Living water in clay = Word in flesh; curse words = cross; virtue twofold
Cyril: …must be put into a clay vessel, and indeed also from the earth being upon the tent. Then with the words of the curse having been washed-in in water, he ordered the woman in suspicions of having been whored to drink. And, ‘If on the one hand she should be liable to the charge, she will be inflamed,’ (Genesis 3:19) he says, ‘as to a belly, and a thigh will fall; and if on the other she has been freed of the cause, and not true upon her the having-been-supposed, she will seed-out seed.’ (Galatians 3:13)
Palladius: So then what the word? or how would also through the just now having-been-named, the Christ be signaled for us?
Cyril: For through the living and clean water, you will understand the life-making the Word of God, the truly clean, and altogether without-share of sin, who has become in flesh, just as in a clay vessel. For that dust also and from earth the flesh, how or from where doubtful? And through at least the earth from the tent, you will think the in death through us; for it has been said to the nature of human: ‘Earth you are, and unto earth you will go away.’ (Romans 8:8) And through at least the words of the curse, you will understand very well the having become a curse over us, through the having been hung upon wood. For it has been written, that also ‘Cursed every one hanging upon wood.’ (2 Timothy 3:17) So then whenever into the depth of the human mind Emmanuel being God according to nature should arrive, those liable to faults, he will convict punishing; and those having been caught not in these, he will show-out fruit-bearing. For this, I think, is the, she will seed-out seed, the fruit-bearing of the soul, with the bodily passion signaling.
Palladius: You spoke most excellently.
Cyril: So then fornication and the passions of flesh counterfeit the human, and stand-out from the familiarity toward God; for those being in flesh are not able to please God. And flesh, as I at least think, names the fleshly mindset. For thus the having-been-written would be thought rightly. And again a manner toward this worthlessness, and indeed also a rhythm of wildness of customs, and an going-out unto every whatever of the most outlandish, finishes us abominable and unholy. For it is not fitting for us to man-up only against fleshly passions, but also to shine-through with gentleness of customs, and to appear caretakers of love as much as most the unto brothers, and to be seen crowned with the boasts of justice, and toward these at least, to have a fine and practiced mind at least in themselves, striking-toward undistortedly the opinions about God, and in searches of doctrines everywhere saving the having blamelessly; for perfect such ones, according to the true being lacking of none of the best things; for the human of God must be complete also the divine Paul said for us; and ‘complete’ he says the having been fitted-out unto every good work, and having fittingly toward being able very well to set-upright the virtue. Or does it not hold thus?
Palladius: For how not?
Cyril: So then see how riddlingly the law unto
Greek
