι προσῆκεν ἡμᾶς ὅτι ζητεῖν, εὖ μάλα διεβεβαιούμεθα.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Χρῆναι δὲ οὕτω λοιπὸν ἐδόκει τῆς ἐν κόσμῳ ζωῆς τὸ φιλήδονον, καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τῷδε τύρβην ἱέντας ὡς ἀποτάτω καταθύειν ἐπείγεσθαι τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ οἷάπερ ἐν ἐρήμῳ γεγονότας διαθέσει νοῦ, σχολαίαν καὶ καθαρωτάτην, καὶ μολυσμοῖς οὐ βατὴν, καλὴν δὲ καὶ εὐπρόσδεκτον ἐπιτηδεύειν αὐτῷ τὴν λατρείαν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἐδόκει γὰρ ὧδε.
{ΚΥΡ.} Καὶ μὴν, ὅτι καθειργνύντος ὑφ' ἑαυτῷ καὶ συνέχειν ἡμᾶς ἐθέλοντος, ἐκ πλεονεξίας τοῦ Σατανᾶ, θεῖος ἐκάλει νόμος εἰς ἐλεύθερον ἀξίωμα, τὴν περὶ τῶν ἀρίστων εἰσήγησιν ταῖς ἐκείνου βδελυρίαις ἀντιτιθεὶς, καὶ πρὸς τὰ ἀμείνω παιδαγωγῶν, ἐκ μυρίων ὅσων τῶν παραδειγμάτων διελευκαίνετο;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀληθές.
{ΚΥΡ.} Θεὸς οὖν ἄρα τῆς σωτηρίας ὁ χορηγὸς, καὶ ἁπάσης ἡμῖν εὐημερίας πρύτανις, τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν οἰκειότητος καταδεικνύων τὴν ὁδὸν, μεσιτεύοντος τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Ἢ γὰρ οὐχὶ τύπος ἂν γένοιτο, καὶ μάλα σαφὴς τῆς διὰ Χριστοῦ μεσιτείας, ἡ διὰ Μωσέως;
Moses led from brick-making; Christ from the intelligible slavery§2
2Palladius said: In what way?
Cyril: Divine Moses was bringing Israel out of a bodily slavery and taking them off the labors of brick-making and the works around the earth, and, lying as it were in the middle between God and men, he was carrying down to them the words from above. But our Lord Jesus Christ, recarving into truth the things that were in type and shadows, draws us out of the intelligible slavery, putting out the sin that long tyrannized over us, shaking down the devil's power, and persuading those who think they must follow him to leave an earthly mind and the eager business about the flesh, reshaping them as it were into a desire for virtue, and announcing to us most clearly the will of God and Father. That is why he also said, 'The words that I speak are not mine, but of the one who sent me.' And again, 'I do not speak from myself, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak.'
And Moses made his own affairs an image and stamp of the mediation in Christ, saying to those from Israel, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from your brothers, like me. You shall hear him, according to all that you asked from the Lord your God at Horeb, on the day of the assembly.' So the things through Moses, and the force of the mediation according to him, are in type and image. The manner of the mediation in Christ is more unspeakable. For Moses was a servant of law and shadow, and a carrier of the tutoring from above. Christ, as master of law and prophets, lays down what seems good to him, and he was mediator, deity and humanity running together in him and coming as it were into one. For Christ is understood as both at once. 'And Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant; but Christ as a son over his house, whose house we are' — we who have been led through faith in him into the true freedom.
It is settled, then, that the hierophant Moses was mediator of a bodily freedom, of letter and shadow; but our Lord Jesus Christ is the one who brings in the things above the Law, and who gives the incomparably better freedom, that is, the one according to the Spirit. That is why he also said, even to those from Israel who had been freed in a bodily way, 'If you remain in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will free you.' And again, 'Everyone who does sin is a slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. If then the Son frees you, you are free indeed.'
Palladius: You have spoken very well.
Cyril: We will boast, then, not in the bright things according to the flesh, but in those in the Spirit and in the righteousness—
Greek · §2
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τίνα τρόπον;
{ΚΥΡ.} Μωσῆς μὲν γὰρ ὁ θεσπέσιος σαρκικῆς δουλείας ἐξεκόμιζε τὸν Ἰσραὴλ καὶ τῶν εἰς πλινθείαν ἐξῃρεῖτο πόνων, ἔργων τε τῶν περὶ γῆν, καὶ μεταίχμιον ὥσπερ τι κείμενος Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, τοὺς ἄνωθεν σφίσι διεκόμιζε λόγους. Ὁ δὲ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστὸς, τὰ ὡς ἐν τύπῳ καὶ σκιαῖς μεταχαράττων εἰς ἀλήθειαν, δουλείας ἡμᾶς ἐξέλκει τῆς νοητῆς, τὴν μὲν πάλαι καθ' ἡμῶν τυραννήσασαν ἁμαρτίαν ἐξιστὰς, κατασείων δὲ τοῦ διαβόλου τὸ κράτος, καὶ φρονήματος μὲν ἐπιγείου καὶ τῶν περὶ σάρκα σπουδασμάτων ἀποφοιτᾷν ἀναπείθων τοὺς ἕπεσθαι δεῖν οἰομένους αὐτῷ, μεταπλάττων δὲ ὥσπερ εἰς ἔφεσιν ἀρετῆς, ἀριδηλότατά τε ἡμῖν τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς ἀπαγγέλλων θέλησιν· τοιγάρτοι καὶ ἔφασκεν· «Τὰ ῥήματα ἃ ἐγὼ λαλῶ, οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμὰ, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πέμψαντός με.» Καὶ πάλιν· «Ἀπ' ἐμαυτοῦ οὐ λαλῶ, ἀλλ' ὁ πέμψας με Πατὴρ, αὐτός μοι ἐντολὴν δέδωκε, τί εἴπω, καὶ τί λαλήσω.» Καὶ γοῦν ὁ Μωσῆς εἰκόνα καὶ ἀνατύπωσιν τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ μεσιτείας, τὰ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἐποιεῖτο, λέγων τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσραήλ· «Προφήτην ἐκ τῶν ἀδελφῶν σου ἀναστήσει σοι ὡς ἐμὲ, Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου. Αὐτοῦ ἀκούσεσθε κατὰ πάντα ὅσα ᾐτήσω παρὰ Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ σου ἐν Χωρὴβ, τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς ἐκκλησίας.» Ἐν τύπῳ μὲν οὖν καὶ εἰκόνι τὰ διὰ Μωσέως, καὶ τῆς κατ' αὐτὸν μεσιτείας ἡ δύναμις· ἀποῤῥητότερος δὲ τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ μεσιτείας ὁ τρόπος. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ νόμου καὶ σκιᾶς διάκονος ἦν καὶ παιδαγωγίας τῆς ἄνωθεν διακομιστής· Χριστὸς δὲ ὡς νόμου καὶ προφητῶν δεσπότης, τὰ αὐτῷ δοκοῦντα θεσμοθετεῖ, καὶ μεσίτης ἦν, συνθεούσης ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ εἰς ἓν ὥσπερ ἰούσης, θεότητός τε καὶ ἀνθρωπότητος. Ἄμφω γὰρ ἅμα νοεῖται Χριστός. «Καὶ Μωσῆς μὲν ὡς θεράπων εἰς ὅλον τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ πιστὸς, Χριστὸς δὲ ὡς υἱὸς, ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ, οὗ οἶκός ἐσμεν ἡμεῖς·» οἱ διὰ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν πίστεως πρὸς ἐλευθερίαν ἠγμένοι τὴν ἀληθῆ. Ἄραρεν οὖν, ὅτι μεσίτης μὲν σαρκικῆς ἐλευθερίας, γράμματός τε καὶ σκιᾶς ὁ ἱεροφάντης Μωσῆς· ὁ δὲ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς, τῶν ὑπὲρ νόμον εἰσηγητὴς, καὶ τῆς σαρκικῆς ἐλευθερίας τὴν ἀσυγκρίτως ἀμείνω δωρούμενος, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τὴν κατὰ πνεῦμα. Τοιγάρτοι καὶ ἔφασκε καὶ τοῖς σαρκικῶς ἠλευθερωμένοις τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσραήλ· «Ἐὰν ὑμεῖς μείνητε ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ ἐμῷ, ἀληθῶς μαθηταί μού ἐστε, καὶ γνώσεσθε τὴν ἀλήθειαν, καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια ἐλευθερώσει ὑμᾶς.» Καὶ πάλιν· «Πᾶς ὁ ποιῶν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, δοῦλός ἐστι τῆς ἁμαρτίας· ὁ δὲ δοῦλος οὐ μένει ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ὁ υἱὸς μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Ἐὰν οὖν ὁ Υἱὸς ὑμᾶς ἐλευθερώσῃ, ὄντως ἐλεύθεροι ἐστέ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἄριστα ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Καυχησόμεθα δὴ οὖν οὐ τοῖς κατὰ σάρκα λαμπροῖς, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἐν πνεύματι καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ τῇ
The Law shows sin; it does not perfect§3
3Palladius went on with Cyril: '...that is according to Christ, not that according to the Law.' For if what is under sin is still a slave, and the Law justifies least of all — it condemns rather, and writes down those who transgress — how would it not be clear to everyone that all justification is in Christ, and the perfecting in the Spirit through sanctification, through him and in him? And so the all-wise Paul writes, 'For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, The righteous shall live from faith.' And he writes down the uselessness and weakness of the old Law in this, saying, 'That no one is justified in the Law before God is clear, because the righteous shall live from faith. And the Law is not from faith, but the one who has done them shall live in them.' So in Christ we are justified through faith, and we have been redeemed from the intelligible slavery.
Palladius: Is the Law useless, then?
Cyril: I do not say that. For it was not oracled in vain. It was given rather 'for help,' according to what is written. As far as tutoring goes, and knowing what is a fault, and needing to take first principles and elements of the oracles of God, how would it not be thought useful? But it is slower toward the washing-off of sin, and toward being able to perfect into sanctification. And so divine Paul said to us, 'We know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those in the Law, so that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become accountable to God, because from works of Law no flesh will be justified before him; for through Law is knowledge of sins.' So the Law is a shower of sin, not a bringer of boasts toward virtue. For to say, You shall not fornicate, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not swear falsely, and whatever is fitted to such things, belonged to one marking the kinds of worthlessness and putting people out of uncleanness — not bringing in a knowledge of virtue, nor making the knowledge of the unadulterated life most clear to the hearers. That one must not do the more shameful things is, I think, a dull thing to enroll among the ways of the exceptional life. I think we must, and very reasonably, only then barely bind on ourselves the vote for all the things that are praised, if, having let go of the evil and pushed it away and left it to stay down somewhere — the thing not yet rid of the reputation of worthlessness and profane abomination — we leap up onto the very boasts of virtue. And so our Lord Jesus Christ says, 'Amen, amen I say to you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of the heavens.' You understand, then, that the Savior has commanded us to choose the righteousness beyond that according to the Law. And knowing the thing to be best, the wise Paul writes, 'If anyone else thinks to have confidence in the flesh, I more. Circumcised the eighth day, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,'
Greek · §3
κατὰ Χριστὸν, οὐ τῇ κατὰ νόμον. Εἰ γὰρ δοῦλον ἔτι τὸ ὑφ' ἁμαρτίαν, δικαιοῖ δὲ ἥκιστα μὲν ὁ νόμος, κατακρίνει δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ γράφεται παραβαίνοντας, πῶς οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο παντί τῳ σαφὲς, ὅτι πᾶσα δικαίωσις ἐν Χριστῷ, καὶ τελείωσις ἡ ἐν πνεύματι δι' ἁγιασμοῦ, δι' αὐτοῦ τε καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ; Καὶ γοῦν ὁ σοφώτατος γράφει Παῦλος· «Οὐ γὰρ ἐπαισχύνομαι τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον, δύναμις γὰρ Θεοῦ ἐστιν εἰς σωτηρίαν παντὶ τῷ πιστεύοντι, Ἰουδαίῳ τε πρῶτον καὶ Ἕλληνι. Δικαιοσύνη γὰρ Θεοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ ἀποκαλύπτεται ἐκ πίστεως εἰς πίστιν, καθὼς γέγραπται· Ὁ δὲ δίκαιος ἐκ πίστεως ζήσεται.» Νόμου τε τοῦ πάλαι τὸ ἀνόνητόν τε καὶ ἀδρανὲς ἔν γε τουτῳῒ καταγράφει, λέγων· «Ὅτι δὲ ἐν νόμῳ οὐδεὶς δικαιοῦται παρὰ Θεῷ, δῆλον· ὅτι ὁ δίκαιος ἐκ πίστεως ζήσεται. Ὁ δὲ νόμος οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ πίστεως, ἀλλ' ὁ ποιήσας αὐτὰ, ζήσεται ἐν αὐτοῖς.» Ἐν Χριστῷ τοιγαροῦν δικαιούμεθα διὰ πίστεως, ἐκλελυτρώμεθα δὲ δουλείας τῆς νοητῆς.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀνόνητος οὖν ὁ νόμος;
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐ τοῦτό φημι· κεχρησμῴδηται γὰρ οὐ μάτην· δέδοται δὲ μᾶλλον «εἰς βοήθειαν,» κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον· ὅσον μὲν γὰρ ἧκεν εἰς παιδαγωγίαν, καὶ τὸ εἰδέναι τὸ πλημμελὲς, καὶ εἰς τὸ χρῆναι λαβεῖν ἀρχὰς καὶ στοιχεῖα τῶν λογίων τοῦ Θεοῦ, πῶς οὐκ ἂν νοοῖτο χρήσιμος; Ἀργότερος δὲ πρὸς ἀπόνιψιν ἁμαρτίας, καὶ εἰς τὸ δύνασθαι τελειοῦν εἰς ἁγιασμόν. Καὶ γοῦν ὁ θεσπέσιος ἡμῖν ἔφη Παῦλος· «Οἴδαμεν δὲ ὅτι ὅσα ὁ νόμος λέγει τοῖς ἐν τῷ νόμῳ λαλεῖ, ἵνα πᾶν στόμα φραγῇ· καὶ ὑπόδικος γένηται πᾶς ὁ κόσμος τῷ Θεῷ· διότι ἐξ ἔργων νόμου οὐ δικαιωθήσεται πᾶσα σὰρξ ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ· διὰ γὰρ νόμου, ἐπίγνωσις ἁμαρτιῶν.» Δεικτικὸς οὖν ἄρα τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ νόμος, οὐκ αὐχημάτων πρόξενος τῶν εἰς ἀρετήν. Τὸ γάρ τοι φάναι τυχὸν, Οὐ πορνεύσεις, οὐ μοιχεύσεις, οὐ κλέψεις, οὐκ ἐπιορκήσεις, καὶ εἴ τι τοιούτοις συνήρμοσται, τὰ τῆς φαυλότητος εἴδη κατασημαίνοντος ἦν, καὶ ἐξιστάντος ἀκαθαρσίας, οὐκ ἀρετῆς εἴδησιν εἰσκομίζοντος, οὐδὲ τῆς ἀκιβδήλου ζωῆς καταφανεστάτην τοῖς ἀκροωμένοις ποιοῦντος τὴν γνῶσιν. Ὡς τό τοι μὴ χρῆναι τὰ αἰσχίω δρᾷν, τοῖς τῆς ἐξαιρέτου πολιτείας ἐγγράφεσθαι τρόποις, ἀμαθὲς οἶμαί που. Δεῖν δὲ οἶμαι καὶ σφόδρα εἰκότως, τότε δὴ μόλις τὴν ἐφ' ἅπασι τοῖς ἐπαινουμένοις ἡμᾶς ἀναδεῖσθαι ψῆφον, εἰ δὴ μεθέντες καὶ διωσάμενοι τὸ κακὸν καὶ κάτω που μένειν ἐῶντες, τὸ ἐν ὑπολήψει φαυλότητος καὶ βεβήλου βδελυρίας οὐκ ἀπηλλαγμένον, ἐπ' αὐτὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀναθρώσκομεν τὰ αὐχήματα. Καὶ γοῦν ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς, «Ἀμὴν,ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐὰν μὴ περισσεύσει, φησὶν, ἡ δικαιοσύνη ὑμῶν, πλέον τῶν Γραμματέων καὶ Φαρισαίων, οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθητε εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν.» Συνίης οὖν ὅτι τὴν ἐπέκεινα τῆς κατὰ νόμον ἑλέσθαι δικαιοσύνην προστέταχεν ὁ Σωτὴρ, καὶ ἄριστόν γε τὸ χρῆμα εἰδὼς ὁ σοφὸς γράφει Παῦλος· «Εἴ τις δοκεῖ ἄλλος πεποιθέναι ἐν σαρκὶ, ἐγὼ μᾶλλον. Περιτομὴ ὀκταήμερος, ἐκ γένους Ἰσραὴλ, φυλῆς Βενιαμὶν,
Abraham was justified by faith before circumcision§4
4'a Hebrew from Hebrews, according to the Law a Pharisee, according to zeal persecuting the Church, according to righteousness in the Law becoming blameless. Whatever was gain to me, these I have counted loss because of Christ. Indeed I count all things loss because of the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, the one from the Law, but the one through faith in Christ.'
Palladius: I understand; the argument is clear. But tell me this. Why was the righteousness through faith, and the sanctification according to it, not decreed for us at the beginning, if the old Law is not enough for perfecting?
Cyril: Because, my friend, I would say, what is dirty is reasonably washed, what is defiled is wiped, and what is darkened is made bright. And it would be fitting, I think, according to the Savior's voice, that the sick be healed, and that not the sanctified but those loaded with sins be called to a change of mind. For must not those who are called to forgiveness first be found guilty, and be seen as redeemed after having been in danger from the weakness in them? So the Law that shows sin had to appear first, as a kind of proof and an exact accuser of everyone's weakness, so that the greatness of the divine gentleness through Christ might not be unknown to us. For where, or how, is the grace of forgiveness, if the charges do not lie underneath?
And if, speaking briefly, we must also leap to certain ancient narratives, I will say again that God was promising to Abraham the grace through faith, and, as in a firstfruits of those shown mercy, he was making in him the forgiveness from gentleness older than the Law. For it is written that 'Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.' And Paul adds his witness, saying, 'How then was it counted? In circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, he says, but in uncircumcision; and he received a sign, circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which was in uncircumcision.' And he heard God saying plainly that 'in you all the nations shall be blessed.' And the 'in you' would mean, according to your likeness. So Paul, understanding it this way, says, 'The Scripture, foreseeing that God justifies the nations from faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, that in you all the nations shall be blessed. So those from faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.' Circumcision, then, is a sign of the faith in uncircumcision, and he has been justified not from works of Law, and the boasts through faith appear older than the circumcision in the flesh. For he was called friend of God.
Greek · §4
Ἑβραῖος ἐξ Ἑβραίων, κατὰ νόμον Φαρισαῖος, κατὰ ζῆλον διώκων τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, κατὰ δικαιοσύνην τὴν ἐν νόμῳ γενόμενος ἄμεμπτος. Ἅτινα ἦν μοι κέρδη, ταῦτα ἥγημαι διὰ τὸν Χριστὸν ζημίαν. Ἀλλὰ μὲν οὖν γε ἡγοῦμαι τὰ πάντα ζημίαν εἶναι, διὰ τὸ ὑπερέχον τῆς γνώσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν· δι' ὃν τὰ πάντα ἐζημιώθην· καὶ ἡγοῦμαι σκύβαλα εἶναι, ἵνα Χριστὸν κερδήσω, καὶ εὑρεθῶ ἐν αὐτῷ μὴ ἔχων ἐμὴν δικαιοσύνην τὴν ἐκ νόμου, ἀλλὰ τὴν διὰ πίστεως Χριστοῦ.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Συνίημι μὲν, σαφὴς γὰρ ὁ λόγος· πλὴν ἐκεῖνο φράσον. Τί μὴ μᾶλλον ἐν ἀρχαῖς ἡ διὰ πίστεως ἡμῖν δικαιοσύνη, καὶ ὁ κατ' αὐτὴν ἁγιασμὸς ἐθεσπίζετο, εἴπερ οὐκ ἀπόχρη εἰς τελείωσιν ὁ πάλαι νόμος;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ὅτι, ὦ ἑταῖρε, φαίην ἂν, ἀπονίζεται μὲν εἰκότως τὸ ῥυποῦν, ἀποσμήχεται δὲ τὸ μεμολυσμένον, καὶ καταφαιδρύνεται τὸ ἐσκοτισμένον· πρέποι δ' ἂν, οἶμαι, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Σωτῆρος φωνὴν, θεραπεύεσθαι μὲν τὸ ἠῤῥωστηκὸς, καλεῖσθαι δὲ πρὸς μετάγνωσιν, οὐχὶ τοὺς ἡγιασμένους, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ἐπηχθισμένους. Ἦ γὰρ οὐχὶ προκαταγινώσκεσθαι χρὴ τοὺς καλουμένους εἰς ἄφεσιν, καὶ ἐκ τῆς ἐνούσης αὐτοῖς ἀσθενείας κεκινδυνευκότας, ὁρᾶσθαι λελυτρωμένους; Ἔδει τοιγαροῦν ἔλεγχον ὥσπερ τινὰ καὶ κατήγορον ἀκριβῆ τῆς ἁπάντων ἀσθενείας, τὸν τῆς ἁμαρτίας δεικτικὸν προαναφαίνεσθαι νόμον, ἵνα καὶ τῆς θείας ἡμῖν ἡμερότητος τῆς διὰ Χριστοῦ μὴ ἀγνοῆται τὸ μέγεθος. Ποῦ γὰρ ἢ πῶς ἡ τῆς ἀφέσεως χάρις, εἰ μὴ ὑποκέοιτο τὰ ἐγκλήματα; Καὶ εἰ χρὴ βραχυλογοῦντας καὶ ἐπί τινων ἀρχαίων διηγημάτων ἀναπηδᾷν, ἐρῶ πάλιν, ὅτι τῷ μὲν Ἀβραὰμ ἐπηγέλλετο ὁ Θεὸς τὴν διὰ πίστεως χάριν· καὶ καθάπερ ἐν ἀπαρχῇ τῶν ἠλεημένων, ἐν αὐτῷ πρεσβυτέραν ἐποιεῖτο τοῦ νόμου τὴν ἐξ ἡμερότητος ἄφεσιν. Γέγραπται γὰρ, ὅτι, «Ἐπίστευσεν Ἀβραὰμ τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην.» Προσδιαμαρτύρεται δὲ λέγων ὁ Παῦλος· «Πῶς οὖν ἐλογίσθη; ἐν περιτομῇ ἢ ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ; Οὐκ ἐν περιτομῇ, φησὶν, ἀλλ' ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ· καὶ σημεῖον ἔλαβε περιτομὴν, σφραγίδα τῆς δικαιοσύνης τῆς πίστεως, τῆς ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ.» Ἤκουσέ τε Θεοῦ λέγοντος ἐναργῶς, ὅτι, «Ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν σοὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη.» Τὸ δὲ, «ἐν σοὶ,» σημαίνοι ἂν τὸ, καθ' ὁμοιότητα τὴν σήν· οὕτω τε συνεὶς ὁ Παῦλός φησι· «Προϊδοῦσα δὲ ἡ Γραφὴ ὅτι ἐκ πίστεως δικαιοῖ τὰ ἔθνη ὁ Θεὸς, προευηγγελίσατο τῷ Ἀβραὰμ, ὅτι Ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν σοὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη. Ὥστε οἱ ἐκ πίστεως εὐλογοῦνται σὺν τῷ πιστῷ Ἀβραάμ.» Σημεῖον οὖν ἄρα τῆς ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ πίστεως, ἡ περιτομὴ, δεδικαίωται δὲ οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων νόμου, καὶ τῆς ἐν σαρκὶ περιτομῆς πρεσβύτερα φαίνεται τὰ διὰ πίστιν αὐχήματα. Φίλος γὰρ ἐκλήθη Θεοῦ.
