Silver trumpets: dogma and ethics; gather to the tent
they will set out, he says; and this, I think, signals that those who think they must follow in Christ also need a word that provokes unto strength, and unto the good order fitting the saints: ‘For all things,’ he says, ‘let them come to be becomingly and according to order.’ And a type again of this also is what has been written next. For God said thus toward the hierophant Moses: ‘Make for yourself two trumpets of beaten work, silver you will make them, and they will be for you to call back the synagogue, and to lift the camps. And you will trumpet in them, and all the synagogue will be gathered upon the door of the tent of the witness. And if they trumpet in one, all the rulers leaders of Israel will come toward you. And you will trumpet a signal, and the camps encamping east will set out; and you will trumpet a second signal, and the camps encamping south will set out. And you will trumpet a third signal, and the camps encamping beside sea will set out. And you will trumpet a fourth signal, and the camps encamping toward north will set out; with a signal they will trumpet in their setting-out, and whenever you gather the synagogue, you will trumpet, and not with a signal. And Aaron’s sons the priests will trumpet with the trumpets; and it will be for you an eternal lawful thing unto your generations.’
Palladius: What then do we say the pair of the trumpets is, and the differences of the signals, and instead of what he has commanded that they must be made beaten, and from silver?
Cyril: Two therefore are the trumpets; for double in churches is the proclamation of the consolation: for one carries the believers off unto dogmatic rightness, and adulterates down the word of the twisted ones; such as was the of those forbidding to marry, and teaching unfittingly to abstain from foods which God created unto partaking for the faithful. And I would also count in these the Jews’ leaders, who having let go as stale what has been honored and seems good by the divine law, and counting it worthy of altogether little word, were ordering those being taught that they must recline upon their own teachings and human commandments. And some others also were teaching unintelligently that those justified in faith must be circumcised, in order that they may boast in another’s flesh according to what has been written. Yet it was being said concerning them: ‘Outside the dogs, outside the evil workers.’ And another escorts toward ethical correction, and whitens the path of the citizenship in Christ. And silver are the trumpets: the brightness upon both the words, and the very much sincerity; as the material’s own nature shows you gracefully. And in the trumpets, he says, let the people be called back upon the tent. For by proclamations we gather those in tents as it were private into churches; and having run together, we also persuade them to set out from the more shameful unto the things fitting the sanctified, and as it were to change harbor very well toward the good from baseness, being re-trained
