Christ must lead to the city; Red Sea baptism; mediator stands between
city, unless Christ is leading, and making clear the road of salvation. And against those who have chosen to do this, the enemies according to this world grind their teeth; yet the law sharpens toward boldness and emboldens those who have feared; and that the throng of the opposed will fall it makes very clear; for the Egyptians’ getting out of the way hints this altogether to us; and those being in fears of suffering God was saving again as in a type of holy baptism. For ‘Speak,’ it says, ‘to the sons of Israel, and let them break camp; and you lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand upon the sea, and dry it; and let the sons of Israel go into the midst of the sea.’ Or does not the divine Paul write concerning the sons of Israel, that all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea?
Palladius: I agree.
Cyril: Those who wish to follow Christ, then, and who hasten toward the city above, must not settle in the law, nor lodge unmoved in the commandments through Moses, and love to dwell in shadows and types; but rather break camp and move over elsewhere—that is, unto holy baptism. For this is what those of old were doing by God’s command, going through the midst of waves, and as Paul says, being baptized in the sea; for then indeed, then they will also have as helper the mediator of God and humans, Christ Jesus. For the Word, being God, became flesh; and in another manner, a mediator economically as one accustomed to go through the middle of both those who worship him and those who pursue them, and not allowing them to mix, and blocking the approaches of the opposed. For ‘The angel of God removed,’ it says, ‘and the pillar of the cloud, and went in between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and they did not mix with one another the whole night.’ And again as in an angel and as in a pillar of cloud Christ is signified. For his name is called ‘Angel of great counsel.’
Palladius: With Christ mediating, then, we will not mix with those who wish to war?
Cyril: Thus the matter holds; for you understand rightly. Yet I say that too, and not off the mark, as I think—what seems will go away; for those who have chosen just now to depart from the pleasure-loving and in-world life, and who have been most eager that one must follow the laws of God, yet have not yet been enriched with the grace through holy baptism, are not very strong, or fit toward the need to endure hardship, and to bear toils for virtue, and to be able to carry through an experience of wars. And just as the newly sprouting of plants declines the harm of the sun’s most intense bolt, yet would be injured not moderately if shaken by wilder thrusts of winds, and they altogether need the helps from art, and the surrounding enclosure; in the same way, I think, this
Greek
πόλιν, μὴ οὐχὶ καθηγουμένου Χριστοῦ, καὶ ἐναργῆ καθιστάντος τὴν τῆς σωτηρίας ὁδόν. Τοῖς γε μὴν τοῦτο δρᾷν ᾑρημένοις, ἐπιτρίζουσι μὲν τοὺς ὀδόντας οἱ κατὰ τόνδε τὸν κόσμον ἐχθροὶ, παραθήγει γε μὴν εἰς εὐτολμίαν ὁ νόμος καὶ παραθαρσύνει πεφοβημένους· καὶ ὅτι πεσεῖται τῶν ἐναντίων τὸ στῖφος, εὖ μάλα καταδηλοῖ· τὸ γὰρ ἐκ ποδῶν γενέσθαι τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους τουτί που πάντως ἡμῖν ὑπαινίττεται· τοὺς δὲ ἐν φόβοις ὄντας τοῦ παθεῖν, ὡς ἐν τύπῳ πάλιν τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος διέσωζε Θεός. «Λάλησον γὰρ,» φησὶ, «τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἀναζευξάτωσαν· καὶ σὺ ἔπαρον τὴν ῥάβδον σου, καὶ ἔκτεινον τὴν χεῖρά σου ἐπὶ τὴν θάλασσαν, καὶ ξήρανον αὐτήν· καὶ εἰσελθέτωσαν οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ εἰς μέσον τῆς θαλάσσης.» Ἢ οὐχ ὁ θεσπέσιος γράφει Παῦλος περὶ τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, ὅτι πάντες εἰς τὸν Μωσῆ ἐβαπτίσθησαν ἐν τῇ νεφέλῃ καὶ ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Σύμφημι.
