Book Sixteen opens: after cleansing, spiritual offerings
ON ADORATION AND WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH — BOOK SIXTEEN. That we must bring to God spiritual sacrifices and gifts.
Cyril: What has been said is enough, I think, to show that we must go resolutely to have our sin rubbed away, and to the cleansing that comes through Christ. He is able to scour away all the filth that is in us, melting it down by the working of the Spirit, and he knows how to make us washed clean and holy. This is why the sacred word speaks to us in just this way, crying out long beforehand about the working of the Spirit that was to come upon us: ‘For suddenly the Lord whom you seek will come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord Almighty. And who will endure the day when he comes in? Or who will stand when he appears? For he comes in like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap, and he will sit refining and purifying, as silver and as gold.’ (Malachi 3:1–3) And in harmony with these words, too, is the inspired…
Greek
ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΕΝ ΠΝΕΥΜΑΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΑΛΗΘΕΙΑ ΠΡΟΣΚΥΝΗΣΕΩΣ ΚΑΙ ΛΑΤΡΕΙΑΣ ΛΟΓΟΣ ΕΚΚΑΙΔΕΚΑΤΟΣ. Ὅτι χρὴ προσάγειν ἡμᾶς θυσίας πνευματικὰς καὶ δωροφορίας Θεῷ. Ἀπόχρη μὲν οὖν, καθάπερ ἐγᾦμαι, τὰ εἰρημένα πρὸς τὸ δεῖν ἰέναι γεννικῶς εἰς ἀπότριψιν ἁμαρτίας, καὶ εἰς ἀποκάθαρσιν τὴν διὰ Χριστοῦ, πάντα μὲν ῥύπον τὸν ἐν ἡμῖν διασμήχειν οἵου τε, καὶ τῇ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐνεργείᾳ συντήκοντος, ἐκνενιμμένους δὲ καὶ ἁγίους ἀποφαίνειν εἰδότος. Τοιγάρτοι καὶ ἱερὸς ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος τοιοῦτος, τὴν τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐνέργειαν εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐσομένην προανακεκράγει λέγων· «Ὅτι ἐξαίφνης ἥξει εἰς τὸν ναὸν αὐτοῦ Κύριος, ὃν ὑμεῖς ζητεῖτε, καὶ ὁ ἄγγελος τῆς διαθήκης, ὃν ὑμεῖς θέλετε. Ἰδοὺ ἔρχεται, λέγει Κύριος παντοκράτωρ, καὶ τίς ὑπομενεῖ ἡμέραν εἰσόδου αὐτοῦ; ἢ τίς ὑποστήσεται ἐν τῇ ὀπτασίᾳ αὐτοῦ; ὅτι αὐτὸς εἰσπορεύεται, ὡς πῦρ χωνευτηρίου, καὶ ὡς πόα πλυνόντων, καὶ καθιεῖται χωνεύων καὶ καθαρίζων, ὡς τὸ ἀργύριον καὶ τὸ χρυσίον.» Συνᾴδει δὲ τούτοις καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος