Christ interprets the Law; Moses delays Midian for fleshly care
Father 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
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
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.