On Adoration and Worship in Spirit and Truth, Book 2
Περὶ προσκυνήσεως
Justification is not in the Law but in Christ§1
1Book 2. That it is impossible to escape the death that comes from sin, and the devil's greed, except through the sanctification that is according to Christ; and that justification is not in the Law but in Christ.
Cyril said: So then, Palladius, a not ignoble argument has shown us that it is a thing to love to keep clear of what is naturally hurtful, and that we must desire the slavery under God, as both honorable and profitable.
Palladius said: Indeed it has.
Cyril: And we were quite sure that, leaving the more shameful things entirely, we ought to seek the better.
Palladius: Very much so.
Cyril: And so it seemed we must, putting as far away as we can the love of pleasure in this world's life and the bustle that goes with it, be eager to sacrifice to God, and — as if we had come into a desert by a disposition of mind — practice for him a worship that is unhurried and most clean, not to be entered by defilements, beautiful and acceptable.
Palladius: It did seem so.
Cyril: And that, when Satan from greed was shutting us up under himself and wanting to hold us, a divine law was calling us into a free dignity, setting the teaching about the best things against his abominations, and tutoring us toward the better — was this not made white-clear from ten thousand examples?
Palladius: True.
Cyril: God, then, is the giver of salvation, and the steward of all our well-being, showing the road of kinship with himself, Christ mediating. Or would not Moses' mediation be a type, and a very clear one, of the mediation through Christ (Galatians 3:19–20) (1 Timothy 2:5) (Hebrews 8:6)?
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Moses led from brick-making; Christ from the intelligible slavery§2
2Palladius said: In what way?
Cyril: Divine Moses was bringing Israel out of a bodily slavery and taking them off the labors of brick-making and the works around the earth, and, lying as it were in the middle between God and men, he was carrying down to them the words from above. But our Lord Jesus Christ, recarving into truth the things that were in type and shadows, draws us out of the intelligible slavery, putting out the sin that long tyrannized over us, shaking down the devil's power, and persuading those who think they must follow him to leave an earthly mind and the eager business about the flesh, reshaping them as it were into a desire for virtue, and announcing to us most clearly the will of God and Father. That is why he also said, 'The words that I speak are not mine, but of the one who sent me.' (John 14:24) And again, 'I do not speak from myself, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak.' (John 12:49)
And Moses made his own affairs an image and stamp of the mediation in Christ, saying to those from Israel, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from your brothers, like me. You shall hear him, according to all that you asked from the Lord your God at Horeb, on the day of the assembly.' (Deuteronomy 18:15–16) So the things through Moses, and the force of the mediation according to him, are in type and image. The manner of the mediation in Christ is more unspeakable. For Moses was a servant of law and shadow, and a carrier of the tutoring from above. Christ, as master of law and prophets, lays down what seems good to him, and he was mediator, deity and humanity running together in him and coming as it were into one. For Christ is understood as both at once. 'And Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant; but Christ as a son over his house, whose house we are' (Hebrews 3:5–6) — we who have been led through faith in him into the true freedom.
It is settled, then, that the hierophant Moses was mediator of a bodily freedom, of letter and shadow; but our Lord Jesus Christ is the one who brings in the things above the Law, and who gives the incomparably better freedom, that is, the one according to the Spirit. That is why he also said, even to those from Israel who had been freed in a bodily way, 'If you remain in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will free you.' (John 8:31–32) And again, 'Everyone who does sin is a slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. If then the Son frees you, you are free indeed.' (John 8:36)
Palladius: You have spoken very well.
Cyril: We will boast, then, not in the bright things according to the flesh, but in those in the Spirit and in the righteousness— (Exodus 1:14)
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The Law shows sin; it does not perfect§3
3Palladius went on with Cyril: '...that is according to Christ, not that according to the Law.' (Romans 1:16–17) For if what is under sin is still a slave, and the Law justifies least of all — it condemns rather, and writes down those who transgress — how would it not be clear to everyone that all justification is in Christ, and the perfecting in the Spirit through sanctification, through him and in him? And so the all-wise Paul writes, 'For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, The righteous shall live from faith.' (Habakkuk 2:4) And he writes down the uselessness and weakness of the old Law in this, saying, 'That no one is justified in the Law before God is clear, because the righteous shall live from faith. And the Law is not from faith, but the one who has done them shall live in them.' (Galatians 3:11–12) So in Christ we are justified through faith, and we have been redeemed from the intelligible slavery.
Palladius: Is the Law useless, then?
