Works without doctrine, doctrine without works
Cyril: …the cud (Leviticus 11:3; Deuteronomy 14:6). For the law calls such animals clean, at least in the sense we have just explained.
Palladius: I understand what you mean.
Cyril: So the law has shown in a riddle the person who is excellent and fully formed in virtue, as in an animal that by nature parts the hoof and brings up the cud. And it teaches in turn that it is good and profitable to make a habit of shaking off the person who is not of this mind, who limps, as it were, toward the good and falls behind in the perfection of virtue. It does this by giving its favorable verdict neither to the animals that bring up the cud without having the parted hoof, nor to those that part the hoof by nature if they do not chew the cud; rather, it records their uncleanness and numbers them among the things that defile (Leviticus 11:4–8). So we affirm, and rightly, that the parting of the foot is a type of practical action and of the quality of our conduct, and in this way we recast into the truth what was said in riddles. And we define the chewing of the cud as a sign of the word that accords with godliness, and of doctrinal knowledge that is both correct and well practiced. Or is it not so?
Palladius: Certainly.
Cyril: Then the one who prides himself on good works but falls short of right doctrine, and does not hold the words of truth in his mind, would rightly be thought incomplete in virtue, and he stands far from deserving admiration. And it is plain that the reverse is also true. For right doctrine and a sweet concern for the divine words would profit us nothing toward being held perfect in virtue if brightness in deeds were not yoked with them. The one who is skilled in both will carry off the verdict of full approval; but for the one who lacks either, whatever admiration he wins for goodness will have no strength. The Savior also points to something of this kind when he says that the one who teaches but does not also do is called least in the kingdom of heaven, while the one who has done and taught is great and distinguished (Matthew 5:19). Under the law, then, the one who falls short in either of the two is unclean. And that we ought to keep away from such people and in no way be seen to have any share with them, the law made clear by saying: ‘You shall not eat of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses’ (Leviticus 11:8). That is, it means that you shall not keep company with them while they live. And if one of them should happen to die, you will keep your own mind undefiled, not so much as touching, so to speak, the things they have produced, that is, their discourses and their foul writings; for such things are the remains of a person’s life. Yet handling such remains is just what the untaught heretics are in the habit of doing. For those who became the leaders of the ignorance that is in them have, beyond dispute, gone astray, and they have left with their own disciples what amount to the remains of their own impiety. These disciples welcome them with great delight and take them to live in their minds, and so they carry a stain that is hard to wash off, as though they were handling the flesh of carcasses, which is full of the worst stench and uncleanness.
