God accepts each by his strength; keep the vows you make
Cyril: …could hardly be very fruitful, just as aging plants, when their root grows old, are seen to be slow in putting forth ripe fruit. So God, who is truly just and loves to show compassion, accepts the fruits in proportion to each person’s zeal and capacity of mind. He neither disregards what is feeble and past its prime, sending it away as powerless, nor lets the strong go without reward; rather he opens wide, as it were, the way for those who are willing to win his approval, in whatever manner each is able. And those who are weaker in their condition, and perhaps also of little understanding, he himself will keep, measuring the fruit he asks of each by his strength. For this, I think, is the meaning of: ‘He shall stand before the priest, and the priest shall value him according to what the one who vowed can afford’ (Leviticus 27:8).
Palladius: How finely reasoned!
Cyril: So, Palladius, we must offer to God, like a sweet fragrance and as a debt we owe, a way of life fitting for saints and the glories of an outstanding life. You have learned from one of the saints, who wrote: ‘Honor the Lord from your just labors, and offer him firstfruits from your fruits of righteousness’ (Proverbs 3:9). For the people of old thought they honored him with sacrifices of oxen and with frankincense, since that was the road of life under the law. But we, who are now in Christ through faith, are going by the better and more excellent path, and we shall offer God worship in spirit and truth (John 4:23–24), making every effort, as it were, to be able to carry out nobly what we ought, and honoring God with spiritual and holy offerings. For I say that we must remember him who speaks plainly through the most wise Moses: ‘You shall keep what goes out through your lips’ (Deuteronomy 23:23). That is, whatever you vow, hasten to carry it out, and very promptly. For in such matters delay is not without loss. ‘For if you make a vow to the Lord,’ it says, ‘do not delay in paying it’ (Deuteronomy 23:21; Ecclesiastes 5:4). ‘It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay’ (Ecclesiastes 5:5).
Palladius: True.
Cyril: Indeed, there is a wise aim in the art of fulfilling vows and pledges as we ought, and one could learn it without error from no other source than the law. For it is written: ‘Your law is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths’ (Psalm 119:105). Or are we not guided by the light of the divine law, and could one not speed along a straight road that never strays, with its rays as a kind of lamp?
Palladius: Of course. For the inspired David also sings somewhere: ‘The commandment of the Lord is radiant, giving light to the eyes’ (Psalm 19:8).
Cyril: You will learn very clearly how we shall win approval, living a glorious and wholly pure life and rendering to God, as a splendid offering, the ways of great goodness, for God gives us his charge through other oracles too.
Greek
κὸς εἰς τὸ ἄναλκί τε καὶ ἀδρανὲς, οὐκ ἂν γένοιτό πως ἐν εὐκαρπίᾳ πολλῇ, καθάπερ ἀμέλει καὶ τὰ γηράσκοντα τῶν φυτῶν, παλαιουμένης αὐτῶν τῆς ῥίζης, κατοκνοῦντα φαίνεται πρὸς τὴν ὡρίμων ἐκβολήν. Οὐκοῦν ὁ δίκαιος ἀληθῶς καὶ φιλοικτίρμων Θεὸς, ἀναλόγως ταῖς ἑκάστου προθυμίαις, καὶ τῇ κατὰ νοῦν ἐπιτηδειότητι, δέχεται τοὺς καρποὺς, οὔτε τὸ ἄναλκι καὶ ἀφηβηκὸς, ἔξω τε λόγου τιθεὶς, καὶ ἀποπέμπων ὡς ἀδρανὲς, οὔτε μὴν ἀγέραστον τὸ εὐσθενὲς ἀνιεὶς, ἀνευρύνων δὲ ὥσπερ τοῖς ἐθέλουσι τὸ εὐδοκιμεῖν, καθ' ὃν ἂν ἕκαστος ἔχοι τρόπον. Τοὺς δέ γε τὴν ἕξιν ἀσθενεστέρους, τάχα δέ που καὶ ὀλιγογνώμονας, αὐτὸς ἕξει, τὴν καρποφορίαν ἐπιμετρῶν ἑκάστῳ τὸ κατ' ἰσχύν. Τοῦτο γὰρ, οἶμαι, ἐστὶ τὸ, «Στήσεται ἐναντίον τοῦ ἱερέως, καὶ τιμήσει αὐτὸν ὁ ἱερεὺς, καθ' ὅσον ἰσχύει ἡ χεὶρ τοῦ εὐξαμένου.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὡς ἰσχνὸς ὁ λόγος!
