Armed before the Lord; Jericho’s ban; Achan takes the devoted things
that ‘And Joshua the of Nun went in toward the priests, and said to them saying: Command the people to go round and encircle the city, and let the fight-ready go along armed opposite the Lord.’ For Christ commanding through the leaders’ voice, we campaign against the enemies, not choosing the battle toward blood and flesh, but rather toward rulers and authorities, and the law that has tyrannized in the members of the flesh. And we will then also be in God’s sight, fitted as it were with the divine and intelligible full armor. (For our weapons are not fleshly, according to Paul’s voice), and conspicuous with the boasts of righteousness. The Master God of all therefore looks upon the most fight-ready, wearing round them the bright vessels of righteousness—that is, the fight-ready going along armed as before Christ. And very honorable and truly much-wished is coming to be in God’s oversight, if it is not unpersuasive to think that upon those who have grieved him God sets the turning-away as some chastisement, saying: ‘When you stretch out the hands toward me, I will turn my eyes away from you.’ And when the siege was stretching even unto a seventh day, Joshua the of Nun said again to the sons of Israel: ‘Cry out toward the Lord; for the Lord has handed the city over to us, and the city will be a ban, itself and all things as many as are in it, to the Lord of the powers Sabaoth; yet keep Rahab the prostitute safe—her, and all things as many as are in her house. But you guard yourselves from the ban, lest ever having thought you yourselves take from the ban, and make the camp of the sons of Israel a ban, and wipe us out, and every silver and gold, and bronze and iron will be holy to the Lord; it will be brought into the Lord’s treasury.’ For he was allowing those playing the man to revel in the other plunderings, yet says that every silver and gold, bronze and iron must be brought into the Lord’s treasury; for this was the so-called ban—that is, what has been allotted from all and marked off for God. But having counted the commandment worthy of no word, ‘Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah from the tribe of Judah took,’ it says, ‘from the ban. And the Lord was wroth in anger at the sons of Israel.’ For I think those leading out the well-strong mind in Christ past the worldly pleasures and the distractions in this life, and having chosen to be of good reputation through the weapons of righteousness, and already come to be in Christ’s oversight, must reach for nothing of the things wondered at in the world—not wealth, not glory, not power, or superiority, not the unholy doctrines from Greek wisdom. And unto a type of brightness in dignities and superiorities would be the silver; for the material is bright; and of wealth, the gold. And the well-sounding of the tongue of the wise in the world the
Greek
