Gonorrhea law; spiritual waste of seed; created for good works
Cyril: ‘And this the law of his uncleanness, flowing a seed from his body, from the flux of which has been composed his body, through the flux, this his uncleanness in him, all the days of a flux of his body in which has been composed his body through the flux, his uncleanness it is. Every bed upon which if he should sleep upon it the gonorrheic, unclean it is, and every vessel upon which if he should sit upon it the gonorrheic, unclean it will be. And a human, who if he should touch of his bed, will wash his garments, and will bathe his body with water, and unclean he will be until evening. And the one sitting upon the vessel, upon which if he should sit the gonorrheic, will wash his garments, and will bathe with water, and unclean’ (Leviticus 15:3-6)
Palladius: And what sort would be the in a soul passion, to the bodily gonorrhea resembling? For spiritual the law; or not thus it holds? (Romans 7:14)
Cyril: Very much so; for you spoke rightly. Yet that think-through, the of the body flux, the of the nature fitness toward fruit-bearing wrongs somehow, sending-down toward the nothing of the seeds the supplies, and the in
Palladius: Of what sort then do you say?
Cyril: For did not, O friend, to have been created the human upon good works the divine for us say Paul? (Ephesians 2:10)
Palladius: And very much.
Cyril: A nature then therefore he has been allotted toward every anything of the praised things rightly having and fittingly; or for, not of wisdom on the one hand receptive, and of every knowledge the living-thing to be do you say? And temperance and manliness, and indeed also righteousness he would right easily, if to complete he should choose the fitting and the divine to follow laws?
Greek
Καὶ οὗτος ὁ νόμος τῆς ἀκαθαρσίας αὐτοῦ, ῥέων γόνον ἐκ σώματος αὐτοῦ, ἐκ τῆς ῥύσεως ἧς συνέστηκε τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ, διὰ τῆς ῥύσεως, αὕτη ἡ ἀκαθαρσία αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ, πᾶσαι αἱ ἡμέραι ῥύσεως σώματος αὐτοῦ ᾗ συνέστηκε τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ διὰ τῆς ῥύσεως, ἀκαθαρσία αὐτοῦ ἐστι. Πᾶσα κοίτη ἐφ' ἧς ἂν κοιμηθῇ ἐπ' αὐτῆς ὁ γονοῤῥυὴς, ἀκάθαρτός ἐστι, καὶ πᾶν σκεῦος ἐφ' ὃ ἂν καθίσῃ ἐπ' αὐτὸ ὁ γονοῤῥυὴς, ἀκάθαρτον ἔσται. Καὶ ἄνθρωπος, ὃς ἐὰν ἅψηται τῆς κοίτης αὐτοῦ, πλυνεῖ τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ, καὶ λούσεται τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ ὕδατι, καὶ ἀκάθαρτος ἔσται ἕως ἑσπέρας. Καὶ ὁ καθήμενος ἐπὶ τοῦ σκεύους, ἐφ' ὃ ἂν καθίσῃ ὁ γονοῤῥυὴς, πλυνεῖ τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ, καὶ λούσεται ὕδατι, καὶ ἀκάθαρτος ἔσται ἕως ἑσπέρας. Καὶ ὁ ἁπτόμενος