Satan’s charge silenced; Zechariah’s ephah and lead talent
thereafter Satan charging, as of our having paid out in Christ himself the sentences of the charges unto sin; for ‘he takes up our sins, and is in pain concerning us,’ according to the prophet’s voice. Or have we not been healed by his bruise?
Palladius: Truly. For ‘He was wounded for our sins, and has come to be in ill-treatment and in a blow.’
Cyril: The sin has therefore been loosed, Christ having suffered for us, and I do not think he would still necessarily cry down against those sanctified through Christ, and the prophet Zechariah will show this clearly for us saying as in a vision: ‘And the angel speaking in me went out, and said toward me: Look up with your eyes, and see this going out. And I said: What is it? and he said: This is the measure going out. And he said: This is their injustice in all the earth. And behold a talent of lead being lifted, and behold one woman was sitting in the middle of the measure; and he threw the stone of the lead into her mouth; and I lifted the eyes, and saw; and behold two women going out, and wind in their wings; and these had wings as wings of a hoopoe; and they took up the measure between the earth and between the heaven. And I said toward the angel speaking in me: Where are these carrying the measure away? And he said toward me: To build for it a house in the land of Babylon, and to prepare, and they will set it there upon its preparation.’ Do you wish we say the things upon each again, and contemplate as far as possible?
Palladius: Very much so.
Cyril: The prophet has seen some measure running out of Jerusalem, and when he asked what it is, the angel said: ‘This is their injustice in all the earth.’ And it is like, as if he might happen to say: In this measure are measured the trespasses according to times of those throughout the whole earth. For when our sin has come as far as a clear quantity, the lawgiver then brings on the sentences having been grieved; yet he often endures from innate love of humans, and puts up with those trespassing, not altogether being indignant before the completion. And indeed he said toward sacred Abraham: ‘For the Amorites’ sins have not yet been filled up until now.’ And toward the Pharisees raging unrestrainedly Christ said: ‘And you fill up the measure of your fathers.’ The measure therefore going out, the talent of the lead is lifted, and the woman filling the measure has been thrown into the middle, or even was receiving the stone of the lead in her own mouth; then the divine angel says: This is the lawlessness.
Palladius: The word is not yet very clear.
Cyril: Therefore it will be, and not unto a long time. For the talent of the lead would himself be Christ, who is lifted—that is, is exalted through the cross
Greek
λοιπὸν ἐγκαλοῦντα τὸν Σατανᾶν, ὡς ἐκτετικότων ἡμῶν ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ Χριστῷ τῶν εἰς ἁμαρτίαν αἰτιαμάτων τὰς δίκας· «αἴρει γὰρ ἡμῶν τὰς ἁμαρτίας, καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν ὀδυνᾶται,» κατὰ τὴν τοῦ προφήτου φωνήν. Ἢ οὐχὶ τῷ μώλωπι αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς ἰάθημεν;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀληθές. «Ἐτραυματίσθη γὰρ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν, καὶ γέγονεν ἐν κακώσει καὶ ἐν πληγῇ.»