Cyril: I do not say that. For it was not oracled in vain. It was given rather 'for help,' according to what is written. As far as tutoring goes, and knowing what is a fault, and needing to take first principles and elements of the oracles of God, how would it not be thought useful? But it is slower toward the washing-off of sin, and toward being able to perfect into sanctification. And so divine Paul said to us, 'We know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those in the Law, so that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become accountable to God, because from works of Law no flesh will be justified before him; for through Law is knowledge of sins.' (Romans 3:19-20) So the Law is a shower of sin, not a bringer of boasts toward virtue. For to say, You shall not fornicate, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not swear falsely, and whatever is fitted to such things, belonged to one marking the kinds of worthlessness and putting people out of uncleanness — not bringing in a knowledge of virtue, nor making the knowledge of the unadulterated life most clear to the hearers. That one must not do the more shameful things is, I think, a dull thing to enroll among the ways of the exceptional life. I think we must, and very reasonably, only then barely bind on ourselves the vote for all the things that are praised, if, having let go of the evil and pushed it away and left it to stay down somewhere — the thing not yet rid of the reputation of worthlessness and profane abomination — we leap up onto the very boasts of virtue. And so our Lord Jesus Christ says, 'Amen, amen I say to you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of the heavens.' (Matthew 5:20) You understand, then, that the Savior has commanded us to choose the righteousness beyond that according to the Law. And knowing the thing to be best, the wise Paul writes, 'If anyone else thinks to have confidence in the flesh, I more. Circumcised the eighth day, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,' (Philippians 3:4–5)
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Abraham was justified by faith before circumcision§4
4'a Hebrew from Hebrews, according to the Law a Pharisee, according to zeal persecuting the Church, according to righteousness in the Law becoming blameless. Whatever was gain to me, these I have counted loss because of Christ. Indeed I count all things loss because of the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, the one from the Law, but the one through faith in Christ.' (Philippians 3:5–9)
Palladius: I understand; the argument is clear. But tell me this. Why was the righteousness through faith, and the sanctification according to it, not decreed for us at the beginning, if the old Law is not enough for perfecting?
Cyril: Because, my friend, I would say, what is dirty is reasonably washed, what is defiled is wiped, and what is darkened is made bright. And it would be fitting, I think, according to the Savior's voice, that the sick be healed, and that not the sanctified but those loaded with sins be called to a change of mind. For must not those who are called to forgiveness first be found guilty, and be seen as redeemed after having been in danger from the weakness in them? So the Law that shows sin had to appear first, as a kind of proof and an exact accuser of everyone's weakness, so that the greatness of the divine gentleness through Christ might not be unknown to us. For where, or how, is the grace of forgiveness, if the charges do not lie underneath?
And if, speaking briefly, we must also leap to certain ancient narratives, I will say again that God was promising to Abraham the grace through faith, and, as in a firstfruits of those shown mercy, he was making in him the forgiveness from gentleness older than the Law. For it is written that 'Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.' (Genesis 15:6) And Paul adds his witness, saying, 'How then was it counted? In circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, he says, but in uncircumcision; and he received a sign, circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which was in uncircumcision.' (Romans 4:10–11) And he heard God saying plainly that 'in you all the nations shall be blessed.' (Genesis 12:3) And the 'in you' would mean, according to your likeness. So Paul, understanding it this way, says, 'The Scripture, foreseeing that God justifies the nations from faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, that in you all the nations shall be blessed. So those from faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.' (Galatians 3:8–9) Circumcision, then, is a sign of the faith in uncircumcision, and he has been justified not from works of Law, and the boasts through faith appear older than the circumcision in the flesh. For he was called friend of God (James 2:23) (Isaiah 41:8).
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The Law was put in until the seed should come§5
5Palladius said: I would reasonably ask, then, what the delay of the sanctification according to faith was — why you say the sign is in the older place and the thing that surpasses it in the second.
Cyril: Did we not just say that it was the work of an admirable and unspeakable skill, that the Law which condemns should leap up in time before the faith that justifies? Or does not the light shine in the darkness? And is not power perfected in weakness, according to what is written?
Palladius: You speak well.
