The angels take Lot by the hand
Cyril went on: For it is written again: 'And when dawn came, the angels were urgent with Lot, saying: Rising, take your wife and your two daughters whom you have, and go out, that you too may not perish with the lawlessnesses of the city. And they were troubled, and the angels took hold of his hand, and of the hand of his wife, and of his two daughters, in the Lord's sparing them.' This is a sign for you, and a very clear one, that we are not whetted by words only, and leave sin by exhortations into the mind, but that the Savior God of all has come even to this gentleness toward us, as to make the help active, according at least to the, 'You took hold of my right hand, and in your counsel you guided me.' For since man's nature is not very strong, nor sufficiently able to swim out of the evil, God somehow contends along with it toward this. And he is seen assigning a double grace: persuading with admonitions and having found help, and setting it better than the evil at the feet and tyrannizing. And you may see that also true, that the caretakers of righteousness are very few, and the scarcity of good men in life is great; for a faithful man is a labor to find, according to what is written. Yet such a one is choice, and has been counted worthy of the care from above not as a side-work. For if he is in the world mixed with the others, he undergoes no harm from there, as a lily is snatched from thorns, and a righteous man would not perish with the ungodly, according to the voices of the holy ones.
Palladius said: It is fixed, then, that by the sparing from God, and by the running-together of holy angels, we shall both wash off the greed from a cheap and low life, and shall find without dispute that we are caught nowhere and in no way by the penalties of the evil, believing God who has cried clearly through one of the prophets, that 'I am the Lord your God, who holds your right hand, who says to you, Do not fear, Jacob, little Israel, I have helped you, says the Lord, who redeems you, Israel.'
Cyril: Or would not Lot's having been hung from the angels' hand show the God who can do all as a fellow-worker to the holy ones? For these would be a type of God. Three at the start coming upon Abraham at the oak of Mamre, and two visiting Sodom. 'For the Father judges no one,' according to the Savior's own voice, 'but he has given all the judgment to the Son'; the Holy Spirit, clearly, being with him and existing in him by nature also.
Palladius: You understand very well. And let us look round at what follows, if it seems good.
Cyril: Most unreluctant, and I will speak. 'And it came to pass,' it says, 'when they had led him out outside, they said: Save your own soul; do not look round behind, and do not stand in all the country round; save yourself to the mountain, lest you be taken along.'
Greek