The Law was put in until the seed should come§5
5Palladius said: I would reasonably ask, then, what the delay of the sanctification according to faith was — why you say the sign is in the older place and the thing that surpasses it in the second.
Cyril: Did we not just say that it was the work of an admirable and unspeakable skill, that the Law which condemns should leap up in time before the faith that justifies? Or does not the light shine in the darkness? And is not power perfected in weakness, according to what is written?
Palladius: You speak well.
Cyril: So the Law came in besides, so that the trespass might increase. For where there is no Law, there is no transgression either. And how would anyone see the forgiveness of transgression and of the ease toward it, if the Law had not first condemned us? That what I say is true, and that the argument on this is not some faded or ugly thing, Paul will help, saying, 'So the Law was added for the sake of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom it has been promised, ordained through angels.' And being very wise, he tries to cut off in advance the inventions and questions that will sometimes be found by some. For it was likely that some would blame the delay of the righteousness in faith, and say that the coming-in of the Law in between became a setting-aside of that ancient promise. That is why he says, 'Is the Law then against the promises of God? Let it not be. For if a Law had been given that was able to make alive, righteousness would truly have been in Law. But Scripture shut up all things under sin, so that the promise from faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Before the faith came, we were guarded under Law, being shut up into the faith about to be revealed to us. So the Law became our tutor unto Christ, so that we might be justified from faith. But when the faith has come we are no longer under a tutor, for you are all sons of God through the faith in Christ Jesus.'
And he makes the question white-clear, as it were, by adding, 'This I say: a covenant previously ratified by God, the Law that came after four hundred and thirty years does not annul, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance is from Law, it is no longer from promise. But God has granted it to Abraham through a promise.' So the Law, having shut us up into sin, tutored us unto Christ, for the end of Law and prophets is Christ. That is why he also said to the peoples of the Jews who had not believed him, 'If you believed Moses, you would believe me. For he wrote about me.' We are justified, then, not from works of Law, but rather by the faith in Christ. 'For as many as are from works of Law are under a curse. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not remain in all the things written in the book of the Law, to do them. But from the curse of the Law Christ bought all, having become'
Greek · §5
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τίς οὖν ἡ μέλλησις τοῦ κατὰ πίστιν ἁγιασμοῦ, ἐπαπορήσαιμι δ' ἂν εἰκότως, ἀνθ' ὅτου δὴ λέγων ὡς ἐν πρεσβυτέρᾳ θέσει τὸ σημεῖον καὶ ὡς ἐν δευτέροις τὸ ὑπερτεροῦν;
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐ γὰρ ἔφαμεν ἀρτίως ὡς ἀξιαγάστου καὶ ἀποῤῥήτου τινὸς εὐτεχνίας ἔργον ἦν τὸ προαναθρώσκειν ἐν χρόνῳ τῆς δικαιούσης πίστεως τὸν κατακρίνοντα νόμον; ἢ οὐχὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει; καὶ ἡ δύναμις ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ τελειοῦται, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εὖ λέγεις.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν νόμος παρεισῆλθεν, ἵνα πλεονάσῃ τὸ παράπτωμα. Οὗ γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν νόμος, οὐδὲ παράβασις. Παραβάσεως δὲ καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τοῦτο ῥᾳστώνης πῶς ἄν τις ἴδοι τὴν ἄφεσιν, οὐ προκατακρίναντος ἡμᾶς τοῦ νόμου; Ὅτι δὲ ἀληθὲς ὅ φημι, καὶ οὐκ ἐξίτηλός τις ἢ ἀκαλλὴς ὁ ἐπὶ τῷδε λόγος, συλλήψεται λέγων ὁ Παῦλος· «Ὥστε ὁ νόμος τῶν παραβάσεων χάριν προσετέθη, ἄχρις οὗ ἔλθῃ τὸ σπέρμα ὃ ἐπήγγελται, διαταγῇ ἀγγέλων.» Σοφὸς δὲ ἄγαν ὢν τὰς ἐσομένας ἔσθ' ὅτε παρά τινων εὑρεσιλογίας καὶ ἐπαπορήσεις προανακόπτειν ἐπιχειρεῖ· ἦν γὰρ δή τινας εἰκὸς τῆς ἐν πίστει δικαιοσύνης ἐπαιτιᾶσθαι τὴν μέλλησιν καὶ τὴν μεταξὺ τοῦ νόμου παρεισδρομὴν, εἰς ἀθέτησιν τῆς ἀρχαίας ἐκείνης ἐπαγγελίας γενέσθαι λέγειν. Τοιγάρτοι φησίν· «Ὁ οὖν νόμος κατὰ τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ; μὴ γένοιτο. Εἰ γὰρ ἐδόθη νόμος ὁ δυνάμενος ζωοποιῆσαι, ὄντως ἐν νόμῳ ἂν ἦν ἡ δικαιοσύνη. Ἀλλὰ συνέκλεισεν ἡ Γραφὴ τὰ πάντα ὑπὸ ἁμαρτίαν, ἵνα ἡ ἐπαγγελία ἐκ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δοθῇ τοῖς πιστεύουσιν. Πρὸ τοῦ δὲ ἐλθεῖν τὴν πίστιν, ὑπὸ νόμου ἐφρουρούμεθα συγκλειόμενοι εἰς τὴν μέλλουσαν πίστιν ἀποκαλυφθῆναι εἰς ἡμᾶς. Ὥστε ὁ νόμος παιδαγωγὸς ἡμῶν γέγονεν εἰς Χριστὸν, ἵνα ἐκ πίστεως δικαιωθῶμεν. Ἐλθούσης δὲ τῆς πίστεως οὐκέτι ὑπὸ παιδαγωγόν ἐσμεν, πάντες γὰρ υἱοὶ Θεοῦ ἐστε διὰ τῆς πίστεως ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ.» Καταλευκαίνει δὲ ὥσπερ τὴν ἐπαπόρησιν εὖ μάλα προστιθεὶς, «Τοῦτο δὲ λέγω, διαθήκην προκεκυρωμένην ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ μετὰ ἔτη τετρακόσια καὶ τριάκοντα γεγονὼς νόμος οὐκ ἀκυροῖ, εἰς τὸ καταργῆσαι τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν· εἰ γὰρ ἐκ νόμου ἡ κληρονομία, οὐκέτι ἐξ ἐπαγγελίας. Τῷ δὲ Ἀβραὰμ δι' ἐπαγγελίας κεχάρισται ὁ Θεός.» Κατακλείσας οὖν ἡμᾶς εἰς ἁμαρτίαν ὁ νόμος, πεπαιδαγώγηκεν εἰς Χριστὸν, τέλος γὰρ νόμου καὶ προφητῶν ὁ Χριστός. Τοιγάρτοι καὶ ἔφασκεν ἠπειθηκόσιν αὐτῷ τοῖς Ἰουδαίων λαοῖς· «Εἰ ἐπιστεύετε Μωσεῖ, ἐπιστεύετε ἂν ἐμοί. Περὶ γὰρ ἐμοῦ ἐκεῖνος ἔγραψε·» Δικαιούμεθα δὴ οὖν οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων νόμου, πίστει δὲ μᾶλλον τῇ εἰς Χριστόν· «Ὅσοι γὰρ ἐξ ἔργων νόμου εἰσὶν, ὑπὸ κατάραν εἰσί. Γέγραπται γάρ· Ἐπικατάρατος πᾶς ὃς οὐκ ἐμμένει πᾶσι τοῖς γεγραμμένοις ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ τοῦ νόμου, τοῦ ποιῆσαι αὐτά. Ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς τοῦ νόμου κατάρας ἐξεπρίατο πάντας ὁ Χριστὸς, γεγενημένος
A curse on the tree; honor God from righteous labors§6
6'a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations in Christ Jesus, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through the faith.'
Palladius: But, my good man, if it seems good, I would rather we go on to something else learned from Christ. This is enough about the Law and the economy according to it.
Cyril: Say then whatever is dear to you; and for me too it is not among the things too hard to reach.
Palladius: The question is not very steep, or trackless. What is sought could be caught, I think, even without much labor, if Christ puts the divine light into us. Will we not, then, honor God with the bloodless offerings — we who have received the justification in faith and push out the worship in shadows and types?
Cyril: You speak well. For it is written, 'Honor the Lord from your righteous labors, and offer him firstfruits from your fruits of righteousness.' 'For with such sacrifices God is well pleased,' according to the voices of the saints.
Palladius: So it is idle, then, to be eager to sacrifice cattle and to fulfill the things brought in for us through the ancient commandment. For sheep-slaughters and frankincense, and besides these cakes, and oil-soaked fine flour, turtledoves and pigeons, were in that time the dedicated things of those who worshiped. But tell me why he did not from the beginning make these things dismissed, and is now seen laying down as law the things he delights in, and uncovering for us the ways of the spiritual sacrifice.
Cyril: Do you think, then, and dare to say, that the divine did not plan rightly at the beginning, and, as if it had missed the perfectly good, was only barely able to find the greater? Or that it chose then the things in shadows as adequately having what seemed good to it, and then suffered some love of novelty in our case, giving the preference to others, and making new for us a worship not long since decided?
Palladius: No indeed. That, I think, is nonsense. I would not even suppose that being able to miss in anything at all would follow him. I would learn with the greatest pleasure what it was that persuaded him to lay down as law, for those on the earth, those things then, and these things now.
Cyril: Your argument forces us to go back, as it were. Or did I not say that the Law was a tutor — that is, the trainer of those still infants? And to those not yet able to understand what the truly good is, and what the will of God would be — the perfect and well-pleasing — hinting it through a riddle? And as in—
Greek · §6
ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα. Γέγραπται γὰρ, ὅτι ἐπικατάρατος πᾶς ὁ κρεμάμενος ἐπὶ ξύλου, ἵνα εἰς τὰ ἔθνη ἡ εὐλογία τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ γένοιτο ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, ἵνα τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ πνεύματος λάβωμεν διὰ τῆς πίστεως.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀλλ', ὦ γενναῖε, βούλει, εἰ δοκεῖ, ἴωμεν δὴ μᾶλλον ἐφ' ἕτερόν τι χριστομαθές· νόμου γὰρ καὶ τῆς κατ' αὐτὸν οἰκονομίας ἀπόχρη ταυτί.
{ΚΥΡ.} Φράζε δὴ οὖν ὅ τι καὶ αὐτῷ σοι φίλον, κἀμοὶ δὲ εἰπεῖν οὐ τῶν ἀνεφίκτων ἄγαν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ μὴν οὐκ ἀνάντης λίαν, ἤγουν ἀστιβὴς ἡ ἐπαπόρησις. Ἁλοίη δ' ἂν, οἶμαι, καὶ λίαν ἀμογητὶ τὸ ζητούμενον, Χριστοῦ τὸ θεῖον ἡμῖν ἐνιέντος φῶς. Ἆρ' οὖν οὐχὶ ταῖς ἀναιμάκτοις δωροφορίαις Θεὸν τιμήσομεν, οἱ τὴν ἐν πίστει δικαίωσιν παραδεδεγμένοι, καὶ τὴν ἐν σκιαῖς καὶ τύποις λατρείαν ἐξωθούμενοι;
{ΚΥΡ.} Εὖ λέγεις. Γέγραπται γὰρ ὅτι, «Τίμα τὸν Κύριον ἀπὸ σῶν δικαίων πόνων, καὶ ἀπάρχου αὐτῷ ἀπὸ σῶν καρπῶν δικαιοσύνης·» «τοιαύταις γὰρ θυσίαις εὐαρεστεῖται ὁ Θεὸς,» κατὰ τὰς τῶν ἁγίων φωνάς.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εἰκαῖον οὖν ἄρα τὸ ἐπείγεσθαι βουθυτεῖν καὶ τὰ διὰ τῆς ἀρχαίας ἡμῖν ἐντολῆς εἰσκεκομισμένα πληροῦν. Μηλοσφαγίαι τε γὰρ καὶ λιβανωτοὶ, λάγανά τε πρὸς τούτοις, καὶ σεμίδαλις ἐλαιόδευτος, τρυγόνες τε καὶ περιστεραὶ, τὰ κατ' ἐκεῖνο τοῦ καιροῦ, τῶν προσκυνούντων ἀναθήματα. Ἀλλά μοι φράσον ἀνθ' ὅτου μὴ ἐν ἀρχαῖς ἀπόπεμπτα μὲν ἐποιεῖτο ταυτὶ, τὰ δὲ οἷς ἐφήδεται νυνὶ θεσμοθετῶν ὁρᾶται Θεὸς, καὶ τοὺς θυσίας ἡμῖν τῆς πνευματικῆς ἐκκαλύπτει τρόπους.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἆρ' οὖν οἴει, καὶ φάναι τολμᾷς, βεβουλεῦσθαι μὲν οὐκ ὀρθῶς ἐν ἀρχαῖς τὸ θεῖον, ἀφημαρτηκὸς δὲ ὥσπερ τοῦ τελείως ἀγαθοῦ, τὸ μεῖζον εὑρεῖν δεδυνῆσθαι μόλις; ἢ γοῦν ἑλέσθαι μὲν τότε τὰ ὡς ἐν σκιαῖς, ὡς διαρκῶς ἔχοντα τὸ δοκοῦν αὐτῷ, φιλόκαινον δέ τι καθ' ἡμᾶς ὑπομεῖναι πάθος, ἑτέροις νέμοντα τὴν ῥοπὴν, καὶ λατρείαν ἡμῖν τὴν οὐ πάλαι διεγνωσμένην κεκαινουργηκότα;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐ μὲν οὖν. Λῆρος γὰρ, οἶμαι, ταυτί. Οὐδ' ἂν οἰησαίμην ὅτι τὸ ἀφαμαρτεῖν δύνασθαι κατά τι γοῦν ὅλως ἕποιτο αὐτῷ. Μάθοιμι δ' ἂν ὡς ἥδιστά γε τί τὸ ἀναπεῖθον θεσμοθετεῖν, τοῖς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἐκεῖνα μὲν τότε, νυνὶ δὲ ταυτί.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀνόπιν ὥσπερ ἰέναι πάλιν ὁ σὸς ἡμᾶς ἀναγκάζει λόγος. Ἢ οὐκ ἔφην ὅτι παιδαγωγὸς ἦν ὁ νόμος, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τῶν ἔτι νηπίων ὁ παιδευτής; καὶ τοῖς οὔπω συνιέναι δυναμένοις τί τὸ ἀληθῶς ἀγαθόν; καὶ ποῖον ἂν εἴη τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ, τὸ τέλειον καὶ εὐάρεστον, δι' αἰνίγματος ὑποδηλῶν; καὶ ὡς ἐν
I hate your feasts; do justice and love mercy§7
7thick types still marking it. You will know, you will know, and not with long sweat, the manner of the spiritual worship — how it was always, and from the beginning, thrice-desired by God, but still hard to enter and untouchable for the souls of the Jews. That is why they needed an infant-fitting word, and simple lessons, and an economic child-nursing that had nothing steep or rough. For God legislated even of old the things in types. And he showed beforehand again the things from the true worship as coming and about to be present in their times. And he made the approach through blood, and the shadow, a thing to be thrown away. He shook it off through the prophet, saying in Amos, 'I have hated, I have rejected your feasts, and I will not smell in your assemblies. Because if you bring me whole burnt offerings and your sacrifices, I will not look. Take away from me the noise of your songs, and I will not hear the psalm of your instruments.'
And through Micah he has brought in the person of a man, wanting to learn how he might accomplish the good without blame: 'With what shall I take hold of the Lord, shall I lay hold of God most high? Shall I take hold of him with whole burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Will the Lord receive thousands of rams, or ten thousands of fat goats? Shall I give my firstborn, fruit of my belly for ungodliness, for the sin of my soul?' Then, joined and in order: 'Has it been told you, O man, what is good, or what the Lord seeks from you, but to do judgment and to love mercy, and to be ready to walk with the Lord your God?' Is this not clearly what Christ said: 'If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me'? And again, 'Let the one who loves me follow me, and where I am, there let my servant also be.' Not in the legal worship, the one according to Christ, but in a holy and spiritual one.
Palladius: You have spoken most rightly.
Cyril: And through Isaiah’s voice he rebukes those from Israel more hotly, saying: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, rulers of Sodom; attend to the law of God, people of Gomorrah. What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord. I am full of whole burnt offerings of rams, and I do not want fat of lambs and goats; nor if you come to appear to me — who sought these things from your hands? You shall not go on treading my court. If you bring fine flour, it is vain. Incense is an abomination to me; I cannot endure your new moons and sabbaths and great day. Fasting and idleness and your feasts my soul has hated; you have become a surfeit to me.’ And through the prophet Malachi he says the same still to people greatly hated. And he remembers times in which those throughout all the earth would offer him the incomparable—
Greek · §7
παχέσιν ἔτι κατασημαίνων τύποις; εἴσῃ γὰρ, εἴσῃ, καὶ οὐ σὺν ἱδρῶτι μακρῷ τῆς πνευματικῆς λατρείας ὁ τρόπος, ὡς ἦν μὲν, ἀεί τε καὶ ἐν ἀρχαῖς τριπόθητος Θεῷ, δυσέμβατος δὲ καὶ ἀναφὴς ἔτι ταῖς τῶν Ἰουδαίων ψυχαῖς. Διά τοι τοῦτο δεῖσθαι λόγου νηπιοπρεποῦς, καὶ μαθημάτων ἁπλῶν, καὶ παιδοκομίας οἰκονομικῆς οὐδὲν ἐχούσης τὸ ἄναντες ἢ τραχὺ, ἐνομοθέτει μὲν γὰρ καὶ πάλαι τὰ ἐν τύποις Θεός. Προϋπεδείκνυ δὲ πάλιν, ὡς ἥξοντά τε καὶ παρεσόμενα κατὰ καιροὺς τὰ ἐκ τῆς ἀληθοῦς λατρείας· καὶ ἀπόβλητον μὲν ἐποίει τὸ τὴν δι' αἱμάτων πρόσοδον, καὶ τὴν σκιάν· ἀπεσείετο δὲ διὰ τοῦ προφήτου λέγων Ἀμώς· «Μεμίσηκα, ἀπῶσμαι τὰς ἑορτὰς ὑμῶν, καὶ οὐ μὴ ὀσφρανθῶ ἐν ταῖς πανηγύρεσιν ὑμῶν· διότι ἐὰν ἐνέγκητέ μοι ὁλοκαυτώματα καὶ θυσίας ὑμῶν, οὐκ ἐπιβλέψομαι. Μετάστησον ἀπ' ἐμοῦ ἦχον ᾠδῶν σου, καὶ ψαλμὸν ὀργάνων σου οὐκ ἀκούσομαι.» Εἰσκεκόμικε δὲ διὰ Μιχαίου πρόσωπον ἀνδρὸς, τίνα δὴ τρόπον κατορθώσειεν ἂν ἀμωμήτως τὸ ἀγαθὸν, ὀρεκτιῶντος ἀναμαθεῖν· «Ἐν τίνι γὰρ καταλάβω τὸν Κύριον, ἀντιλήψομαι Θεοῦ ὑψίστου; Εἰ καταλήψομαι αὐτὸν ἐν ὁλοκαυτώμασιν, ἐν μόσχοις ἐνιαυσίοις; Εἰ προσδέξεται Κύριος ἐν χιλιάσι κριῶν, ἢ ἐν μυριάσι χιμάρων πιόνων; Εἰ δῶ πρωτότοκά μου, ἀσεβείας καρπὸν κοιλίας μου, ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτίας ψυχῆς μου;» Εἶτα συνημμένως καὶ ἐφεξῆς· «Εἰ ἀνηγγέλη σοι, φησὶν, ἄνθρωπε, τί τὸ καλόν· ἢ τί Κύριος ἐκζητεῖ παρὰ σοῦ, ἀλλ' ἢ τοῦ ποιεῖν κρίμα καὶ ἀγαπᾷν ἔλεος· καὶ ἕτοιμον εἶναι τοῦ πορεύεσθαι μετὰ Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ σου;» Ἆρ' οὖν οὐχὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν ἐναργῶς, ὅπερ ἔφη Χριστός· «Εἴ τις θέλει ὀπίσω μου ἐλθεῖν, ἀπαρνησάσθω ἑαυτὸν, καὶ ἀράτω τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀκολουθείτω μοι;» Καὶ πάλιν· «Ὁ ἐμὲ ἀγαπῶν, ἐμοὶ ἀκολουθείτω, καὶ ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγὼ, ἐκεῖ καὶ ὁ διάκονος ὁ ἐμὸς ἔστω.» Οὐκ ἐν νομικῇ μὲν λατρείᾳ τῇ κατὰ Χριστὸν, ἀλλὰ ἁγίᾳ τε καὶ πνευματικῇ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὀρθότατα ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Καὶ διὰ μὲν τῆς Ἡσαΐου φωνῆς, θερμότερον ἐπιπλήττει τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ λέγων· «Ἀκούσατε λόγων Κυρίου, ἄρχοντες Σοδόμων, προσέχετε νόμον Θεοῦ, λαὸς Γομόῤῥων. Τί μοι πλῆθος τῶν θυσιῶν ὑμῶν, λέγει Κύριος; Πλήρης εἰμὶ ὁλοκαυτωμάτων κριῶν, καὶ στέαρ ἀρνῶν καὶ τράγων οὐ βούλομαι· οὐδ' ἂν ἔρχησθε ὀφθῆναί μοι, τίς γὰρ ἐξεζήτησε ταῦτα ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν ὑμῶν; Πατεῖν τὴν αὐλήν μου οὐ προσθήσεσθε. Ἐὰν φέρητε σεμίδαλιν, μάταιον. Θυμίαμα βδέλυγμά μοί ἐστι, τὰς νουμηνίας ὑμῶν, καὶ τὰ Σάββατα, καὶ ἡμέραν μεγάλην οὐκ ἀνέχομαι. Νηστείαν καὶ ἀργίαν, καὶ τὰς ἑορτὰς ὑμῶν ἐμίσησεν ἡ ψυχή μου· ἐγενήθητέ μοι εἰς πλησμονήν.» Διά τε τοῦ προφήτου Μαλαχίου, ταυτὸ λέγει ἔτι πρὸς λίαν ἀπηχθημένους· διαμέμνηται δὲ καιρῶν, καθ' οὓς ἂν αὐτῷ προσοίσειαν οἱ ἀνὰ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν τῆς ἀναιμάκτου καὶ νοητῆς θυσίας τὴν ἀσύγκρι
From the rising of the sun a pure sacrifice§8
8fragrance of the bloodless and intelligible sacrifice. For he said again, 'I have no will in you, says the Lord Almighty, and I will not receive a sacrifice from your hands, because from the rising of the sun even to its setting my name has been glorified among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name and a pure sacrifice, because my name is great among the nations, says the Lord Almighty.' You understand that he says incense and a pure sacrifice will be brought up to him from every nation. And just as, naming the new covenant in Christ 'new,' he has made the first old — for divine Paul writes to us this way — so here too, having said that the sacrifice from every nation will be pure in its times, he condemns the ancient one as not being so. For how is something pure in a way, which neither cleanses nor even has the power to perfect toward virtue? That is why the blessed Paul says that it was not without fault, and that the things through Christ had to be brought in, and that a place for the second was sought.