{ΚΥΡ.} Χρὴ τοιγαροῦν τοὺς ἀκολουθεῖν ἐθέλοντας τῷ Χριστῷ, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἄνω σπεύδοντας πόλιν, μὴ ἐνιζῆσαι τῷ νόμῳ, μηδὲ ταῖς διὰ Μωσέως ἐντολαῖς ἀμεταστάτως ἐγκαταυλίζεσθαι, καὶ σκιαῖς καὶ τύποις ἐμφιλοχωρεῖν· ἀναζευγνύναι δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ μεταχωρεῖν ἑτέρωσε, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ἐπὶ τὸ ἅγιον βάπτισμα. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἔδρων οἱ πάλαι κατὰ πρόσταξιν Θεοῦ διὰ μέσων ἰόντες κυμάτων, καὶ ὡς ὁ Παῦλός φησιν, ἐν θαλάσσῃ βαπτιζόμενοι· τότε γὰρ δὴ, τότε καὶ αὐτὸν ἕξουσιν ἀρωγὸν τὸν Θεοῦ τε καὶ ἀνθρώπων μεσίτην, Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν. Θεὸς γὰρ ὢν ὁ Λόγος, γέγονε σάρξ· καὶ καθ' ἕτερον δὲ τρόπον, μεσίτην οἰκονομικῶς ὡς διὰ μέσου χωρεῖν εἰωθότα τῶν τε σεβομένων αὐτὸν καὶ τῶν διωκόντων αὐτοὺς, καὶ συμμίσγειν οὐκ ἐῶντα, τάς τε τῶν ἐναντίων ἐφόδους ἀποκωλύοντα. «Ἐξῆρε γὰρ,» φησὶν, «ὁ ἄγγελος τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ὁ στύλος τῆς νεφέλης, καὶ εἰσῆλθεν ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς παρεμβολῆς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς παρεμβολῆς Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ οὐ συνέμιξαν ἀλλήλοις ὅλην τὴν νύκτα.» Ὡς ἐν ἀγγέλῳ δὲ πάλιν καὶ ὡς ἐν στύλῳ νεφέλης ὁ Χριστὸς σημαίνεται. Καλεῖται γὰρ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ, «μεγάλης βουλῆς Ἄγγελος.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Μεσολαβοῦντος ἄρα Χριστοῦ, τοῖς πολεμεῖν ἐθέλουσιν οὐ συμμίξομεν;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ὧδε μὲν ἔχει τὸ χρῆμα· νοεῖς γὰρ ὀρθῶς. Πλὴν ἐκεῖνό φημι, καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ, καθάπερ ἐγᾦμαι, τὸ δοκοῦν οἰχήσεται· ἄρτι μὲν γὰρ τῆς φιληδόνου τε καὶ ἐγκοσμίου ζωῆς ἀποφοιτᾷν ᾑρημένοι, ἕπεσθαί τε δεῖν ὅτι μάλιστα διεσπουδακότες τοῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ νόμοις, οὔπω γε μὴν τὴν διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος καταπλουτήσαντες χάριν, οὐ λίαν ἐσμὲν εὐσθενεῖς, ἤγουν ἐπιτήδειοι πρὸς τὸ χρῆναι τληπαθεῖν, καὶ ἀνασχέσθαι πόνων τῶν ὑπὲρ ἀρετῆς, καὶ πολέμων πεῖραν δύνασθαι διενεγκεῖν. Ὥσπερ δὲ τὰ ἀρτιθαλῆ τῶν φυτῶν, τῆς ἀκμαιοτάτης μὲν τοῦ ἡλίου βολῆς παραιτεῖται τὸ βλάβος, ἀδικοῖντο δ' ἂν οὐ μετρίως, εἰ πνευμάτων ἐμβολαῖς ἀγριωτέραις διακραδαίνοιντο, δεῖ δὲ δὴ πάντως αὐτοῖς τῶν ἐκ τέχνης ἐπικουρημάτων, καὶ τῆς ἐν κύκλῳ περιβολῆς· κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν, οἶμαι, του
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.