{ΚΥΡ.} Λέλυται τοίνυν ἡ ἁμαρτία, Χριστοῦ παθόντος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, καὶ οὐκ ἂν οἶμαι καταβοήσειεν ἀναγκαίως ἔτι τῶν ἡγιασμένων διὰ Χριστοῦ, καὶ τοῦτο ἡμῖν διαδείξει σαφῶς ὁ προφήτης Ζαχαρίας ὡς ἐν ὁράσει λέγων· «Καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ὁ ἄγγελος ὁ λαλῶν ἐν ἐμοὶ, καὶ εἶπε πρός με· Ἀνάβλεψον τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς σου, καὶ ἴδε τὸ ἐκπορευόμενον τοῦτο. Καὶ εἶπα; Τί ἐστι; καὶ εἶπε· Τοῦτο τὸ μέτρον τὸ ἐκπορευόμενον. Καὶ εἶπεν· Αὕτη ἡ ἀδικία αὐτῶν ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ. Καὶ ἰδοὺ τάλαντον μολίβδου ἐξαιρόμενον, καὶ ἰδοὺ μία γυνὴ ἐκάθητο ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ μέτρου· καὶ ἔῤῥιψε τὸν λίθον τοῦ μολίβδου εἰς τὸ στόμα αὐτῆς· καὶ ἦρα τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς, καὶ εἶδον· καὶ ἰδοὺ δύο γυναῖκες ἐκπορευόμεναι, καὶ πνεῦμα ἐν ταῖς πτέρυξιν αὐτῶν· καὶ αὗται εἶχον πτέρυγας ὡς πτέρυγες ἔποπος· καὶ ἀνέλαβον τὸ μέτρον ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. Καὶ εἶπα πρὸς τὸν ἄγγελον τὸν λαλοῦντα ἐν ἐμοί· Ποῦ αὗται ἀποφέρουσι τὸ μέτρον; Καὶ εἶπε πρός με· Οἰκοδομῆσαι αὐτῷ οἰκίαν ἐν γῇ Βαβυλῶνος, καὶ ἑτοιμάσαι, καὶ θήσουσιν αὐτὸ ἐκεῖ ἐπὶ τὴν ἑτοιμασίαν αὐτοῦ.» Βούλει λέγωμεν τὰ ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ πάλιν, καὶ θεωρῶμεν ὡς ἔνι;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Μέτρον τι τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐκτρέχον τεθέαται μὲν ὁ προφήτης, ἐρομένῳ δὲ ὅ τί ποτ' ἐστιν, ὁ ἄγγελος ἔφη· «Αὕτη ἡ ἀδικία αὐτῶν ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ.» Ὅμοιον δὲ, ὡς εἰ λέγοι τυχόν· Ἐν τῷδε τῷ μέτρῳ μετρεῖται τῶν ἀνὰ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν τὰ κατὰ καιροὺς πλημμελήματα. Μέχρι γὰρ δὴ ποσότητος φανερᾶς ἡκούσης ἡμῶν τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἐπάγει δὴ τότε τὰς δίκας λελυπημένος ὁ νομοθέτης· διακαρτερεῖ δὲ πολλάκις ἐξ ἐμφύτου φιλανθρωπίας, καὶ πλημμελούντων ἀνέχεται, πρὸ τῆς συμπληρώσεως οὐκ εἰσάπαν ἀγανακτῶν. Καὶ γοῦν ἔφη πρὸς Ἀβραὰμ τὸν ἱερόν· «Οὔπω γὰρ ἀναπεπλήρωνται αἱ ἁμαρτίαι τῶν Ἀμοῤῥαίων ἕως τοῦ νῦν.» Πρὸς δὲ τοὺς Φαρισαίους ἀσχέτως ἐκλελυττηκότας ἔφη Χριστός· «Καὶ ὑμεῖς πληρώσατε τὸ μέτρον τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν.» Ἐκπορευομένοι τοιγαροῦν τοῦ μέτρου, ἐξαίρεται μὲν τοῦ μολίβδου τὸ τάλαντον, ἔῤῥιπται δὲ εἰς μέσον ἡ γυνὴ πληροῦσα τὸ μέτρον, ἢ καὶ ἐν στόματι τῷ ἰδίῳ τὸν τοῦ μολίβδου λίθον ἐδέχετο· εἶτά φησιν ὁ θεσπέσιος ἄγγελος· Αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ ἀνομία.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὔπω λίαν ἐστὶν ἐναργὴς ὁ λόγος.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν ἔσται, καὶ οὐκ εἰς μακράν. Τὸ γάρ τοι τοῦ μολίβδου τάλαντον αὐτὸς ἂν εἴη Χριστὸς, ὃς ἐξαίρεται μὲν, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ὑψοῦται διὰ τοῦ σταυ
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 3 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 3 §§1–10 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 3 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 3 §§1–10)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 3)
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.