Palladius: Was the worship in shadows wholly unwanted, then, by the all-holy God?
For much better before God than a falling calf and the slaughter of a sheep is love toward brothers, unto the fulfilling of the Law, and the surpassing of the knowledge of Christ, through whom the Father himself would become known to us. And that the thing is a bringer of eternal life, no one would doubt, when Christ says to the Father in the heavens, ‘And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent.’ He will not—
Greek · §8
τον εὐωδίαν. Ἔφη γὰρ ὧδε πάλιν· «Οὐκ ἔστι μου θέλημα ἐν ὑμῖν, λέγει Κύριος παντοκράτωρ, καὶ θυσίαν οὐ προσδέξομαι ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν ὑμῶν, διότι ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν ἡλίου καὶ ἕως δυσμῶν τὸ ὄνομά μου δεδόξασται ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι, καὶ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ θυμίαμα προσφέρεται τῷ ὀνόματί μου καὶ θυσία καθαρὰ, διότι μέγα τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι, λέγει Κύριος παντοκράτωρ.» Συνίης ὅτι θυμίαμά τε καὶ θυσίαν αὐτῷ καθαρὰν ἀπὸ παντὸς ἔθνους ἀνενεχθήσεσθαί φησιν. Ὥσπερ δὲ τὴν νέαν ἡμῖν καὶ ἐν Χριστῷ διαθήκην, καινὴν ὀνομάσας, πεπαλαίωκε τὴν πρώτην. Γράφει γὰρ ἡμῖν οὕτως καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος. Ὡς κἀνθάδε, καθαρὰν εἰπὼν τὴν ἀπὸ παντὸς ἔθνους θυσίαν ἐσομένην κατὰ καιροὺς, τῷ μὴ οὕτως ἔχειν τῆς ἀρχαίας καταψηφίζεται. Καθαρὰ γάρ τινα τρόπον, ἡ μήτε καθαίρουσα, μήτε μὴν ἔχουσα τὸ τελειοῦν δύνασθαι πρὸς ἀρετήν; Ταύτῃ τοί φησιν ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος, ὡς ἦν μὲν οὐκ ἄμεμπτος, εἰσκεκομίσθαι δὲ ἀναγκαίως τὰ διὰ Χριστοῦ, καὶ τὸν τῆς δευτέρας ἐκζητεῖσθαι τόπον.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀβούλητος ἄρα παντελῶς ἡ ἐν σκιαῖς λατρεία παναγίῳ Θεῷ;
{ΚΥΡ.} Παντάπασι μὲν οὖν. Πάρα δέ γε σαφῶς ἐπαΐειν λέγοντος τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ, διὰ τῆς Ἱερεμίου φωνῆς· «Τάδε λέγει Κύριος· Τὰ ὁλοκαυτώματα ὑμῶν συναγάγετε μετὰ τῶν θυσιῶν ὑμῶν, καὶ φάγετε κρέα. Ὅτι οὐκ ἐλάλησα πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας ὑμῶν, καὶ οὐκ ἐνετειλάμην αὐτοῖς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ, ᾖ ἀνήγαγον αὐτοὺς ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου περὶ ὁλοκαυτωμάτων καὶ θυσιῶν. Ἀλλ' ἢ τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο ἐνετειλάμην αὐτοῖς λέγων, Ἀκούσατε τῆς φωνῆς μου.» Ὅσον μὲν γὰρ ἧκεν εἴς γε τὸ ἀκριβὲς τῷ νομοθέτῃ δοκοῦν, οὐδ' ἂν ὅλως ἐν ἀρχαῖς ὁ ἐν σκιαῖς ἔτι κατεχρησμῳδήθη νόμος, τῆς ἐν πνεύματι λατρείας σεσιγημένης. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἦν τὸ χρῆμα φορτικὸν, καὶ τὸ δύνασθαι πληροῦν τὸ τελείως ἀγαθὸν, τοῖς τὸ τηνικάδε βάσιμον μὲν οὐχὶ, φαίην δ' ἂν ὅτι σκληρὸν καὶ οὐκ ἄτραχυ, νηπιοπρεπὴς οἷά τις μελέτησις, τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας ἔχουσα μόρφωσιν, ὁ ἐν γράμμασι νόμος, οἰκονομικῶς ἐθεσπίζετο. Πλὴν ἐδήλου σαφῶς ὁ τῶν νόμων ἡμῖν ὁριστὴς, ὅτι μὴ ἐκεῖνα μᾶλλον αὐτῷ θυμηρέστατα, τριπόθητα δὲ τὰ διὰ Χριστοῦ. Καὶ γοῦν ἔφη πάλιν· «Διὰ τοῦτο ἀπεθέρισα τοὺς προφήτας ὑμῶν, ἀπέκτεινα αὐτοὺς ἐν ῥήμασι στόματός μου, καὶ τὸ κρίμα μου ὡς φῶς ἐξελεύσεται· διότι ἔλεος θέλω, καὶ οὐ θυσίαν, καὶ ἐπίγνωσιν Θεοῦ, ἢ ὁλοκαυτώματα.» Πολὺ γὰρ ἄμεινον παρὰ Θεῷ καὶ μόσχου πίπτοντος, καὶ προβάτου σφαγῆς, ἡ εἰς ἀδελφοὺς ἀγάπη, εἰς τὸ τοῦ νόμου πλήρωμα, καὶ τὸ ὑπερέχον τῆς γνώσεως Χριστοῦ, δι' οὗπερ ἂν γένοιτο καὶ αὐτὸς ἡμῖν γνωστὸς ὁ Πατήρ. Πρόξενον δὲ ὅτι τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς τὸ χρῆμά ἐστιν, οὐκ ἐνδοιάσῃ τις ἂν, Χριστοῦ λέγοντος πρὸς τὸν ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς Πατέρα· «Αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ αἰώνιος ζωὴ, ἵνα γινώσκωσί σε τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ὃν ἀπέστειλας Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν.» Ἀψευ
Israel returns only through Christ; Law sacrifices cease§9
9Cyril: And that the truth is altogether and in every way — how can one doubt?
Palladius: Least of all.
Cyril: And Israel, having slipped from kinship with him — since, not having accepted the faith, he did not know God — will return to the original good, he says very well, in no other way except through Christ alone, having left off the customs according to Law. And it is written again: ‘Therefore the sons of Israel will sit many days, there being no altar, nor priesthood, nor manifestations; and after these things the sons of Israel will return and will seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and will be amazed at the Lord and at his goods in the last of these days.’ For when the fullness of the nations has entered, then all Israel will be saved — yet in Christ; and he has been named David because of being from David’s seed and tribe. And that even the sacrifices according to Law would be taken away he was confirming clearly through Joel, saying: ‘Gird yourselves and beat yourselves, you priests; lament, you who minister at the altar; go in, sleep in sackcloth, you who minister to God; because sacrifice and drink-offering have been cut off from the house of your God.’ And again through the same prophet: ‘Sacrifice and drink-offering have been lifted from the Lord’s house; mourn, you priests who minister at the altar.’ And toward those who still cling to the letter he shows that there will be a kind of remelting and reshaping of priesthood and of sacrifices together.
Palladius: I understand.
Cyril: For the ‘he will pour and will purify,’ spoken as of gold and a goldsmith — does it not want us to go toward this thought?
Palladius: Very much so.
Cyril: For that the Word, having become human, was going to accomplish some such thing intelligibly, God and Father has given full assurance, saying that ‘Suddenly the Lord will come into his temple—
Greek · §9
δήσει δὲ ὅτι πάντη τε καὶ πάντως ἡ ἀλήθεια, πῶς ἔστιν ἀμφιβαλεῖν;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἥκιστά γε.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀπολισθήσαντα δὲ τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν οἰκειότητος τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, ἐπεί τοι τὴν πίστιν οὐ προσηκάμενος, οὐκ ἔγνω Θεὸν, οὐχ ἑτέρως ἐπανήξειν εἰς τὸ ἀπαρχῆς εὖ μάλα φησὶν, πλὴν ὅτι διὰ μόνου Χριστοῦ, καταλήξαντα τῶν ἐθῶν τῶν κατὰ νόμον. Γέγραπται, δὲ αὖ· «Διότι ἡμέρας πολλὰς καθίσονται οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ, οὐκ ὄντος θυσιαστηρίου, οὐδὲ ἱερατείας, οὐδὲ δήλων· καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπιστρέψουσιν οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἐπιζητήσουσι Κύριον τὸν Θεὸν αὐτῶν, καὶ Δαβὶδ τὸν βασιλέα αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐκστήσονται ἐπὶ τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς αὐτοῦ ἐπ' ἐσχάτων τούτων τῶν ἡμερῶν.» Ὅταν γὰρ τὸ πλήρωμα τῶν ἐθνῶν εἰσέλθῃ, τότε πᾶς Ἰσραὴλ σωθήσεται· πλὴν ἐν Χριστῷ· κατωνόμασται δὲ Δαβὶδ διὰ τὸ ἐκ σπέρματος εἶναι καὶ ἐκ φυλῆς τοῦ Δαβίδ. Ἀναιρεθήσεσθαι δὲ καὶ αὐτὰς τὰς κατὰ νόμον θυσίας διεβεβαιοῦτο σαφῶς διὰ Ἰωὴλ λέγων· «Περιζώσασθε καὶ κόπτεσθε οἱ ἱερεῖς, θρηνεῖτε οἱ λειτουργοῦντες θυσιαστηρίῳ, εἰσέλθετε, ὑπνώσατε ἐν σάκκοις λειτουργοῦντες Θεῷ· ὅτι ἀπέσχικεν ἐξ οἴκου Θεοῦ ὑμῶν θυσία καὶ σπονδή.» Καὶ πάλιν δι' αὐτοῦ τοῦ προφήτου· «Ἐξῆρται θυσία καὶ σπονδὴ ἐξ οἴκου Κυρίου· πενθεῖτε οἱ ἱερεῖς λειτουργοῦντες τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ.» Καὶ πρός γε δὴ τούτοις, καὶ αὐτὴν ἐκ μέσου γενήσεσθαι τὴν σκηνὴν ὑπισχνεῖτο, λέγων· «Καὶ ἔσται, ἐὰν πληθυνθῆτε, καὶ αὐξηθῆτε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, λέγει Κύριος, ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις οὐκ ἐροῦσιν ἔτι, Κιβωτὸς διαθήκης Κυρίου ἁγίου Ἰσραὴλ οὐκ ἀναβήσεται ἐπὶ καρδίαν, οὐδὲ ὀνομασθήσεται, οὐδὲ ἐπισκεφθήσεται, καὶ οὐ ποιηθήσεται ἔτι.» Ἀνατετραμμένης γὰρ εἰς τὸ παντελὲς τῆς ἐν τύποις ἔτι καὶ δι' αἱμάτων θυσίας, ἀνάγκη πως ἦν, καὶ αὐτὴν ἐκ μέσου ποιεῖσθαι τὴν σκηνὴν, ἅτε δὴ τῆς ἀληθεστέρας ἀντεγηγερμένης, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, ὑπὲρ ἧς καὶ αὐτὸς ἔφη Χριστός· «Ὧδε κατοικήσω, ὅτι ᾑρετισάμην αὐτήν.» Καὶ ὅτι μεταχωρήσει καὶ μεταστήσεται πρὸς τὸ ἄμεινον τῆς λατρείας ὁ τρόπος πρὸς τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ καὶ νέαν, σαφὲς ἂν γένοιτο, γράφοντος ἡμῖν περὶ Θεοῦ τοῦ Μαλαχίου· «Καὶ καθαριεῖ τοὺς υἱοὺς Λευῒ, καὶ χεεῖ ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ὥσπερ τὸ χρυσίον, καὶ ὡς ἀργύριον· καὶ ἔσονται τῷ Κυρίῳ προσάγοντες θυσίαν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ, καὶ ἀρέσει τῷ Θεῷ ἡ θυσία Ἰούδα, καὶ Ἰερουσαλὴμ, καθὼς ἡ ἡμέρα τοῦ αἰῶνος, καὶ καθὼς τὰ ἔτη τὰ ἔμπροσθεν.» Συνίης δὴ οὖν, ὅτι μονονουχὶ μεταχάλκευσίν τινα καὶ ἀναπλασμὸν ἱερωσύνης τε ἅμα καὶ θυσιῶν ἔσεσθαί φησι;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Συνίημι.
{ΚΥΡ.} Τὸ γάρ τοι, χεεῖ καὶ καθαρίσει, καθάπερ ἐπὶ χρυσοῦ τε καὶ χρυσουργοῦ λελεγμένον, ἆρ' οὐχὶ πρὸς τοῦτο ἐννοιῶν ἡμᾶς ἰέναι βούλεται;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ὅτι γὰρ ἔμελλε νοητῶς τοιοῦτόν τι κατορθοῦν, ἐνανθρωπήσας ὁ Λόγος, πεπληροφόρηκεν εἰπὼν ὁ Θεὸς καὶ Πατὴρ, ὅτι «Ἐξαίφνης ἥξει εἰς τὸν ναὸν
Messenger of the covenant; new priesthood; Christ’s table§10
10—whom you seek, and the angel of the covenant whom you desire. Behold, he comes, says the Lord Almighty; and who will endure the day of his entrance? or who will stand in his appearing? because he enters as fire of a smelting-furnace, and as herb of those who wash. And he will sit smelting and purifying as the silver, and as the gold.’ He says, then, that there will be a renewal and reshaping of the priesthood; and the manner of the liturgy, showing nothing else except that this is Christ’s mystery. He spoke again through Ezekiel’s voice about those allotted to be priests: ‘These will bring near to me to minister to me, and will stand before my face to offer me sacrifice, fat and blood, says the Lord God. These will enter into my holy places, and these will approach me toward my table, to minister to me.’ And fat and blood and the liturgies upon the table — would they not reasonably say the mystery of Christ?
Palladius: You speak well.
Cyril: And most clearly he was also making for us the very time according to which the change of all unto the better will be, the manner of the renewal, God saying: ‘And it will be from the eighth day and beyond; the priests will make upon the altar your whole burnt offerings and the things of—
—your peace.’ But come, if it seems good, let us take the narration also from the sacred Writings themselves.
Cyril: I am ready for this, friend, since it seems good to you. And you again examine for me upon each of the contemplations the precise and polished mind. And if I should seem to you not to understand or speak very rightly, soberly correct and clearly re-harbor me, imitating the best of craftsmen, who whenever what is in hand should go out of the fitting account—
Greek · §10
αὐτοῦ Κύριος, ὃν ὑμεῖς ζητεῖτε, καὶ ὁ ἄγγελος τῆς διαθήκης, ὃν ὑμεῖς θέλετε. Ἰδοὺ ἔρχεται, λέγει Κύριος παντοκράτωρ· καὶ τίς ὑπομενεῖ ἡμέραν εἰσόδου αὐτοῦ; ἢ τίς ὑποστήσεται ἐν τῇ ὀπτασίᾳ αὐτοῦ; διότι αὐτὸς εἰσπορεύεται ὡς πῦρ χωνευτηρίου, καὶ ὡς πόα πλυνόντων. Καὶ καθιεῖται χωνεύων καὶ καθαρίζων ὡς τὸ ἀργύριον, καὶ ὡς τὸ χρυσίον·» Καινουργίαν οὖν ἄρα καὶ ἀναπλασμὸν τῆς ἱερωσύνης ἔσεσθαί φησιν· καὶ τόν γε τῆς λειτουργίας τρόπον, οὐχ ἕτερόν τι παραδεικνὺς, πλὴν ὅτι, τουτὶ Χριστοῦ μυστήριον. Ἔφη πάλιν διὰ φωνῆς Ἰεζεκιὴλ περὶ τῶν ἱερῶσθαι κεκληρωμένων· «Οὗτοι προσάξουσι πρὸς μὲ τοῦ λειτουργεῖν μοι, καὶ στήσονται πρὸ προσώπου μου τοῦ προσφέρειν μοι θυσίαν, στέαρ καὶ αἷμα, λέγει Κύριος ὁ Θεός. Οὗτοι εἰσελεύσονται εἰς τὰ ἅγιά μου, καὶ οὗτοι προσελεύσονταί μοι πρὸς τὴν τράπεζάν μου, τοῦ λειτουργεῖν μοι.» Καὶ στέαρ καὶ αἷμα καὶ τὰς ἐπὶ τῇ τραπέζῃ λειτουργίας, ἆρ' οὐχὶ φαῖεν ἂν εἰκότως, τὸ Χριστοῦ μυστήριον;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εὖ λέγεις.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀριδηλότατον δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν ἡμῖν τὸν καιρὸν, καθ' ὃν ἡ πάντων ἐπὶ τὸ ἄμεινον ἔσται μεταδρομὴ τῆς καινουργίας ὁ τρόπος, ἐποίει λέγων ὁ Θεός· «Καὶ ἔσται ἀπὸ τῆς ἡμέρας τῆς ὀγδόης καὶ ἐπέκεινα ποιήσουσιν οἱ ἱερεῖς ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον τὰ ὁλοκαυτώματα ὑμῶν, καὶ τὰ τοῦ σωτηρίου ὑμῶν, καὶ προσδέξομαι ὑμᾶς, λέγει Κύριος.» Ἡμέραν δὲ τὴν ὀγδόην τὸν τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἀναστάσεως ὀνομάζει καιρόν· καθ' ὃν τὰ ὁλοκαυτώματα, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ἡ τελεία καὶ ὁλοσχερὴς εἰς Θεὸν ἀφιέρωσις τῶν πεπιστευκότων, δεκτὴ τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ δωροφορία πνευματική. Καὶ τοῦτο διδάσκει γράφων ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος· «Δι' αὐτοῦ οὖν ἀναφέρομεν θυσίαν αἰνέσεως διαπαντὸς τῷ Θεῷ· τοῦτ' ἔστι, καρπὸν χειλέων ὁμολογούντων τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ.» Καὶ πάλιν· «Τῆς δὲ εὐποιίας καὶ κοινωνίας μὴ ἐπιλανθάνησθε. Τοιαύταις γὰρ θυσίαις εὐαρεστεῖται ὁ Θεός.» Καρποὶ γὰρ οἱ πρὸς ἡμῶν τῷ Θεῷ τῶν ἐν πίστει δεδικαιωμένων, τίνες ἂν εἶεν ἕτεροι, πλὴν ὅτι δοξολογία μακρὰ καὶ διηνεκής; Καὶ θῦμα τὸ καθαρώτατον τῆς ἀμωμήτου ζωῆς, ἡ ἀπαράβλητος εὐωδία.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Παγκάλως ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος ἔχει, καὶ ἀληθὲς, ὅτι δικαιοῦταί τις ἥκιστα μὲν ἐν νόμῳ, διὰ πίστεως δὲ μᾶλλον τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ, καὶ μυσταγωγίας εὐαγγελικῆς. Ἐθέλοιμι δ' ἂν καὶ δι' ἐναργῶν ἡμῖν ἰέναι παραδειγμάτων τὴν ἀφήγησιν, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν τούτων μαθεῖν τῶν ἱερῶν Γραμμάτων.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν, ὦ φιλότης, εἶμι μὲν ἐγὼ πρὸς τοῦτο ἑτοίμως, ἐπεί σοι δοκεῖ. Σὺ δὲ δή μοι πάλιν τὸν ἀκριβῆ τε καὶ ἀπεξεσμένον ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν θεωρημάτων ἐξέταζε νοῦν. Καὶ εἴ σοί τι δόξαιμι μὴ λίαν ὀρθῶς νοεῖν, ἢ λέγειν, νηφαλίως ἐπανόρθου καὶ μεθόρμιζε σαφῶς, τοὺς τῶν τεκτόνων ἀρίστους ἀπομιμούμενος, οἳ ἐπειδὰν ἐξήκοι τοῦ καθήκοντος λόγου
Moses’ bush: Law burns but does not consume Israel§11
11—they reshaped skillfully unto what seems to be best. And as a kind of first-fruit of the words unto these things we will make the hierophant Moses, and having touched in a run-through upon the history according to him, I will try very well to give full assurance and to show clearly that the Law has perfected nothing, nor is sufficient unto salvation; but redeemer of all and Savior is Christ.
Palladius: Know that you give no measured help, showing yourself better than hesitation even in this; for the things in hand are very hard to reach, and the knowledge of what is sought is altogether hard to see — yet God who unveils is rich.
Cyril: You speak well, and your word sharpenes me thereafter to go track-wise, equal to the keenest-nosed dogs, of the thoughts in depth and more unseen. Once, then, in the desert according to the so-called Midian, while blessed Moses was shepherding flocks of sheep and was at the very foothills of the mountain Horeb, a strange and not unmarvelous thing was shown, God filling it. ‘For an angel appeared to him,’ it says, ‘in a flame of fire from a bush; and he saw that the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. And Moses said: Having come near I will see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.’ And the bush is not of the cultivated woods, but rather a kind of wild thorn, and mountain—
—growth. And that a light from the Law has come to be among the Jews, the Savior himself will make clear saying: ‘Search the Scriptures, because you think to have eternal life in them; and those are the ones witnessing about me. And you are not willing to come to me, that you may have eternal life.’ And after other things again, toward the leaders of the Jews, and toward all the people: ‘Do not think that I will accuse you toward the Father; the one accusing you is Mo—
Greek · §11
τὸ ἐν χερσὶ, μεταρυθμίζουσιν εὐτέχνως ἐπὶ τὸ ὡς ἄριστα ἔχειν δοκοῦν. Ἀπαρχὴν δὲ ὥσπερ τινὰ τῶν εἴς γε ταυτὶ ποιησόμεθα λόγων τὸν ἱεροφάντην Μωσέα, καὶ τῆς κατ' αὐτὸν ἱστορίας ἐπιδρομάδην ἁψάμενος, πληροφορεῖν εὖ μάλα πειράσομαι, καὶ καταδεῖξαι σαφῶς, τετελειωκότα μὲν τὸν νόμον οὐδὲν, οὔτε μὴν ἀποχρῶντα πρὸς σωτηρίαν· λυτρωτὴν δὲ τῶν ὅλων καὶ σωτῆρα Χριστόν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐ μετρίαν ἴσθι τοι διδοὺς τὴν ὄνησιν, ὄκνου κρείττονα σαυτὸν κἂν τούτῳ δεικνύς· δυσέφικτα μὲν γὰρ τὰ ἐν χερσὶ λίαν, καὶ δυσκάτοπτος κομιδῇ τῶν ζητουμένων ἡ γνῶσις, πλούσιός γε μὴν ὁ ἐκκαλύπτων Θεός.