ὅτι «Καὶ εἰσῆλθεν Ἰησοῦς ὁ τοῦ Ναυῆ πρὸς τοὺς ἱερεῖς, καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς λέγων· Παραγγείλατε τῷ λαῷ περιελθεῖν καὶ κυκλῶσαι τὴν πόλιν, καὶ οἱ μάχιμοι παραπορευέσθωσαν ἐνωπλισμένοι ἔναντι Κυρίου.» Προστάττοντος γὰρ τοῦ Χριστοῦ διὰ τῆς τῶν ἡγουμένων φωνῆς, καταστρατευόμεθα τῶν ἐχθρῶν, οὐ πρὸς αἷμα καὶ σάρκα τὴν μάχην αἱρούμενοι, πρὸς ἀρχὰς δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ ἐξουσίας, καὶ τὸν ἐν τοῖς μέλεσι τῆς σαρκὸς τυραννήσαντα νόμον. Ἐσόμεθα δὲ τότε καὶ ἐν ὄψει Θεοῦ, παντευχίᾳ μὲν ὥσπερ ἐνηρμοσμένοι τῇ θείᾳ τε καὶ νοητῇ. (Τὰ γὰρ ὅπλα ἡμῶν οὐ σαρκικὰ, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Παύλου φωνὴν), τοῖς δὲ τῆς δικαιοσύνης αὐχήμασιν ἐκπρεπεῖς. Ἐφορᾷ δὴ οὖν τοὺς μαχιμωτάτους ὁ πάντων Δεσπότης Θεὸς, τὰ λαμπρὰ τῆς δικαιοσύνης σκεύη περικειμένους, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τὸ ὡς ἐνώπιον Χριστοῦ παραπορεύεσθαι τοὺς μαχίμους ἐνωπλισμένους. Τίμιον δὲ σφόδρα καὶ πολύευκτον ἀληθῶς, τὸ ἐν ἐπισκέψει γενέσθαι Θεοῦ, εἴπερ ἐστὶν οὐκ ἀπίθανον ἐννοεῖν, ὅτι τοῖς λελυπηκόσι, κόλασιν ὥσπερ τινὰ τὴν ἀποστροφὴν ἐπιτίθησι Θεὸς, λέγων· «Ὅταν τὰς χεῖρας ἐκτείνητε πρός με, ἀποστρέψω τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου ἀφ' ὑμῶν.» Παρατεινούσης δὲ τῆς πολιορκίας καὶ εἰς ἡμέραν ἑβδόμην, ἔφη πάλιν Ἰησοῦς ὁ τοῦ Ναυῆ τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραήλ· «Κεκράξατε πρὸς Κύριον· παραδέδωκε γὰρ ἡμῖν Κύριος τὴν πόλιν, καὶ ἔσται ἡ πόλις ἀνάθεμα, αὕτη καὶ πάντα ὅσα ἐστὶν ἐν αὐτῇ, τῷ Κυρίῳ τῶν δυνάμεων Σαβαώθ· πλὴν Ῥαὰβ τὴν πόρνην περιποιεῖσθε αὐτὴν, καὶ πάντα ὅσα ἐστὶν ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτῆς. Ἀλλ' ὑμεῖς φυλάξασθε ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀναθέματος, μή ποτε ἐνθυμηθέντες ὑμεῖς αὐτοὶ λάβητε ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀναθέματος, καὶ ποιήσητε τὴν παρεμβολὴν τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ ἀνάθεμα, καὶ ἐκτρίψητε ἡμᾶς, καὶ πᾶν ἀργύριον καὶ χρυσίον, καὶ χαλκὸς καὶ σίδηρος ἅγιον ἔσται τῷ Κυρίῳ, εἰς θησαυρὸν Κυρίου εἰσενεχθήσεται.» Ἠφίει μὲν γὰρ ταῖς ἄλλαις λαφυραγωγίαις ἐντρυφᾷν τοὺς ἀνδριζομένους, εἰσκομίζεσθαι δὲ δεῖν εἰς θησαυρὸν Κυρίου, φησὶ, πᾶν ἀργύριον καὶ χρυσίον, χαλκόν τε καὶ σίδηρον· τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν τὸ ἐπίκλην ἀνάθεμα, τουτέστι, τὸ ἀπονεμηθὲν ἐκ πάντων καὶ ἀφορισθὲν τῷ Θεῷ. Ἀλλ' οὐδενὸς ἀξιώσας λόγου τὴν ἐντολὴν, «Ἔλαβε, φησὶν, Ἄχαρ ὁ υἱὸς Χαμμὶ, υἱοῦ Ζαμβρῆ, υἱοῦ Ζαρᾶ ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς Ἰούδα, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀναθέματος. Καὶ ἐθυμώθη ὀργῇ Κύριος τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραήλ.» Χρῆναι γὰρ οἶμαι τοὺς ταῖς κοσμικαῖς ἡδοναῖς καὶ τοῖς ἐν τῷδε τῷ βίῳ περισπασμοῖς τὸ εὐσθενὲς ἐν Χριστῷ παρεξάγοντας φρόνημα, καὶ διὰ τῶν τῆς δικαιοσύνης ὅπλων εὐδοκιμεῖν ᾑρημένους, ἐν ἐπισκέψει τε ἤδη γεγονότας Χριστοῦ, μηδενὸς ἐφίεσθαι τῶν ἐν κόσμῳ τεθαυμασμένων, μὴ πλούτου, μὴ δόξης, μὴ δυναστείας, ἢ ὑπεροχῆς, μὴ τῶν ἐκ τῆς σοφίας Ἑλληνικῆς ἀνοσίων δογμάτων. Εἶεν δ' ἂν, εἰς τύπον λαμπρότητος μὲν τῆς ἐν ἀξιώμασι καὶ ὑπεροχαῖς, τὸ ἀργύριον· λαμπρὰ γὰρ ἡ ὕλη· πλούτου δὲ, ὁ χρυσός. Τὸ δὲ τῆς γλώττης εὔηχες τῶν ἐν κόσμῳ σοφῶν, κατασημήνειεν ὁ
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.