Foreknowledge God’s alone; demons are liars; do not credit oracles
in the same manner, I think, also the having knowledge of all things. And proper to his nature is clearly to know the things about to be, and to have as it were gathered in himself the form of the all. Or is the word upon this not both wise and exact?
Palladius: Very much so.
Cyril: Toward him then we will sin, and toward the highest glory the writing will, if we believe that in profane and unclean spirits there are the things through which he himself would be beautified and is exceedingly splendid. It is already time for those disposed thus to suppose emptily also that Satan can make-alive, and even is a craftsman, if we will gift to him the most exceptional things of all and those specially laid down for God’s nature, and say they have grown upon him; and a proper and exceptional good of the highest nature is the knowledge of the things about to be. Or is what I say not true?
Palladius: Very much. For he says through Isaiah’s voice toward some assigning to the creation the things of God: ‘Remember these things, and groan; repent, you who have wandered, turn in the heart, and remember former things from the age, that I am God, and there is not still besides me one announcing beforehand the last things before they come to be, and at once it was finished, and I said: All my counsel will stand, and all as many as I have counseled I will do.’ For he was setting for the hearers as it were an indication of there not being any other by nature and truly God beside him—the being able to announce the last things before they come to be.
Cyril: Well done, Palladius. And I would still wish us looking around well at the true also to examine this: in what manner still, if we finish at all among those wishing to live rightly and evangelically, will we follow the flatteries of false-prophecies and indeed also, having attended as if some word from beside them were true, not mark off the Savior’s voice as needing to be false? For he said somewhere also toward the boastful and insolent Jews: ‘You are from your father the devil, and you wish to do your father’s desires; that one was a human-killer from a beginning, and in the truth he has not stood, because there is not truth in him; whenever he speaks the lie, he speaks from his own things, because he is a liar, and the father of it.’ In what manner then will a liar be unerring? and how not altogether and in every way misspeaking, the one not having stood in the truth? Is it then clear, Palladius, already somehow to everyone, that assigning the true to the demons’ voices we will vote against Christ the false-myth, and will say that the truth speaks falsely?
Palladius: We are in danger.
Cyril: And otherwise—for I would add also this to what has been said—we have been taught from beside Christ not to receive the words of the unclean spirits, even if
Greek
τὸν αὐτὸν, οἶμαι, τρόπον, καὶ τὸ πάντων ἔχειν τὴν γνῶσιν. Ἴδιον δὲ φύσεως τῆς αὐτοῦ, τὸ εἰδέναι σαφῶς τὰ ἐσόμενα, καὶ συνειλεγμένην ὥσπερ ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὴν τῶν ὅλων εἴδησιν ἔχειν. Ἢ οὐχὶ σοφός τε καὶ ἀτρεκὴς ὁ ἐπὶ τῷδε λόγος;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Εἰς αὐτὸν οὖν ἄρα πλημμελήσομεν, καὶ εἰς τὴν ἀνωτάτω δόξαν ἡ γραφὴ, εἰ βεβήλοις τε καὶ ἀκαθάρτοις πνεύμασιν ἐνεῖναι πιστεύσομεν τὰ δι' ὧν αὐτὸς κατακαλλύνοιτό τε καὶ ὑπάρχει λίαν ἐκπρεπής. Ὥρα ἤδη διακειμένους ὡδὶ φληνάφως ὑπονοεῖν καὶ ζωοποιεῖν δύνασθαι, καὶ δὴ καὶ δημιουργὸν ὑπάρχειν τὸν Σατανᾶν, εἰ τὰ πάντων ἐξαίρετα καὶ ἰδικῶς ἀνακείμενα τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ φύσει, χαριούμεθά τε αὐτῷ, καὶ προσπεφυκέναι φαμέν· ἴδιον δὲ καὶ ἐξαίρετον ἀγαθὸν τῆς ἀνωτάτω φύσεως, τῶν ἐσομένων ἡ γνῶσις. Ἢ οὐκ ἀληθὲς ὅ φημι;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ μάλα. Φησὶ γὰρ διὰ φωνῆς Ἡσαΐου. πρός τινας ἀνατιθέντας τῇ κτίσει τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ· «Μνήσθητε ταῦτα, καὶ στενάξατε· μετανοήσατε, οἱ πεπλανημένοι, ἐπιστρέψατε τῇ καρδίᾳ, καὶ μνήσθητε πρότερα ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος, ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι Θεὸς, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι πλὴν ἐμοῦ ἀναγγέλλων πρότερον τὰ ἔσχατα, πρὶν αὐτὰ γενέσθαι, καὶ ἅμα συνετελέσθη, καὶ εἶπα· Πᾶσά μου ἡ βουλὴ στήσεται, καὶ πάντα ὅσα βεβούλευμαι, ποιήσω.» Μήνυσιν γὰρ ὥσπερ τοῦ μὴ ἕτερον εἶναί τινα παρ' αὐτὸν φύσει τε καὶ ἀληθῶς Θεὸν τοῖς ἀκροωμένοις ἐτίθει τὸ ἀναγγέλλειν δύνασθαι τὰ ἔσχατα πρὶν αὐτὰ γενέσθαι.
{ΚΥΡ.} Εὖ γε, ὦ Παλλάδιε, Βουλοίμην δ' ἂν ἔτι περιαθροῦντας εὖ μάλα τὸ ἀληθὲς, καὶ τόδε διασκοπεῖν· τίνα τρόπον ἔτι, εἰ τελοῖμεν ὅλως ἔν γε τοῖς ἐθέλουσι βιοῦν ὀρθῶς τε καὶ εὐαγγελικῶς, ταῖς τῶν ψευδομαντειῶν θωπείαις ἑψόμεθα καὶ δὴ καὶ προσεσχηκότες, ὡς εἴη τις λόγος ὁ παρ' αὐτῶν ἀληθὴς, οὐχὶ τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος καθοριοῦμεν φωνῆς τὸ διαψεύδεσθαι δεῖν. Ἔφη γάρ που καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἀλαζόνας καὶ ὑβριστὰς Ἰουδαίους· «Ὑμεῖς ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν τοῦ διαβόλου ἐστὲ, καὶ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν θέλετε ποιεῖν· ἐκεῖνος ἀνθρωποκτόνος ἦν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ οὐχ ἕστηκεν, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἀλήθεια ἐν αὐτῷ· ὅταν λαλεῖ τὸ ψεῦδος, ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων λαλεῖ, ὅτι ψευστής ἐστιν αὐτὸς, καὶ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ.» Τίνα δὴ οὖν ἔσται τρόπον νημερτὴς, ψευστής· πῶς δὲ οὐχὶ πάντη τε καὶ πάντως ἁμαρτοεπὴς, ὁ μὴ ἑστηκὼς ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ; Ἆρ' οὖν ἐναργὲς, ὦ Παλλάδιε, παντί που λοιπὸν, ὅτι ταῖς τῶν δαιμονίων φωναῖς τὸ ἀληθὲς ἀπονέμοντες, καταψηφιούμεθα τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὴν ψευδομυθίαν, καὶ ψευδοεπεῖν ἐροῦμεν τὴν ἀλήθειαν;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Κινδυνεύομεν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἄλλως τε, προσθείην γὰρ τοῖς εἰρημένοις καὶ τόδε· δεδιδάγμεθα παρὰ Χριστοῦ, τοὺς τῶν ἀκαθάρτων πνευμάτων μὴ προσίεσθαι λόγους, κἂν
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 6 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 6 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 6)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 6)
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.