Priests alone trumpet; ready to walk with God; Reuben and Gad type
and are carried off somewhere toward what does not have rightly?
Palladius: Least of all.
Cyril: And observe that he allots only to those who have obtained to be priests the using the trumpets; dedicating, I think somewhere, to the peoples’ trainers and those sanctified unto priesthood the word that mystagogues, and indeed also that oils toward desire of virtue. For on account of this, I think, toward Moses he says: ‘Make for yourself two trumpets.’ And as it were sealing the matter by law: ‘And Aaron’s sons,’ he says, ‘the priests, will trumpet with the trumpets; and it will be for you an eternal lawful thing unto your generations.’
Palladius: Therefore we will receive the manners of the signals unto the word resembling each of those accustomed to be well-approved. And thus we will set out together and settle down together with the cloud—that is, we will walk together intelligibly, and will rest together with Christ.
Cyril: You speak well. For a prophet’s word also having thus will persuade us to think this: ‘And now, Israel, what does the Lord God seek from beside you, except to do judgment, and to love mercy, and to be ready to walk with the Lord your God?’
Palladius: Yet that walking with the Lord your God is a fine matter, and worthy of everything, and enriching the glory upon manliness—how would it not be clear? Yet what again would the ‘to be ready’ be? Speak to me wishing it.
Cyril: How not? for of both thinking and being eager to do the things of God lying beside our feet, and nothing hindering, nor indeed dragging opposite unto an unapproved mind, this, I think, is the being ready to walk with God.
Palladius: And whom at all do we say those wishing to follow God are, yet not still also choosing to do this from a whole soul, but buckling toward the unmanly and declining the steadfast?
Cyril: Those who are slow, and barely going upon wishing to think the things upon which God would be pleased, yet not still also holding with whole mind a holy-fitting citizenship, who allot as it were a small portion of the eagerness and readiness present in them to the love unto God, yet have known to spend the whole remaining most prodigally and forwardly on the distractions in this life, and on unprofitable sweats and bitter cares, of whom unto a type would be those from Reuben and Gad; for it has been written again in Numbers: ‘And there was a multitude of cattle for the sons of Reuben and
Greek
διηγήματα, καὶ ἀποφέρεταί ποι πρὸς τὸ οὐκ ἔχον ὀρθῶς;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἥκιστά γε.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἐπιτήρει δὲ ὅτι μόνοις ἀπονέμει τοῖς ἱερᾶσθαι λαχοῦσι, τὸ κεχρῆσθαι ταῖς σάλπιγξιν· ἀνατιθεὶς, οἶμαί που, τοῖς τῶν λαῶν παιδευταῖς καὶ ἡγιασμένοις εἰς ἱερωσύνην, τὸν μυσταγωγοῦντα, καὶ μὴν καὶ εἰς ἔφεσιν ἀρετῆς ἐπαλείφοντα λόγον. Διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ, οἶμαι, πρὸς μὲν Μωσέα φησί· «Ποίησον σεαυτῷ δύο σάλπιγγας.» Νόμῳ δὲ ὥσπερ κατασφραγίζων τὸ χρῆμα· «Καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ Ἀαρὼν,» φησὶν, «οἱ ἱερεῖς, σαλπιοῦσι ταῖς σάλπιγξι· καὶ ἔσται ὑμῖν νόμιμον αἰώνιον εἰς τὰς γενεὰς ὑμῶν.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐκοῦν τῶν σημασιῶν τοὺς τρόπους, εἰς τὸν ἑκάστῳ τῶν εἰωθότων εὐδοκιμεῖν ἐοικότα λόγον, παραδεξόμεθα. Συναπαροῦμεν δὲ οὕτω καὶ συγκαταλύσομεν τῇ νεφέλῃ, τουτέστι, συμβαδιούμεθα νοητῶς, καὶ συναναπαυσόμεθα τῷ Χριστῷ.
{ΚΥΡ.} Εὖ λέγεις. Τουτὶ γὰρ ἡμᾶς ἀναπείσει φρονεῖν, καὶ προφήτου λόγος ἔχων ὡδί· «Καὶ νῦν, Ἰσραὴλ, τί Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἐπιζητεῖ παρὰ σοῦ, ἀλλ' ἢ τὸ ποιεῖν κρῖμα, καὶ ἀγαπᾷν ἔλεος, καὶ ἕτοιμον εἶναι τοῦ πορεύεσθαι μετὰ Κυρίου Θεοῦ σου;»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀλλ' ὅτι μὲν χρῆμα καλὸν, καὶ τοῦ παντὸς ἄξιον, καὶ τὴν ἐπ' ἀνδρείᾳ δόξαν καταπλουτοῦν, τὸ πορεύεσθαι μετὰ Κυρίου Θεοῦ σου, πῶς οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο σαφές; Τί δ' ἂν εἴη πάλιν τὸ, ἕτοιμον εἶναι, φράσαις ἂν ἐθέλοντί μοι.
{ΚΥΡ.} Πῶς γὰρ οὔ; τοῦ γὰρ φρονεῖν τε καὶ δρᾷν ἐπείγεσθαι τὰ Θεοῦ, παρὰ πόδας ἡμῖν κειμένου, καὶ ἀπείργοντος οὐδενὸς, οὔτε μὴν ἀνθέλκοντος εἰς ἀδόκιμον νοῦν, τοῦτο, οἶμαι, ἔστι τὸ ἕτοιμον εἶναι τοῦ πορεύεσθαι μετὰ Θεοῦ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τίνας δὲ ὅλως εἶναί φαμεν τοὺς ἀκολουθεῖν τῷ Θεῷ ἐθέλοντας, μὴ μὴν ἔτι καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τοῦτο δρᾷν ἑλομένους ψυχῆς, ὀκλάζοντας δὲ πρὸς τὸ ἄναλκι καὶ παραιτουμένους τὸ καρτερόν;
{ΚΥΡ.} Τοὺς, οἵ γε βραδεῖς τέ εἰσι, καὶ μόλις ἱέντας μὲν ἐπὶ τὸ φρονεῖν ἐθέλειν τὰ ἐφ' οἷς ἂν ἥδοιτο Θεὸς, οὐ μὴν ἔτι καὶ ἀντεχομένους ὁλοκλήρῳ διανοίᾳ πολιτείας ἁγιοπρεποῦς, οἳ μοῖραν μὲν ὥσπερ ὀλίγην τῆς ἐνούσης αὐτοῖς σπουδῆς τε καὶ προθυμίας ἀπονέμουσι τῇ εἰς Θεὸν ἀγάπῃ, τὸ δέ γε λοιπὸν ἅπαν ἀσωτότατά τε καὶ προαλῶς δαπανᾷν ἐγνώκασι τοῖς ἐν τῷδε βίῳ περισπασμοῖς, καὶ ἀνονήτοις ἱδρῶσι καὶ πικροῖς φροντίσμασιν, ὧν εἰς τύπον ἂν εἶεν οἱ ἐκ Ῥουβείμ τε καὶ Γάδ· γέγραπται γὰρ πάλιν ἐν τοῖς Ἀριθμοῖς· «Καὶ κτηνῶν πλῆθος ἦν τοῖς υἱοῖς Ῥουβεὶμ καὶ
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.