Cyril: So the Law came in besides, so that the trespass might increase. For where there is no Law, there is no transgression either. And how would anyone see the forgiveness of transgression and of the ease toward it, if the Law had not first condemned us? That what I say is true, and that the argument on this is not some faded or ugly thing, Paul will help, saying, 'So the Law was added for the sake of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom it has been promised, ordained through angels.' (Galatians 3:19) And being very wise, he tries to cut off in advance the inventions and questions that will sometimes be found by some. For it was likely that some would blame the delay of the righteousness in faith, and say that the coming-in of the Law in between became a setting-aside of that ancient promise. That is why he says, 'Is the Law then against the promises of God (Galatians 3:21)? Let it not be. For if a Law had been given that was able to make alive, righteousness would truly have been in Law. But Scripture shut up all things under sin, so that the promise from faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Before the faith came, we were guarded under Law, being shut up into the faith about to be revealed to us. So the Law became our tutor unto Christ, so that we might be justified from faith. But when the faith has come we are no longer under a tutor, for you are all sons of God through the faith in Christ Jesus.' (Galatians 3:21-26)
And he makes the question white-clear, as it were, by adding, 'This I say: a covenant previously ratified by God, the Law that came after four hundred and thirty years does not annul, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance is from Law, it is no longer from promise. But God has granted it to Abraham through a promise.' (Galatians 3:18) So the Law, having shut us up into sin, tutored us unto Christ, for the end of Law and prophets is Christ. That is why he also said to the peoples of the Jews who had not believed him, 'If you believed Moses, you would believe me. For he wrote about me.' (John 5:46) We are justified, then, not from works of Law, but rather by the faith in Christ. 'For as many as are from works of Law are under a curse. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not remain in all the things written in the book of the Law, to do them. But from the curse of the Law Christ bought all, having become' (Galatians 3:10) (Deuteronomy 27:26) (Galatians 3:13)
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A curse on the tree; honor God from righteous labors§6
6'a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations in Christ Jesus, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through the faith.' (Galatians 3:13–14)
Palladius: But, my good man, if it seems good, I would rather we go on to something else learned from Christ. This is enough about the Law and the economy according to it.
Cyril: Say then whatever is dear to you; and for me too it is not among the things too hard to reach.
Palladius: The question is not very steep, or trackless. What is sought could be caught, I think, even without much labor, if Christ puts the divine light into us. Will we not, then, honor God with the bloodless offerings — we who have received the justification in faith and push out the worship in shadows and types?
Cyril: You speak well. For it is written, 'Honor the Lord from your righteous labors, and offer him firstfruits from your fruits of righteousness.' (Proverbs 3:9) 'For with such sacrifices God is well pleased,' (Proverbs 3:9) according to the voices of the saints.
Palladius: So it is idle, then, to be eager to sacrifice cattle and to fulfill the things brought in for us through the ancient commandment. For sheep-slaughters and frankincense, and besides these cakes, and oil-soaked fine flour, turtledoves and pigeons, were in that time the dedicated things of those who worshiped. But tell me why he did not from the beginning make these things dismissed, and is now seen laying down as law the things he delights in, and uncovering for us the ways of the spiritual sacrifice.
Cyril: Do you think, then, and dare to say, that the divine did not plan rightly at the beginning, and, as if it had missed the perfectly good, was only barely able to find the greater? Or that it chose then the things in shadows as adequately having what seemed good to it, and then suffered some love of novelty in our case, giving the preference to others, and making new for us a worship not long since decided?
Palladius: No indeed. That, I think, is nonsense. I would not even suppose that being able to miss in anything at all would follow him. I would learn with the greatest pleasure what it was that persuaded him to lay down as law, for those on the earth, those things then, and these things now.
Cyril: Your argument forces us to go back, as it were. Or did I not say that the Law was a tutor — that is, the trainer of those still infants? And to those not yet able to understand what the truly good is, and what the will of God would be — the perfect and well-pleasing — hinting it through a riddle? And as in— (Hebrews 13:16) (Leviticus 2:1) (Leviticus 1:14) (Galatians 3:24) (Romans 12:2)
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I hate your feasts; do justice and love mercy§7
7thick types still marking it. You will know, you will know, and not with long sweat, the manner of the spiritual worship — how it was always, and from the beginning, thrice-desired by God, but still hard to enter and untouchable for the souls of the Jews. That is why they needed an infant-fitting word, and simple lessons, and an economic child-nursing that had nothing steep or rough. For God legislated even of old the things in types. And he showed beforehand again the things from the true worship as coming and about to be present in their times. And he made the approach through blood, and the shadow, a thing to be thrown away. He shook it off through the prophet, saying in Amos, 'I have hated, I have rejected your feasts, and I will not smell in your assemblies. Because if you bring me whole burnt offerings and your sacrifices, I will not look. Take away from me the noise of your songs, and I will not hear the psalm of your instruments.' (Amos 5:21–23)
And through Micah he has brought in the person of a man, wanting to learn how he might accomplish the good without blame: 'With what shall I take hold of the Lord, shall I lay hold of God most high? Shall I take hold of him with whole burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Will the Lord receive thousands of rams, or ten thousands of fat goats? Shall I give my firstborn, fruit of my belly for ungodliness, for the sin of my soul?' (Micah 6:6–8) Then, joined and in order: 'Has it been told you, O man, what is good, or what the Lord seeks from you, but to do judgment and to love mercy, and to be ready to walk with the Lord your God?' (Micah 6:8) Is this not clearly what Christ said: 'If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me' (Matthew 16:24)? And again, 'Let the one who loves me follow me, and where I am, there let my servant also be.' (John 12:26) Not in the legal worship, the one according to Christ, but in a holy and spiritual one.