Greek
Κυρίου, φησὶν, ἀπαροῦσι· καὶ τοῦτο, οἶμαι, δηλοῖ τὸ καὶ λόγου δεῖσθαι τοῦ παροτρύνοντος εἰς ἀλκὴν, καὶ εἰς τὴν τοῖς ἁγίοις πρέπουσαν εὐκοσμίαν τοὺς ἕπεσθαι δεῖν οἰομένους ἐν Χριστῷ· «Πάντα γὰρ, φησὶν, εὐσχημόνως καὶ κατὰ τάξιν γινέσθω.» Τύπος δὲ ἄρα καὶ τοῦδε δὴ πάλιν, τὸ ἐφεξῆς γεγραμμένον. Ἔφη γὰρ ὧδε Θεὸς πρὸς τὸν ἱεροφάντην Μωσέα· «Ποίησον σεαυτῷ δύο σάλπιγγας ἐλατὰς, ἀργυρᾶς ποιήσεις αὐτὰς, καὶ ἔσονταί σοι ἀνακαλεῖν τὴν συναγωγὴν, καὶ ἐξαίρειν τὰς παρεμβολάς. Καὶ σαλπιεῖς ἐν αὐταῖς, καὶ συναχθήσεται πᾶσα ἡ συναγωγὴ ἐπὶ τὴν θύραν τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου, Ἐὰν δὲ ἐν μιᾷ σαλπίσωσι, ἐλεύσονται πρὸς σὲ πάντες οἱ ἄρχοντες ἀρχηγοὶ Ἰσραήλ. Καὶ σαλπιεῖτε σημασίαν, καὶ ἐξαροῦσιν αἱ παρεμβολαὶ αἱ παρεμβάλλουσαι ἀνατολάς· καὶ σαλπιεῖτε σημασίαν δευτέραν, καὶ ἐξαροῦσιν αἱ παρεμβολαὶ αἱ παρεμβάλλουσαι λίβα. Καὶ σαλπιεῖτε σημασίαν τρίτην, καὶ ἐξαροῦσιν αἱ παρεμβολαὶ αἱ παρεμβάλλουσαι παρὰ θάλασσαν. Καὶ σαλπιεῖτε σημασίαν τετάρτην, καὶ ἐξαροῦσιν αἱ παρεμβολαὶ αἱ παρεμβάλλουσαι πρὸς βοῤῥᾶν· σημασίᾳ σαλπιοῦσιν ἐν τῇ ἐξάρσει αὐτῶν, καὶ ὅταν συναγάγητε τὴν συναγωγὴν, σαλπιεῖτε, καὶ οὐ σημασίᾳ. Καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ Ἀαρὼν οἱ ἱερεῖς σαλπιοῦσι ταῖς σάλπιγξι· καὶ ἔσται ὑμῖν νόμιμον αἰώνιον εἰς τὰς γενεὰς ὑμῶν.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τί δὴ οὖν ἄρα φαμὲν τὴν τῶν σαλπίγγων εἶναι δυάδα, καὶ τὰς τῶν σημασιῶν διαφορὰς, ἐλατὰς δὲ ἀνθ' ὅτου, καὶ ἐξ ἀργύρου δεῖν ποιεῖσθαι προστέταχε;
{ΚΥΡ.} Δύο μὲν οὖν αἱ σάλπιγγες· διπλοῦν γὰρ ἐν ἐκκλησίαις τὸ τῆς παρακλήσεως κήρυγμα· ἓν μὲν γὰρ εἰς ὀρθότητα τὴν δογματικὴν ἀποφέρει τοὺς πεπιστευκότας, καὶ τὸν τῶν διεστραμμένων κατακιβδηλεύει λόγον· ὁποῖός τις ἦν ὁ τῶν κωλυόντων γαμεῖν, καὶ ἀσυμφύλως δεδιδαχότων ἀπέχεσθαι βρωμάτων, ἃ ὁ Θεὸς ἔκτισεν εἰς μετάληψιν τοῖς πιστοῖς. Καταλογισαίμην δ' ἂν ἐν τούτοις καὶ τοὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων καθηγητὰς, οἳ τὸ τῷ θείῳ νόμῳ τετιμημένον καὶ δοκοῦν μεθέντες ὡς ἕωλον, καὶ ὀλίγου παντελῶς ἀξιοῦντες λόγου, ταῖς παρὰ σφῶν διδασκαλίαις καὶ ἀνθρωπίνοις ἐντάλμασι προσανακεκλίσθαι δεῖν τοὺς παιδευομένους ἐκέλευον. Καὶ ἕτεροι δέ τινες περιτέμνεσθαι τοὺς ἐν πίστει δεδικαιωμένους ἀσυνετοῦντες ἐδίδασκον, ἵνα ἐν τῇ ἀλλοτρίᾳ σαρκὶ καυχήσονται κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον. Ἀλλ' ἐλέγετο περὶ αὐτῶν· «Ἔξω τοὺς κύνας, ἔξω τοὺς κακοὺς ἐργάτας.» Ἕτερον δὲ πρὸς ἠθικὴν ἐπανόρθωσιν ξεναγεῖ, καὶ τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ πολιτείας καταλευκαίνει τὴν ὁδόν. Ἀργυραῖ δὲ αἱ σάλπιγγες· τὴν ἐπ' ἀμφοῖν τοῖν λόγοιν λαμπρότητα, καὶ τὸ ἄγαν εἰλικρινές· ὡς ἐν ἰδίᾳ φύσει τῆς ὕλης ὑμῖν ὑποφαινούσης ἀστείως. Ἐν δέ γε ταῖς σάλπιγξιν, ἀνακαλείσθω, φησὶν, ἐπὶ τὴν σκηνὴν ὁ λαός. Κηρύγμασι γὰρ τοὺς ἐν σκηναῖς ὥσπερ ἰδίαις συναγείρομεν εἰς ἐκκλησίας· συνδεδραμηκότας δὲ, καὶ ἀπαίρειν ἀναπείθομεν ἐκ τῶν αἰσχιόνων ἐπὶ τὰ πρέποντα τοῖς ἡγιασμένοις, καὶ οἱονεὶ μεθορμίζεσθαι πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐκ φαυλότητος εὖ μάλα μεταπαι
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.