οἱ ἄγγελοι τὸν Λὼτ, λέγοντες· Ἀναστὰς λάβε τὴν γυναῖκά σου καὶ τὰς δύο θυγατέρας ἃς ἔχεις, καὶ ἔξελθε, ἵνα μὴ καὶ σὺ συναπόλῃ ταῖς ἀνομίαις τῆς πόλεως. Καὶ ἐταράχθησαν, καὶ ἐκράτησαν οἱ ἄγγελοι τῆς χειρὸς αὐτοῦ, καὶ τῆς χειρὸς τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ, καὶ τῶν δύο θυγατέρων αὐτοῦ, ἐν τῷ φείσασθαι Κύριον αὐτῶν.» Ἔνδειγμα δή σοι τουτὶ καὶ σφόδρα τρανὲς τοῦ μὴ μόνοις ἡμᾶς παραθήγεσθαι λόγοις, καὶ ταῖς ἐς νοῦν παρακλήσεσιν ἀποφοιτᾷν ἁμαρτίας, ἥκειν δὲ καὶ εἰς τοῦτο λοιπὸν ἡμερότητος τῆς εἰς ἡμᾶς τὸν τῶν ὅλων σωτῆρα Θεὸν, ὡς ἐνεργὸν ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἐπικουρίαν, κατά γε τὸ, «Ἐκράτησας τῆς χειρὸς τῆς δεξιᾶς μου, καὶ ἐν τῇ βουλῇ σου ὡδήγησάς με.» Ἐπειδὴ γάρ ἐστιν οὐ λίαν εὐσθενὴς ἡ ἀνθρώπου φύσις, οὔτε μὴν ἀποχρώντως ἔχουσα πρὸς τὸ διεκνεῦσαι δύνασθαι τοῦ κακοῦ, συναθλεῖ πως αὐτῇ πρὸς τοῦτο Θεός. Καὶ διττὴν ἀπονέμων ὁρᾶται τὴν χάριν· νουθεσίαις ἀναπείθων καὶ ἐπικουρίαν εὑρὼν, καὶ ἀμείνω τιθεὶς τοῦ παρὰ πόδας τε καὶ τυραννοῦντος κακοῦ. Ἴδοις δ' ἂν ἀληθὲς κἀκεῖνο ὑπάρχον, ὡς ὀλίγοι μὲν κομιδῇ τῆς δικαιοσύνης οἱ ἐπιμεληταὶ, καὶ πολλὴ κατὰ βίον ἡ σπάνις ἀνδρῶν ἀγαθῶν· ἄνδρα γὰρ πιστὸν ἔργον εὑρεῖν, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον. Πλὴν ἀπόλεκτος ὁ τοιοῦτος, καὶ φροντίδος τῆς ἄνωθεν οὐ παρέργως ἠξιωμένος. Εἰ γάρ ἐστι κατὰ τὸν κόσμον ἀναμὶξ τοῖς ἄλλοις, ἀλλ' οὐδὲν ἐντεῦθεν ὑπομένει τὸ βλάβος, ὡς κρίνον ἐξ ἀκανθῶν ἁρπάζεται, καὶ οὐκ ἂν συναπόλοιτο δίκαιος μετὰ ἀσεβῶν, κατὰ τὰς τῶν ἁγίων φωνάς.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἄραρεν οὖν, ὅτι φειδοῖ τῇ παρὰ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἀγγέλων ἁγίων συνδρομῇ, καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς φαυλότητος πλεονεξίαν ἀπονιψόμεθα, καὶ τὸ μηδαμῆ μηδαμῶς ταῖς τῶν πονηρῶν ἁλῶναι δίκαις ἀναμφιλόγως εὑρήσομεν, Θεῷ πιστεύοντες σαφῶς ἀνακεκραγότι δι' ἑνὸς τῶν προφητῶν, ὅτι «Ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου, ὁ κρατῶν τῆς δεξιᾶς σου, ὁ λέγων σοι, Μὴ φοβοῦ, Ἰακὼβ, ὀλιγοστὸς Ἰσραὴλ, ἐγὼ ἐβοήθησά σοι, λέγει Κύριος, ὁ λυτρούμενός σε, Ἰσραήλ.»
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἢ γὰρ οὐχὶ συλλήπτορα τοῖς ἁγίοις ἐκδείξειεν ἂν τὸν πάντα ἰσχύοντα Θεὸν τὸ ἀπηρτῆσθαι τὸν Λὼτ τῆς τῶν ἀγγέλων χειρός; Θεοῦ γὰρ τύπος ἂν εἶεν ἂν οὗτοι. Τρεῖς μὲν ἐν ἀρχῇ τῷ Ἀβραὰμ προσβάλλοντες ἐν τῇ δρυῒ τῇ Μαμβρῇ, δύο δὲ τοῖς Σοδόμοις ἐπιφοιτήσαντες. «Οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ Πατὴρ κρίνει οὐδένα,» κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ τοῦ Σωτῆρος φωνὴν, «ἀλλὰ πᾶσαν τὴν κρίσιν δέδωκε τῷ Υἱῷ·» συνόντος αὐτῷ δηλονότι καὶ ἐνυπάρχοντος φυσικῶς καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Συνίης εὖ μάλα. Τὰ δὲ ἐφεξῆς περιαθρῶμεν, εἰ δοκεῖ.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀοκνότατά γε, καὶ δὴ ἐρῶ. «Καὶ ἐγένετο,» φησὶν, «ἡνίκα ἐξήγαγον αὐτὸν ἔξω, εἶπον· Σῶζε τὴν σεαυτοῦ ψυχὴν, μὴ περιβλέψῃ εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω, μηδὲ στῇς ἐν πάσῃ τῇ περιχώρῳ· εἰς τὸ ὄρος σώζου, μή