{ΚΥΡ.} Εὖ λέγεις, καὶ δή με κυσὶ ταῖς εὐρινωτάταις ἐν ἴσῳ, κατ' ἴχνος ἰέναι λοιπὸν τῶν ἐν βάθει τε καὶ ἀφανεστέρων ἐννοιῶν, ὁ σὸς παραθήγει λόγος. Οὐκοῦν ἐν ἐρήμῳ ποτὲ τῇ κατὰ τὴν καλουμένην Μαδιὰμ, ὀΐων ἀγέλας διαποιμαίνοντι τῷ μακαρίῳ Μωσῇ πρὸς αὐταῖς τε ταῖς ὑπωρείαις ὄντι τοῦ ὄρους Χωρὴβ, χρῆμά τι ξένον καὶ οὐκ ἀθαύμαστον Θεοῦ πληροῦντος ἐδείκνυτο. «Ὤφθη γὰρ αὐτῷ, «φησὶν,» ἄγγελος ἐν πυρὸς φλογὶ ἐκ βάτου· καὶ ἑώρα ὅτι ὁ βάτος ἐκαίετο πυρὶ, ὁ δὲ βάτος οὐ κατεκαίετο. Εἶπε δὲ Μωσῆς· Παρελθὼν ὄψομαι τὸ ὅραμα τὸ μέγα τοῦτο, ὅτι οὐ κατακαίεται ὁ βάτος.» Ξύλον δὲ οὐχὶ τῶν ἡμέρων ὁ βάτος, ἀγρίας δὲ μᾶλλον ἀκάνθης εἶδος, καὶ ὀρεσιτρόφου ῥίζης, ἐφ' ᾗ τὸ φρικτὸν ἐπράττετο θαῦμα, μυστηρίου τύπον εὖ μάλα πληροῦν. Ἄγγελος γὰρ ἦν ὡς ἐν εἴδει πυρὸς ὅλον διόλου καταβοσκόμενος, αἴσθησιν δὲ τῷ ξύλῳ μηδεμίαν ἐντιθεὶς τῆς τοῦ πυρὸς ἐνεργείας, ἐν ἴσῳ δὲ ὥσπερ εἰ καὶ μὴ παρῆν, μηδ' ὅσον εἰπεῖν θερμασίας που τάχα τῆς ὡς ἐκ πυρὸς τοῦ ξύλου μετεσχηκότος.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τί οὖν τοῦτό γε;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ξύλῳ γὰρ ὥσπερ ἀγρίῳ γεγονότι τῷ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ καρποὺς ἡμέρους δικαιοσύνης οὐκ ἔχοντι· τοῖς γὰρ Αἰγυπτίων ἐτρέφοντο νόμοις· ὁ δι' ἀγγέλων ἔμελλε δοθήσεσθαι νόμος, φωτίζειν μὲν ἱκανὸς, εἰ γοῦν νοοῖτο πνευματικῶς, καὶ τὸν εἰς νοῦν ἀποπέμψαι σκότον, ἐνέργεια γὰρ καὶ ἤδε πυρὸς, πλὴν τοῖς λαβοῦσιν ἀνόνητος, καὶ οὔτι που πάντως δι' ἑαυτὸν, ἀλλ' ἐπεί τοι τὸ φῶς μὴ εἰς νοῦν ἐδέχοντο καὶ καρδίαν, οἱ πρὸς οὓς ὁ λόγος, ἔξωθεν δὲ ὥσπερ φωτισμοῦ δόκησιν τὸ γράμμα πλουτήσαντες, ὅπερ ἔχειν ἐνόμιζον, οὐκ εἶχον ἀληθῶς. Τοιγάρτοι περὶ τὸν βάτον μὲν ὁρᾶσθαι τὸ πῦρ, μὴ μὴν ἔτι καὶ θερμασίας αἴσθησιν ἐνιέναι τῷ ξύλῳ, παραδηλοῖ τι τοιοῦτον ὥς γέ μοι δοκεῖ. Ὅτι δὲ ἀνόνητον Ἰουδαίοις τὸ ἐκ τοῦ νόμου γέγονε φῶς, σαφηνιεῖ λέγων αὐτὸς ὁ Σωτήρ· «Ἐρευνᾶτε τὰς Γραφὰς ὅτι ὑμεῖς δοκεῖτε ἐν αὐταῖς ζωὴν αἰώνιον ἔχειν· καὶ ἐκεῖναί εἰσιν αἱ μαρτυροῦσαι περὶ ἐμοῦ. Καὶ οὐ θέλετε ἐλθεῖν πρὸς μὲ, ἵνα ζωὴν αἰώνιον ἔχητε.» Καὶ μεθ' ἕτερα πάλιν, πρὸς τοὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων καθηγητὰς, καὶ πρὸς πάντα δὲ τὸν λαόν· «Μὴ δοκεῖτε ὅτι ἐγὼ κατηγορήσω ὑμῶν πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα· ἔστιν ὁ κατηγορῶν ὑμῶν Μω
If you believed Moses you would believe me; bush unconsumed§12
12—ses, upon whom you have hoped; for if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for about me that one wrote. And if you do not believe his words, how will you believe my words?’ For those who most ignorantly push away the elementary teaching through Law — how would they receive the one bringing in through Christ the knowledge of the perfectly good? Seeing the bush burning, yet not being burned down, nor yielding to the fire, blessed Moses was thereafter amazed — why the bush is not consumed. For one would be struck at Israel’s utter senselessness: they who received from God a Law as helper and ally, and who were enriched with the illumination through it, then counting the thing worthy of no word, nor having housed what was given into mind and heart, have remained without profit; for their mind is reasonably as dead and chilled for them. And one would also reasonably say upon them: Why is the bush not consumed? for they would have become with us boiling in the Spirit.
Palladius: You have spoken well.
Cyril: And the thing seems also to hint for us a not-ignorant contemplation of other thoughts. For when those from Israel were already about to leave the Egyptians’ land, and as it were not yet to shake off the yoke of unwilling service — for this reason to strike still against the wraths of the one ruling is a sign—
—of God. For Moses is the face. Cyril: Israel has been called, then, and the flock according to Law and under Law. ‘For the Lord,’ it says, ‘the God of the Hebrews has called us.’ And he obeyed God who calls, just as also Moses: ‘For all that the Lord God said, we will do, and we will hear.’ And since the power of the subordination according to Law is not sufficient unto cleansing — ‘For it is impossible for blood of bulls and goats to take away sins’—
Greek · §12
σῆς, ἐφ' ὃν ὑμεῖς ἠλπίκατε· εἰ γὰρ ἐπιστεύετε Μωσῇ, ἐπιστεύετε ἂν ἐμοί· περὶ γὰρ ἐμοῦ ἐκεῖνος ἔγραψεν. Εἰ δὲ τοῖς ἐκείνου ῥήμασιν οὐ πιστεύετε, πῶς τοῖς ἐμοῖς ῥήμασι πιστεύσετε;» Οἱ γὰρ ὅλως τὴν διὰ νόμου στοιχείωσιν ἀμαθέστατα διωθούμενοι, πῶς ἂν εἰσδέξαιντο διὰ Χριστοῦ, τοῦ τελείως ἀγαθοῦ τὴν γνῶσιν εἰσφέροντα; Καιόμενον μὲν βλέπων, καταφλεγόμενον δὲ οὐχὶ τὸν βάτον, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ εἴκοντα τῷ πυρὶ, κατετεθήπει λοιπὸν ὁ μακάριος Μωσῆς, τί ὅτι οὐ κατακαίεται ὁ βάτος. Καταπλαγείη γὰρ ἄν τις τῆς εἰσάπαν ἀναισθησίας τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, οἱ συλλήπτορά τε καὶ ἀρωγὸν τὸν παρὰ Θεοῦ δεξάμενοι νόμον, καὶ τὸν δι' αὐτοῦ φωτισμὸν πλουτήσαντες, εἶτα λόγου μηδενὸς ἀξιοῦντες τὸ χρῆμα, μήτε μὴν εἰς νοῦν καὶ καρδίαν εἰσοικισάμενοι τὸ δοθὲν, ἀνωφέλητοι μεμενήκασι· νεκρὸς γὰρ ὥσπερ αὐτοῖς εἰκότως καὶ ἀπεψυγμένος ὁ νοῦς· εἴποι δ' ἄν τις καὶ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς εἰκότως· Τί ὅτι οὐ κατακαίεται ὁ βάτος; ἦ γὰρ ἂν ἐγένοντο μεθ' ἡμῶν τῷ πνεύματι ζέοντες.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εὖ ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἔοικε δὲ καὶ ἑτέρων ἡμῖν ἐννοιῶν οὐκ ἀμαθῆ θεωρίαν ὑποφαίνειν τὸ χρῆμα. Μέλλουσι γὰρ ἤδη τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ γῆς τῆς Αἰγυπτίων ἀπαίρειν, καὶ οἷον οὐδέπω τὸν τῆς ἀνεθελήτου θητείας ἀποσείεσθαι ζυγὸν, διάτοι τοῦτο ταῖς τοῦ κρατοῦντος ἔτι προσκρούειν ὀργαῖς σημεῖον ἐδίδου Θεὸς τὸ ἐπὶ τοῦ βάτου δρώμενον· ὅτι καὶ αὐτοῦ πυρὸς ἀμείνους ἔσονται πολὺ, καὶ τοῖς ἀδικεῖν ἰσχύουσιν οὐχ ἁλώσιμοι, κατά γε τὸ, οἶμαι, θεοπρεπῶς εἰρημένον· «Μὴ φοβοῦ, ὅτι μετὰ σοῦ εἰμι. Φλὸξ οὐ κατακαύσει σε, ποταμοὶ οὐ συγκλείσουσί σε.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εὐφυὴς ὁ λόγος.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν ἐτεθήπει μὲν ὧδε τὸ ὅραμα Μωσῆς· καὶ δὴ καὶ προσέθει τὸ ἀγχοῦ γενέσθαι ποθῶν. «Ὡς δὲ εἶδε, φησὶ, Κύριος ὅτι προσάγει ἰδεῖν, ἐκάλεσεν αὐτὸν ἐκ τοῦ βάτου, λέγων· Μωσῆ, Μωσῆ. Ὁ δὲ εἶπε· Τί ἐστι; Μὴ ἐγγίσῃς ὧδε, λύσαι τὸ ὑπόδημα ἐκ τῶν ποδῶν σου, ὁ γὰρ τόπος, ἐν ᾧ σὺ ἕστηκας, γῆ ἁγία ἐστί.» Νόμου δὲ τύπος ἡμῖν ὁ μακάριος ἔσται Μωσῆς· «Μωσέα γὰρ ἔχουσι καὶ τοὺς προφήτας,» ἐν εὐαγγελικοῖς θεσπίσμασί φησιν ὁ μακάριος Ἀβραάμ. Μή πως ἀπίθανόν σοι τὸ ῥῆμα δοκεῖ;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐ μὲν οὖν· νόμου γὰρ πρόσωπον ὁ Μωσῆς.
{ΚΥΡ.} Κέκληται τοίνυν ὁ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἡ κατὰ νόμον καὶ ὑπὸ νόμον ἀγέλη. «Κύριος γὰρ,» φησὶν, «ὁ Θεὸς τῶν Ἑβραίων προκέκληται ἡμᾶς.» Καὶ ὑπήκουσε μὲν τῷ καλοῦντι Θεῷ, καθὰ καὶ ὁ Μωσῆς· «Πάντα γὰρ ὅσα εἶπε Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς, ποιήσομεν, καὶ ἀκουσόμεθα.» Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ τῆς κατὰ νόμον ὑποταγῆς ἡ δύναμις οὐχ ἱκανὴ πρὸς κάθαρσιν, «Ἀδύνατον γὰρ αἷμα ταύρων καὶ τράγων ὑφαιρεῖν ἁμαρτίας·»
Do not come near; loose the sandal; Law’s way not clean§13
13—Moses is barred from drawing near to God: ‘Do not come near here,’ it says. For the good is unapproachable through Law; and the power of the way of life according to Moses is not very sufficient unto being able to carry one to God. But Christ presents him through sanctification. For those eager to be glued to the holy God must be holy: ‘For you will be holy,’ it says, ‘because I am holy.’ And that the manner of the way of life according to Law is not altogether blameless, he taught at once, saying: ‘Loose the sandal from your feet; for the place on which you stand is holy earth.’ For he has commanded the hierophant Moses to loose the sandal of the foot, showing the journey of the life according to Law not yet clean, nor altogether freed from works from corruption and deadness. And from the Greeks’ custom divine Moses was being taught for us that it is not lawful to draw near to God for the one being in remnants of deadness and corruption. For they were not going in sanctuaries wearing upon the feet sandals from dead animals. And the thing was written as a manner of pollution by those laws. And Law did not free us, friend, from deadness and corruption and uncleanness of things come to that — nor a journey of life according to the Mosaic letter — but rather faith in Christ, and the most perfect cleansing of the evangelical way of life.
Or the weakness of the understanding, somehow not remaining toward God, nor even able to see his glory, according to what is hymned in the Psalms: ‘Let their eyes be darkened from not seeing,’ or that, ‘Behold a foolish and heartless people; they have eyes, and they do not see.’ But we, approaching the words about the ineffable nature with clean and illuminated eyes, behold in the Son the beauty of God and Father—
Greek · §13
εἴργεται Μωσῆς πλησιάζειν Θεῷ· «Μὴ ἐγγίσῃς γὰρ ὧδε,» φησίν. Ἀπρόσιτον γὰρ διὰ νόμου τὸ ἀγαθόν· καὶ τῆς κατὰ Μωσέα πολιτείας ἡ δύναμις οὐχ ἱκανὴ λίαν εἴς γε τὸ ἀποκομίζειν δύνασθαι τῷ Θεῷ. Παρίστησι δὲ αὐτῷ δι' ἁγιασμοῦ Χριστός. Ἁγίους γὰρ εἶναι πρέπει τοὺς τῷ ἁγίῳ Θεῷ κολλᾶσθαι σπουδάζοντας· «Ἅγιοι γὰρ ἔσεσθε, φησὶν, ὅτι ἐγὼ ἅγιός εἰμι.» Ὅτι δὲ τῆς κατὰ νόμον πολιτείας ὁ τρόπος οὐκ ἀμώμητος παντελῶς, εὐθὺς ἐδίδαξεν, εἰπών· «Λύσαι τὸ ὑπόδημα ἐκ τῶν ποδῶν σου· ὁ γὰρ τόπος, ἐν ᾧ σὺ ἕστηκας, γῆ ἁγία ἐστίν.» Ἀπολύειν γὰρ τὸ ὑπόδημα προστέταχε τοῦ ποδὸς τὸν ἱεροφάντην Μωσέα, οὔπω καθαρὰν, οὐδὲ τῶν ἀπὸ φθορᾶς καὶ νεκρότητος ἔργων εἰσάπαν ἀπηλλαγμένην, τῆς κατὰ νόμον ζωῆς τὴν πορείαν ἀποδεικνὺς, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς παρ' Ἕλλησι συνηθείας ὁ θεῖος ἡμῖν ἐπαιδεύετο Μωσῆς, ὅτι μὴ θέμις ἐγγίζειν Θεῷ, τὸν ἐν λειψάνοις ὄντα νεκρότητος καὶ φθορᾶς. Οὐ γὰρ ἐφοίτων ἐν ἱεροῖς τὰ ἐκ τεθνεώτων ζώων ὑποδήματα τοῖς ποσὶν ἐνδυόμενοι. Μολυσμοῦ δὲ τρόπος τοῖς ἐκείνων νόμοις τὸ χρῆμα ἐγράφετο. Νεκρότητος δὲ καὶ φθορᾶς καὶ τῶν εἰς τοῦτο ἡκόντων ἀκαθαρσίας ἀπέλυσεν ἡμᾶς οὐχ ὁ νόμος, ὦ τᾶν, οὐδὲ πορεία ζωῆς τῆς κατὰ τὸ γράμμα τὸ Μωσαϊκὸν, πίστις δὲ μᾶλλον ἡ ἐν Χριστῷ, καὶ τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς πολιτείας ἡ τελειοτάτη κάθαρσις. Ἢ οὐκ ἀληθὲς ὅ φημι;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πῶς γὰρ οὔ;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀπολύσαντι δὲ τὸ ὑπόδημα τοῦ ποδὸς, προσθέοντί γέ τε λοιπὸν, καὶ ἀγχοῦ γεγονότι, προσεφώνει Θεός· «Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ πατρός σου, Θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ, καὶ Θεὸς Ἰσαὰκ, καὶ Θεὸς Ἰακώβ. Ἀέστρεψε δὲ Μωσῆς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ, φησίν· ηὐλαβεῖτο γὰρ κατεμβλέψαι ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ.» Ἀποθέμενοι γὰρ φρόνημα τὸ νεκρὸν, καὶ οἱονεὶ καθαρῷ τε καὶ ἐλευθέρῳ ποδὶ τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ πολιτείας διαστείχοντες τὴν ὁδὸν, ἐσόμεθα μὲν ἀγχοῦ τῷ Θεῷ, κατὰ σχέσιν δὲ δηλονότι τὴν πνευματικὴν, καὶ οὐχὶ κατά γε τὴν ἐν τόπῳ διάστασιν. Τύποι γὰρ ἐκεῖνα καὶ σκιὰ τὰ Μωσέως, οὕτω τε λοιπὸν τοὺς περὶ τῆς ἄνω μυσταγωγίας καταπλουτήσομεν λόγους, καὶ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ γνῶσιν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς συλλέξομεν, ἑαυτὸν ἡμῖν ἐμφανίζοντος ἐν Υἱῷ τοῦ Πατρός. Ὀψόμεθα γὰρ αὐτὸν, καὶ ἀσυγκρίτως ἄμεινον, ἢ ὁ πάλαι λαὸς, ὡς ἐν προσώπῳ Μωσέως. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἀπέστρεψε τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ· ηὐλαβεῖτο γὰρ κατεμβλέψαι ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ. Δι' οὗ σημαίνεται τῶν ἐν νόμῳ παιδαγωγουμένων, τὸ τῆς διανοίας ἀσθενὲς, οὐκ ἀναμενούσης τρόπον τινὰ πρὸς Θεὸν, οὔτε μὴν οἵας τε ἰδεῖν τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, κατά γε τὸ ἐν Ψαλμοῖς ὑμνούμενον· «Σκοτισθήτωσαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτῶν τοῦ μὴ βλέπειν,» ἤγουν ἐκεῖνο, τὸ «Ἰδοὺ λαὸς μωρὸς καὶ ἀκάρδιος· ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῖς, καὶ οὐ βλέπουσιν.» Ἡμεῖς δὲ τοῖς περὶ τῆς ἀῤῥήτου φύσεως προσιέντες λόγοις, καθαροῖς καὶ πεφωτισμένοις ὄμμασιν, ἐν Υἱῷ διαπρέπον τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς
Who has seen me has seen the Father; Leah and Rachel§14
14—being contemplated. And to Jews thinking they have seen the Father, it was said wisely by Christ: ‘Neither have you seen his form, nor have you heard his voice.’ And to Philip inquiring very eagerly, and asking more thickly than was needful, yet from love of learning, and saying: ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us,’ Christ answered: ‘So long a time I am with you, and you have not known me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me?’ And that the contemplation and tutoring through the commandment according to Law is not very strong, nor sufficient unto a precise and blameless showing of God, we will see as in shadow and riddle also through Laban’s two daughters. For it is written that Laban had two daughters; the name of the greater Leah, and the name of the other Rachel. And Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and very timely in appearance; and the patriarch Jacob was attached to Rachel, yet led Leah before her. The type having moved into the truth, you will see Christ’s mystery. For there are two women called unto spiritual kinship and fitted to him: an elder, the first, and through Moses as in the person of the Jew—
—ish synagogue. And to take out of a diabolical net is not Moses, or Law, but Moses’ Master — that is, Christ — and the power of the mystery according to him. And so, God saying: ‘Seeing I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry from the taskmasters; for I know their pain, and I have come down to take them out of the Egyptians’ hand, to lead them out of that land into a good and large land, into—
Greek · §14
καταθεώμεθα κάλλος. Καὶ οἰομένοις μὲν Ἰουδαίοις ὅτι τεθέανται τὸν Πατέρα, σοφῶς ἐλέγετο παρὰ Χριστοῦ· «Οὔτε εἶδος αὐτοῦ ἑωράκατε, οὔτε φωνὴν αὐτοῦ ἀκηκόατε.» Φιλοπευστοῦντι δὲ τῷ Φιλίππῳ λίαν, καὶ παχύτερον μὲν ἢ ἐχρῆν, ἐκ φιλομαθείας δ' οὖν ὅμως ἐρομένῳ καὶ λέγοντι· «Κύριε, δεῖξον ἡμῖν τὸν Πατέρα, καὶ ἀρκεῖ ἡμῖν,» ἀπεκρίνατο Χριστός· «Τοσοῦτον χρόνον μεθ' ὑμῶν εἰμι, καὶ οὐκ ἔγνωκάς με, Φίλιππε; Ὁ ἑωρακὼς ἐμὲ, ἑώρακε τὸν Πατέρα. Οὐ πιστεύεις ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ Πατρὶ, καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί ἐστιν;» Ὅτι δέ ἐστιν οὐκ εὐσθενὴς ἄγαν, οὔτε μὴν ἱκανὴ πρὸς Θεοῦ κατάδειξιν ἀκριβῆ καὶ ἀμώμητον, ἡ διὰ τῆς κατὰ νόμον ἐντολῆς θεωρία τε καὶ παίδευσις, ὡς ἐν σκιᾷ καὶ αἰνίγματι καὶ διὰ ταῖν δυοῖν τοῦ Λάβαν ὀψόμεθα θυγατέροιν. Γέγραπται γὰρ, ὅτι Τῷ δὲ Λάβαν ἦσαν δύο θυγατέρες, ὄνομα τῇ μείζονι Λεία, καὶ ὄνομα τῇ ἑτέρᾳ Ῥαχήλ. Οἱ δὲ ὀφθαλμοὶ Λείας ἀσθενεῖς, Ῥαχὴλ δὲ ἦν καλὴ τῷ εἴδει καὶ ὡραία τῇ ὄψει σφόδρα· καὶ προσέκειτο μὲν τῇ Ῥαχὴλ ὁ πατριάρχης Ἰακὼβ, ἠγάγετο δὲ πρὸ αὐτῆς τὴν Λείαν. Μετοιχομένου δὴ οὖν εἰς τὸ ἀληθὲς τοῦ τύπου, τὸ Χριστοῦ κατόψει μυστήριον. Δύο γάρ εἰσιν αἱ πρὸς οἰκειότητα κεκλημέναι τὴν πνευματικὴν ἡρμοσμέναι τε αὐτῷ γυναῖκες· πρεσβυτέρα μὲν, ἡ πρώτη, καὶ διὰ Μωσέως ὡς ἐν προσώπῳ τῆς Ἰουδαίων συναγωγῆς, πρὸς ἣν εἴρηται παρὰ Θεοῦ διὰ φωνῆς προφητῶν· «Ἰδοὺ οὐκ εἰσὶν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί σου, οὐδὲ ἡ καρδία σου καλὴ, ἀλλ' ἢ εἰς τὴν πλεονεξίαν σου καὶ εἰς τὰ ἀδικήματά σου, καὶ εἰς φόνον τοῦ ποιεῖν.» Δευτέρα δὲ ἦν ἡ νεᾶνις καὶ ἐκπρεπεστέρα, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ἡ ἐξ ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησία, πρὸς ἣν ὁ θεῖος ἔφη Δαβίδ· «Ἄκουσον, θύγατερ, καὶ ἴδε, καὶ κλῖνον τὸ οὖς σου, καὶ ἐπιλάθου τοῦ λαοῦ σου, καὶ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου· ὅτι ἐπεθύμησεν ὁ Βασιλεὺς τοῦ κάλλους σου.» Εἴρηται δέ που πρὸς αὐτὴν καὶ τὸ, «Οἱ ὀφθαλμοί σου περιστεράς.» Νοητὸν δὲ δή που καὶ ὑπερκόσμιον ἀληθῶς τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τὸ κάλλος. Γέγραπται γὰρ, ὅτι «Πᾶσα ἡ δόξα τῆς θυγατρὸς τοῦ βασιλέως, Ἐσεβών.» Τὸ δὲ, Ἐσεβὼν, ἔσωθέν ἐστιν Ἑβραίων φωνῇ· σώματος μὲν γὰρ ὀφθαλμοῖς οὐχ ἁλώσιμον, καθαροῦ δὲ νοῦ προσβολαῖς εὐκάτοπτον. Ἢ οὐχ ὧδε ἔχει;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν οὐ διὰ τῆς κατὰ νόμον παιδαγωγίας κατίδοι τις ἂν τὸ θεῖόν τε καὶ ἀκήρατον κάλλος, ἐν Χριστῷ δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ τοῖς δι' αὐτοῦ παιδεύμασιν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀληθές.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἱκανὸς δὲ πρὸς λύτρωσιν, ὦ Παλλάδιε, καὶ πρός γε τὸ δύνασθαι χειρός τε καὶ τυραννίδος ἐξελέσθαι διαβολικῆς, οὐχὶ Μωσῆς, ἢ νόμος, ἀλλ' ὁ Μωσέως Δεσπότης, τοῦτ' ἔστι Χριστὸς, καὶ μυστηρίου τοῦ κατ' αὐτὸν ἡ δύναμις. Καὶ γοῦν Θεοῦ λέγοντος· «Ἰδὼν εἶδον τὴν κάκωσιν τοῦ λαοῦ μου ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, καὶ τῆς κραυγῆς αὐτῶν ἀκήκοα ἀπὸ τῶν ἐργοδιωκτῶν· οἶδα γὰρ ὀδύνην αὐτῶν, καὶ κατέβην ἐξελέσθαι αὐτοὺς ἐκ χειρὸς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, ἐξαγαγεῖν αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἐκείνης εἰς γῆν ἀγαθὴν καὶ πολλὴν, εἰς
Who am I to go to Pharaoh?; the Lord himself saved us§15
15—a land flowing milk and honey.’ And adding at once: ‘And now behold the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me; and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them; and now come, I will send you to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and you will lead out my people, the sons of Israel, from Egypt’s land’ — clearly and expressly Moses had cried out: ‘Who am I, that I will go to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and that I will lead out the sons of Israel from Egypt’s land?’ Is the type not evident, then, and does the manner of the declining not have the reference upon what is incomparably superior and overlying — that is, Christ? As to say ‘Who am I?’ is unfitting; but very easy is the taking-out of peoples, and saving of nations, and carrying unto freedom, the one holding together unto slavery having been crushed and weakened — that is, Satan.
