Shaving=shame; idol mind bare; Nazirite above kin-corpse
Cyril: …of praise every to dart-through already somehow such a one will you say?
Palladius: And very much.
Cyril: And what, will not the to be shaved and to be stripped-down the head of hair being cut in Christ of the hair, of a dishonor a suspicion work, for whom ever altogether it should meet somehow, to go?
Palladius: I understand.
Cyril: For if of God saying toward the of the Jews mother, and I say the Jerusalem, ‘Shave and shear upon your tender children. Widen your widowhood as an eagle, because they were captived from you.’ (Micah 1:16) For insolent and dishonor-making the shaving, and for those mourning most-fitting.
Palladius: You spoke well.
Cyril: Naked then therefore and most-dishonored a mind, and of shame full not having in itself the through which it is wondered. And they would be in these also very reasonably both the little-minded, and a having-been-corrupted having upon God the opinion, as for stones to worship, or then senselessly to dare to apportion for the creation the reverence, beside the creator and maker, (Romans 1:25) and the altogether having been twisted to think and to say, and the on the one hand true and unblemished to shake-off faith, and to leap-upon rather, upon what things ever from folly someone would speak-aside, because the mind with good not to have hairing reasonings.
Palladius: Most-excellently you spoke.
Cyril: So then let be for those unto rightness reasonings having been filled the mind, and of thoughts findings the unto every anything of the having-been-wondered, as with some hair having been crowned. For mindful such a one is that most at least, and fittingly having unto at least the needing thereafter the in Christ through faith to settle-in enlightenment. And a well-natured thus and choice having practiced life, the with such a mind conspicuous, of every the to defile-down being natural to go far the divine for us orders oracle, and of fleshly on the one hand works to depart, and the as many as look toward a dying and a corruption, as farthest to throw. Therefore not needing for the having-died to visit, nor indeed upon a dead to be defiled to love, this somewhere altogether for us under-hints. And bars of such a thing entirely the law, also of the unto parents reverence better setting the for God seeming. ‘For upon a father,’ he says, ‘and upon a mother he will not enter.’ (Numbers 6:7) For of virtue being righted, let go flesh-loving, of the from blood familiarity
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
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 16 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 16 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 16 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 16)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 16)
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.