We all stumble, so God sent his Son to cleanse us
Cyril: …into the house of God in the finest way, shining and washed, and winning close fellowship with him through sanctification. For then we shall find God gracious, and, if we may put it so, looking on our affairs with his whole eye and showing the saints the sparing care that best befits them. ‘On whom shall I look,’ he says, ‘but on the humble and quiet one, who trembles at my words?’ (Isaiah 66:2) For the one who is in this state will truly lift up holy hands (1 Timothy 2:8), and his cry will reach the very ear of the Godhead, so that, once he has obtained whatever he may pray for, he can even say in his great joy: ‘He heard my voice from his holy temple, and my cry before him will come into his ears.’ (Psalm 18:6) Or have you not plainly learned this from the inspired David, who sings to us that ‘the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer’? (Psalm 34:15)
Palladius: I have learned it.
Cyril: That this saying is true, no one may rightly doubt. But as for the need to wipe away our defilements, what way of doing it could there be for us? For no one will discern his transgressions (Psalm 19:12), and we all stumble in many ways (James 3:2). Our nature is sick with a proneness to sin, and it is very easily goaded into a settled bent for wrongdoing, since our inclination toward what is base smooths for us, in a way, the road of monstrous and loathsome pleasure.
Palladius: You are right. I would agree without a moment's delay with one who has chosen to speak correctly.
Cyril: For the flesh that comes from the earth has already fallen sick with the law of sin within it (Romans 7:23), and the human mind is very easily led astray, so that it turns aside toward evil from youth, as it is written (Genesis 8:21). That is why the sacred word rightly grieves over us: ‘For all,’ it says, ‘have turned aside; together they have become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.’ (Psalm 14:3; Romans 3:12) But since there was no turning away from evil, God the Father sent us his own Son from heaven as Savior and Redeemer, to justify by faith and set free from punishment, to make the feeble very strong, to enlighten what was darkened, to turn back what was wandering, and to draw out from the devil's greed what lay prostrate beneath him.
Palladius: So it is in Christ that we shall scrub away the shame that comes from sin; and once scoured clean in this way, and keeping as far as possible from every blemish, we shall approach God the Father through him.
Cyril: You understand it very well. One may hear the holy prophets themselves proclaiming aloud this grace, so worthy of our wonder and so long prayed for. Micah, most wise, says something like this: ‘Who is a God like you, taking away iniquities and passing over unrighteous deeds for the remnant of his inheritance? And he did not hold his anger as a witness, for he delights in mercy.’ (Micah 7:18) And another says again: ‘Remember these things, Jacob and Israel; do not forget me. For behold, I have wiped away your iniquities like a cloud, and your sins like a thick darkness.’ (Isaiah 44:21–22) And one could gather a great many more such passages…
Greek