Palladius: Most easy; for you have spoken rightly.
Cyril: What then? Is it not also from here altogether without toil to see that the Only-begotten has become steward of the salvation of all? For through him we have been redeemed, and the prophet says: ‘Not an elder, not an angel, but the Lord himself has saved us.’
Palladius: From where have you spoken?
Cyril: For the God of all has commanded Moses clearly to go most unhesitatingly toward the sons of Israel, and to say openly as—
—he will. Speak again yourself.
Cyril: I will speak. Dwelling long times with Egyptians, those from Israel, and having slipped into every kind of sin, and delighting in the local luxuries, Moses did not ignore that they will be slow and very hard to move toward good order; yet he was wisely taking that the toil of the works will push them toward obedience unwillingly, if they should see him working wonders. For pleasure is a thing truly hard to exit, and the wildness of passions in us is not easily tamed. And when sweat presses and toils hang over, the one promising to free would easily persuade even to think little of the sweetest things. And I think that God who has the knowledge of every good was then especially letting loose upon those from Israel the Egyptians’ greed — most economically — so that they would be easy toward flight, and not, bound in the foster-pleasures, become hard and altogether hard to lead, and dishonoring the grace of the one calling into freedom, make voluntary the service in Egypt, preferring the immediately pleasant to a few toils. Rather even counting these among better things than those from God — and so, most gladly having put off the greed of those who long tyrannized, and camping according to the desert, and eating the things from above and from heaven — I mean the supply of the manna — they remember not without tears the luxury in Egypt. Preferring rather to have died, as was somehow far better and stronger for them, still luxuriating at the tables in Egypt, stretching themselves and crying out childishly: ‘Would that we had died struck by the Lord in Egypt, when we sat upon the pots—
Greek · §15
γῆν ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι.» Καὶ προστιθέντος εὐθύς· «Καὶ νῦν ἰδοὺ ἡ κραυγὴ τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, ἥκει πρός με· κἀγὼ ἑώρακα τὸν θλιμμὸν, ὃν οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι θλίβουσιν αὐτούς· καὶ νῦν δεῦρο, ἀποστελῶ σε πρὸς Φαραὼ βασιλέα Αἰγύπτου, καὶ ἐξάξεις τὸν λαόν μου, τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ, ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου·» σαφῶς δὲ καὶ διαῤῥήδην ἀνεκεκράγει Μωσῆς· «Τίς εἰμι ἐγὼ, ὅτι πορεύσομαι πρὸς Φαραὼ βασιλέα Αἰγύπτου, καὶ ὅτι ἐξάξω τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου;» Ἆρ' οὖν οὐκ ἐναργὴς ὁ τύπος, καὶ ὁ τῆς παραιτήσεως τρόπος οὐχὶ τὴν ἀναφορὰν ἐπὶ τὸ ἀσυγκρίτως ὑπερτεροῦν καὶ ὑπερκείμενον ἔχει, τοῦτ' ἔστι, Χριστόν; Ὡς τὸ, «Τίς εἰμι ἐγώ;» λέγειν ἀνάρμοστον· εὐπετὲς δὲ λίαν τὸ ἐξελέσθαι λαοὺς, καὶ σώζειν ἔθνη, καὶ ἀποκομίζειν εἰς ἐλευθερίαν, συντετριμμένου καὶ ἀτονήσαντος, τοῦ πρὸς δουλείαν συνέχοντος τοῦτ' ἔστι, τοῦ Σατανᾶ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εὐπετέστατον· ἔφης γὰρ ὀρθῶς
{ΚΥΡ.} Τί δέ; οὐχὶ κἀντεῦθεν ἰδεῖν ἀταλαίπωρον παντελῶς, ὅτι τῆς ἁπάντων σωτηρίας πρύτανις γέγονεν ὁ Μονογενής; δι' αὐτοῦ, γὰρ ἐκλελυτρώμεθα, καί φησιν ὁ προφήτης· «Οὐ πρέσβυς, οὐκ ἄγγελος, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος ἔσωσεν ἡμᾶς.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πόθεν ἔφης;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ὁ μὲν γὰρ τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς Μωσῇ κεκέλευκεν ἐναργῶς, ἀοκνότατα μὲν ἰέναι πρὸς τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ, εἰπεῖν δὲ ἀναφανδὸν ὡς ἀρωγὸν καὶ συλλήπτορα τὸν πάντα ἰσχύοντα λαβόντες Θεὸν, ἀποφορτιοῦνται μὲν εὐκόλως τῆς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ δουλείας τὸ δυσαχθὲς, οἴκαδέ γε μὴν ἀπαίρουσι πάλιν, καὶ εἰς τὴν τῶν πατέρων ἐλευθερίαν ἀναφοιτήσαντες, τὴν ἁγίαν οἰκήσουσι γῆν· ἐκεῖ τε πλουσίως τοῖς παρ' αὐτοῦ δοθησομένοις ἐνσπαταλήσωσιν ἀγαθοῖς. Ἀπεκρίθη, φησὶν, ὁ Μωσῆς καὶ εἶπεν· «Ἐὰν μὴ πιστεύσωσί μοι, μηδὲ ἀκούσωσί μου τῆς φωνῆς (ἐροῦσι γὰρ, ὅτι Οὐκ ὦπταί σοι ὁ Θεὸς), τί ἐρῶ πρὸς αὐτούς; Εἶπε δὲ αὐτῷ ὁ Κύριος· Τί τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ ἐν τῇ χειρί σου; Ὁ δὲ εἶπε, Ῥάβδος· καὶ εἶπε· Ῥίψον αὐτὴν ἐπὶτὴν γῆν. Καὶ ἔῤῥιψεν αὐτὴν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, καὶ ἐγένετο ὄφις· καὶ ἔφυγε Μωσῆς ἀπ' αὐτοῦ. Καὶ εἶπε Κύριος πρὸς Μωσῆν· Ἔκτεινε τὴν χεῖρά σου, καὶ ἐπιλαβοῦ τῆς κέρκου. Καὶ ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα, ἐπελάβετο τῆς κέρκου, καὶ ἐγένετο ῥάβδος ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὡς ἐξαίσιον μὲν τὸ θαῦμα, ὦ τᾶν. Τὸ δὲ τί ἂν βούλοιτο καταδηλοῦν, φράζε δὴ πάλιν αὐτός.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἐγὼ φράσω· Μακροὺς Αἰγυπτίοις συνδιαιτώμενοι χρόνους οἱ ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ εἰς πᾶν εἶδος ἁμαρτίας ὠλισθηκότες, καὶ τρυφαῖς ἡδόμενοι ταῖς ἐπιχωρίοις, βραδεῖς μὲν ὅτι καὶ δυσμετακόμιστοι λίαν ἔσονται πρὸς εὐκοσμίαν, οὐκ ἠγνόησεν ὁ Μωσῆς· συνωθήσει δὲ ὅτι πρὸς εὐπείθειαν τῶν ἔργων ὁ πόνος οὐχ ἑκόντας αὐτοὺς, εἰ θαυματουργοῦντα θεάσαιντο, σοφῶς ὑπελάμβανε. Χρῆμα μὲν γὰρ ἀλη
Pleasure hard to leave; rod as kingdom; Adam restored in Christ§16
16—of meat.’ Truly hard to exit is pleasure, and the wildness of passions in us is not easily tamed. And when sweat presses and toils hang over, the one promising to free would easily persuade even to think little of the sweetest things. And I think God who has knowledge of every good was then especially letting the Egyptians’ greed upon those from Israel most economically, so that they would be easy toward flight… Putting the narration well. For we will see of the human nature in him the reshaping unto the ancient, and the as-it-were metamorphosis into what we were in Adam, when first brought into being, not yet lacking the glory from above and sanctification.
Palladius: How have you spoken? for the word is unclear.
Cyril: The rod, or the scepter, would be for us a symbol of kingdom, would it not, Palladius?
Palladius: Very much so, since they also make it an oath—
Greek · §16
θῶς δυσεξίτητον ἡδονὴ, καὶ παθῶν ἀγριότης τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν οὐκ εὐχερῶς τιθασσεύεται. Ἱδρῶτος δὲ καταθλίβοντος καὶ πόνων ἐπηρτημένων, ἀναπείσειεν ἂν εὐκόλως καὶ τῶν ἡδίστων ὑπερφρονεῖν ὁ ἀπαλλάττειν ὑπισχνούμενος· οἶμαι δὲ ὅτι καὶ ὁ παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ τὴν εἴδησιν ἔχων Θεὸς, δύσοιστόν τε καὶ δυσαλγῆ τότε δὴ μάλιστα τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ τὴν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἐπηφίει πλεονεξίαν οἰκονομικώτατά τε λίαν, ὡς ἂν εἶεν εὔκολοι πρὸς ἀποδρομὴν, καὶ μὴ ταῖς συντρόφοις ἡδοναῖς ἐνδούμενοι, σκληροί τε γένοιντο καὶ δυσάγωγοι κομιδῇ, καὶ τὴν τοῦ καλοῦντος εἰς ἐλευθερίαν ἀτιμάζοντες χάριν, ἐθελούσιον ποιοῖντο τὴν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ θητείαν, τὸ παραυτίκα τερπνὸν, ὀλίγων ἔσθ' ὅτε προτάττοντες πόνων. Μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ αὐτῶν ἐν ἀμείνοσι καταλογιζόμενοι τῶν παρὰ Θεοῦ, καὶ γοῦν ἀσμενέστατα τῆς τῶν πάλαι τετυραννευκότων πλεονεξίας ἐκδεδυκότες, αὐλιζόμενοί τε κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον, καὶ τὰ ἄνωθέν τε καὶ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ σιτούμενοι, τὴν τοῦ μάννα χορηγίαν φημὶ, τῆς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τρυφῆς οὐκ ἀδακρυτὶ μνημονεύουσιν. Ἐκτεθνάναι μᾶλλον, ὡς ἦν δή που παρὰ πολὺ κρεῖττόν τε καὶ ἄμεινον αὐτοῖς, ταῖς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τραπέζαις ἐνσπαταλῶντας, ἔτι διατεινόμενοι, καὶ μειρακιωδῶς ἀνακεκραγότες· «Ὄφελον ἀπεθάνομεν πληγέντες ὑπὸ Κυρίου ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, ὅταν ἐκαθίσαμεν ἐπὶ τῶν λεβήτων τῶν κρεῶν καὶ ἠσθίομεν ἄρτους εἰς πλησμονήν!»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εὖ λέγεις.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν ὡς ἀναγκαία τις ἔσοιτο πρὸς εὐπείθειαν αὐτοῖς ἡ θαυματουργία, Μωσῆς ἠπίστατο. Τοιγάρτοι φησίν· «Ἐὰν μὴ εἰσακούσωσί μου (ἐροῦσι γὰρ, ὅτι Οὐκ ὦπταί σοι ὁ Θεὸς), τί ἐρῶ πρὸς αὐτούς;» Ὁ δέ γε τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς μελέτησιν ὥσπερ τινὰ ποιεῖσθαι τὸ θαῦμα παραχρῆμα διεκελεύετο· προαναπείθων, οἶμαι, τῇ πείρᾳ τὸν λειτουργὸν, ὅτι καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασι καθάπερ αὐτῷ πρὸς ἔνδειξιν ἀκριβῆ τοῦ κεκλῆσθαι παρὰ Θεοῦ, διαρκὲς ἔσται τὸ δρώμενον· καὶ ἁρμόσαι γὰρ ἂν οὐχ ἑτέρῳ τὸ μεθιστᾷν δύνασθαι τῶν ὄντων τὰς φύσεις πρὸς ὅπερ ἂν ἕλοιτο τυχὸν, πλὴν ὅτι καὶ μόνῳ τῷ πάντων Δημιουργῷ, μήνυσιν δὲ ὥσπερ τῆς διὰ Χριστοῦ σωτηρίας αἰνιγματωδῶς τὸ παράδοξον εὖ μάλα τιθείς. Ὀψόμεθα γὰρ τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ ἀνθρωπείας φύσεως τὸν εἰς τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἀναπλασμὸν, καὶ τὴν οἱονεὶ μεταμόρφωσιν, τὴν εἰς ὅπερ ἦμεν ἐν Ἀδὰμ, εὐθὺς εἰς τὸ εἶναι παρενηνεγμένοι, δόξης τε οὔπω τῆς ἄνωθεν καὶ ἁγιασμοῦ τητώμενοι.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πῶς ἔφης; ἀσυμφανὴς γὰρ ὁ λόγος.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἡ ῥάβδος ἤτοι τὸ σκῆπτρον ἡμῖν, οὐχὶ βασιλείας σύμβολον εἴη ἂν, ὦ Παλλάδιε;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν, ἐπείτοι καὶ ὅρκιον αὐτὸ
Rod fallen: Adam slips from God’s hand; Christ the right hand§17
17—they say some of the more ancient ones have made, those accustomed to hymn the things of the Greeks.
Cyril: What then? Do you not say that it is a plant of paradise, and older than the cutting, that it has been allotted to bloom out in gardens?
Palladius: I say so.
Cyril: Come then with your thoughts upon that ancient Adam; and in the firstfruits and root of the race reckon as it were the whole of humanity in himself. And toward this think also that he had been made according to the image of the one who created, and had been ordered to rule the things upon the earth, and was as it were in the hand of God, through the life in sanctification, and all but a plant of paradise blooming well and most noble. But when, deceived by the serpent’s bitternesses, he was carried aside from what was in the beginnings, and was caught thereafter having disregarded the divine commandment, then indeed, then, being torn away from the first position and root, he slipped from the hand of the one who held him unto sanctification, and fell down onto earth—that is, from the heights of virtue—and weakly descended into choosing to mind the things of the flesh, already somehow having sickened with unmixed wickedness, and differing, I think, in nothing from a serpent. And thus he was stripped of kingdom and of the glory that was in the beginnings, and was sent out of paradise and luxury. Or did not the divine Moses say these things to us?
Palladius: He said them indeed.
Cyril: And the lawgiver, seeing him already brought down to this baseness, fled somehow, and was disgusted at the wickedness present in him. For Moses fled, leaving the serpent. And it is written that ‘A holy Spirit of wisdom will flee deceit, and will rise from senseless reasonings.’ For sanctification and uncleanness are incompatible with one another, light and darkness, righteousness and injustice.
Palladius: Truly.
Cyril: Therefore the falling of the rod from Moses’ hand would signify that the one made according to the divine image was in the beginnings a plant of paradise, and in glory of kingdom, and in the Creator’s hand; but he slipped onto earth through choosing to mind the things of the flesh, and through bitterness come to the extreme he was as it were a serpent to the eyes of the Godhead. But Moses was commanded to stretch out the hand and take hold of the tail; and it was reshaped at once unto what was in the beginnings. And it was a serpent no longer, but a rod again, and a plant of paradise. And when God and Father was well pleased to recapitulate all things in Christ, and to recreate what was made unto the original, he sent to us from heaven the Only-begotten, the right hand, the worker of all things and truly savior, according to ‘The right hand of the Lord has done power; the right hand of the Lord has exalted me.’ Then indeed, then he took hold of the humanity lying on the earth and of bitterness us—
Greek · §17
πεποιῆσθαί φασι τῶν ἀρχαιοτέρων τινὰς, οἱ τὰ Ἑλλήνων ὑμνεῖν εἰωθότες.
{ΚΥΡ.} Τί δέ; οὐχὶ παραδείσου φυτὸν εἶναι φῂς, καὶ πρεσβύτερον τῆς τομῆς, τὸ κήποις ἐκτεθηλέναι λαχεῖν;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Φημί.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἴθι δὴ οὖν ταῖς ἐννοίαις ἐπὶ τὸν ἀρχαῖον ἐκεῖνον Ἀδάμ· καὶ ἐν ἀπαρχῇ καὶ ῥίζῃ τοῦ γένους ὅλην ὥσπερ ἐν ἑαυτῷ καταλογίζου τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα. Καὶ πρός γε τοῦτο διανοοῦ, ὅτι πεποίητο μὲν κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος, ἐτέτακτο δὲ ἄρχειν τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς, καὶ ἦν ὥσπερ ἐν χειρὶ Θεοῦ, διὰ τῆς ἐν ἁγιασμῷ ζωῆς, καὶ μονονουχὶ παραδείσου φυτὸν εὐανθές τε καὶ εὐγενέστατον. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ταῖς τοῦ ὄφεως πικρίαις πεφενακισμένος, παρεκομίσθη τῶν ἐν ἀρχαῖς, καὶ τῆς θείας ἀλογήσας ἐντολῆς κατεφωρᾶτο λοιπὸν, τότε δὴ, τότε θέσεώς τε καὶ ῥίζης τῆς πρώτης ἀποσπώμενος, τῆς τοῦ συνέχοντος εἰς ἁγιασμὸν ἀπώλισθε χειρὸς, καὶ καταπέπτωκεν εἰς γῆν, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ἐκ τῶν τῆς ἀρετῆς ὑψωμάτων, καὶ καταπεφοίτηκεν ἀδρανῶς εἰς τὸ φρονεῖν ἑλέσθαι τὰ σαρκικὰ, ἄκρατον ἤδη που νοσήσας τὴν πονηρίαν, καὶ ὄφεως, οἶμαι, διενεγκὼν οὐδέν. Ἀπεγυμνοῦτο δὲ οὕτω βασιλείας καὶ δόξης τῆς ἐν ἀρχαῖς, ἐξεπέμπετό τε παραδείσου καὶ τρυφῆς. Ἢ γὰρ οὐχὶ ταυτὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὁ θεῖος ἔφη Μωσῆς;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἔφη γὰρ οὖν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Κατηγμένον δὲ ἤδη πρὸς τοῦτο φαυλότητος ὁ νομοθέτης ὁρῶν, ἀπέδρα τρόπον τινὰ, καὶ τὴν ἐνοῦσαν αὐτῷ πονηρίαν κατεμυσάττετο. Πέφευγε γὰρ ὁ Μωσῆς, τὸν ὄφιν ἀφείς. Γέγραπται δὲ, ὅτι «Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα σοφίας φεύξεται δόλον, καὶ ἀναστήσεται ἀπὸ λογισμῶν ἀσυνέτων.» Ἀσύμβατα γὰρ ἀλλήλοις ἁγιασμὸς καὶ ἀκαθαρσία, φῶς τε καὶ σκότος, δικαιοσύνη καὶ ἀδικία.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀληθές.