Greek
τος μηρυκισμόν. Καθαρὰ γὰρ τὰ τοιάδε φησὶν ὁ νόμος, κατά γε τὸν ἀρτίως γεγονότα λόγον.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Συνῆκα ὃ φής.
{ΚΥΡ.} Τὸν μὲν οὖν ἄριστόν τε καὶ ἀρτίως ἔχοντα πρὸς ἀρετὴν, ὑπέδειξεν αἰνιγματωδῶς, ὡς ἔν γε δὴ ζώῳ, τῷ διχηλεῖν πεφυκότι, καὶ ἀνάγοντι μηρυκισμόν. Ὅτι δὲ καλὸν καὶ ὀνησιφόρον ἀποσείεσθαι φιλεῖν τὸν οὐχ ὧδε ἔχοντα γνώμης, καὶ οἱονεὶ χωλεύοντα πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν, καὶ τελειότητος τῆς εἰς ἀρετὴν ἰόντα κατόπιν, παρεγγυᾷ πάλιν, οὔτε τοῖς ἀνάγουσι μηρυκισμὸν, δίχα τοῦ κεκτῆσθαι τὸ διχηλοῦν, οὔτε μὴν τοῖς διχηλεῖν πεφυκόσιν, εἰ μηρυκισμὸν οὐκ ἔχοιεν, τὴν ἀρίστην ψῆφον ἐπενεγκὼν, καταγράφων δὲ μᾶλλον αὐτῶν τὸ ἀκάθαρτον, καὶ τοῖς καταμιαίνειν εἰδόσι τιθεὶς ἐναρίθμια. Πρακτικῆς μὲν οὖν ἐνεργείας καὶ ποιότητος τρόπων, τὴν τοῦ ποδὸς διχηλίαν, τύπον εἶναι διαβεβαιούμεθα, φρονοῦντες ὀρθῶς, καὶ τὰ αἰνιγματωδῶς εἰρημένα μεταχαράττοντες εἰς ἀλήθειαν. Τὸν δέ γε μηρυκισμὸν, λόγου τε κατ' εὐσέβειαν, καὶ δογματικῆς ἐπιστήμης, ὀρθῆς τε καὶ ἐντριβοῦς σημεῖον εἶναι διοριζόμεθα. Ἢ οὐχ ὧδε ἔχει;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀτελὴς οὖν ἄρα πρὸς ἀρετὴν νοοῖτ' ἂν εἰκότως, καὶ τοῦ χρῆναι θαυμάζεσθαι καθεστήκει μακρὰν, ὁ ἔργοις μὲν ἐπαυχῶν ἀγαθοῖς, ὀρθότητος δὲ τῆς δογματικῆς ἡττώμενος, καὶ λόγους οὐκ ἔχων τῆς ἀληθείας εἰς νοῦν. Ἀληθὲς δὲ ὅτι καὶ τὸ ἔμπαλιν, οὐκ ἀσυμφανές· δογματικὴ γὰρ ὀρθότης, καὶ λόγων τῶν θείων ἡ γλυκεῖα φροντὶς, ἡμᾶς ὀνήσειεν ἂν οὐδὲν, εἴς γε τὸ τελείως ἔχειν εἰς ἀρετῆς ὑπόληψιν, τῆς ἐν ἔργοις φαιδρότητος οὐ παρεζευγμένης. Ὁ γὰρ ἐπ' ἀμφοῖν δεξιὸς, τὴν τοῦ τελείως εὐδοκιμεῖν ἀποίσεται ψῆφον. Καὶ ὁ θατέρου λειπόμενος, ἀδρανὲς ἕξει τὸ ἐν τῷ καλῷ θαυμάζεσθαι. Τοιουτονί τι καὶ ὁ Σωτὴρ ὑποφαίνει, λέγων, ἐλάχιστον μὲν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀποκεκλῆσθαι τὸν διδάσκοντα μὲν, οὐ μὴν ἔτι καὶ πεποιηκότα· μέγαν δὲ αὖ καὶ διαπρεπῆ, τὸν πράξαντα καὶ δεδιδαχότα. Ἀκάθαρτος οὖν κατὰ νόμον, ὁ ἑνὸς ἡττώμενος. Τούτων δὲ ὅτι προσῆκεν ἀποφοιτᾷν, καὶ κατ' οὐδένα τρόπον ὁρᾷσθαι μετεσχηκότας, διεσάφει λέγων· «Ἀπὸ τῶν κρεῶν οὐ φάγεσθε, καὶ τῶν θνησιμαίων αὐτῶν οὐχ ἅψεσθε.» Οὔτε γὰρ ζῶσι, φησὶ, μὴ συναναστραφήσεσθε. Κἂν εἰ τεθναίη τις τῶν τοιῶνδε τυχὸν, ἀβέβηλον τὸν οἰκεῖον τηρήσετε νοῦν· οὐδ' ὅσον εἰπεῖν ἀποθιγγάνοντες τῶν ἐκείνοις πεποιημένων, λογίων δὲ δηλονότι, καὶ μιαρῶν συγγραμμάτων· λείψανα γὰρ τὰ τοιάδε τῆς ἀνθρώπου ζωῆς. Τοῦτό τοι δρᾷν ἔθος τοῖς ἀπαιδεύτοις αἱρετικοῖς. Πεπλάνηνται μὲν γὰρ ὁμολογουμένως, οἱ τῆς ἐνούσης αὐτοῖς ἀμαθίας γεγονότες καθηγηταί· λείψανα δὲ ὥσπερ τῆς ἑαυτῶν δυσσεβείας τοῖς ἰδίοις παρακατέθεντο μαθηταῖς· οἱ δὲ, καὶ λίαν ἀσμένως προσίενταί τε καὶ εἰσοικίζονται κατὰ νοῦν, καὶ δυσαπόνιπτον ἔχουσι μολυσμὸν, θνησιμαίων ὥσπερ κρεῶν ἐπαφώμενοι, ἃ δυσωδίας ἐστὶ τῆς ἐσχάτης καὶ ἀκαθαρσίας ἔμπλεω.