Christ vs own-name coming; no vain hearing; poor not favored in judgment
Cyril: …of Christ: ‘I have come in the name of my Father, and you do not receive me. If another should come in his own name, that one you will receive.’ For Christ has visited unto glory of God the Father. And the son of lawlessness will come according to times, not unto glory of God the Father—for this I think is the, In the name of the Father—but setting around his own head, the wretched one, the name of the divinity. ‘For he will sit into the house of God showing himself, that he is God.’ But Jews would not worship him, nor would they ever receive him as Christ while keeping the law; for that Christ would spring up from blood of Israel, it has clearly pre-announced. But they, having also let this go as stale, will receive an alien and other-born human.
Palladius: So then they will eat the fruits of their own way, and will carry home the equal-balanced judgment of the shameful random-counsel.
Cyril: You have spoken well; for God who judges the just things will distribute then altogether to each according to his work. And let these things hold thus for us here, and let the word be sufficient. But indeed to those led unto judging others, and unto the seat fitting for those judging, the law was calling out again: ‘You will not receive a vain hearing’—that is, a false word and full of sycophancy; ‘You will not be added with a multitude to turn aside with more, so as to turn aside judgment.’ And again after other things: ‘You will not twist a judgment of a poor man in his judgment; from every unjust saying you will stand away.’ For the blameless in words would most of all be fitting for those masters of judging, and the one owing to vote upon each of the accused what seems good to the lawgiver must speak uprightly. And usefully also the, ‘A poor man you will not pity in judgment,’ has been brought on. For it is a ready and predisposed matter among those judging to look upon both sides, when the one judged is not rich, and altogether easy to run toward grasping is a man weighted down by poverty; and he has not incapably sometimes also toward being able to force down the word of the just, calling the softer of those judging unto pity. So then the law shuts out both needing to be grasped-against and pitying those in want and misery, keeping the beauty of just-judging uncorrupted, and setting the one judging everywhere as president of equality; ‘For justly you will pursue the just,’ he says. As what grieves the law, even if something should seem to exist of the goods, would fittingly be understood not without fault; ‘For there is a just one being destroyed in his just,’ according to what has been written. So then the good needs good craft, and pitying not in season would not flee a charge of wrong unto law. Those then caught in measured accusations he corrects with the outrages through whips. And see how slavish the matter is and altogether unfree, and do not marvel; for a spirit of slavery was in them. For this reason blows no longer follow the ordinances through Christ
Greek
στοῦ· «Ἐγὼ ἐλήλυθα ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ Πατρός μου, καὶ οὐ λαμβάνετέ με. Ἐὰν ἄλλος ἔλθῃ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τῷ ἰδίῳ, ἐκεῖνον λήψεσθε.» Ἐπιδεδήμηκε γὰρ ὁ Χριστὸς εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ Πατρός. Ἥξει δὲ κατὰ καιροὺς ὁ τῆς ἀνομίας υἱὸς, οὐκ εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ Πατρὸς, τοῦτο γὰρ οἶμαι εἶναι τὸ, Ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ Πατρὸς, ἀλλ' ἰδίᾳ κεφαλῇ περιτιθεὶς ὁ δείλαιος τὸ τῆς θεότητος ὄνομα. «Καθιεῖται γὰρ εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀποδεικνὺς ἑαυτὸν, ὅτι ἐστὶ Θεός.» Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν αὐτῷ προσκυνήσουσιν Ἰουδαῖοι, οὐδ' ἂν ὡς Χριστὸν παραδέξαιντό ποτε τηροῦντες τὸν νόμον· ἐξ αἵματος γὰρ Ἰσραὴλ ἀναφύναι Χριστὸν, προμεμήνυκεν ἐναργῶς. Οἱ δὲ, καὶ τοῦτο μεθέντες ὡς ἕωλον, ἄνθρωπον ἀλλότριον καὶ ἀλλογενῆ παραδέξονται.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐκοῦν ἔδονται τῆς ἑαυτῶν ὁδοῦ τοὺς καρποὺς, καὶ τῆς αἰσχρᾶς εἰκαιοβουλίας τὴν ἰσοπαλῆ κομιοῦνται δίκην.