{ΚΥΡ.} Τὸ τοίνυν ἀποπέσαι χειρὸς τῆς Μωσέως τὴν ῥάβδον, κατασημήνειεν ἂν, ὡς ἦν ἐν ἀρχαῖς ὁ κατ' εἰκόνα τὴν θείαν πεποιημένος παραδείσου φυτὸν, καὶ ἐν δόξῃ βασιλείας, καὶ ἐν χειρὶ τοῦ Δημιουργοῦ· κατώλισθε δὲ εἰς γῆν, διὰ τοῦ φρονεῖν ἑλέσθαι τὰ σαρκικὰ, καὶ διὰ τῆς εἰς ἄκρον ἡκούσης πικρίας, ὄφις ἦν ὥσπερ τις τοῖς τῆς θεότητος ὀφθαλμοῖς. Ἀλλ' ἐκελεύετο Μωσῆς ἐκτεῖναι τὴν χεῖρα, καὶ ἐπιλαβέσθαι τῆς κέρκου· ἀνεπλάττετο δὲ πρὸς τὸ ἐν ἀρχαῖς εὐθύς. Καὶ ὄφις μὲν ἦν οὐκέτι, ῥάβδος δὲ πάλιν, καὶ παραδείσου φυτόν. Ὅτε δὲ εὐδόκησεν ὁ Θεὸς καὶ Πατὴρ ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι τὰ πάντα ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ, καὶ ἀνακτίσαι τὸ ποιηθὲν εἰς τὸ ἀπαρχῆς, ἀπέστειλεν ἡμῖν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ τὸν Μονογενῆ, τὴν χεῖρα τὴν δεξιὰν, τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἐργάτιν καὶ σώτειραν ἀληθῶς, κατά γε τὸ, «Δεξιὰ Κυρίου ἐποίησε δύναμιν, δεξιὰ Κυρίου ὕψωσέ με.» Τότε δὴ, τότε τῆς ἐν γῇ κειμένης ἀνθρωπότητος ἐπελάβετο καὶ πικρίας ἡμᾶς
Tail not head: Christ remolds the race back to Adam; leprous hand§18
18—having freed from the beastlike [nature] of baseness and sins, and brought back through sanctification unto queenly honor, and gentleness unto virtue. And giving to those who believe the ancient dwelling-place in firstfruits and first to the robber crucified with him: ‘Amen, amen I say to you,’ he says, ‘today you will be with me in paradise.’
Palladius: The word has been made for us most excellently and rightly. Yet tell that: for what reason does he command to take the tail, and not the head, or the middle parts?
Cyril: For thus, friend, it had to be accomplished; since taking the tail, and not middle or head, is useful for the mystery.
Palladius: In what way?
Cyril: For the head is as it were beginning of every living thing, and the tail is end. Come then, let the whole race of man be reckoned for us as still a living thing for the present. Christ therefore took hold of the tail—that is, of those in the last and final ones; for he has descended in the last times of the age. But just as even if Moses took hold of the tail, the reshaping ran up even as far as the head (for the serpent was completely transformed into a rod)—in this same way, even if Christ laid hold of the last ones, yet the remolding through grace extends through the whole race and arrives even as far as the head itself—that is, Adam. For it is written that for this Christ died and rose, that he might be lord of both dead and living. Therefore with the last ones the redemption of those in the beginnings is also accomplished together.
Palladius: The word is persuasive for us, and the narration is not off the mark.
Cyril: Most firm therefore toward faith in this matter, he was also making him with two other powers by divine signs. For it is written at once: ‘For the Lord said to him again: Bring your hand into your bosom. And he brought his hand in, and his hand became leprous as snow. And he said again: Bring your hand into your bosom. And he brought his hand into his bosom, and brought his hand out of his bosom; and it was restored again to the color of his flesh.’ Observe then how what is accomplished is God-fitting, and fitting among things that come greatly to be wondered at, and as it were in labor together with the first toward the declaration of the mystery according to Christ.
Palladius: Therefore clarify; for I do not yet understand.
Cyril: Leprosy is a passion of flesh, better than according to physicians, and not capturable by their experiences. And the leper is unholy and unclean, according to the ancient commandment through Moses, and intensely hated even among those who honor the customs of the Greeks. Half—
Greek · §18
ἀπαλλάξας θηριοπρεποῦς, τῆς ἐν φαυλότητι τε καὶ ἁμαρτίαις, ἀνεκόμισέ τε δι' ἁγιασμοῦ πρὸς βασιλίδα τιμὴν, καὶ ἡμερότητα τὴν εἰς ἀρετήν. Ἐνδιαίτημα δὲ τὸ ἀρχαῖον τοῖς πιστεύουσι διδοὺς ἐν ἀπαρχῇ καὶ πρώτῳ τῷ συγκεκρεμαμένῳ λῃστῇ· «Ἀμὴν, ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, φησὶ, σήμερον μετ' ἐμοῦ ἔσῃ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πεποίηται μὲν ὡς ἄριστά γε ἡμῖν καὶ ὀρθῶς ὁ λόγος. Πλὴν ἐκεῖνο φράσον, ἀνθ' ὅτου τῆς κέρκου λαβέσθαι κελεύει, καὶ οὐχὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς, ἢ μέσων.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ὧδε γὰρ, ὦ φιλότης, ἐκπράττεσθαι ἐχρῆν· ἐπείτοι τὸ κέρκου λαβέσθαι, καὶ οὐχὶ μέσων ἢ κεφαλῆς, τῷ μυστηρίῳ χρήσιμον.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τίνα τρόπον;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀρχὴ μὲν γὰρ ὥσπερ παντὸς ζώου ἡ κεφαλὴ, κέρκος δὲ πέρας. Φέρε δὴ οὖν ὡς ἔτι ζῶον, τὸ σύμπαν ἡμῖν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου γένος καταλογιζέσθω πρὸς τὸ παρόν. Ἐπελάβετο τοίνυν τῆς κέρκου Χριστὸς, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τῶν ἐν ἐσχάτοις καὶ τελευταίων· καταπεφοίτηκε γὰρ ἐν ἐσχάτοις τοῦ αἰῶνος καιροῖς. Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ εἰ καὶ τῆς κέρκου Μωσῆς ἐπελάβετο, καὶ μέχρι αὐτῆς ἀνέθει τῆς κεφαλῆς ὁ μεταπλασμὸς (μετεστοιχειοῦτο γὰρ ὁλοκλήρως εἰς ῥάβδον ὁ ὄφις)· κατὰ τὸν ἴσον τουτονὶ τρόπον, κἂν εἰ τῶν ἐσχάτων ἀντελάβετο Χριστὸς, ἀλλ' εἰς πᾶν διήκει τὸ γένος, καὶ μέχρις αὐτῆς ἀφικνεῖται τῆς κεφαλῆς, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τοῦ Ἀδὰμ, ἡ διὰ χάριτος ἀναμόρφωσις. Γέγραπται γὰρ, ὅτι εἰς τοῦτο Χριστὸς ἀπέθανε καὶ ἀνέστη, ἵνα καὶ νεκρῶν καὶ ζώντων κυριεύσῃ. Οὐκοῦν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις καὶ ἡ τῶν ἐν ἀρχαῖς συγκατορθοῦται λύτρωσις.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πιθανὸς ὁ λόγος ἐστί τε ἡμῖν, καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ τὸ διήγημα.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἑδραιότατον οὖν πρὸς τὴν ἐπὶ τῷδε πίστιν, καὶ δυσὶ δυνάμεσιν αὐτὸν ἑτέραις ἐποιεῖτο θεοσημείαις. Γέγραπται γὰρ εὐθύς· «Εἶπε γὰρ αὐτῷ Κύριος πάλιν· Εἰσένεγκε τὴν χεῖρά σου εἰς τὸν κόλπον σου. Καὶ εἰσήνεγκε τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐγενήθη ἡ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ λεπρῶσα ὡς χιών. Καὶ εἶπε πάλιν· Εἰσένεγκε τὴν χεῖρά σου εἰς τὸν κόλπον σου. Καὶ εἰσήνεγκε τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν κόλπον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐξήνεγκε τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ κόλπου αὐτοῦ· καὶ πάλιν ἀποκατεστάθη εἰς τὴν χρόαν τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ.» Ἄθρει δὴ οὖν ὡς ἔστι θεοπρεπὲς, καὶ τῶν ἄγαν ἡκόντων εἰς τὸ θαυμάζεσθαι πρέπειν τὸ κατορθούμενον, συνωδίνον δὲ ὥσπερ τῷ πρώτῳ τοῦ κατὰ Χριστὸν μυστηρίου τὴν δήλωσιν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐκοῦν διασάφει· συνίημι γὰρ οὔτι πω.
{ΚΥΡ.} Σαρκὸς μὲν ἡ λέπρα πάθος, ἄμεινον δὲ ἢ κατὰ ἰατροὺς, καὶ ταῖς παρ' ἐκείνων ἐμπειρίαις οὐχ ἁλώσιμον. Ἀνιερὸς δὲ καὶ ἀκάθαρτος ὁ λεπρὸς, κατά γε τὴν πάλαι διὰ Μωσέως ἐντολὴν, ἀπηχθημένος δὲ λίαν καὶ παρὰ τοῖς τὰ Ἑλλήνων τιμῶσιν ἔθη. Ἡμι
Leprosy and bosom: fall from God’s shelter; restoration in Christ§19
19—dead somehow already is the one who has suffered this, and the dead is abominable and unclean. Therefore the being able to heal a leper has been kindled as something supernatural and beyond our measures, or only to the divine and ineffable nature and energy. Therefore also Christ was wondered at when saying with authority to the one made leprous: ‘I will; be cleansed.’ For the all-working voice, which also raises the dead themselves from tombs, has fulfilled in that case the wonder superior to death and corruption. He therefore ordered him to hide the hand in the bosom, then having stripped it of the bosom’s covering, to show it leprous through and through; and again having hidden it in the bosom a second time, he shows it at once freed from what had befallen—so that those from Israel might understand from this that, as it were all but armored with some unspeakable and ineffable power, he will stand for those wronged and unholy yoked under the Egyptians’ greed. And this word is not deep, but useful for the history. But I think it is necessary, examining precisely the sense of what lies before us, to seek this: what the hiding of the hand in the bosom would be; and what the having become outside, being terribly leprosed; and still besides the manner of the cleansing. For putting the hand into the bosom, he was freeing from the passion.
Palladius: You speak well. For the test on each point would benefit us not moderately.
Cyril: Therefore it seems to me that the marvel indicates something such as in a shadow. For as long as the human made according to the divine image was as it were nursed in God’s bosom, and had not yet trampled the commandment given, clothed with sparing and love from him, he continued pure and sanctified, and not knowing the death-making through death. But when he went out from the shelter and friendship under God through the bendings toward the base, he was clearly convicted as unholy and abominable, and having sickened with the uncleanness of death. And when God and Father received us again in Christ and clothed us with the divine grace, and as it were somehow having us in his bosom through adoption, having cast off together with the uncleannesses also the death-making from the ancient curse, we spring up again unto what was in the beginnings. For it is written concerning Moses’ hand that ‘It was restored to the color of his flesh.’
Palladius: You have spoken most elegantly.
Cyril: And the third sign for us upon this cries out most clearly and openly the mystery of Christ. For God said again thus to Moses: ‘And if they will not believe you, nor listen to the voice of the first sign, they will believe you the voice of the second sign.’ And indeed what this is he clarified, saying: ‘And it will be if they will not believe these two signs, nor listen to your voice,’
Greek · §19
θνὴς γὰρ ἤδη πως ὁ τοῦτο παθὼν, βδελυρὸς δὲ καὶ ἀκάθαρτος ὁ νεκρός. Ἀνῆπται δὴ οὖν ὡς ὑπερφυὲς, καὶ τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐπέκεινα μέτρων, τὸ θεραπεῦσαι δύνασθαι λεπρὸν, ἢ μόνῃ τῇ θείᾳ καὶ ἀφράστῳ φύσει τε καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ. Τοιγάρτοι καὶ ἐθαυμάζετο Χριστὸς τῷ λελεπρωμένῳ μετ' ἐξουσίας ἐπιφωνῶν· «Θέλω, καθαρίσθητι.» Φωνὴ γὰρ ἡ παντουργὸς, ἡ καὶ αὐτοὺς ἐκ μνημάτων διανιστᾶσα τοὺς νεκροὺς, καὶ θανάτου κρεῖττον καὶ φθορᾶς, τὸ ἐπ' ἐκείνῳ θαῦμα πεπλήρωκε. Προστέταχε τοιγαροῦν ἐγκρύψαι τῷ κόλπῳ τὴν χεῖρα, εἶτα γυμνώσαντα τῆς τοῦ κόλπου περιβολῆς, ὅλην δι' ὅλου λεπρῶσαν αὐτὴν ἐπιδεῖξαι, πάλιν δὲ ἐγκρύψαντα τῷ κόλπῳ τὸ δεύτερον, τοῦ συμβεβηκότος ἀπηλλαγμένην καταδείκνυσιν εὐθύς· ὡς ἂν συνεῖεν ἐντεῦθεν οἱ ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ, ὡς ἀῤῥήτῳ τινὶ καὶ ἀφράστῳ δυνάμει μονονουχὶ τεθωρακισμένος, προστήσεται τῶν ἠδικημένων, καὶ ταῖς Αἰγυπτίων πλεονεξίαις ἀνοσίως ὑπεζευγμένων. Καὶ λόγος μὲν οὗτος οὐ βαθὺς, τῇ δὲ ἱστορίᾳ χρήσιμος. Χρῆναι δὲ οἶμαι τὴν τοῦ προκειμένου διάνοιαν ἐκβασανίζοντας ἀκριβῶς, ἐκεῖνο ζητεῖν, τί μὲν ἂν εἴη τὸ ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ συγκρύψαι τὴν χεῖρα· τί δὲ τὸ ἔξω γεγενημένην, καταλεπροῦσθαι δεινῶς· καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἔτι τὸν τῆς καθάρσεως τρόπον. Ἐνιεὶς γὰρ δὴ τῷ κόλπῳ τὴν χεῖρα, τοῦ πάθους ἀπήλλαττεν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εὖ λέγεις. Ὀνήσειε γὰρ ἂν οὐ μετρίως ἡμᾶς ἡ ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ βάσανος.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν ἐμοί γε δοκεῖ τοιοῦτόν τι παραδηλοῦν ὡς ἐν σκιᾷ τὸ παράδοξον. Ἕως μὲν γὰρ ἦν ὁ κατ' εἰκόνα τὴν θείαν πεποιημένος ἄνθρωπος μονονουχὶ τιθηνούμενος ἐν κόλπῳ Θεοῦ, καὶ τὴν δοθεῖσαν οὔπω πατήσας ἐντολὴν, φειδοῖ καὶ ἀγάπῃ τῇ παρ' αὐτοῦ κατημφιεσμένος, καθαρὸς καὶ ἡγιασμένος, καὶ τὴν διὰ θανάτου νέκρωσιν οὐκ εἰδὼς διετέλει· Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τῆς ὑπὸ Θεῷ σκέπης τε καὶ φιλίας ἐκβέβηκε διὰ τῶν εἰς τὸ φαῦλον ἀπονευμάτων, ἀνίερός τε καὶ βδελυρὸς, καὶ τὴν τοῦ θανάτου νοσήσας ἀκαθαρσίαν, ἐναργῶς ἠλέγχετο. Εἰσδεξαμένου δὲ πάλιν ἡμᾶς ἐν Χριστῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς καὶ τῇ θείᾳ χάριτι περιβεβληκότος, καὶ οἱονεί που ἐν κόλποις ἔχοντος διὰ τῆς υἱοθεσίας, ὁμοῦ ταῖς ἀκαθαρσίαις καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἀρχαίας ἀρᾶς ἀποβαλόντες νέκρωσιν, εἰς τὸ ἐν ἀρχαῖς ἀναθρώσκομεν. Γέγραπται γὰρ περὶ τῆς Μωσέως χειρὸς, ὅτι «Ἀποκατεστάθη εἰς τὴν χρόαν τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀστειότατα ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Τὸ δὲ τρίτον ἡμῖν ἐπὶ τούτῳ σημεῖον, ἀριδηλότατα καὶ ἀναφανδὸν τὸ Χριστοῦ βοᾷ μυστήριον. Ἔφη γὰρ ὡδὶ πάλιν πρὸς Μωσέα Θεός· «Ἐὰν δὲ μὴ πιστεύσωσί σοι, μηδὲ εἰσακούσωσι τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ σημείου τοῦ πρώτου, πιστεύσουσί σοι τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ σημείου τοῦ δευτέρου.» Καὶ δὴ τί τοῦτό ἐστι, διεσάφει, λέγων· «Καὶ ἔσται ἐὰν μὴ πιστεύσωσι τοῖς δυσὶ σημείοις τούτοις, μηδὲ εἰσακούσωσι τῆς φωνῆς σου,
River to blood: three signs; faith follows the last—Christ’s death§20
20‘you will take from the water of the river, and will pour upon the dry, and the water, which you take from the river, will be blood upon the dry.’ For last for the world has become the sign of Christ’s death, and the cleansing through water and blood, the holy body also being added of course, which is signified through the dry; and that water and blood were given forth to us from the holy side, opened with the spear, I will omit to say, because it is most known to all. Yet that the Savior’s death has been named a sign, one might learn this also clearly from holy Scriptures. For the all-daring Pharisees, although many wonders had already been accomplished beforehand, as if nothing had happened, were coming saying to Christ: ‘Teacher,’ they say, ‘we wish to see a sign from you.’ And he to them: ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, and a sign will not be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah was in the belly of the sea-monster three days and three nights, so will the Son of man also be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.’ Therefore first is our laying-hold in Christ, through the law according to Moses; for ‘He has given a law for help,’ according to the prophet’s voice. And Moses took hold of the tail. And second cleansing in Christ again through holy prophets, and through John’s voice and sending. For they were saying: ‘Wash yourselves, become clean’; and he was calling into a baptism of repentance. And third sign, which they also say is last, Christ’s death, upon which also faith: ‘For if they will not believe you,’ he says, ‘nor listen to the voice of the first sign, they will believe the voice of the second sign.’ You see that he says faith will follow very well, not the first sign—that is, not the laying-hold according to law, nor indeed the cleansing through the middle—that is, through holy prophets, and perhaps John—but only the voice of the last sign. For Christ’s mystery is not voiceless, but calls all those throughout the whole earth with a high and piercing proclamation toward the cleansing through water and blood, and indeed also into the life-making according to partaking of the holy flesh. Therefore the law was serving the fore-announcements concerning Christ, but it itself is not very sufficient unto being able to save some. And someone might show clearly, I think, Moses also confessing this through the writing that lies before us. For although God was saying that I will be with you, and was persuading him beforehand with wonders, he was entreating saying: ‘Lord, I am not sufficient before yesterday, nor before the third day, nor from when you began to speak to your servant. I am thin-voiced and slow-tongued. And the Lord said to Moses: Who gave a mouth to a human, and who made hard-of-hearing and deaf, seeing and blind? Is it not I the Lord God? And now go, and I will open your mouth, and will instruct you what you are about to speak. And Moses said: I beg, Lord,’
Greek · §20
λήψῃ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ ποταμοῦ, καὶ ἐκχεεῖς ἐπὶ τὸ ξηρὸν, καὶ ἔσται τὸ ὕδωρ, ὃ ἐὰν λάβῃς ἀπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ, αἷμα ἐπὶ τοῦ ξηροῦ.» Τελευταῖον γὰρ τῷ κόσμῳ σημεῖον ὁ Χριστοῦ γέγονε θάνατος, καὶ ἡ διὰ τοῦ ὕδατός τε καὶ αἵματος κάθαρσις, προσκειμένου δηλονότι καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου σώματος, ὃ διὰ τῆς ξηρᾶς σημαίνεται· ὅτι δὲ ὕδωρ καὶ αἷμα τῆς ἁγίας ἡμῖν ἐξεδόθη πλευρᾶς, διανυγείσης τῇ λόγχῃ, παρήσω λέγειν, διὰ τὸ πᾶσιν εἶναι γνωριμώτατον. Πλὴν ὅτι σημεῖον ὁ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ὠνόμασται θάνατος, ἀναμάθοι τις ἂν καὶ τοῦτο σαφῶς ἐξ ἱερῶν Γραμμάτων· Φαρισαῖοι μὲν γὰρ οἱ πάντολμοι, καίτοι πολλῶν ἤδη προκατωρθωμένων θαυμάτων, ὡς οὐδενὸς γεγονότος, προσίεσαν λέγοντες τῷ Χριστῷ· «Διδάσκαλε,» φασὶν, «θέλομεν ἀπὸ σοῦ σημεῖον ἰδεῖν.» Ὁ δὲ πρὸς αὐτούς· «Γενεὰ πονηρὰ καὶ μοιχαλὶς σημεῖον ἐπιζητεῖ, καὶ σημεῖον οὐ δοθήσεται αὐτῇ, εἰ μὴ τὸ σημεῖον Ἰωνᾶ τοῦ προφήτου. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἦν Ἰωνᾶςἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τοῦ κήτους τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας, οὕτως ἔσται καὶ ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τῆς γῆς τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας.» Οὐκοῦν πρώτη μὲν ἀντίληψις ἡμῖν ἐν Χριστῷ, διὰ νόμου τοῦ κατὰ Μωσέα· «Νόμον γὰρ εἰς βοήθειαν δέδωκε,» κατὰ τὴν τοῦ προφήτου φωνήν. Ἐπελάβετο δὲ τῆς κέρκου Μωσῆς. Δευτέρα δὲ κάθαρσις ἐν Χριστῷ δὴ πάλιν διὰ προφητῶν ἁγίων, καὶ διὰ τῆς Ἰωάννου φωνῆς καὶ ἀποστολῆς. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἔφασκον· «Λούσασθε, καθαροὶ γένεσθε·» ὁ δὲ εἰς βάπτισμα μετανοίας ἐκάλει. Τρίτον δὲ σημεῖον, ὃ καὶ ἔσχατον εἶναί φασιν, ὁ Χριστοῦ θάνατος, ἐφ' ᾧ καὶ πίστις· «Ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ πιστεύσωσί σοι,» φησὶ, «μηδὲ εἰσακούσωσι τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ σημείου τοῦ πρώτου, πιστεύσουσι τῇ φωνῇ τοῦ σημείου τοῦ δευτέρου.» Ὁρᾷς ὅτι τὴν πίστιν ἀκολουθήσειν εὖ μάλα φησὶν, οὐχὶ τῷ πρώτῳ σημείῳ, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, οὐ τῇ ἀντιλήψει τῇ κατὰ νόμον, οὔτε μὴν τῇ διὰ μέσου καθάρσει, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τῇ διὰ προφητῶν ἁγίων, καὶ Ἰωάννου τυχὸν, μόνῃ δὲ τῇ φωνῇ τοῦ σημείου τοῦ ἐσχάτου. Οὐ γὰρ ἄφωνον τὸ Χριστοῦ μυστήριον, καλεῖ δὲ σύμπαντας τοὺς ἀνὰ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ὑψηλῷ καὶ διαπρυσίῳ κηρύγματι πρὸς τὴν δι' ὕδατός τε καὶ αἵματος κάθαρσιν, καὶ μὴν καὶ εἰς ζωοποίησιν τὴν κατὰ μετάληψιν τῆς ἁγίας σαρκός. Ὑπηρέτει τοιγαροῦν ὁ νόμος τοῖς περὶ Χριστοῦ προαγγέλμασιν, αὐτὸς δέ ἐστιν οὐ λίαν ἱκανὸς εἰς τὸ ἀνασώζειν δύνασθαί τινας. Παραδείξειε δ' ἂν, οἶμαι, τὶς καὶ τοῦτο σαφῶς ὁμολογοῦντα Μωσέα καὶ διὰ τῆς προκειμένης συγγραφῆς. Καίτοι γὰρ λέγοντος τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὅτι Ἔσομαι μετὰ σοῦ, προαναπείθοντος δὲ θαυματουργίαις αὐτὸν, ἐλιπάρει λέγων· «Κύριε, οὐχ ἱκανός εἰμι πρὸ τῆς χθὲς, οὐδὲ πρὸ τῆς τρίτης ἡμέρας, οὐδὲ ἀφ' οὗ ἤρξω λαλεῖν τῷ θεράποντί σου. Ἰσχνόφωνος καὶ βραδύγλωσσος ἐγώ εἰμι. Εἶπε δὲ Κύριος πρὸς Μωσῆν· Τίς ἔδωκε στόμα ἀνθρώπῳ, καὶ τίς ἐποίησε δύσκωφον καὶ κωφὸν, βλέποντα καὶ τυφλόν; οὐκ ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ Θεός; Καὶ νῦν πορεύου, καὶ ἐγὼ ἀνοίξω τὸ στόμα σου, καὶ συμβιβάσω σε ἃ μέλλεις λαλῆσαι. Καὶ εἶπε Μωσῆς· Δέομαι, Κύριε,
