Death unto glory like Sinai fire; first ram = life offered; Adam’s curse reversed
Cyril: …death will not be somehow unto dishonor, but will finish out unto bright and most manifest glory. For in a form at least of fire the divine is thought; and thus it has also come down upon the mountain Sinai. And about to loose the power of death, Christ has entered under death economically, that as God he may be glorified by us. So then the death creeps unto God-fitting glory, having as end the bright living-again, and the small-fitting in the suffering, being conquered by the uppermost good-fames, goes away unto nothing; and this, I think, is riddlingly the being spent with fire of the dead calf. And having added, that for it is sin, he has made clear that the passion of Christ has come to be unto cleansing-off of sin, and the matter is not unclear.
Palladius: Not at all.
Cyril: Then the first ram is taken and is slaughtered equally with the calf; and the blood again was being held toward the altar, and being cut limb-wise was being brought up, with the inwards having been washed with water, with head together and feet…
Palladius: And would someone think perhaps that even the life of Christ itself has come to be for us?
Cyril: And indeed you will know somehow also very easily, having thought that we have become sharers of the transgression in Adam, and all but have also paid the justices of the things failed by that one, with the curse having run through unto all, and the anger having somehow been distributed over the race from him. So then the Only-begotten has come down unto becoming-human, and has tented among us, and (Exodus 19:18) (John 1:14) (Romans 5:12)
Greek
νατος οὐ πρὸς ἀδοξίαν ἔσται ποθὲν, ἀλλ' εἰς λαμπρὰν καὶ ἐμφανεστάτην ἐκτελευτήσει δόξαν. Ἐν εἴδει γὰρ δὴ τῷ πυρὸς νοεῖται τὸ θεῖον· καταβέβηκε δὲ οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος τὸ Σινᾶ. Καταλύσων δὲ τοῦ θανάτου τὸ κράτος, ὑπέδυ τὸν θάνατον οἰκονομικῶς ὁ Χριστὸς, ἵν' ὡς Θεὸς δοξάζηται πρὸς ἡμῶν. Ἕρπει δὴ οὖν εἰς θεοπρεπῆ δόξαν ὁ θάνατος, τὸ τέλος ἔχων τὸ ἀναβιῶναι λαμπρὸν, καὶ τὸ ἔν γε τῷ παθεῖν μικροπρεπὲς, εὐκλείαις ταῖς ἀνωτάτω νικώμενον, οἴχεται πρὸς τὸ μηδέν· καὶ τοῦτο, οἶμαι ἔστιν αἰνιγματωδῶς, τὸ δαπανᾶσθαι πυρὶ τὸ νεκρὸν μοσχάριον. Ἐπειπὼν δὲ, ὅτι ἁμαρτία γάρ ἐστιν, εἰς ἀποκάθαρσιν ἁμαρτίας τὸ Χριστοῦ γενέσθαι διαμεμήνυκε πάθος, καὶ τὸ χρῆμά ἐστιν οὐκ ἀσυμφανές.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐ γὰρ οὖν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Εἶτα κριὸς ὁ πρῶτος λαμβάνεται καὶ σφάζεται μὲν ἐν ἴσῳ τῷ μόσχῳ· προσεχεῖτο δὲ αὖ τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ τὸ αἷμα, καὶ μελειστὶ τεμνόμενος ἀνεφέρετο, τῶν ἐντοσθίων ἐκπεπλυσμένων ὕδατι, κεφαλῇ τε ἅμα καὶ ποσὶν, ὅτι θυμίαμά ἐστι· γράφεται δὲ πάλιν ἡμῖν καὶ διὰ τούτων ὁ Χριστὸς, ὁ ἐν κριῷ τῷ τελείῳ τέλειος, ἁγίαν ἔχων ζωήν. Δηλοῖ γὰρ, οἶμαί που ὅτι, τὸ προσχεῖσθαι τὸ αἷμα τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ· ζωῆς γὰρ τύπος τὸ αἷμα, καὶ εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας ἀνακείμενος τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ, ὡς ὑπὲρ πάντων τε ἅμα καὶ ὑπὲρ ἑκάστου· τύπος δὲ τοῦτο πάλιν, τὸ ἀναφέρεσθαι τὸν κριὸν ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον, ὡς ἐν παντί τε καὶ κατὰ μέλος. Μέλη δὲ ἡμεῖς ἀνὰ μέρος Χριστοῦ, καὶ ἓν πάντες νοούμεθα σῶμα· ἅγιος δὲ ὅτι καὶ ἱερὸς ὅλος καὶ σπίλον ἀκαθαρσίας οὐκ ἔχων, ἡ τῶν ἐντοσθίων ἔκπλυσις εὖ μάλα παραδηλοῖ. Συναναφέρεται δὲ κεφαλὴ καὶ πόδες, τὸ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς καὶ μέχρι παντὸς εὐῶδες ἐν ἁγιασμῷ τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος ζωῆς ὑποφαίνοντες. Παντὸς γὰρ ζώου κεφαλὴ μὲν ἀρχὴ, κατάληξις δὲ ὥσπερ καὶ τοῦ παντὸς σώματος οἱ πόδες τὸ τέλος. Ἢ καὶ τάχα που νοεῖν ἄμεινον εἰς τύπον μὲν νοῦ κεφαλὴ, πορείας γε μὴν τῆς κατ' ἐνέργειαν πρακτικῆς τοὺς πόδας. Εὐώδη δὲ πάντα ἐν Χριστῷ, καὶ εἰς ἄκρον ἥκοντα καθαρότητος καὶ νοήματα καὶ πράξεις· οὐ γὰρ ἐποίησεν ἁμαρτίαν· ταύτῃ τοι καὶ ὁλοκαυτώματα καὶ θυσίασμά φησι τὴν καθιέρωσιν τοῦ κριοῦ. οὐ γὰρ ἐκ μέρους ἅγιος ἢ ἱερός. Πρέποι γὰρ ἂν οὐκ ἐκείνῳ ποθὲν, ἡμῖν δὲ μᾶλλον, τὸ καὶ ἀσθενεῖν ἔσθ' ὅτε καὶ ἐναλῶναι πταίσμασι· καθαρὸς γὰρ οὐδεὶς ἐξ ἁμαρτιῶν, καὶ πολλὰ πταίομεν ἅπαντες, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ πῶς ἄν τις οἴοιτο τυχὸν, καὶ αὐτὴν γενέσθαι τὴν Χριστοῦ ζωὴν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν;
{ΚΥΡ.} Καὶ μὴν εἴσῃ τοι καὶ μάλα ῥᾳδίως, ἐννοήσας ὅτι τῆς ἐν Ἀδὰμ παραβάσεως γεγόναμεν κοινωνοὶ, μόνον δὲ οὐχὶ καὶ τῶν ἐκείνῳ πεπλημμελημένων ἐκτετίκαμεν δίκας, διαδραμούσης εἰς ἅπαντας τῆς ἀρᾶς, καὶ τὸ ἐξ ἐκείνου γένος κατανεμηθείσης τρόπον τινὰ τῆς ὀργῆς. Καθίκετο τοίνυν εἰς ἐνανθρωπότητα, καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν ὁ Μονογενὴς, καὶ
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 11 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 11 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 11 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 11)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 11)
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.