{ΚΥΡ.} Εὖ ἔφης· ὁ γάρτοι τὰ δίκαια κρίνων Θεὸς, διανεμεῖ δὴ πάντως ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὸ ἔργον αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ὧδε μὲν ἡμῖν ἐχέτω ταυτὶ, καὶ ἀποχρῶν ἔστω ὁ λόγος. Ἀτὰρ δὴ τοῖς εἰς τὸ κρίνειν ἑτέρους ἠγμένοις, καὶ εἰς τὸν τοῖς δικάζουσι πρέποντα θῶκον, ἐπεφώνει πάλιν ὁ νόμος· «Οὐ παραδέξῃ ἀκοὴν ματαίαν,» τοῦτ' ἔστι, λόγον ψευδῆ καὶ συκοφαντίας ἔμπλεω· «Οὐ προστεθήσῃ μετὰ πλήθους ἐκκλῖναι μετὰ πλειόνων, ὥστε ἐκκλῖναι κρίσιν.» Καὶ πάλιν μεθ' ἕτερα· «Οὐ διαστρέψεις κρῖμα πένητος ἐν κρίσει αὐτοῦ, ἀπὸ παντὸς ῥήματος ἀδίκου ἀποστήσῃ.» Πρέποι γὰρ ἂν ὅτι μάλιστά γε, τὸ ἀνεπίληπτον ἐν λόγοις τοῖς τοῦ δικάζειν κυρίοις, καὶ ὀρθοεπεῖν ἀνάγκη τὸν ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν κατηγορουμένων ψηφορεῖν ὀφείλοντα τὸ τῷ νομοθέτῃ δοκοῦν. Ἐπενήνεκται δὲ χρησίμως καὶ τὸ, «Πένητα οὐκ ἐλεήσεις ἐν κρίσει.» Πρόχειρον γάρ τι χρῆμα καὶ προαλὲς, παρά γε τοῖς κρίνουσι τὸ ἐπ' ἄμφω βλέπειν, ὅτε μὴ πλούσιος ὁ κρινόμενος, καὶ εὐκατάτροχον κομιδῆ πρὸς πλεονεξίαν, ἀνὴρ πενίᾳ κατηχθισμένος· ἔχει δὲ οὐκ ἀνικάνως ἔσθ' ὅτε καὶ πρός γε τὸ δύνασθαι τὸν τοῦ δικαίου καταβιάσασθαι λόγον, καλῶν εἰς ἔλεον τοὺς τῶν δικαζόντων ἁπαλωτέρους. Ἐξείργει δὴ οὖν ὁ νόμος καὶ τοῦ πλεονεκτεῖσθαι δεῖν καὶ τοῦ κατοικτείρειν τοὺς ἐν ἐνδείᾳ καὶ ἀθλιότητι, τῆς δικαιοκρισίας τὸ κάλλος τηρῶν ἀπαράφθορον, καὶ τῆς ἰσότητος πρύτανιν πανταχῆ τὸν δικάζοντα τιθείς· «Δικαίως γὰρ τὸ δίκαιον διώξεις,» φησίν. Ὡς τό τοι λυποῦν τὸν νόμον, κἂν εἴ τι τῶν ἀγαθῶν ὑπάρχειν δοκῇ, νοοῖτ' ἂν εἰκότως οὐκ ἀπλημμελές· «Ἔστι γὰρ δίκαιος ἀπολλύμενος ἐν δικαίῳ αὐτοῦ,» κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον. Δεῖται δὴ οὖν εὐτεχνίας τὸ ἀγαθὸν, καὶ τὸ ἐποικτείρειν οὐκ ἐν καιρῷ, τῆς εἰς νόμον ἀδικίας οὐκ ἂν διαφύγοι γραφήν. Τοὺς μὲν οὖν μετρίοις ἐγκατειλημμένους αἰτιάμασι, ταῖς διὰ μαστίγων αἰκίαις ἐπανορθοῖ. Θέα δὲ ὅπως δουλοπρεπὲς τὸ χρῆμα καὶ ἀνελεύθερον κομιδῆ, καὶ μή τοι θαυμάσῃς· πνεῦμα γὰρ ἦν ἐν αὐτοῖς δουλείας. Διὰ τοῦτο πληγαὶ μὲν οὐκέτι τοῖς διὰ Χριστοῦ θεσπίσμασιν
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 8 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 8 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 8)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 8)
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.