Slow-tongued Law; appoint another—Christ the true Levite Aaron§21
21‘appoint another who is able, whom you will send.’ For the law is not strong, nor sufficiently having unto being able to save the whole earth, and to snatch the human from the devil’s tyranny. And Moses did not fail to know, as slow-tongued and thin-voiced, especially when God began to converse with him, and commanding him to make words concerning him: for ‘Thus,’ he says, ‘you will say to the sons of Israel: I am the one who is. This is my name.’ For the law is slow-tongued toward articulating very well the word concerning the one who is; nor indeed is it able to initiate into the august and ineffable nature worshiped in holy Trinity. And thin-voiced toward this, being able to speak only and barely to those from Israel, and being heard in Judea alone, although of all the other nations not even, so to say, having taken the proclamation into their ears. Therefore the divine Moses, knowing beforehand the one who has sufficiently unto implanting in hearers the precise and polished word concerning God, and unto proclaiming easily to every earth—that is Christ: ‘I beg, Lord,’ he says, ‘appoint another who is able, whom you will send.’ For Christ is the one who is truly able; and that according to times according to the good pleasure of God and Father he will be appointed unto this, was also fore-announced through law. And Moses’ declining, even after a divine promise, and after exhibition of many signs, would be a type of Israel both hesitating and declining the divine and evangelical ministry and obedience under Christ, who after countless words concerning faith and exhibition of wonders have kept hard-hearing, and have remained disobedient. And Moses’ declining is twofold. For there are two times in which Israel was unbridled and hard to lead: through Moses and Joshua, and Judges, and immediately after that, the time in which prophets came to be, and John, who lies as it were in the mid-space of apostles and prophets. For it was end of prophetic ministry, and as it were firstfruits of apostolic brightness. But Moses’ declining was calling God to angers. And the matter thereafter shifts into another economy as it were, through which those brought down by the Egyptians’ greed had to be saved. ‘And the Lord being angry at Moses, said: Is not Aaron your brother the Levite? I know that speaking he will speak to you, and behold he will come out to meet you; and seeing you he will rejoice in himself, and you will speak to him; and you will give my words into his mouth; and I will open your mouth, and his mouth, and will instruct you what you will do, and he will speak to the people for you; and he will be your mouth; and you will be to him the things toward God.’ For the law having somehow collided as weak, and those from Israel being greatly disobedient, Christ was added, the true Levite, the great high priest, the one ranked with those under law, as brother through the human, who spoke to Moses as God, but being instructed by the
Greek · §21
προχείρισαι ἄλλον δυνάμενον, ὃν ἀποστελεῖς.» Οὐ γὰρ εὐσθενὴς ὁ νόμος, οὐδὲ ἀποχρώντως ἔχων εἰς τὸ πᾶσαν δύνασθαι διασῶσαι τὴν γῆν, καὶ τῆς τοῦ διαβόλου τυραννίδος ἐξελέσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Οὐκ ἠγνόηκε δὲ ὁ Μωσῆς, ὡς βραδύγλωσσός τε καὶ ἰσχνόφωνος, ἀρξαμένου μάλιστα διαλέγεσθαι πρὸς αὐτὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ λόγους ποιεῖσθαι περὶ αὐτοῦ προστάττοντος· «Οὕτως» γὰρ, φησὶν, «ἐρεῖς τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραήλ· Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν. Τοῦτό μου ἐστὶ τὸ ὄνομα.» Βραδύγλωσσος γὰρ ὁ νόμος, πρὸς τὸ διαρθροῦν εὖ μάλα τὸν περὶ τοῦ ὄντος λόγον· οὔτε μὴν οἷός τε μυσταγωγεῖν πρὸς τὴν ἐν ἁγίᾳ Τριάδι προσκυνουμένην σεπτὴν καὶ ἄῤῥητον φύσιν. Ἰσχνόφωνος δὲ πρὸς τοῦτο, μόνοις τε καὶ μόλις τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ προσλαλεῖν δυνάμενος, ἀκουόμενός τε κατὰ μόνην τὴν Ἰουδαίαν, καίτοι τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων ἐθνῶν οὐδὲ, ὅσον εἰπεῖν, εἰς οὖς ἑλόντων τὸ κήρυγμα. Τοιγάρτοι προγινώσκων ὁ θεσπέσιος Μωσῆς, τὸν διαρκῶς ἔχοντα πρὸς τὸ ἀκριβὲς καὶ ἀπεξεσμένον τοῖς ἀκροωμένοις ἐμποιῆσαι λόγον τὸν περὶ Θεοῦ, καὶ εἰς τὸ πάσῃ ῥᾳδίως διακηρύξαι τῇ γῇ, τοῦτ' ἔστι Χριστόν· «Δέομαι, Κύριε,» φησὶ, «προχείρισαι ἄλλον δυνάμενον, ὃν ἀποστελεῖς.» Χριστὸς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ δυνάμενος ἀληθῶς· καὶ ὅτι κατὰ καιροὺς κατ' εὐδοκίαν Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς, εἰς τοῦτο προχειρισθήσεται, καὶ διὰ νόμου προήγγελτο. Ἡ δέ γε Μωσέως παραίτησις, καὶ μετὰ θείαν ὑπόσχεσιν, καὶ μετὰ πολλῶν σημείων ἐπίδειξιν, τύπος ἂν εἴη, κατοκνοῦντός τε ἅμα καὶ παραιτουμένου τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, τὴν ὑπὸ Χριστοῦ θείαν τε καὶ εὐαγγελικὴν λειτουργίαν, καὶ ὑπακοὴν, οἳ μετὰ μυρίους ὅσους τοὺς περὶ πίστεως λόγους καὶ τερατουργίας ἐπίδειξιν, τετηρήκασι τὸ δυσήκοον, καὶ μεμενήκασιν ἀπειθεῖς. Καὶ διττή γε ἡ Μωσέως παραίτησις. Δύο γὰρ χρόνοι καθ' οὓς ἐξήνιος καὶ δυσάγωγος ἦν ὁ Ἰσραήλ· διὰ Μωσέως τε καὶ Ἰησοῦ, καὶ Κριτῶν, καὶ μετ' ἐκεῖνον εὐθὺς, καθ' ὃν γεγόνασι προφῆται, καὶ Ἰωάννης, ὁ καθάπερ ἐν μεταιχμίῳ κείμενος ἀποστόλων τε καὶ προφητῶν. Πέρας μὲν γὰρ ἦν προφητικῆς λειτουργίας, ἀπαρχὴ δὲ ὥσπερ λαμπρότητος ἀποστολικῆς. Ἀλλ' ἡ Μωσέως παραίτησις πρὸς ὀργὰς ἐκάλει Θεόν. Καὶ μεθίστη τὸ χρῆμα λοιπὸν εἰς ἑτέραν ὥσπερ οἰκονομίαν, δι' ἧς ἀνασώζεσθαι χρῆν τοὺς ταῖς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων πλεονεξίαις κατηχθημένους. «Καὶ θυμωθεὶς Κύριος ἐπὶ Μωσῆν, εἶπεν· Οὐκ ἰδοὺ Ἀαρὼν ὁ ἀδελφός σου ὁ Λευΐτης; Ἐπίσταμαι ὅτι λαλῶν λαλήσει αὐτός σοι, καὶ ἰδοὺ αὐτὸς ἐξελεύσεται εἰς συνάντησίν σοι· καὶ ἰδών σε χαρήσεται ἐν ἑαυτῷ, καὶ ἐρεῖς πρὸς αὐτόν· καὶ δώσεις τὰ ῥήματά μου εἰς τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἐγὼ ἀνοίξω τὸ στόμα σου, καὶ τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ, καὶ συμβιβάσω ὑμᾶς ἃ ποιήσετε, καὶ αὐτός σοι προσλαλήσει πρὸς τὸν λαόν· καὶ αὐτὸς ἔσται σου στόμα· σὺ δὲ αὐτῷ ἔσῃ τὰ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν.» Προσκεκρουκότος γὰρ ὥσπερ ἀδρανοῦς τοῦ νόμου, καὶ ἠπειθηκότων ἄγαν τῶν ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ, προσετέθη Χριστὸς, ὁ ἀληθὴς Λευΐτης, ὁ μέγας ἀρχιερεὺς, ὁ τοῖς ὑπὸ νόμον συντεταγμένος, ὡς ἀδελφὸς διὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, ὁ Μωσῇ μὲν λαλήσας ὡς Θεὸς, συμβιβαζόμενος δὲ παρὰ τοῦ
Christ interprets the Law; Moses delays Midian for fleshly care§22
22Father according to the prophetic schema, even if he is Lord; for ‘A prophet I will raise up for them from their brothers; and I will put my words into his mouth; and he will speak to them according to all things whatever I command them.’ And Christ himself also was saying: ‘From myself I do not speak; but the Father who sent me, he himself has given me commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.’ Christ therefore addressed the people, and becomes mouth to Moses interpreting the law for us spiritually, and Moses again to him the things toward God. For somehow Moses seems to be nearer to God, since Emmanuel came under law, and was promising to keep the things through all-wise Moses, saying: ‘Do not think that I came to dissolve the law, or the prophets; I came not to dissolve, but to fulfill.’ Clear initiator therefore is Christ, transferring the things of the slow-tongued law unto clearness, and reshaping as it were the thin-voicedness of the letter into most well-sounding interpretation. For the law is spiritual in Christ, and the proclamations through him are brotherly to the ancient ones; for Aaron was Moses’ brother.
Palladius: The law therefore is weak as far as what comes to itself; for it has perfected nothing.
Cyril: Thus, I say, and one might also observe the as-it-were petty of the way of life according to it through what follows. For it is written that ‘Moses went, and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him: I will go and return to my brothers who are in Egypt; and I will see if they still live. And Jethro said to Moses: Go in health. And after those many days, the king of Egypt died; and the Lord said to Moses in Midian: Go, depart into Egypt; for all who seek your soul have died.’ And Moses taking the wife and the children, mounted them upon the beasts of burden, and returned into Egypt.
Palladius: And what in these things? for I am not able to understand and say upon what one might reasonably blame the life according to law.
Cyril: And yet one might see the matter filled with very much blame, Palladius, casting the thoughts of what lies before more sharp-sightedly; how the divine Moses, having been appointed unto sending, does not run straight toward this having left the things in the world, but is divided also into fleshly care, and first communicates the departure to those according to kin. And he did not sooner rush out of the Midianites’, unless he was learning thereafter that the tyrant of the Egyptians had died; for he was fearing greatly to die. And when he had been freed from the terrors upon these things, God having fore-announced to him, then only barely taking the wife and the children, he goes down into the Egyptians’, accomplishing what had been ordered. And these things would be a type of the according-to-law
Greek · §22
Πατρὸς κατά γε τὸ σχῆμα τὸ προφητικὸν, εἰ καὶ ἔστι Κύριος· «Προφήτην γὰρ ἀναστήσω αὐτοῖς ἐκ τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτῶν· καὶ θήσω τοὺς λόγους μου εἰς τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ· καὶ λαλήσει αὐτοῖς κατὰ πάντα ὅσα ἂν ἐντείλωμαι αὐτοῖς.» Ἔφασκε δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Χριστός· «Ἀπ' ἐμαυτοῦ οὐ λαλῶ· ἀλλ' ὁ πέμψας με Πατὴρ, αὐτός μοι ἐντολὴν δέδωκε, τί εἴπω, καὶ τί λαλήσω.» Χριστὸς ἄρα προσεφώνησε τῷ λαῷ, καὶ Μωσῇ μὲν γίνεται στόμα διερμηνεύων ἡμῖν πνευματικῶς τὸν νόμον, Μωσῆς δὲ αὐτῷ πάλιν τὰ πρὸς Θεόν. Δοκεῖ γάρ που εἶναι Θεῷ προσεχέστερος ὁ Μωσῆς, ἐπείτοι γέγονεν ὑπὸ νόμον ὁ Ἐμμανουὴλ, καὶ τὰ διὰ τοῦ πανσόφου Μωσέως τηρεῖν ἐπηγγέλλετο λέγων· «Μὴ νομίσητε ὅτι ἦλθον καταλῦσαι τὸν νόμον, ἢ τοὺς προφήτας· οὐκ ἦλθον καταλῦσαι, ἀλλὰ πληρῶσαι.» Μυσταγωγὸς οὖν ἄρα σαφὴς ὁ Χριστὸς, τὰ τοῦ βραδυγλώσσου νόμου πρὸς τρανότητα μετατιθεὶς, καὶ τὴν τοῦ γράμματος ἰσχνοφωνίαν εἰς εὐηχεστάτην ὥσπερ μεταπλάττων ἐξήγησιν. Πνευματικὸς γὰρ ὁ νόμος ἐν Χριστῷ, καὶ ἀδελφὰ τοῖς πάλαι τὰ δι' αὐτοῦ κηρύγματα· Μωσέως γὰρ ἦν ἀδελφὸς ὁ Ἀαρών.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀδρανὴς οὖν τό γε εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἧκον ὁ νόμος· τετελείωκε γὰρ οὐδέν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὕτως, φημὶ, καὶ τό γε ὡς μικροπρεπὲς τῆς κατ' αὐτὸν πολιτείας καταθρήσαι τις ἂν καὶ διὰ τῶν ἐφεξῆς. Γέγραπται γὰρ, ὅτι «Ἐπορεύθη Μωσῆς, καὶ ἀπέστρεψε πρὸς Ἰοθὸρ τὸν γαμβρὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Πορεύσομαι καὶ ἀποτρέψω πρὸς τοὺς ἀδελφούς μου τοὺς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ· καὶ ὄψομαι εἰ ἔτι ζῶσι. Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Ἰοθὸρ τῷ Μωσῇ· Βάδιζε ὑγιαίνων. Μετὰ δὲ τὰς ἡμέρας τὰς πολλὰς ἐκείνας, ἐτελεύτησεν ὁ βασιλεὺς Αἰγύπτου· εἶπε δὲ ὁ Κύριος πρὸς Μωσῆ ἐν Μαδιάμ· Βάδιζε, ἄπελθε εἰς Αἴγυπτον· τεθνήκασι γὰρ οἱ πάντες οἱ ζητοῦντες τὴν ψυχήν σου.» Ἀναλαβὼν δὲ Μωσῆς τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τὰ παιδία, ἀνεβίβασεν αὐτὰ ἐπὶ τὰ ὑποζύγια, καὶ ἀπέστρεψεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ τί ἐν τούτοις; οὐ γὰρ ἔχω νοεῖν, καὶ φράσαι, ἐφ' οἷς εἰκότως τὴν κατὰ νόμον ζωὴν ἐπαιτιῷτό τις ἄν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Καίτοι πλείστης ὅσης τὸ χρῆμα μομφῆς ἐκμεμεστωμένον κατίδοι τις ἂν, ὦ Παλλάδιε, ταῖς τῶν προκειμένων ἐννοίαις προβαλὼν ὀξυωπέστερον· ὡς προκεχειρισμένος εἰς ἀποστολὴν ὁ θεσπέσιος Μωσῆς, οὐκ εὐθυδρομεῖ πρὸς τοῦτο τὰ ἐν κόσμῳ μεθεὶς, μερίζεται δὲ καὶ εἰς φροντίδα σαρκικὴν, καὶ τοῖς κατὰ γένος προανακοινοῦται τὴν ἀποδημίαν. Καὶ οὐ πρότερον ἐξέθει τῆς Μαδιηναίων, εἰ μὴ τεθνεῶτα λοιπὸν τὸν τῆς Αἰγυπτίων ἐμάνθανε τύραννον· ἐδεδίει γὰρ τεθνάναι λίαν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τῶν ἐπὶ τούτοις δειμάτων ἀπήλλακτο προηγγελκότος αὐτῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ, τότε δὴ μόλις ἀναλαβὼν τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τὰ παιδία, κάτεισιν εἰς τὴν Αἰγυπτίων, ἀποπεραίνων τὰ προστεταγμένα. Τύπος δ' ἂν εἴη ταυτὶ τῆς κατὰ νόμον
Divided Law-life vs whole Christ-life; death’s fear; Zipporah begins§23
23life, somehow divided, and looking toward both—toward the divine I mean and the human. For it is not free of earthly and worldly care, nor indeed altogether holy, although the evangelical way of life does not have at all the being divided toward the things of flesh, or toward the affairs in the world, but wholly as it were consecrating to God those who have come under Christ. For ‘Those of Jesus Christ,’ he says, ‘have crucified the flesh with the passions and the desires.’ And indeed when one of the disciples coming said to Christ: ‘Teacher, permit me first to go away and bury my father’; he was being taught the wholly holy way of life, hearing at once: ‘Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.’ And the divine Paul also writes to some: ‘When God was well pleased to reveal his Son in me, that I might evangelize him among the nations, immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood.’ But Moses does confer. For the life according to law is divided, as I said, and still also lies under the fear of death. For Moses was fearing to go down into Egypt, declining to die. But this also has been abolished in Christ. And the holy Paul will confirm saying concerning both Christ and us: ‘Since the children have shared flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same; that through death he might abolish the one having the power of death—that is, the devil—and might free these, as many as by fear of death were through all the living liable to slavery.’ Therefore also of dying itself thereafter, the mind of the saints grows bold. For Paul said again: ‘For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.’ And again: ‘Who will separate us from the love of Christ? tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?’ And that the life according to law is held in the terrors of death, but the boast of the way of life in Christ has fled this, would become clear, holy Scripture crying that death has reigned from Adam even until Moses. But the one who abolished death, and shook down the power of corruption, and saved together those who believe and those once trained under law—who else would he be, except our Lord Jesus Christ alone? For ‘Not an elder, not an angel, but the Lord himself saved them,’ a prophetic oracle said. And you might see also very clearly the mystery upon this as again in a type in what befell blessed Moses. For as he was already going out from the Midianites’, and thereafter hastening into Egypt, God said: ‘As you go in and return into Egypt, see all the wonders which I have given in your hands; you will do them before Pharaoh.’ And after other things: ‘And it came to be,’ he says, ‘on the way, in the lodging, an angel of the Lord met him, and was seeking to kill him; and Zipporah taking a flint, circumcised the foreskin of her son, and fell toward the
Greek · §23
ζωῆς, μεμερισμένης τρόπον τινὰ, καὶ ἐπ' ἄμφω βλεπούσης, πρός τε τὰ θεῖά φημι καὶ ἀνθρώπινα. Ἔστι γὰρ δὴ φροντίδος οὐκ ἐλευθέρα γεώδους τε καὶ κοσμικῆς, οὔτε μὴν εἰσάπαν ἱερὰ, καίτοι τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς πολιτείας οὐκ ἐχούσης ὅλως τὸ μερίζεσθαι πρὸς τὰ σαρκὸς, ἤγουν πρὸς τὰ ἐν κόσμῳ πράγματα, ὁλοτρόπως δὲ, ὥσπερ ἀφιερούσης τῷ Θεῷ τοὺς ὑπὸ Χριστῷ γεγονότας. «Οἱ γὰρ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ,» φησὶ, «τὴν σάρκα ἐσταύρωσαν σὺν τοῖς παθήμασι καὶ ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις.» Καὶ γοῦν ἐπειδή τις τῶν μαθητῶν προσελθὼν ἔφασκε τῷ Χριστῷ· «Διδάσκαλε, ἐπίτρεψόν μοι πρῶτον ἀπελθεῖν καὶ θάψαι τὸν πατέρα μου·» τὴν ἱερὰν ὁλοτρόπως ἐδιδάσκετο πολιτείαν, ἀκούων εὐθύς· «Ἀκολούθει μοι, καὶ ἄφες τοὺς νεκροὺς θάψαι τοὺς ἑαυτῶν νεκρούς.» Γράφει δέ τισι καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος· «Ὅτε ηὐδόκησεν ὁ Θεὸς ἀποκαλύψαι τὸν Υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἐν ἐμοὶ, ἵνα εὐαγγελίζωμαι αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, εὐθέως οὐ προσανεθέμην σαρκὶ καὶ αἵματι.» Προσανατίθεται δὲ Μωσῆς. Μεμέρισται γὰρ, ὡς ἔφην, ἡ κατὰ νόμον ζωὴ, κεῖται δὲ ἔτι καὶ ὑπὸ τὸν τοῦ θανάτου φόβον. Ἐδεδίει γὰρ ὁ Μωσῆς καταβαίνειν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, τὸ τεθνάναι παραιτούμενος. Κατήργηται δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ἐν Χριστῷ. Καὶ πιστώσεται λέγων ὁ ἱερὸς Παῦλος περί τε Χριστοῦ καὶ ἡμῶν· «Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὰ παιδία κεκοινώνηκε σαρκὸς καὶ αἵματος, καὶ αὐτὸς παραπλησίως μετέσχε τῶν αὐτῶν· ἵνα διὰ τοῦ θανάτου καταργήσῃ τὸν τὸ κράτος ἔχοντα τοῦ θανάτου, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τὸν διάβολον, καὶ ἀπαλλάξῃ τούτους, ὅσοι φόβῳ θανάτου διὰ παντὸς τοῦ ζῇν ἔνοχοι ἦσαν δουλείας.» Τοιγάρτοι καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ τεθνάναι λοιπὸν, ὁ τῶν ἁγίων καταθρασύνεται νοῦς. Ἔφη γὰρ πάλιν ὁ Παῦλος· «Ἐμοὶ γὰρ τὸ ζῇν Χριστὸς, καὶ τὸ ἀποθανεῖν κέρδος.» Καὶ πάλιν· «Τίς ἡμᾶς χωρίσει ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Χριστοῦ; θλίψις ἢ στενοχωρία, ἢ διωγμὸς, ἢ λιμὸς, ἢ γυμνότης, ἢ κίνδυνος, ἢ μάχαιρα;» Ὅτι δὲ τοῖς τοῦ θανάτου δείμασιν ἐνέχεται μὲν ἡ κατὰ νόμον ζωὴ, διέδρα δὲ τοῦτο τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ πολιτείας τὸ καύχημα, σαφὲς ἂν γένοιτο, βεβασιλευκέναι τὸν θάνατον ἀπὸ Ἀδὰμ καὶ μέχρι Μωσέως, ἱεροῦ βοῶντος Γράμματος. Ἀλλ' ὁ καταργήσας τὸν θάνατον, καὶ τῆς φθορᾶς κατασείσας τὸ κράτος, ἀνασώσας τε ὁμοῦ τοῖς πιστεύουσι καὶ τοὺς ὑπὸ νόμῳ παιδαγωγηθέντας ποτὲ, τίς ἂν εἴη ἕτερος, πλὴν ὅτι καὶ μόνος ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστός; «Οὐ γὰρ πρέσβυς, οὐκ ἄγγελος, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος ἔσωσεν αὐτοὺς,» προφητικὸν ἔφη χρησμῴδημα. Ἴδοις δ' ἂν καὶ μάλα σαφῶς τὸ ἐπὶ τῷδε μυστήριον ὡς ἐν τύπῳ πάλιν τοῖς συμβεβηκόσι τῷ μακαρίῳ Μωσῇ. Ἐξοιχομένῳ γὰρ ἤδη τῆς Μαδιηναίων, διασπεύδοντί τε λοιπὸν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, ἔφη Θεός· «Εἰσπορευομένου σου καὶ ἀποστρέφοντος εἰς Αἴγυπτον, ὅρα τὰ τέρατα πάντα, ἃ δέδωκα ἐν ταῖς χερσί σου, ποιήσεις αὐτὰ ἐναντίον Φαραώ.» Καὶ μεθ' ἕτερα· «Καὶ ἐγένετο, φησὶν, ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, ἐν τῷ καταλύματι συνήντησεν αὐτῷ ἄγγελος Κυρίου, καὶ ἐζήτει αὐτὸν ἀποκτεῖναι· καὶ λαβοῦσα Σεπφώρα ψῆφον, περιέτεμε τὴν ἀκροβυστίαν τοῦ υἱοῦ, αὐτῆς, καὶ προσέπεσε πρὸς τοὺς
Zipporah’s flint circumcision shames the destroyer until Moses§24
24feet of him, and said: The blood of the circumcision of my child has stood.’ Will you need a long word toward clarity? or is the contemplation clear?
