Kinsmen who refused Israel passage, and the heretics
Palladius: I do not quite understand what you mean.
Cyril: You will understand very well, and before long. The Ammonites, being descended from Esau, were near kin and of one blood with the sons of Jacob, I mean Israel. Yet those from Esau somehow disregarded nature itself and were false to the bond of kinship; from then on they proved harsh and unbending toward those who were close to them and of their own blood, that is, toward Israel. For when Israel set out from the land of the Egyptians and was passing by the country of the Ammonites, he begged the man who lived there, as a brother, to let them pass or hurry through, and to pity them as people who had been wronged; but he would not give way. But why do I say this? He went further: he took up arms and even made war. And he would have done them terrible harm had Israel not turned aside at the word of God. The text runs this way: ‘And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying: Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that has come upon us. Our fathers went down into Egypt, and we lived as strangers in Egypt many days, and the Egyptians ill-treated us and our fathers. And we cried out to the Lord, and the Lord heard our voice, and he sent angels and brought us out of Egypt. And now we are at Kadesh, a city on the edge of your borders. We will pass through your land. We will not go through fields or through vineyards, nor will we drink water from your cisterns. We will travel by the King’s Highway; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left until we have passed your borders. And Edom said to him: You shall not pass through me. Otherwise I will come out to meet you in war’ (Numbers 20:14–18). And a little further on: ‘And Edom came out to meet him with a great host and with a strong hand. And Edom would not allow Israel to pass through his borders. And Israel turned away from him’ (Numbers 20:20–21). Is the point not now clear and plain?
Palladius: Not altogether.
Cyril: Do you not see that, though they were joined to Israel by the tie of kinship, they were shown by the events themselves to be without natural affection and hard of heart, no different from wild beasts? When they ought to have pitied them as brothers, toiling and sweating as they were, they marched out to lay them waste. That is why the law says: ‘They shall not enter the assembly of the Lord, because they did not meet you with bread and water when you were coming out of Egypt’ (Deuteronomy 23:3–4); that is, because they were so utterly without compassion and had strayed into the unholiness of savage ways. You can see that the heretics, both their peoples and their leaders, are like this toward us who have chosen to walk uprightly. For as far as knowing the one and only God, the Father, and accepting faith in the Son and the Spirit is concerned, though not wholly soundly, they have a false show of brotherhood with us, and their kinship is counterfeit in intent. Yet when we are under persecution they do not come to our aid; rather, they even…
Greek
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐ σφόδρα συνίημι ὃ φής.