παγκάλως εἰς οἶκον Θεοῦ, λαμπρούς τε καὶ ἐκνενιμμένους, οἰκειότητά τε τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν δι' ἁγιασμοῦ κερδαίνοντας. Ἵλεῳ γὰρ τότε περιτευξόμεθα τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ἵν' οὕτως εἴπωμεν, ὅλῳ βλέποντι τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς ὀφθαλμῷ, καὶ τὴν τοῖς ἁγίοις πρεπωδεστάτην φειδὼ διανέμοντι. «Ἐπὶ τίνα δὲ ἐπιβλέψω,» φησὶν, «ἀλλ' ἢ ἐπὶ τὸν ταπεινὸν καὶ ἡσύχιον καὶ τρέμοντά μου τοὺς λόγους;» Ὁσίας γὰρ ὄντως ἀνατενεῖ χεῖρας, καὶ εἰς αὐτό που διακεκράξεται τὸ τῆς θεότητος οὖς, ὁ δὴ οὕτως ἔχων, ὡς καὶ εἰς πέρας ἥκων τῶν ὧν ἂν εὔξαιτο τυχὸν, ἐκ περιχαρείας εἰπεῖν· «Ἤκουσεν ἐκ ναοῦ ἁγίου αὐτοῦ φωνῆς μου, καὶ ἡ κραυγή μου ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ εἰσελεύσεται εἰς τὰ ὦτα αὐτοῦ.» Ἢ οὐ διεπύθου σαφῶς ἀναμελῳδοῦντος ἡμῖν τοῦ θεσπεσίου Δαβὶδ, ὅτι «Ὀφθαλμοὶ Κυρίου ἐπὶ δικαίους, καὶ ὦτα αὐτοῦ εἰς δέησιν αὐτῶν;»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἐπυθόμην;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ὅτι μὲν ἔστιν ἀληθὴς ὁ λόγος, οὐκ ἐνδοιάσαι θέμις, πλὴν, ἐπί γε τὸ δεῖν ἀποτρίβεσθαι μολυσμοὺς, τίς ἂν γένοιτο πρὸς ἡμῶν ὁ τρόπος; συνήσει γὰρ δὴ παραπτώματα μὲν οὐδεὶς, πολλὰ δὲ πταίομεν ἅπαντες. Νοσεῖ δὲ ἡ φύσις τὸ εἰς ἁμαρτίαν εὔκολον, καὶ λίαν ἐστὶν εὐπάροιστος ἐπὶ τὸ πεφυκέναι ἀδικεῖν, καταλεαινούσης ἡμῖν τρόπον τινὰ τῆς ἐπὶ τὰ φαῦλα ῥοπῆς, τὴν ὁδὸν τῆς ἐκτόπου καὶ βδελυρᾶς ἡδονῆς.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εὖ λέγεις· συναινέσαιμι γὰρ ἂν μελλήσας οὐδὲν, ὀρθοεπεῖν ᾑρημένῳ.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἤδη μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἡ ἀπὸ γῆς σὰρξ τὸν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐν ἑαυτῇ κατηῤῥώστησε νόμον, εὐπαράφορος δὲ λίαν ὁ ἀνθρώπινος νοῦς, ἐπὶ τὸ ἐκνεῦσαι δεῖν ἐπὶ τὰ πονηρὰ ἐκ νεότητος, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον. Τοιγάρτοι καὶ λόγος ἡμῖν ἱερὸς ἐπιστυγνάζει δικαίως· «Πάντες γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐξέκλινον, ἅμα ἠχρειώθησαν, οὐκ ἔστι ποιῶν χρηστότητα, οὐκ ἔστιν ἕως ἑνός.» Ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὐκ ἦν ἀπόνευσις τοῦ κακοῦ, Σωτῆρα καὶ Λυτρωτὴν πέπομφεν ἡμῖν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ τὸν ἴδιον Υἱὸν ὁ Θεὸς καὶ Πατὴρ, δικαιοῦντα τῇ πίστει, καὶ ποινῆς ἀπαλλάττοντα, καὶ εὐσθενὲς μὲν λίαν ἀποτελοῦντα τὸ ἄναλκι, καταφωτίζοντα δὲ τὸ ἐσκοτισμένον, ἐπιστρέφοντα δὲ τὸ πλανώμενον, καὶ πλεονεξίας ἐξέλκοντα διαβολικῆς, τὸ ὑπεστρωμένον αὐτῷ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἐν Χριστῷ δὴ οὖν τὸ ἐκ τῆς ἁμαρτίας αἶσχος ἀποτριψόμεθα, διεσμηγμένοι δὲ οὕτω, καὶ μώμου παντὸς ἰόντες ὡς ἀπωτάτω, προσελευσόμεθα δι' αὐτοῦ τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρί.
{ΚΥΡ.} Συνίης εὖ μάλα· διακεκραγότων καὶ αὐτῶν ἐπαΐοι τις ἂν τῶν ἁγίων προφήτων, τὴν οὕτως ἡμῖν ἀξιάγαστον καὶ πολύευκτον χάριν. Μιχαίας μὲν γὰρ ὁ σοφώτατος, ὧδέ πή φησι· «Τίς Θεὸς ὥσπερ σὺ, ἐξαίρων ἀνομίας, καὶ ὑπερβαίνων ἀδικίας τοῖς καταλοίποις τῆς κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐ συνέσχεν εἰς μαρτύριον ὀργὴν αὐτοῦ, ὅτι θελητὴς ἐλέους ἐστίν;» Ἕτερος δὲ αὖ· «Μνήσθητι ταῦτα, Ἰακὼβ καὶ Ἰσραὴλ,μὴ ἐπιλανθάνου μου. Ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἀπήλειψα ὡς ἐν νεφέλῃ τὰς ἀνομίας σου, καὶ ὡς γνόφος τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου.» Καὶ πλεῖστα μὲν ἄν τις συλλέξαιτο τὰ