Faith the foundation; first commandment; jealous God
of the things that concern us, let us look well which path going along we shall be bright, and shall bind on ourselves as it were some crown the vote upon all the things praised. Or do I not seem to you to think rightly, having chosen to be curious in these things at least?
Palladius: Altogether so. For I myself also would say that one must be whetted beforehand by the challenge toward manliness, and choose the things through which someone would be bright, and would come straight toward the blameless life.
Cyril: Therefore let us already say that of every house the support is a foundation; and of a temple the keel is a beginning; and of the one who has chosen to set things right, a foundation and beginning of a base would be the knowledge of the truth, and the unadulterated word concerning faith into the one God who is by nature and true: ‘For if you do not believe, you will not even understand,’ says the sacred Letter. And those understanding must not yet be idle of the necessary things, not knowing how to set right. Or would you not say it is necessary toward our being well-approved, the examination upon every thing to be done, if we have made in word the doing rightly what it is necessary to love?
Palladius: I say so.
Cyril: Faith therefore is nurse of understanding. And understanding makes the testing of the things to be done for us. And indeed when the God of all set over those from Israel as it were some pedagogue and wise director—the law through Moses—he laid down beforehand as it were some base and unshaken beginning the knowledge from the one and true Godhead; for he supposed they would not be strong enough to reach the blameless and pure life, or to be rhythm-trained by the introducer of the finest things—the law—and to yield to commandments, unless having taken the faith upon God into mind as a fore-wall they should nobly stand against the pleasures that whet them unto slackness. It was necessary then, necessary, that those of old lay aside beforehand as it were some soul-sickness the polytheist wandering, and be well fixed by the faith into the one God by nature and truly; therefore also first a law shone forth to them: ‘I am the Lord your God, who led you out from Egypt’s land from a house of slavery. There will not be for you other gods besides me. You will not make for yourself an idol, nor likeness of anything as many as are in the heaven above, and in the earth below, and as many as are in the waters under the earth; you will not worship them, nor will you serve them. For I am the Lord your God, a jealous God, paying back fathers’ sins upon children unto a third and fourth generation to those who hate me; and doing mercy unto thousands to those who love me and keep my ordinances.’ For it was necessary, necessary, that those about to make the commandment unmovable be terrified with hard fears; therefore he also names himself a jealous God, and one who lays fathers’ sins upon those from them, if indeed they should choose to live according to those ones, and
Greek
τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἱέντες πραγμάτων, ἀνασκοπῶμεν εὖ μάλα, διὰ ποίας ἰόντες τρίβου, λαμπροί τε ἐσόμεθα, καὶ τὴν ἐφ' ἅπασι τοῖς ἐπαινουμένοις οἷά τινα στέφανον ἀναδησόμεθα ψῆφον. Ἢ οὐ δοκῶ σοι φρονεῖν ὀρθὰ, τὸ ἔν γε τούτοις φιλοκρινεῖν ᾑρημένος;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Παντάπασι μὲν οὖν. Φαίην γὰρ ἂν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐγὼ προκλήσει τῇ πρὸς ἀνδρίαν προκαταθήγεσθαι δεῖν, ἑλέσθαι τε τὰ δι' ὧν ἄν τις ἔσοιτο λαμπρὸς, καὶ τῆς ἀμωμήτου ζωῆς ἔρχοιτο κατ' εὐθύ.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν ἤδη λέγωμεν, ὡς ἁπάσης μὲν οἰκίας ἔρεισμα, κρηπίς· νεὼς δὲ τρόπις, ἀρχή· τοῦ δὲ κατορθοῦν ᾑρημένου, θεμέλιος ἂν γένοιτο καὶ ὑποβάθρας ἀρχὴ, τῆς ἀληθείας ἡ γνῶσις, καὶ ὁ περὶ πίστεως τῆς εἰς Θεὸν τὸν ἕνα καὶ φύσει καὶ ἀληθινὸν ἀκιβδήλευτος λόγος· «Ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ πιστεύσητε, οὐδ' οὐ μὴ συνῆτε,» φησὶ τὸ Γράμμα τὸ ἱερόν. Συνιέντας δὲ οὔπω τῶν ἀναγκαίων οὐδὲν ἀπρακτεῖν ἀνάγκη, τὸ κατορθοῦν οὐκ εἰδότας. Ἢ οὐκ ἂν ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι φὴς πρὸς εὐδοκίμησιν ἡμῖν, τὴν ἐπὶ παντὶ τῷ πρακτέῳ διάσκεψιν, εἰ ἐν λόγῳ πεποιήμεθα τὸ δρᾷν ὀρθῶς, ἃ ἐρᾷν ἀναγκαῖον;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Φημί.
