A shaven head and a bare mind; God above family ties
Cyril: …of all praise?
Palladius: Certainly.
Cyril: And what of this? Would not shaving and stripping the head bare, with the hair cut close to the skin, bring an impression of dishonor on anyone to whom it might happen?
Palladius: I understand.
Cyril: For if God says to the mother of the Jews, I mean Jerusalem, ‘Shave and shear yourself for your delicate children; make your widowhood wide like an eagle, because they have been taken captive from you’ (Micah 1:16), it is because shaving brings insult and dishonor, and is most fitting for those who mourn.
Palladius: You have spoken well.
Cyril: Bare, then, and utterly dishonored, and full of shame is the mind that does not have within itself the things that make it admirable. Among such would quite rightly be counted those of little understanding, and those who hold a corrupt opinion of God, so as to worship stones, that is, to dare senselessly to give reverence to the creation rather than to the Creator and Maker (Romans 1:25), and to think and say what is wholly perverse, and to shake off the true and blameless faith, and instead to leap at whatever anyone might blurt out in folly, because their mind has no full head of good thoughts.
Palladius: Excellently said.
Cyril: Let the mind, then, be filled with thoughts that lead to rightness, and be crowned, as with a head of hair, with the discoveries of reflection on everything admirable. Such a person is as sensible as can be, and well fitted from now on to receive into himself the enlightenment that is in Christ through faith. As for the one so well endowed, who has trained himself in an exceptional life and is distinguished by such a mind, the divine oracle commands him to keep far from everything that by its nature defiles, to withdraw from fleshly deeds, and to cast as far away as possible whatever tends toward deadness and corruption. So the rule that one must not visit the dead, nor be willing to be defiled over a corpse, surely hints at this for us. The law bars him from such things entirely, setting what pleases God above reverence for parents. ‘For he shall not go near,’ it says, ‘his father or his mother’ (Numbers 6:6–7). For when virtue is being achieved, away with love of the flesh; let God hold the first and higher place over kinship by blood. This is what Christ himself also said: ‘Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me’ (Matthew 10:37–38). The Savior himself also taught us that the things of God rank above reverence for parents. For there came to him one of those already counted…
Greek
ἐπαίνου παντὸς διᾴττειν ἤδη πως τόν γε τοιοῦτον ἐρεῖς;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ μάλα.
{ΚΥΡ.} Τί δὲ, οὐχὶ τὸ ξυρᾶσθαι καὶ καταψιλοῦσθαι τὴν κεφαλὴν τεμνομένης ἐν Χριστῷ [γρ. Χρωτὶ] τῆς τριχὸς, ἀτιμίας ὑπόληψιν ἐργάσαιτ' ἂν, οἷσπερ ἂν ὅλως συμβαίνοι τυχὸν, ἰέναι;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Συνίημι.
{ΚΥΡ.} Εἰ γὰρ Θεοῦ λέγοντος πρὸς τὴν τῶν Ἰουδαίων μητέρα, φημὶ δὲ τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ, «Ξύρησαι καὶ κεῖρε ἐπὶ τὰ τέκνα τὰ τρυφερά σου. Ἐμπλάτυνον τὴν χηρείαν σου ὡς ἀετὸς, ὅτι ᾐχμαλωτεύθησαν ἀπὸ σοῦ.» Ὑβρίστρια γὰρ καὶ ἀτιμοποιὸς ἡ ξύρησις, καὶ τοῖς πενθοῦσι πρεπωδεστάτη.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εὖ ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Γυμνὸς οὖν ἄρα καὶ ἀτιμότατος νοῦς, καὶ αἰσχύνης ἔμπλεως οὐκ ἔχων ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὰ δι' ὧν θαυμάζεται. Εἶεν δ' ἂν ἐν τούτοις καὶ μάλα εἰκότως οἵ τε ὀλιγογνώμονες, καὶ παρεφθαρμένην ἔχοντες ἐπὶ Θεῷ τὴν δόξαν, ὡς λίθοις προσκυνεῖν, ἤγουν ἀσυνέτως ἀποτολμᾷν ἀπονέμειν τῇ κτίσει τὸ σέβας, παρὰ τὸν κτίστην καὶ ποιητὴν, καὶ τὰ εἰσάπαν διεστραμμένα φρονεῖν τε καὶ λέγειν, καὶ τὴν μὲν ἀληθῆ καὶ ἀμώμητον ἀποσείεσθαι πίστιν, ἐπιθρώσκειν δὲ μᾶλλον, οἷς ἂν ἐξ ἠλιθιότητος παραφθέγξαιτό τις, διάτοι τὸν νοῦν ἀγαθοῖς οὐκ ἔχειν κατακομῶντα λογισμοῖς.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἄριστα ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἔστω δὴ οὖν τοῖς εἰς ὀρθότητα λογισμοῖς μεμεστωμένος ὁ νοῦς, καὶ ἐννοιῶν εὑρήμασι τοῖς εἰς πᾶν ὁτιοῦν τῶν τεθαυμασμένων, οἷά τινι κόμῃ κατεστεμμένος. Ἔμφρων γὰρ ὁ τοιοῦτός ἐστιν ὅτι μάλιστά γε, καὶ ἐπιτηδείως ἔχων εἴς γε τὸ χρῆναι λοιπὸν τὸν ἐν Χριστῷ διὰ πίστεως εἰσοικίσασθαι φωτισμόν. Εὐφυᾶ δὲ οὕτω καὶ ἀπόλεκτον ἐξησκηκότα ζωὴν, τὸν νῷ τοιῷδε διαπρεπῆ, παντὸς τοῦ καταμιαίνειν πεφυκότος οἴχεσθαι μακρὰν τὸ θεῖον ἡμῖν ἐπιτάττει χρησμῴδημα, καὶ σαρκικῶν μὲν ἔργων ἀποχωρεῖν, τὰ δὲ ὅσα βλέπει πρὸς νέκρωσιν καὶ φθορὰν, ὡς ἀπωτάτω ῥίπτειν. Τοιγάρτοι μὴ χρῆναι τοῖς τεθνεῶσιν ἐπιφοιτᾷν, μήτε μὴν ἐπὶ νεκρῷ καταμιαίνεσθαι φιλεῖν, τοῦτό που πάντως ἡμῖν ὑπαινίττεται. Ἐξείργει δὲ τοῦ τοιοῦδε παντελῶς ὁ νόμος, καὶ τῆς εἰς γονέας αἰδοῦς ἄμεινον τιθεὶς τὸ τῷ Θεῷ δοκοῦν. «Ἐπὶ πατρὶ γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ ἐπὶ μητρὶ οὐκ εἰσελεύσεται.» Κατορθουμένης γὰρ ἀρετῆς, ἐῤῥέτω φιλοσαρκία, τῆς ἐξ αἵματος οἰκειότητος ἐν λόγῳ τῷ προὔχοντι καὶ ἀμείνονι ἔστω Θεός. Τοῦτό τοι καὶ αὐτὸς ἔφασκεν ὁ Χριστός· «Ὁ φιλῶν πατέρα ἢ μητέρα ὑπὲρ ἐμὲ, οὐκ ἔστι μου ἄξιος, καὶ ὁ φιλῶν υἱὸν ἢ θυγατέρα ὑπὲρ ἐμὲ, οὐκ ἔστι μου ἄξιος. Καὶ ὃς οὐ λαμβάνει τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀκολουθεῖ ὀπίσω μου, οὐκ ἔστι μου ἄξιος.» Ὅτι δὲ τὰ Θεοῦ, τῆς εἰς γονέας αἰδοῦς ἐν ἀμείνοσι, καὶ αὐτὸς ἡμᾶς ἐδίδαξεν ὁ Σωτήρ. Προσῄει μὲν γάρ τις τῶν ἤδη τελούντων