Palladius: Not at all; for I understand in no way whatever what is being shown as in a shadow by what befell.
Cyril: For do you not say it is true, friend, that human nature has become held by death from that ancient curse? for it has been said to us, as in the firstfruits of the race and highest root Adam: ‘You are earth, and unto earth you will go away.’
Palladius: Very much so.
Cyril: Therefore since it has befallen the beginning of the race to sicken with the death from sin, necessarily the matter also passed through unto us ourselves, and together with the root also the plants springing up from it were pastured upon. For of a corruptible body the fruit is corruptible. Thus death has reigned against all, and even until Moses himself—that is, the times according to law. Clear and evident type therefore of death’s having strength until Moses, and human things’ being subject to corruption, is the angelic undertaking against Moses then. Yet Zipporah the housemate and fitted-together was shaming the destroyer, and making him stand off from Moses, circumcising her own child with a flint, entreating and saying: ‘The blood of the circumcision of my child has stood.’ And the blood has stood, he says, not as of the flow of blood having ceased; for neither, I think, would this ever turn the destroyer from wanting to murder, but as it were somehow she was saying: What seems good to God has been done and fulfilled—that is, the circumcision of the child; just as if someone might happen to say: The type of this deed has stood, or, The word toward this has stood. Instead of: It has come to an end and has been shown.
Palladius: Then who would Zipporah be understood as by us? and what the flint, and the circumcision that came through it? and how has the divine angel been shamed, and Moses fled the death hanging over him and owed, a child having been circumcised?
Cyril: The word is unclear, and the mind of the things sought truly hard to reach; but trusting God, as far as I am able, I will speak again. Zipporah, being daughter of the priest of Midian (and this man a foreigner, and not from Israel’s blood), fulfills for us a type and person of the Church from the nations, called toward God as from worldly worship. For it has been said somewhere to her through David’s voice: ‘Hear, daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people, and your father’s house,’
Greek · §24
πόδας αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἶπεν· Ἔστη τὸ αἷμα τῆς περιτομῆς τοῦ παιδίου μου.» Ἆρά σοι μακροῦ πρὸς σαφήνειαν δεήσει λόγου; ἤγουν ἐναργὲς τὸ θεώρημα;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐ μὲν οὖν· συνίημι γὰρ οὐδαμῶς ὅ τί ποτέ ἐστι τὸ ὡς ἐν σκιᾷ τῷ συμβεβηκότι καταδεικνύμενον.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐ γὰρ, ὦ φιλότης, ἀληθὲς εἶναι φῂς, ὅτι θανάτου κάτοχος ἡ ἀνθρώπου φύσις ἐκ τῆς ἀρχαίας ἐκείνης γέγονεν ἀρᾶς; εἴρηται γὰρ πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ὡς ἐν ἀπαρχῇ τοῦ γένους καὶ ῥίζῃ τῇ ἀνωτάτω τῷ Ἀδάμ· «Γῆ εἶ, καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδήπερ τὴν τοῦ γένους ἀρχὴν, τὸν ἐκ τῆς ἁμαρτίας συμβέβηκεν ἀῤῥωστῆσαι θάνατον, ἀναγκαίως καὶ εἰς ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς τὸ χρῆμα διέβη, καὶ ὁμοῦ τῇ ῥίζῃ καὶ τὰ ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀναθέοντα κατενεμήθη φυτά. Φθαρτοῦ γὰρ σώματος φθαρτὸς ὁ καρπός. Οὕτω βεβασίλευκε κατὰ πάντων ὁ θάνατος, καὶ μέχρις αὐτοῦ Μωσέως, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τῶν κατὰ νόμον καιρῶν. Τύπος οὖν ἄρα σαφής τε καὶ ἐναργὴς τοῦ μέχρι Μωσέως ἰσχύσαι τὸν θάνατον, καὶ ὑποκεῖσθαι φθορᾷ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, τὸ ἀγγελικὸν ἐγχείρημα κατὰ Μωσέως τότε. Πλὴν ἐδυσώπει τὸν ὀλοθρεύοντα, καὶ ἀφίστα Μωσέως, ἡ σύνοικός τε καὶ συνηρμοσμένη Σεπφώρα, ψήφῳ τὸ οἰκεῖον περιτεμοῦσα παιδίον, ἐκλιπαροῦσά τε καὶ λέγουσα· «Ἔστη τὸ αἷμα τῆς περιτομῆς τοῦ παιδίου μου.» Ἔστη δὲ τὸ αἷμα, φησὶν, οὐχ ὡς τῆς τοῦ αἵματος ῥύσεως ἀποπαυσαμένης· οὐδὲ γὰρ, οἶμαι, τοῦτο μεθίστη ποτὲ τοῦ φονᾷν ἐθέλειν τὸν ὀλοθρευτὴν, ἀλλ' οἱονείπου ἔλεγε· Πέπρακται καὶ πεπλήρωται τὸ δοκοῦν τῷ Θεῷ, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ἡ περιτομὴ τοῦ παιδίου· ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ τις λέγοι τυχόν· Ὁ τοῦδε τοῦ πράγματος ἔστη τύπος, ἤγουν, Ἔστη τυχὸν ὁ πρὸς τόδε λόγος. Ἀντὶ τοῦ, Πρὸς πέρας ἥκει καὶ δέδεικται.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εἶτα τίς πρὸς ἡμῶν ἡ Σεπφώρα νοοῖτο; τί δὲ ἡ ψῆφος, καὶ ἡ δι' αὐτῆς γενομένη περιτομή; δεδυσώπηται δὲ ὅπως ὁ θεῖος ἄγγελος, καὶ διέδρα Μωσῆς τὸν ἐπηρτημένον αὐτῷ καὶ ὀφειλόμενον θάνατον, παιδίου περιτετμημένου;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀσαφὴς ὁ λόγος, καὶ δυσέφικτος ἀληθῶς τῶν ζητουμένων ὁ νοῦς· Θεῷ δὲ πίσυνος, ὡς ἂν οἷός τε ὦ, πάλιν ἐρῶ. Ἡ Σεπφώρα, θυγάτηρ οὖσα τοῦ ἱερέως τοῦ Μαδιὰμ (ἀνὴρ δὲ οὗτος ἀλλογενὴς, καὶ οὐκ ἐξ αἵματος Ἰσραὴλ), τύπον ἡμῖν καὶ πρόσωπον τῆς ἐξ ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησίας ἀποπληροῖ, κεκλημένης πρὸς Θεὸν ὡς ἐκ λατρείας κοσμικῆς. Εἴρηται γάρ που πρὸς αὐτὴν διὰ φωνῆς τοῦ Δαβίδ· «Ἄκουσον, θύγατερ, καὶ ἴδε, καὶ κλῖνον τὸ οὖς σου, καὶ ἐπιλάθου τοῦ λαοῦ σου, καὶ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου,
Gentile Church Zipporah; flint = Christ-rock; new people circumcised§25
25‘because the King has desired your beauty, because he himself is your Lord.’ She has been called therefore following the law, and as it were fitted-together to Moses the pedagogue, and carrying away well toward Christ’s mystery. For the law is an elementary teacher, and brings up unto beginnings of the oracles of God, and as it were seeds in us through enigmas and shadow the knowledge of the mystery according to Christ. And indeed Christ was saying to Jews, who had also rejected Moses the most holy: ‘Or do you think that I will accuse you to the Father? There is the one accusing you, Moses, in whom you have hoped. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for concerning me that one wrote.’ Zipporah therefore having been received by us into the person of the Church from the nations, the child from her will altogether be somewhere unto a type of the new people, those who have believed having received the infancy in Christ through spirit and rebirth unto God, whom also David said somewhere a people being created. Therefore the newborn child in Christ—that is, the new people also through faith—shames death by circumcision. For the flint is a symbol of the unbroken nature, whose strength and unbreakableness is signified as in a hard stone. And indeed Joshua the son of Nun, having brought those from Israel across the Jordan, circumcised them with stone knives, prefiguring the circumcision in Christ through spirit. For Christ is rock, whom as in a type the flint that circumcised Zipporah’s child also makes clear beforehand, as I said just now. When also death fled, and having honored the mystery of the circumcision in Christ the one seeking to kill departed from Moses, the deed whispering to us enigmatically that not only has death stood off from those counted worthy of the circumcision in Christ, but also the matter—I mean indeed Christ’s mystery—has cried out help to the fathers. For just as we all died in Adam, so also the grace through Christ is carried unto all. For he died for this, that he might be lord of both dead and living. Therefore in the time of the new people’s circumcision the life of the fathers was also accomplished together. For they live to God, being about to live; for holy word also said this to us. And time of the circumcision understood in spirit is Christ’s presence, as older than Moses, as God, and second and after him, inasmuch as he appeared human unto the ministry upon us. For observe that God was appointing Moses first, then joined Aaron, prefiguring in time as second the manifestation of Christ of Moses’ sending and ministry, who was in equality toward Moses through the human, and in divine and incomparable superiority through having been begotten from God Father. And it is permitted you to see this also from the holy Scriptures themselves, if you should choose. For ‘Moses and Aaron did,’ he says, ‘just as the Lord commanded them, thus they did; and Moses was of eighty years, and Aaron his brother was of eighty-three years, when they spoke to Pharaoh.’ You hear how both
Greek · §25
ὅτι ἐπεθύμησεν ὁ Βασιλεὺς τοῦ κάλλους σου, ὅτι αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ Κύριός σου.» Κέκληται τοίνυν ἀκολουθοῦσα τῷ νόμῳ, καὶ μονονουχὶ συνηρμοσμένη Μωσῇ τῷ παιδαγωγῷ, καὶ ἀποφέροντι καλῶς πρὸς τὸ Χριστοῦ μυστήριον. Στοιχειωτὴς γὰρ ὁ νόμος, καὶ ἀναφέρει μὲν εἰς ἀρχὰς τῶν λογίων τοῦ Θεοῦ, σπερματίζει δὲ ὥσπερ ἐν ἡμῖν δι' αἰνιγμάτων καὶ σκιᾶς τοῦ κατὰ Χριστὸν μυστηρίου τὴν γνῶσιν. Καὶ γοῦν Ἰουδαίοις ἔφασκεν ὁ Χριστὸς, καὶ αὐτὸν ἠθετηκόσι Μωσέα τὸν ἱερώτατον· «Ἢ δοκεῖτε ὅτι ἐγὼ κατηγορήσω ὑμῶν πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα; Ἔστιν ὁ κατηγορῶν ὑμῶν Μωσῆς, εἰς ὃν ὑμεῖς ἠλπίκατε. Εἰ γὰρ ἐπιστεύετε Μωσῇ, ἐπιστεύετε ἂν ἐμοί· περὶ γὰρ ἐμοῦ ἐκεῖνος ἔγραψε.» Παραδεχθείσης τοιγαροῦν πρὸς ἡμῶν τῆς Σεπφώρας εἰς πρόσωπον τῆς ἐξ ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησίας, ἔσται που πάντως τὸ ἐξ αὐτῆς παιδίον εἰς τύπον τοῦ νέου λαοῦ, τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ διὰ πνεύματος νηπιότητα καὶ εἰς Θεὸν ἀναγέννησιν δεξαμένων τῶν πεπιστευκότων, οὓς καὶ λαὸν κτιζόμενον ἔφη που Δαβίδ. Τὸ τοίνυν ἀρτιγενὲς ἐν Χριστῷ παιδίον, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ὁ νέος τε καὶ διὰ πίστεως λαὸς περιτομῆς δυσωπεῖ θάνατον. Σύμβολον γὰρ ἡ ψῆφος τῆς ἀῤῥήκτου φύσεως, ἧς τὸ εὐσθενές τε καὶ ἄθραυστον ὡς ἐν σκληρᾷ τῇ λίθῳ σημαίνεται. Καὶ γοῦν Ἰησοῦς ὁ τοῦ Ναυῆ διαβιβάσας τὸν Ἰορδάνην τοὺς ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ, μαχαίραις αὐτοὺς περιέτεμε πετρίναις, τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ διὰ πνεύματος περιτομὴν προανατυπῶν. Πέτρα γὰρ ὁ Χριστὸς, ὃν ὡς ἐν τύπῳ προδηλοῖ, καθάπερ ἔφην ἀρτίως, καὶ ἡ τὸ Σεπφώρας παιδίον περιτεμοῦσα ψῆφος. Ὅτε καὶ ἀπέδρα θάνατος, καὶ τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ περιτομῆς τετιμηκὼς τὸ μυστήριον ἀποπεφοίτηκε τοῦ Μωσέως ὁ ἀποκτεῖναι ζητῶν, αἰνιγματωδῶς ἡμῖν ὑποφωνοῦντος τοῦ πράγματος, ὡς οὐ μόνον τῶν ἠξιωμένων τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ περιτομῆς ἀπέστη θάνατος, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοῖς τὸ χρῆμα, φημὶ δὲ δὴ τὸ Χριστοῦ μυστήριον, βεβοήθηκε τοῖς πατράσιν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ πάντες ἀπεθάνομεν ἐν Ἀδὰμ, οὕτω καὶ εἰς πάντας ἡ διὰ Χριστοῦ φέρεται χάρις. Ἀπέθανε γὰρ διὰ τοῦτο, ἵνα καὶ νεκρῶν καὶ ζώντων κυριεύσῃ. Οὐκοῦν ἐν καιρῷ τῆς τοῦ νέου λαοῦ περιτομῆς καὶ ἡ τῶν πατέρων συγκατωρθοῦτο ζωή. Ζῶσι γὰρ Θεῷ, ζήσειν μέλλοντες· τουτὶ γὰρ ἡμῖν καὶ ἱερὸς ἔφη λόγος. Καιρὸς δὲ περιτομῆς τῆς ἐν πνεύματι νοουμένης ἡ Χριστοῦ παρουσία, ὡς Μωσέως μὲν πρεσβύτερος, ὡς Θεὸς, δεύτερος δὲ καὶ μετ' αὐτὸν, καθὸ πέφηνεν ἄνθρωπος εἰς διακονίαν τὴν ἐφ' ἡμῖν. Ἐπιτήρει γὰρ, ὅτι προεχειρίζετο Θεὸς, Μωσέα μὲν πρῶτον, εἶτα συνῆψε τὸν Ἀαρὼν, τῆς Μωσέως ἀποστολῆς τε καὶ διακονίας δευτέραν ἐν χρόνῳ προανατυπῶν τὴν ἀνάδειξιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὃς ἦν ἐν ἰσότητι μὲν τῇ πρὸς Μωσέα διὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, ἐν ὑπεροχῇ δὲ θείᾳ καὶ ἀσυγκρίτῳ διὰ τὸ ἐκ Θεοῦ γεγεννῆσθαι Πατρός. Πάρα δέ σοι καὶ τοῦτο ἰδεῖν ἐξ αὐτῶν, εἴπερ ἕλοιο, τῶν ἱερῶν Γραμμάτων. «Ἐποίησαν» γὰρ, φησὶ, «Μωσῆς καὶ Ἀαρὼν, καθάπερ ἐνετείλατο αὐτοῖς Κύριος, οὕτως ἐποίησαν· Μωσῆς δὲ ἦν ἐτῶν ὀγδοήκοντα, Ἀαρὼν δὲ ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ ὀγδοήκοντα τριῶν ἦν ἐτῶν, ἡνίκα ἐλάλησαν πρὸς Φαραώ.» Ἀκούεις ὅπως ἄμφω
Christ equal yet above Moses; Passover lamb; unleavened with bitter herbs§26
26were somehow in equal as to having come unto the eightieth year, even if into ministry after him? Thus also Christ. Equal somehow to Moses through the human, and second unto economy, but overlying and having stood up above, as in Godhead and glory according to the holy Trinity.
Palladius: How clear and evident the word.
Cyril: What then? is that also not worthy to see besides these?
Palladius: What sort?
Cyril: For those from Israel have not yet run out from the Egyptians’ land. But neither would they thus have been released from the hard-to-bear and hated slavery to them, or rather, neither would they at all have fled the death cast upon the firstborn in Egypt, and the hard-to-escape hand of the destroyer, unless having sacrificed the lamb unto a type of Christ who takes away the sins of the world. They anointed the doorposts with the blood, according to the law defined for them through Moses; and they were making Christ’s mystery as it were a weapon and rampart of their own soul. For Christ’s death is a medicine loosing death, and those partaking of the mystical blessing are better than corruption, according to ‘Amen, amen I say to you; the one eating my flesh, and drinking my blood, has eternal life.’ And having eaten up the lamb, they were eating unleavened breads upon it, the type indicating the elegance of the evangelical teachings as in unleavened and most pure food, yet to be not without sweat, and without bitterness according to the tribulations. Therefore bitter herbs being eaten together with the unleavened breads indicate that the guileless and most pure life in Christ will not be without bitterness. Therefore the bitter herb must necessarily be brought in together with the unleavened foods. For ‘All who wish to live in Christ will be persecuted,’ he says. Yet those who have suffered this are blessed. For suffering together they will also reign together, according to what is written. Does the word go out somewhere toward the unbeautiful?
Palladius: Not at all. ON THE WORSHIP AND SERVICE IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH
Greek · §26
μὲν ἤστην ἐν ἴσῳ κατά γε τὸ ἥκειν εἰς ὀγδοηκοστὸν ἔτος, εἰ καὶ μετ' αὐτὸν εἰς διακονίαν; Οὕτω καὶ ὁ Χριστός. Ἴσος μὲν κατά τι τῷ Μωσῇ, διὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, καὶ δεύτερος εἰς οἰκονομίαν, ὑπερκείμενος δὲ καὶ ὑπερανεστηκὼς, ὡς ἐν Θεότητί τε καὶ δόξῃ τῇ κατὰ τὴν ἁγίαν Τριάδα.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὡς σαφής τε καὶ ἐναργὴς ὁ λόγος.
{ΚΥΡ.} Τί δέ; οὐχὶ κἀκεῖνο πρὸς τούτοις ἄξιον ἰδεῖν;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τὸ ποῖον;
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐ γάρτοι τῆς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἐκδεδραμήκασι γῆς οἱ ἐξ Ἰσραήλ. Ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἂν οὕτω τὴν δυσαχθῆ τε καὶ κατεστυγημένην αὐτοῖς ἀπελύσαντο δουλείαν, μᾶλλον δὲ, οὐδ' ἂν ὅλως διέδρασαν τὸν τοῖς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ πρωτοτόκοις ἐπιῤῥιφέντα θάνατον, καὶ τὴν δυσδιάφυκτον χεῖρα τοῦ ὀλοθρευτοῦ, εἰ μὴ καταθύσαντες τὸν ἀμνὸν εἰς τύπον Χριστοῦ τοῦ αἴροντος τὰς ἁμαρτίας τοῦ κόσμου. Ἔχρισαν μὲν τῷ αἵματι τὰς φλιὰς, κατὰ τὸν σφίσι διὰ Μωσέως ὁρισθέντα νόμον· τὸ δὲ Χριστοῦ μυστήριον ὅπλον ὥσπερ τι καὶ ἀνατείχισμα τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἐποιοῦντο ψυχῆς. Λυ[κ]τικὸν γὰρ θανάτου φάρμακον ὁ Χριστοῦ θάνατος, καὶ φθορᾶς ἀμείνους οἱ τῆς μυστικῆς εὐλογίας μέτοχοι, κατά γε τὸ, «Ἀμὴν, ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν· ὁ τρώγων μου τὴν σάρκα, καὶ πίνων μου τὸ αἷμα, ἔχει ζωὴν αἰώνιον.» Κατεδηδοκότες δὲ τὸν ἀμνὸν, ἄρτους ἀζύμους ἤσθιον ἐπ' αὐτῷ, τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν παιδευμάτων ὡς ἐν ἀζύμῳ τε καὶ καθαρωτάτῃ τροφῇ παραδηλοῦντος τοῦ τύπου τὴν ἀστειότητα, πλὴν ἐσομένην οὐκ ἀνιδρωτὶ, καὶ πικρίας δίχα τῆς κατὰ τὰς θλίψεις. Τοιγάρτοι πικρίδας συνεσθίεσθαι τοῖς ἄρτοις τοῖς οὐκ ἐζυμωμένοις, τὴν ἄδολον καὶ καθαρωτάτην ἐν Χριστῷ ζωὴν οὐ δίχα πικρίας ἐσομένην ὑποδηλοῖ. Συνεισκομιστέον τοιγαροῦν ἀναγκαίως ταῖς ἀζύμοις τροφαῖς τὴν πικρίδα. «Πάντες γὰρ οἱ θέλοντες ζῇν ἐν Χριστῷ διωχθήσονται,» φησίν. Πλὴν οἵγε τοῦτο παθόντες, μακάριοι. Συμπάσχοντες γὰρ καὶ συμβασιλεύσουσι, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον. Μὴ ἐξοίχεταί ποι πρὸς τὸ ἀκαλλὲς ὁ λόγος;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐδαμῶς. ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΕΝ ΠΝΕΥΜΑΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΑΛΗΘΕΙΑ ΠΡΟΣΚΥΝΗΣΕΩΣ ΚΑΙ ΛΑΤΡΕΙΑΣ