τοῦ χρωτὸς τοῦ γονοῤῥυοῦς, πλυνεῖ τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ, καὶ λούσεται ὕδατι, καὶ ἀκάθαρτος ἔσται ἕως ἑσπέρας. Ἐὰν δὲ προσεγγίσῃ ὁ γονοῤῥυὴς ἐπὶ τὸν καθαρὸν, πλυνεῖ τὰ ἱμάτια καὶ λούσεται ὕδατι, καὶ ἀκάθαρτος ἔσται ἕως ἑσπέρας.» Καὶ πρός γε δὴ τούτοις φησὶ βδελυρὸν ἔσεσθαι καὶ ἀπηχθημένον πᾶν σκεῦος ᾧπερ ἂν ἐνιζήσειεν ὁ γονοῤῥυὴς, κἂν εἰ ἀπονίψαιτο τὰς χεῖρας ὕδατι, καὶ τοῦτο ἔσται μεμολυσμένον. Κἂν εἰ ἅψαιτό τις τοῦ χρωτὸς αὐτοῦ, συμμεθέξει πάντως τῆς ἀκαθαρσίας τὴν γραφὴν, κἂν εἰ προσεγγίσειέ τις τῶν οὔπω μεμολυσμένων, ὑπομενοῦσι δὴ πάντως τῆς ἀκαθαρσίας τὴν γραφήν. Τοιγάρτοι καὶ ἀναμὶξ τοῖς λεπροῖς ἐξέθη τε καὶ ἐξῳκίζετο τῆς παρεμβολῆς, ἀπρόσιτος ὢν καὶ ἄμικτος καὶ αὐτῇ καταμιαίνων τῇ χειρὸς ἁφῇ τοὺς προστυγχάνοντας ἀπλῶς.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ ποῖον ἂν εἴη τὸ ἐν ψυχῇ πάθος, τῇ σωματικῇ γονοῤῥοίᾳ προσεοικός; Πνευματικὸς γὰρ ὁ νόμος· ἢ οὐχ ὧδε ἔχει;
{ΚΥΡ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν· ἔφης γὰρ ὀρθῶς. Πλὴν ἐκεῖνο διανοοῦ, ἡ τοῦ σώματος ῥύσις, τὴν τῆς φύσεως ἐπιτηδειότητα πρὸς καρπογονίαν ἀδικεῖ τρόπον τινὰ, καθιεῖσα πρὸς τὸ μηδὲν τῶν σπερμάτων τὰς χορηγίας, καὶ τοὺς ἐν τοῖς μορίοις χαλῶσα τόνους, ἀνεθέλητον ἤδη πως ἐργάζεται τὴν καταφθορὰν, ὡς ἐν μολυσμοῖς εἶναι μακροῖς καὶ διηνεκέσι τοὺς τῷ πάθει κατειλημμένους. Ἴσθι δὴ οὖν ὡς ἐξ ἀῤῥωστίας σωματικῆς καὶ ἐναργοῦς, εἰκόνος ἐπὶ τὰ εἰς νοῦν συμβαίνοντα· καταφθείρεται γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐφ' ἃ μὴ προσῆκεν ὁ νοῦς ἀσωτότατα διαπονούμενος, καὶ ἐπ' οὐδενὶ τῶν ἀναγκαίων τῆς ἰδίας ἐνεργείας ἐνιεὶς τὸ σπούδασμα, ὡς καρπὸν μὲν οὐδένα γνήσιον ἔχειν, ὑποφέρεσθαι δὲ ἀεί πως πρὸς τὸ ἀδικοῦν, καὶ ἀκαθέκτως νοσεῖν τὴν εἰς τὰ αἰσχίω κάθοδον.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οἷον δὴ τί φής;
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐ γὰρ, ὦ φιλότης, ἐκτίσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐπὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς ὁ θεῖος ἡμῖν ἔφη Παῦλος;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ μάλα.
{ΚΥΡ.} Φύσιν οὖν ἄρα διεκληρώσατο πρὸς πᾶν ὁτιοῦν τῶν ἐπαινουμένων ὀρθῶς ἔχουσαν καὶ ἐπιτηδείως· ἢ γὰρ, οὐχὶ σοφίας μὲν δεκτικὸν, καὶ ἁπάσης ἐπιστήμης τὸ ζῶον εἶναι φής; Σωφροσύνην δὲ καὶ ἀνδρίαν, καὶ μὴν καὶ δικαιοσύνην κατορθώσειεν ἂν εὐκόλως, εἰ διαπεραίνειν ἕλοιτο τὰ εἰκότα καὶ τοῖς θείοις ἕπεσθαι νόμοις;
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 15 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 15 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 15 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 15)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 15)
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.