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀνακομιστέον δὴ οὖν, ὦ Παλλάδιε, τῷ Θεῷ, καθάπερ ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας, καὶ ὀφλημάτων ἐν τάξει, πολιτείαν ἁγιοπρεπῆ, καὶ τῆς ἐξαιρέτου ζωῆς τὰ αὐχήματα. Γεγραφότος δὲ δὴ τῶν ἁγίων διεπύθου τινὸς, «Τίμα τὸν Κύριον ἀπὸ σῶν δικαίων πόνων, καὶ ἀπάρχου αὐτῷ ἀπὸ σῶν καρπῶν δικαιοσύνης.» Βουθυσίαις μὲν γὰρ οἱ πάλαι καὶ λιβανωτοῖς ᾤοντο τιμᾷν· πολιτείας γὰρ ἥδε τῆς κατὰ νόμον ὁδός· ἡμεῖς δὲ λοιπὸν οἱ ἐν Χριστῷ διὰ πίστεως, τὴν ἀμείνω καὶ προφερεστέραν ἰόντες τρίβον, τὴν ἐν πνεύματί τε καὶ ἀληθείᾳ προσκύνησιν ἀναθήσομεν τῷ Θεῷ, πάντα μὲν ὥσπερ σείοντες κάλων, εἴς γε τὸ δύνασθαι γεννικῶς διαπεραίνειν ἃ χρῆν, ἀναθήμασι δὲ τοῖς πνευματικοῖς τε καὶ ἱεροῖς καταγεραίρειν Θεόν. Φημὶ γὰρ ἔγωγε διαμεμνῆσθαι δεῖν λέγοντος ἐναργῶς διὰ τοῦ πανσόφου Μωσέως, «Τὰ ἐκπορευόμενα διὰ τῶν χειλέων σου φυλάξῃ,» τουτέστιν, ὅπερ ἂν εὔξῃ, διαπεραίνειν ἐπείγου καὶ μάλα γοργῶς. Χρῆμα γὰρ ἐν τούτοις ὁ μελλησμὸς οὐκ ἀζήμιον. «Ἐὰν γὰρ εὔξῃ, φησὶν, εὐχὴν τῷ Κυρίῳ, μὴ χρονίσῃς τοῦ ἀποδοῦναι αὐτήν· ἀγαθὸν τὸ μὴ εὔξασθαί σε, ἢ εὔξασθαι καὶ μὴ ἀποδοῦναι.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀληθές.
{ΚΥΡ.} Καὶ μέντοι τῆς εὐτεχνίας τὸν εὐφυᾶ σκοπὸν, τῆς ἐπί γε τῷ δεῖν ἀποπεραίνειν εὐχὰς καὶ ὁμολογίας, ἀναμάθοι τις ἂν οὐχ ἑτέρωθεν ἀπλανῶς, πλὴν ὅτι διὰ τοῦ νόμου. Γέγραπται γὰρ, ὅτι «Λύχνος τοῖς ποσί μου ὁ νόμος σου, καὶ φῶς ταῖς τρίβοις μου.» Ἢ γὰρ οὐχὶ νόμῳ τῷ θείῳ φωταγωγούμεθα, καὶ οἶμον ὀρθήν τε καὶ ἀπλανῆ διᾴττοι τις ἂν, λύχνον ὥσπερ τινὰ τὰς ἐκεῖθεν ἔχων αὐγάς;»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πῶς γὰρ οὔ; Ψάλλει γάρ που καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος Δαβίδ· «Ἡ ἐντολὴ Κυρίου τηλαυγὴς, φωτίζουσα ὀφθαλμούς.»
{ΚΥΡ.} Τίνα δὴ οὖν τρόπον εὐδοκιμήσομεν, τὸν εὐκλεᾶ τε καὶ πάναγνον διαζῶντες βίον, καὶ λαμπρὸν ἀνάθημα τῷ Θεῷ, τοὺς τῆς ἄγαν ἐπιεικείας ἀπονέμοντες τρόπους, εἴσῃ τοι καὶ μάλα σαφῶς, καὶ δι' ἑτέρων ἡμῖν θεσπισμάτων ἐπισκήπτοντος τοῦ Θεοῦ.