Only Caleb and Joshua remain; books opened; Abraham will rescue Lot
overseen by Moses and Aaron, whom they oversaw the sons of Israel in the Sinai wilderness, because the Lord said to them: By death they will die in the wilderness, and not even one was left from them, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the of Nun; showing clearly that the inheritance, and the having been written in God’s book, is not for those who disobeyed; and it would rather fit those who have received the faith—clearly that in Christ; for concerning those who disobeyed: ‘Let them be wiped from a book of living, and with righteous ones let them not be written,’ the divine David said. And the divine oracle also hints to us in these that the grace is for those who believe; for because of this the word says mystically that the enrollment came to be toward the Jordan; for the baptized is written up; yet Israel has not wholly fallen from the hope. For the remnant has been saved, according to the prophet’s voice, of whom Caleb and Joshua left alone from all would be a type, inheriting together and being enrolled with those not held in the charges of unbelief. And observe everywhere the saints’ enrollment and lot-giving. For it is practiced through both Moses and the one excelling in priesthood, so that, just as I already said before, you may understand the one through both—Christ—as high priest and lawgiver, through whom is every grace, and the being carried in the books above, which also blessed Daniel says he has seen himself. For ‘Books were opened,’ he says, because somewhere of all the enrollment is much and different, because of this many, and not one the book.
Palladius: Rightly then and wisely the word of Proverbs said to us: ‘The lazy become deficient of wealth; and the manly are supported by wealth.’
Cyril: They are supported then, and have God gracious and standing before, and fattening with blessings from above, and crowning with a very most apparent honor, and richly adorning with famed boasts. Or does he not speak truly, saying: ‘I live, says the Lord, that those who glorify me I will glorify’?
Palladius: Very much so.
Cyril: And everyone young-hearted, I think, and having practiced the spiritual manliness, and having studied to stand up against visible and invisible enemies, and knowing to save himself and others, and able in God all things, finishes the things unto God’s glory.
Palladius: I agree.
Cyril: Do you wish then we contemplate this very thing very well, as sketched in a tablet, in the most beneficial narrations for us according to the divine Abraham?
Palladius: I would choose very much. For how not?
Cyril: It has been written then that Lot was dwelling and lodging in Sodom; and when a terrible and heavy war
Greek