{ΚΥΡ.} Τροφὸς οὖν ἄρα συνέσεως, πίστις. Σύνεσις δὲ, τῶν πρακτέων ἡμῖν ποιεῖται τὴν βάσανον. Καὶ γοῦν ὅτε τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς παιδαγωγὸν ὥσπερ τινὰ, καὶ ἰθυντῆρα σοφὸν, τὸν διὰ Μωσέως ἐπέστησε νόμον, ὑποβάθραν ὥσπερ τινὰ καὶ ἀκατάσειστον ἀρχὴν, τὴν παρὰ τῆς μιᾶς τε καὶ ἀληθοῦς Θεότητος προκατεβάλετο γνῶσιν· μὴ γὰρ ἂν ἰσχύσειν αὐτοὺς ὑπελάμβανε τῆς ἀδιαβλήτου καὶ ἀκραιφνοῦς ἐφικέσθαι ζωῆς, ἤγουν τῷ τῶν καλλίστων εἰσηγητῇ καταρυθμίζεσθαι νόμῳ, καὶ ὑπείκειν ἐντολαῖς, εἰ μὴ καθάπερ προανατείχισμα τὴν ἐπὶ Θεῷ πίστιν ἑλόντες εἰς νοῦν, ἀντιφέροιντο γενναίως ταῖς εἰς ῥᾳθυμίαν αὐτοὺς ἀκονούσαις ἡδοναῖς. Ἔδει δὴ οὖν, ἔδει, καθάπερ τινὰ ψυχικὴν ἀῤῥωστίαν, προαποθέσθαι τοὺς πάλαι τὴν πολύθεον πλάνησιν, πίστει τε τῇ εἰς Θεὸν τὸν ἕνα φύσει καὶ ἀληθῶς ἐρηρεῖσθαι καλῶς· τοιγάρτοι καὶ πρῶτος αὐτοῖς προανέλαμψε νόμος· «Ἐγώ εἰμι Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου, ὅστις ἐξήγαγόν σε ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου ἐξ οἴκου δουλείας. Οὐκ ἔσονταί σοι θεοὶ ἕτεροι πλὴν ἐμοῦ. Οὐ ποιήσεις σεαυτῷ εἴδωλον, οὐδὲ παντὸς ὁμοίωμα ὅσα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἄνω, καὶ ἐν τῇ γῇ κάτω, καὶ ὅσα ἐν τοῖς ὕδασιν ὑποκάτω τῆς γῆς, οὐ προσκυνήσεις αὐτοῖς, οὐδ' οὐ μὴ λατρεύσῃς αὐτοῖς. Ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου, ὁ Θεὸς ζηλωτὴς, ἀποδιδοὺς ἁμαρτίας πατέρων ἐπὶ τέκνα ἕως τρίτης καὶ τετάρτης γενεᾶς τοῖς μισοῦσί με· καὶ ποιῶν ἔλεος εἰς χιλιάδας τοῖς ἀγαπῶσί με, καὶ φυλάσσουσι τὰ προστάγματά μου.» Ἔδει γὰρ, ἔδει σκληροῖς καταπτοεῖσθαι δείμασι, τοὺς ἀνεξίτητον μέλλοντας ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἐντολήν· τοιγάρτοι καὶ ζηλωτὴν ἑαυτὸν ὀνομάζει Θεὸν, καὶ ἁμαρτίας πατέρων ἐπιτιθέντα τοῖς ἐξ αὐτῶν, εἴ γε κατ' ἐκείνους ἕλοιντο βιοῦν, καὶ προ
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.
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- 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.