{ΚΥΡ.} Συνιεῖς εὖ μάλα, καὶ οὐκ εἰς μακράν. Ἀμμανῖται μὲν γὰρ Ἡσαῦ γεγονότες, ἀγχίσποροι καὶ ὁμαίμονες τοῖς ἐξ Ἰακὼβ ἦσαν υἱοῖς, φημὶ δὴ τῷ Ἰσραήλ· ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῆς οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως τῆς φύσεως ἀλογήσαντες, τὸν τῆς συγγενείας ἐψεύδοντο τρόπον οἱ ἐξ Ἡσαῦ, δεινοί τε καὶ ἀκαμπεῖς κατεφορῶντο λοιπὸν πρὸς τοὺς ἀγχοῦ καὶ ἐξ αἵματος, τοῦτ' ἔστι τῶν Ἰσραήλ. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τῆς Αἰγυπτίων ἀπαίρων τὴν Ἀμμανιτῶν παρέθει χώραν, ὡς ἀδελφὸν ἐλιπάρει τὸν οἰκήτορα παριέναι, ἢ διᾴττειν αὐτοὺς καὶ κατοικτείρειν ἠδικημένους· ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἀνίει. Καὶ τί τοῦτο λέγω; Μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἐν ὅπλοις, ἢ καὶ πόλεμον αἴρεται. Κἂν ἠδίκησε δεινῶς, εἰ μὴ κατὰ θείαν ὀμφὴν, ἀπονένευκεν ὁ Ἰσραήλ· ἔχει δὲ οὕτω τὸ γεγραμμένον· «Καὶ ἀπέστειλε Μωσῆς ἀγγέλους ἐκ Κάδης πρὸς βασιλέα Ἐδὼμ, λέγων· Τάδε λέγει ὁ ἀδελφός σου Ἰσραήλ· Σὺ ἐπίστῃ πάντα τὸν μόχθον τὸν εὑρόντα ἡμᾶς. Καὶ κατέβησαν οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, καὶ παρῳκήσαμεν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἡμέρας πλείους, καὶ ἐκάκωσαν ἡμᾶς οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι καὶ τοὺς πατέρας ἡμῶν. Καὶ ἀνεβοήσαμεν πρὸς Κύριον, καὶ εἰσήκουσε Κύριος τῆς φωνῆς ἡμῶν, καὶ ἀποστείλας ἀγγέλους, ἐξήγαγεν ἡμᾶς ἐξ Αἰγύπτου. Καὶ νῦν ἐσμεν ἐν Κάδης πόλει, ἐκ μέρους τῶν ὁρίων σου. Παρελευσόμεθα διὰ τῆς γῆς σου. Οὐ διελευσόμεθα δι' ἀγρῶν, οὐδὲ δι' ἀμπελώνων, οὐδὲ πιόμεθα ὕδωρ ἐκ λάκκων σου. Ὁδῷ βασιλικῇ πορευσόμεθα· οὐκ ἐκκλινοῦμεν δεξιὰ οὐδὲ εὐώνυμα, ἕως ἂν παρέλθωμεν τὰ ὅριά σου. Καὶ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτὸν Ἐδώμ· Οὐ διελεύσῃ δι' ἐμοῦ. Εἰ δὲ μὴ, ἐν πολέμῳ ἐξελεύσομαι εἰς συνάντησίν σοι.» Καὶ μεθ' ἕτερα· «Καὶ ἐξῆλθεν Ἐδὼμ εἰς συνάντησιν αὐτῷ ἐν ὄχλῳ βαρεῖ, καὶ ἐν χειρὶ ἰσχυρᾷ. Καὶ οὐκ ἠθέλησεν Ἐδὼμ δοῦναι τῷ Ἰσραὴλ παρελθεῖν διὰ τῶν ὁρίων αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ἐξέκλινεν Ἰσραὴλ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ.» Ἆρ' οὐχὶ σαφής τε λοιπὸν καὶ ἐναργὴς ὁ λόγος;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὔτι που μάλα.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐ γὰρ δὴ συνίης ὅτι σχέσει τῇ κατ' ἀγχιστείαν συνημμένοι τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ, ἀφιλόστοργοί τε καὶ ἀτεράμονες, καὶ θηρῶν ἀγρίων διενεγκόντες οὐδὲν, ἐξ αὐτῶν ἠλέγχοντο τῶν πραγμάτων; Ἐποικτεῖραι γὰρ δέον ὡς ἀδελφοὺς, ἐν ἱδρῶσιν ὄντας καὶ πόνοις, ἐξίασι καταδῃώσαντες. Τοιγάρτοι φησὶν ὁ νόμος· «Οὐκ εἰσελεύσονται εἰς ἐκκλησίαν Κυρίου, παρὰ τὸ μὴ συναντῆσαι ὑμῖν αὐτοὺς μετὰ ἄρτου καὶ ὕδατος, ἐκπορευομένων ὑμῶν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου,» τοῦτ' ἔστι, διὰ τὸ ἄγαν ἀσυμπαθὲς, καὶ ἀγρίων ἐκπεφοιτηκὸς εἰς ἀνοσιότητα τρόπων. Ἴδοις δ' ἂν ὅτι τοιοῦτοι πρὸς ἡμᾶς τοὺς ὀρθοποδεῖν ᾑρημένους οἱ τῶν αἱρετικῶν λαοὶ καὶ ἡγούμενοι. Ὅσον γὰρ ἧκεν εἴς γε τὸ ἕνα καὶ μόνον εἰδέναι Θεὸν τὸν Πατέρα, καὶ τὴν εἰς Υἱὸν καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα προσίεσθαι πίστιν, εἰ καὶ μὴ εἰσάπαν ὑγιῶς δόξαν ἔχουσιν οὐκ ἀληθῆ τῆς πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀδελφότητος, καὶ νοθηφοροῦσι γνώμῃ τὸ συγγενὲς, ἀλλ' ἐν διωγμοῖς οὖσιν οὐκ ἐπαμύνουσι, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