ἐπεσκεμμένοις ὑπὸ Μωσῆ καὶ Ἀαρὼν, οὓς ἐπεσκέψαντο τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ Σινᾷ, ὅτι εἶπε Κύριος αὐτοῖς· Θανάτῳ ἀποθανοῦνται ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, καὶ οὐ κατελείφθη ἐξ αὐτῶν οὐδὲ εἷς, πλὴν Χαλὲβ ὁ υἱὸς Ἰεφονῆ, καὶ Ἰησοῦς ὁ τοῦ Ναυῆ· παραδεικνὺς ἐναργῶς, ὅτι μὴ τοῖς ἀπειθήσασιν ἡ κληρονομία, καὶ τὸ ἐν βίβλῳ γεγράφθαι Θεοῦ· πρέποι δ' ἂν μᾶλλον τοῖς τὴν πίστιν εἰσδεδεγμένοις, δῆλον δὲ ὅτι τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ· περὶ μὲν γὰρ τῶν ἠπειθηκότων τὸ, «Ἐξαλειφθήτωσαν ἐκ βίβλου ζώντων, καὶ μετὰ δικαίων μὴ γραφήτωσαν,» ὁ θεσπέσιος ἔφη Δαβίδ. Ὑπεμφαίνει δὲ ἡμῖν καὶ τὸ θεῖον ἐν τούτοις λόγιον, ὅτι τοῖς πιστεύουσιν ἡ χάρις· διὰ γάρ τοι τοῦτο πρὸς τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ τὴν ἀπογραφὴν γενέσθαι φησὶ μυστικῶς ὁ λόγος· ἀνάγραπτος γὰρ ὁ βεβαπτισμένος· πλὴν οὐχ ὁλοκλήρως ἀποπέπτωκε τῆς ἐλπίδος ὁ Ἰσραήλ. Σέσωσται γὰρ τὸ κατάλειμμα, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ προφήτου φωνὴν, οὗ τύπος ἂν εἶεν οἱ ἐκ πάντων καταλελειμμένοι μόνοι Χαλέβ τε καὶ Ἰησοῦς, συγκληρονομοῦντές τε καὶ ἀπογραφόμενοι τοῖς τῆς ἀπιστίας ἐγκλήμασιν οὐκ ἐνεχομένοις. Ἐπιτήρει δὲ πανταχῆ τὴν τῶν ἁγίων ἀπογραφὴν καὶ κληροδοσίαν. Πράττεται γὰρ διά τε Μωσέως καὶ τοῦ προὔχοντος ἐν ἱερωσύνῃ, ἵνα, καθάπερ ἤδη προεῖπον, τὸν ἕνα δι' ἀμφοῖν νοήσῃς Χριστὸν, ὡς ἀρχιερέα καὶ νομοθέτην, δι' οὗ πᾶσα χάρις, καὶ τὸ ἐν ταῖς ἄνω φέρεσθαι βίβλοις, ἃς καὶ ὁ μακάριος Δανιὴλ τεθεᾶσθαί φησιν ἑαυτόν. «Βίβλοι γὰρ ἠνεῴχθησαν,» φησὶν, ὅτι πολλή που πάντων καὶ διάφορος ἡ ἀπογραφὴ, διὰ δή τοι τοῦτο πολλὰ, καὶ οὐχ ἓν τὸ βιβλίον.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὀρθῶς οὖν ἄρα καὶ σοφῶς ὁ τῆς Παροιμίας ἡμῖν ἔφη λόγος· «Πλούτου ὀκνηροὶ ἐνδεεῖς γίνονται· οἱ δὲ ἀνδρεῖοι ἐρείδονται πλούτῳ.»
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἐρείδονται γὰρ οὖν, καὶ Θεὸν ἔχουσιν εὐμενῆ καὶ προεστηκότα, καὶ καταπιαίνοντα μὲν εὐλογίαις ταῖς ἄνωθεν, διαφανεστάτῃ δὲ λίαν στεφανοῦντα τιμῇ, καὶ διαβοήτοις αὐχήμασι πλουσίως κατακαλλύνοντα. Ἢ οὐκ ἀληθεύει, λέγων· «Ζῶ ἐγὼ, λέγει Κύριος, ὅτι τοὺς δοξάζοντάς με δοξάσω;»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀποπεραίνει γε μὴν τὰ εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ πᾶς τις οὖν, οἶμαι, νεανικὸς, καὶ ἐπησκηκὼς ἀνδρείαν τὴν πνευματικὴν, καὶ ἀντανίστασθαι μεμελετηκὼς ὁρατοῖς τε καὶ ἀοράτοις ἐχθροῖς, ἑαυτόν τε καὶ ἑτέρους ἀνασώζειν εἰδὼς, καὶ ἐν Θεῷ πάντα δυνάμενος.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Σύμφημι.
{ΚΥΡ.} Βούλει δὴ οὖν αὐτὸ δὴ τοῦτο καταθρῶμεν εὖ μάλα, καθάπερ ἐν πίνακι σκιαγραφηθὲν, ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὸν θεσπέσιον Ἀβραὰμ ἐπωφελεστάτοις ἡμῖν διηγήμασιν;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἑλοίμην ἂν σφόδρα. Πῶς γὰρ οὔ;
{ΚΥΡ.} Γέγραπται τοίνυν, ὡς κατῴκει τε καὶ κατηυλίζετο μὲν ἐν Σοδόμοις ὁ Λώτ· ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὴν γῆν
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 4 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 4 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 4 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 4)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 4)
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.