Rod fallen: Adam slips from God’s hand; Christ the right hand
—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
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
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius on worship in spirit and truth. Book 2 of a seventeen-book dialogue — not the whole work.
English follows Migne PG 68 (Aubert reprint). The PDF and a cleaned text of the same print were checked against each other. This page is Book 2 of seventeen. This is a reading translation for study, not a new critical edition of the Greek.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Migne PG 68 De adoratione Book 2 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 2)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 2)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.