Fire by night, cloud by day; three settings-out; without Christ nothing
For this is the being seen as in a form of fire by night, yet in a form of cloud by day. For it was necessary, necessary for those still infants to have illumination and shining that carries off unto God-knowledge; yet for those above these and made bright through the faith, shelter and help, so that they might be able to carry through nobly the present life’s heat and the day’s burden: ‘For all who wish to live piously in Christ will be persecuted.’ And when the cloud sets out, the tent also sets out together, and when it settles it is set down together, and with it those from Israel were doing this; for the Church follows Christ everywhere, and the holy multitude of those believing is not separated from the one calling unto salvation.
Palladius: And what would our setting-out and settling be understood as, perhaps, Christ leading forward and leading?
Cyril: The word will somehow be indifferent for us in these things at least, the wishing to be with God of both setting out together and settling down together with the cloud showing us as it were some type; yet casting the mind into meanings as thin as possible, we will say that again: that first setting-out is the from unbelief unto faith, and from ignorance unto knowledge, and from not knowing who the one by nature and truly God is, unto knowing clearly the Master and Maker of all. And a second and beneficial setting-out as it were after that is the from baseness and licentiousness unto wishing already somehow to do and think the better things. And a third more advanced than this and in greater good-repute is the from the lacking unto the having-aright, both practically and dogmatically at once. Or do we not go by little toward the growth understood in Christ, advancing unto a perfect man, and springing up also unto the measure of the age of his fullness? This is perhaps somewhere what is hymned to us through divine Paul’s voice: ‘Forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before, according to a mark I pursue unto the prize of the upward calling.’ And setting out intelligibly from ignorance unto recognition, from unlearning unto understanding, from unbelief unto faith, and always advancing in virtues, do we not change harbor from place to place, and transferring from such a disposition or habit perhaps unto such another already somehow resemble those accustomed to journey?
Palladius: I understand what you say.
Cyril: Yet neither the setting-out from baseness, nor indeed reaching and somehow lodging among the better things, would anyone be able to set right, unless Christ being together and leading. Therefore he also was saying to the holy disciples: ‘Without me you are not able to do anything.’ Therefore both being with God, and doing all things with him, would hint enigmatically then at setting out together when the cloud sets out, and resting together when it is still. Yet, through the Lord’s command
Greek
Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ ὡς ἐν εἴδει μὲν πυρὸς ὁρᾶσθαι τὴν νύκτα, ἐν δὲ εἴδει νεφέλης, τὴν ἡμέραν. Ἔδει γὰρ, ἔδει τοῖς μὲν ἔτι νηπίοις φωτισμοῦ καὶ ἐλλάμψεως, τῆς ἀποφερούσης εἰς θεογνωσίαν· τοῖς δὲ τούτων ἀνωτέρω καὶ λελαμπρυσμένοις διὰ τῆς πίστεως, σκέπης καὶ ἐπικουρίας, ὡς ἂν δύναιντο γενναίως διενεγκεῖν τοῦ παρόντος βίου τὸν καύσωνα καὶ τῆς ἡμέρας τὸ βάρος· «Πάντες γὰρ οἱ θέλοντες ζῇν εὐσεβῶς ἐν Χριστῷ, διωχθήσονται.» Ἀπαιρούσης δὲ τῆς νεφέλης, συναπαίρει καὶ ἡ σκηνὴ, καὶ καταλυούσης συγκαθίσταται, καὶ σὺν αὐτῇ τοῦτο ἔδρων οἱ ἐξ Ἰσραήλ· ἕπεται γὰρ ἡ Ἐκκλησία πανταχῆ τῷ Χριστῷ, καὶ ἡ τῶν πιστευόντων ἁγία πληθὺς τοῦ καλοῦντος εἰς σωτηρίαν οὐκ ἀπονοσφίζεται.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ τίς ἂν νοοῖτο τυχὸν ἥ τε ἄπαρσις ἡμῶν καὶ ἡ κατάλυσις, προβιβάζοντός τε καὶ ἡγουμένου Χριστοῦ;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀδιαφορήσει μέν πως ἔν γε δὴ τούτοις ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος, τύπον ὥσπερ τινὰ καταδεικνύντος ἡμῖν τοῦ θέλειν εἶναι μετὰ Θεοῦ τοῦ τε συναπαίρειν καὶ συγκαθίστασθαι τῇ νεφέλῃ· πλὴν εἰς ἐννοίας ὡς ἔνι λεπτὰς τὸν νοῦν ἐνιέντες, πάλιν ἐκεῖνο ἐροῦμεν, ὅτι πρώτη μὲν ἄπαρσις ἡ ἐξ ἀπιστίας εἰς πίστιν, καὶ ἐξ ἀγνοίας εἰς γνῶσιν, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ μὴ εἰδέναι τίς ὁ φύσει τε καὶ ἀληθῶς Θεὸς, ἐπὶ τὸ εἰδέναι σαφῶς τὸν τῶν ὅλων Δεσπότην καὶ Ποιητήν. Ἄπαρσις δὲ ὥσπερ μετ' ἐκείνην δευτέρα καὶ ἐπωφελὴς, ἡ ἐκ φαυλότητός τε καὶ ἀσελγείας, ἐπὶ τὸ θέλειν ἤδη πως τὰ ἀμείνω δρᾷν τε καὶ φρονεῖν. Τρίτη δὲ ταύτης προφερεστέρα καὶ ἐν εὐκλείᾳ μείζονι, ἡ ἐκ τοῦ ἐνδεοῦς ἐπὶ τὸ ἀρτίως ἔχον, πρακτικῶς τε ἅμα καὶ δογματικῶς. Ἢ οὐχὶ κατὰ βραχὺ πρὸς αὔξησιν ἴμεν τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ νοουμένην, προκόπτοντες μὲν εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον, ἀναθρώσκοντες δὲ καὶ εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ; Τοῦτο τάχα πού ἐστι τὸ διὰ φωνῆς τοῦ θεσπεσίου Παύλου ὑμνούμενον ἡμῖν· «Τῶν μὲν ὀπίσω ἐπιλανθανόμενος, τοῖς δὲ ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεκτεινόμενος, κατὰ σκοπὸν διώκω εἰς τὸ βραβεῖον τῆς ἄνω κλήσεως.» Ἀπαίροντες δὲ νοητῶς ἐξ ἀγνοίας εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν, ἐξ ἀμαθίας εἰς σύνεσιν, ἐξ ἀπιστίας εἰς πίστιν, καὶ ἀεὶ προκόπτοντες ἐν ἀρεταῖς, ἆρ' οὐχὶ τόπον ἐκ τόπου μεθορμιζόμεθα, καὶ ἐκ διαθέσεως ἤγουν ἕξεως τῆς τοιᾶσδε τυχὸν, εἰς τὴν τοιάνδε αὖ μεθιστάμενοι προσεοίκαμεν ἤδη πως τοῖς εἰωθόσιν ὁδοιπορεῖν;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Συνίημι ὃ φής.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀλλ' οὔτε τὴν ἐκ φαυλότητος ἄπαρσιν, οὔτε μὴν τὸ ἐφικνεῖσθαι τυχὸν καὶ ἐγκαταυλίσθαι τρόπον τινὰ τοῖς ἀμείνοσι, κατορθῶσαί τις ἂν δυνηθῇ, μὴ οὐχὶ συνόντος τε καὶ ἡγουμένου Χριστοῦ. Τοιγάρτοι καὶ τοῖς ἁγίοις ἔφασκε μαθηταῖς· «Χωρὶς ἐμοῦ οὐ δύνασθε ποιεῖν οὐδέν.» Οὐκοῦν τὸ συνεῖναί τε τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ πάντα δρᾷν, ὑποφήνειεν ἂν αἰνιγματωδῶς τότε συναπαίρειν ἀπαιρούσῃ τῇ νεφέλῃ, καὶ ἠρεμούσῃ συνηρεμεῖν. Πλὴν, διὰ προστάγματος
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 5 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 5 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 5 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 5)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 5)
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.