ρὸν εἰς ἀγγεῖον ὀστράκινον ἐνίεσθαι δεῖν, καὶ μὴν καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς τῆς οὔσης ἐπὶ τῆς σκηνῆς. Εἶτα τῶν τῆς ἀρᾶς λόγων ἐναποπλυνθέντων ὕδατι, πίνειν ἐκέλευσε τὴν ἐν ὑποψίαις τοῦ πεπορνεῦσθαι γυναῖκα. Καὶ, «Εἰ μὲν ἔνοχος εἴη τῷ ἐγκλήματι, πρησθήσεται,» φησὶ, «κοιλίαν, καὶ πεσεῖται μηρός· εἰ δὲ τῆς αἰτίας ἀπήλλακται, καὶ οὐκ ἀληθὲς ἐπ' αὐτῇ τὸ ὑπειλημμένον, ἐκσπερματιεῖ σπέρμα.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τίς οὖν ὁ λόγος; ἢ πῶς ἂν ἡμῖν καὶ διὰ τῶν ἀρτίως ὠνομασμένων, ὁ Χριστὸς σημαίνοιτο;
{ΚΥΡ.} Διὰ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ ζῶντος καὶ καθαροῦ, τὸν ζωοποιὸν συνήσεις τὸν Θεοῦ Λόγον, τὸν ἀληθῶς καθαρὸν, καὶ ἁμαρτίας ἀμέτοχον παντελῶς, ὃς ἐν σαρκὶ γέγονε, καθάπερ ἐν ὀστρακίνῳ σκεύει. Χοῦς γὰρ ὅτι καὶ ἀπὸ γῆς ἡ σὰρξ, πῶς ἂν ἢ πόθεν ἀμφίβολον; Διὰ δέ γε τῆς ἀπὸ τῆς σκηνῆς γῆς, τὸν ἐν θανάτῳ νοήσεις δι' ἡμᾶς· εἴρηται γὰρ τῇ ἀνθρώπου φύσει· «Γῆ εἶ, καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ.» Διὰ δέ γε τῶν λόγων τῆς ἀρᾶς, τὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν γεγονότα κατάραν, διὰ τὸ ἐπὶ ξύλου κρεμασθῆναι, συνήσεις εὖ μάλα. Γέγραπται γὰρ, ὅτι καὶ «Ἐπικατάρατος πᾶς ὁ κρεμάμενος ἐπὶ ξύλου.» Ὅταν τοίνυν εἰς τὸ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης διανοίας καθίκοιτο βάθος, Θεὸς κατὰ φύσιν ὑπάρχων ὁ Ἐμμανουὴλ, ἐνόχους μὲν ὄντας πταίσμασιν, ἐλέγξει κολάζων· κατειλημμένους δὲ οὐκ ἐν τούτοις, καρποφόρους ἀποφανεῖ. Τοῦτο γὰρ, οἶμαι, ἐστὶ τὸ, ἐκσπερματιεῖ σπέρμα, τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ καρπογόνον, τοῦ σωματικοῦ σημαίνοντος πάθους.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἄριστα ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Πορνεία μὲν οὖν καὶ τὰ σαρκὸς πάθη κατακιβδηλεύει τὸν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν ἐξίστησιν οἰκειότητος· οἱ γὰρ ἐν σαρκὶ ὄντες, Θεῷ ἀρέσαι οὐ δύνανται. Σάρκα δὲ, καθάπερ ἐγᾦμαι, τὸ σαρκικὸν ὀνομάζει φρόνημα. Νοοῖτο γὰρ ἂν ὡδὶ τὸ γεγραμμένον ὀρθῶς. Τρόπος δὲ αὖ πρὸς τόδε φαυλότητος, καὶ μὴν καὶ ἠθῶν ῥυθμὸς ἀγριότητος, καὶ εἰς πᾶν ὁτιοῦν τῶν ἐκτοπωτάτων ἐξιτηλία, βδελυροὺς ἡμᾶς καὶ ἀνιέρους ἀποτελεῖ. Οὐ γάρ τοι προσήκει σαρκικῶν ἡμᾶς μόνων κατανδρίζεσθαι παθῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἠθῶν ἡμερότητι διαπρέπειν, καὶ ἀγάπης ὅτι μάλιστα τῆς εἰς ἀδελφοὺς ἐπιμελητὰς ἀναφαίνεσθαι, καὶ τοῖς τῆς δικαιοσύνης αὐχήμασιν ὁρᾶσθαι κατεστεμμένους, καὶ πρός γε δὴ τούτοις, λεπτὸν καὶ ἐξησκημένον ἔν γε δὴ σφίσιν αὐτοῖς ἔχειν τὸν νοῦν, ταῖς περὶ Θεοῦ δόξαις ἀδιαστρόφως προσβάλλοντα, καὶ ἐν δογμάτων ἐρεύναις πανταχῆ σώζοντα τὸ ἀμωμήτως ἔχον· τέλειοι γὰρ οἱ τοιοίδε, κατὰ τὸ ἀληθὲς οὐδενὸς ὄντες τῶν ἀρίστων ἐπιδεεῖς· ἄρτιον γὰρ εἶναι δεῖν τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄνθρωπον καὶ ὁ θεῖος ἡμῖν ἔφη Παῦλος· «Ἄρτιον» δέ φησι τὸν εἰς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν ἐξηρτυμένον, καὶ ἐπιτηδείως ἔχοντα πρὸς τὸ κατορθοῦν εὖ μάλα δύνασθαι τὴν ἀρετήν. Ἢ οὐχ ὧδε ἔχει;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πῶς γὰρ οὔ;
{ΚΥΡ.} Θέα δὴ οὖν ὅπως αἰνιγματωδῶς ὁ νόμος εἰς
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 14 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 14 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 14 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 14)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 14)
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.