Open pit = scandal; cover the word; love seeks others’ good
and according to other manners also introduces for us, which also having set beside next, we will say what has come unto mind upon each. For he said again: ‘And if someone opens a pit, or quarries a pit, and does not cover it, and a calf or donkey falls there, the lord of the pit will pay back; he will give silver to their lord, yet the having died will be for him.’ And this is enigmatically—the not setting a stumble for the brother or a scandal, and not allowing what has been born to benefit to become useless for some, nor indeed a path to be seen toward death—the things necessary unto life for us and for others. Or does not someone opening a pit, or quarrying, complete something useful and necessary for himself and for others? Yet let not, he says, your things be a pretext of danger for another. ‘For the love,’ according as the divine Paul says, ‘does not seek the things of herself,’ yet rather reckons also the things of others.
Palladius: And who is the one opening or quarrying a pit, and what is the pit—I would wish to know clearly.
Cyril: The thing from the history is simple: a pit for water, useful, yet deadly if uncovered. Yet according to the more mystic look—those digging wells of living waters are the sacred teachers, drawing the divine oracles; yet those of the falsely-named knowledge also dig broken pits, according to the prophet’s voice; if then someone should dig a pit, let him make safe, he says, lest somehow what seems to have been worked well become a manner of destruction for some; for we must make the word about God both rightly and exactly, so as to become a pretext of scandal for no one. And this, I think, is the lid lying upon the pit—the of the fitting safe
Greek
καὶ καθ' ἑτέρους ἡμῖν εἰσηγεῖται τρόπους, οὓς καὶ παραθέντες ἐφεξῆς, τὸ εἰς νοῦν ἧκον ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ ἐροῦμεν. Ἔφη γὰρ πάλιν· «Ἐὰν δέ τις ἀνοίξῃ λάκκον, ἢ λατομήσῃ λάκκον, καὶ μὴ καλύψῃ αὐτὸν, καὶ ἐμπέσῃ ἐκεῖ μόσχος, ἢ ὄνος, ὁ κύριος τοῦ λάκκου ἀποτίσει, ἀργύριον δώσει τῷ κυρίῳ αὐτῶν, τὸ δὲ τετελευτηκὸς αὐτῷ ἔσται.» Τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν αἰνιγματωδῶς, τὸ μὴ τιθέναι πρόσκομμα τῷ ἀδελφῷ ἢ σκάνδαλον, καὶ τὸ ὠφελεῖν πεφυκὸς οὐκ ἐᾷν ἄχρηστον γενέσθαι τισὶν, οὔτε μὴν ὁδὸν ὁρᾶσθαι πρὸς θάνατον, τὰ ἡμῖν τε καὶ ἑτέροις ἀναγκαῖα πρὸς ζωήν. Ἢ γὰρ οὐχὶ λάκκον τις ἀνοίγων, ἢ λατομῶν, ἑαυτῷ τι καὶ ἑτέροις χρήσιμόν τε καὶ ἀναγκαῖον ἀποτελεῖ; Ἀλλὰ μὴ ἔστω, φησὶ, κινδύνου πρόφασις ἑτέρῳ τὰ σά. «Ἡ γὰρ ἀγάπη,» καθά φησιν ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος, «οὐ ζητεῖ τὰ ἑαυτῆς,» λογίζεται δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ τὰ ἑτέρων.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ τίς ὁ λάκκον ἀνοίγων ἢ λατομῶν, τίς δὲ ὁ λάκκος, ἐθέλοιμ' ἂν εἰδέναι σαφῶς.
{ΚΥΡ.} Τὸ μὲν οὖν ἐκ τῆς ἱστορίας ὑποδηλούμενον, οὐκ ἀσυμφανές· χρῆναι γάρ φησι κατακαλύπτεσθαι λάκκον, ἵνα μή τι βλάβος συμβαίνῃ τισίν. Ἤγουν ἴστω, φησὶν, ὁ μὴ τοῦτο πεπραχὼς, ὡς εἴπερ τι κατολισθήσειεν, ἀργύριον ἀποδώσει τῷ κυρίῳ αὐτοῦ, τὸ δὲ τεθνηκὸς ἔσται αὐτῷ. Ἀναθρώσκοντες δὲ τὸ τῆς ἱστορίας ἐμφανὲς, καὶ εἰς θεωρίαν ἀναγαγόντες τὸ χρῆμα πνευματικὴν, ἐκεῖνο ἐροῦμεν· Λάκκον ἔοικεν ὀνομάζειν ἡμῖν ἐν τούτοις ὁ νόμος, τῆς θεοπνεύστου Γραφῆς τὴν γνῶσιν, καὶ τὸν περὶ τῆς ἁγίας καὶ ὁμοουσίου Τριάδος λόγον, καὶ τοῦ κατὰ Χριστὸν μυσιηρίου τὴν εἴδησιν· κεῖται γὰρ ὥσπερ ἐν βάθει ταυτὶ, καὶ ζωοποιὸν ἔχει τὴν δύναμιν· καὶ μαρτυρήσει λέγων αὐτὸς ὁ Σωτήρ· «Αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ αἰώνιος ζωὴ, ἵνα γινώσκωσί σε τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ὃν ἀπέστειλας Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν.» Οὐκοῦν ὁ συγγράμμασι μὲν τοῖς ἀρχαιοτέροις ἐντυχὼν, καὶ σὺν πόνῳ πολυπραγμονῶν τῆς θεοπνεύστου Γραφῆς τοὺς λόγους, καὶ τὴν ἀκριβῆ τε καὶ ἀκίβδηλον γνῶσιν ἀναζητῶν, πολλὴν ἂν ἔχοι τὴν ἐμφέρειαν πρός γε τὸν ὀρύττοντα λάκκον· ζητεῖ γὰρ ὕδωρ ζωοποιὸν, καὶ πηγὴν εὐφραίνουσαν, καὶ χειμάῤῥουν τρυφῆς· ὁ δέ γε εἰς τοῦτο λοιπὸν συνέσεως ἀφιγμένος, ὡς καὶ ἰδίᾳ δύνασθαι παραδοῦναι συγγραφῇ τοῦ μυστηρίου τὸν λόγον, λατομεῖ λάκκον· καινουργεῖ γὰρ ὥσπερ οὐ τοῖς ἑτέρων ἱδρῶσιν ἐποικοδομῶν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἰδίοις ἑαυτόν τε καὶ ἑτέρους ὠφελῶν. Ὀρύττουσι δὲ λάκκους συντετριμμένους, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ προφήτου φωνὴν, καὶ οἱ τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως ἐρασταί· εἴ τις τοίνυν ὀρύξειε λάκκον, ἀσφαλιζέσθω, φησὶν, μὴ ἄρα τισὶν ὀλέθρου γένοιτο τρόπος, τὸ καλῶς εἰργάσθαι δοκοῦν· δεῖ γὰρ ἡμᾶς ὀρθῶς τε καὶ ἀπηκριβωμένως τὸν περὶ Θεοῦ ποιεῖσθαι λόγον, ὡς μηδενὶ γενέσθαι σκανδάλου πρόφασιν. Καὶ τοῦτο, οἶμαι, ἐστὶ τὸ πῶμα ἐπικεῖσθαι τῷ λάκκῳ, τὸ τῆς καθηκούσης ἀσφα
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 7 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 7 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 7)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 7)
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.