One acceptable day; apostles build Gentile Church; Christ many-formed in believers
Cyril: …to become firstfruit of those who have fallen asleep a second time. For if death will not be, how would resurrection also come to be? So then it is not to speak falsely when saying that one is the time of this, as I said just now, and day one, of which the prophet also made mention saying as from God’s person, ‘In an acceptable time I heard you, and in a day of salvation I helped you.’ And all-divine Paul also writes, ‘Behold now an acceptable time, behold now a day of salvation,’ according to which Christ lived again from dead ones, having dissolved the unsmiling power of death, when also he was setting the holy apostles as somehow builders and spiritual craftsmen of the Church from nations, saying, ‘Going, disciple all the nations, baptizing them unto the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all things, as many as I commanded you; and behold I am with you all the days until the completion of the age.’ For do you not say that this is the constitution of the Church?
Palladius: What then do you say?
Cyril: The faith handed over through the holy mystagogues, and the way of life proclaimed—I mean the one in Christ—and the union toward God through holy baptism, through participation of the holy Spirit. For thus Paul was addressing us saying, ‘And you as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, unto a holy temple, unto a dwelling of God in Spirit.’ For long ago Christ was being pre-formed as in differing vessels in the holy tent—as golden censer, as ark, as lampstand, and indeed also as table, and the things in it; and each, I think, of those who have believed, according at least to the present time, is named house and temple of God, having Christ dwelling within. For he dwells in our hearts through the faith, as has been written, existing one and the same according to nature, even if he should be thought with flesh. ‘For one God the Father, from whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things,’ having upon himself the as-it-were many-formed through the differing properties of the godhead, and being thought differently. For he is in us as Word of God, and wisdom, and light, and life, and the living bread also from heaven.
Palladius: I have understood what you say.
Cyril: So then the time of the becoming-human for us, and the thrice-longed day of the resurrection from dead ones, was being typed beforehand long ago through God’s saying, On day one you will set up the tent. And the, And at new-moon of the month the first, one would see as usefully and necessarily brought alongside, O Palladius. For just as beginning of a month is the first of days in it—that is, the new-moon—so also somehow a beginning of a new age, and a first-entrance of newness of times, is the time of the sojourn. ‘For a new creation in Christ; the ancient things have passed.’ And as it were the age after this shines up for us, now still seen as in hopes, but then also about to be present
Greek
ἀπαρχὴν ἔσεσθαι τῶν κεκοιμημένων δευτέραν. Οὐ γὰρ ἐσομένου θανάτου, πῶς ἂν γένοιτο καὶ ἀνάστασις; Ἔστι τοίνυν οὐ ψευδοεπῆσαι λέγοντας, ὡς εἷς ὁ τοῦδε καιρὸς, καθάπερ ἔφην ἀρτίως, καὶ ἡμέρα μία, ἧς καὶ ὁ προφήτης ἐμνήσθη λέγων ὡς ἐκ προσώπου Θεοῦ, «Καιρῷ δεκτῷ ἐπηκουσά σου, καὶ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σωτηρίας ἐβοήθησά σοι.» Γράφει δὲ καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος, «Ἰδοὺ νῦν καιρὸς εὐπρόσδεκτος, ἰδοὺ νῦν ἡμέρα σωτηρίας,» καθ' ἣν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνεβίω Χριστὸς, τὸ ἀμειδὲς τοῦ θανάτου καταλύσας κράτος, ὅτε καὶ τῆς ἐξ ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησίας οἰκοδόμους ὥσπερ τινὰς καὶ τεχνίτας πνευματικοὺς τοὺς ἁγίους ἀποστόλους καθίστη, λέγων, «Πορευθέντες μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, διδάσκοντες αὐτοὺς τηρεῖν πάντα, ὅσα ἐνετειλάμην ὑμῖν· καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ μεθ' ὑμῶν εἰμι πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος.» Ἢ γὰρ οὐχὶ τοῦτο εἶναι φὴς τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τὴν σύστασιν;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τὸ τί δὴ φής;
{ΚΥΡ.} Τὴν διὰ τῶν ἁγίων μυσταγωγῶν παραδοθεῖσαν πίστιν, καὶ κεκηρυγμένην πολιτείαν, φημὶ δὴ τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ, καὶ τὴν διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος πρὸς Θεὸν ἕνωσιν, διὰ μετοχῆς τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος. Οὕτω γὰρ ἡμῖν προσεφώνει λέγων ὁ Παῦλος, «Καὶ ὑμεῖς ὡς λίθοι ζῶντες ἐποικοδομεῖσθε οἶκος πνευματικὸς, εἰς ναὸν ἅγιον, εἰς κατοικητήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν Πνεύματι.» Πάλαι μὲν γὰρ ὡς ἐν διαφόροις σκεύεσιν ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ σκηνῇ προεμορφοῦτο Χριστὸς, ὡς χρυσοῦν θυμιατήριον, ὡς κιβωτὸς, ὡς λυχνία, καὶ μὴν καὶ ὡς τράπεζα, καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ· ἕκαστος δὲ, οἶμαι, τῶν πεπιστευκότων, κατά γε τὸν ἐνεστηκότα καιρὸν, οἶκος καὶ ναὸς χρηματίζει Θεοῦ, Χριστὸν ἔχων ἐνηυλισμένον. Κατοικεῖ γὰρ ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν διὰ τῆς πίστεως, καθὰ γέγραπται, εἷς μὲν καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς κατὰ φύσιν ὑπάρχων, εἰ καὶ νοοῖτο μετὰ σαρκός. «Εἷς γὰρ Θεὸς ὁ Πατὴρ, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα, καὶ εἷς Κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα,» τοῖς δὲ τῆς θεότητος διαφόροις ἰδιώμασιν τὸ οἱονεὶ πολυειδὲς ἔχων ἐφ' ἑαυτῷ, καὶ διαφόρως νοούμενος. Ἔστι γὰρ ἐν ἡμῖν ὡς Λόγος Θεοῦ, καὶ σοφία, καὶ φῶς, καὶ ζωὴ, καὶ ἄρτος ὁ ζῶν καὶ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Συνῆκα ὃ φής.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν ὁ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως καιρὸς ἡμῖν, καὶ τῆς ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστάσεως ἡ τριπόθητος ἡμέρα, προανετυποῦτο πάλαι διὰ τὸ φάναι Θεὸν, Ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ στήσεις τὴν σκηνήν. Τὸ δὲ, Καὶ ἐν νουμηνίᾳ τοῦ μηνὸς τοῦ πρώτου, χρησίμως τε καὶ ἀναγκαίως προσενηνεγμένον κατίδοι τις ἂν, ὦ Παλλάδιε. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἀρχὴ μηνὸς, ἡμερῶν ἡ ἐν αὐτῷ πρώτη, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ἡ νουμηνία· οὕτως καὶ ἀρχή τις ὥσπερ αἰῶνος νέου, καὶ προεισβολὴ καινότητος χρόνων, ὁ τῆς ἐπιδημίας καιρός. «Καινὴ γὰρ κτίσις ἐν Χριστῷ· τὰ ἀρχαῖα παρῆλθεν.» Ἀναλάμπει δὲ ὥσπερ ἡμῖν ὁ μετὰ τοῦτον αἰὼν, νῦν μὲν ὡς ἐν ἐλπίσιν ἔτι βλεπόμενος, τότε δὲ καὶ παρεσόμενος
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 10 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 10 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 10)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 10)
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.