Palladius: You have spoken most rightly.
Cyril: And through Isaiah’s voice he rebukes those from Israel more hotly, saying: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, rulers of Sodom; attend to the law of God, people of Gomorrah. What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord. I am full of whole burnt offerings of rams, and I do not want fat of lambs and goats; nor if you come to appear to me — who sought these things from your hands? You shall not go on treading my court. If you bring fine flour, it is vain. Incense is an abomination to me; I cannot endure your new moons and sabbaths and great day. Fasting and idleness and your feasts my soul has hated; you have become a surfeit to me.’ (Isaiah 1:10-14) And through the prophet Malachi he says the same still to people greatly hated. And he remembers times in which those throughout all the earth would offer him the incomparable—
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From the rising of the sun a pure sacrifice§8
8fragrance of the bloodless and intelligible sacrifice. For he said again, 'I have no will in you, says the Lord Almighty, and I will not receive a sacrifice from your hands, because from the rising of the sun even to its setting my name has been glorified among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name and a pure sacrifice, because my name is great among the nations, says the Lord Almighty.' (Malachi 1:10–11) You understand that he says incense and a pure sacrifice will be brought up to him from every nation. And just as, naming the new covenant in Christ 'new,' he has made the first old — for divine Paul writes to us this way — so here too, having said that the sacrifice from every nation will be pure in its times, he condemns the ancient one as not being so. For how is something pure in a way, which neither cleanses nor even has the power to perfect toward virtue? That is why the blessed Paul says that it was not without fault, and that the things through Christ had to be brought in, and that a place for the second was sought.
Palladius: Was the worship in shadows wholly unwanted, then, by the all-holy God?
For much better before God than a falling calf and the slaughter of a sheep is love toward brothers, unto the fulfilling of the Law, and the surpassing of the knowledge of Christ, through whom the Father himself would become known to us. And that the thing is a bringer of eternal life, no one would doubt, when Christ says to the Father in the heavens, ‘And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent.’ He will not— (John 17:3)
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Israel returns only through Christ; Law sacrifices cease§9
9Cyril: And that the truth is altogether and in every way — how can one doubt?
Palladius: Least of all.
Cyril: And Israel, having slipped from kinship with him — since, not having accepted the faith, he did not know God — will return to the original good, he says very well, in no other way except through Christ alone, having left off the customs according to Law. And it is written again: ‘Therefore the sons of Israel will sit many days, there being no altar, nor priesthood, nor manifestations; and after these things the sons of Israel will return and will seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and will be amazed at the Lord and at his goods in the last of these days.’ (Hosea 3:4–5) For when the fullness of the nations has entered, then all Israel will be saved — yet in Christ; and he has been named David because of being from David’s seed and tribe. And that even the sacrifices according to Law would be taken away he was confirming clearly through Joel, saying: ‘Gird yourselves and beat yourselves, you priests; lament, you who minister at the altar; go in, sleep in sackcloth, you who minister to God; because sacrifice and drink-offering have been cut off from the house of your God.’ (Joel 1:13) And again through the same prophet: ‘Sacrifice and drink-offering have been lifted from the Lord’s house (Joel 1:13); mourn, you priests who minister at the altar.’ And toward those who still cling to the letter he shows that there will be a kind of remelting and reshaping of priesthood and of sacrifices together.
Palladius: I understand.
Cyril: For the ‘he will pour and will purify,’ (Malachi 3:3) spoken as of gold and a goldsmith — does it not want us to go toward this thought?
Palladius: Very much so.
Cyril: For that the Word, having become human, was going to accomplish some such thing intelligibly, God and Father has given full assurance, saying that ‘Suddenly the Lord will come into his temple— (Malachi 3:1–3)
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Messenger of the covenant; new priesthood; Christ’s table§10
10—whom you seek, and the angel of the covenant whom you desire. Behold, he comes, says the Lord Almighty; and who will endure the day of his entrance? or who will stand in his appearing? because he enters as fire of a smelting-furnace, and as herb of those who wash. And he will sit smelting and purifying as the silver, and as the gold.’ He says, then, that there will be a renewal and reshaping of the priesthood; and the manner of the liturgy, showing nothing else except that this is Christ’s mystery. He spoke again through Ezekiel’s voice about those allotted to be priests: ‘These will bring near to me to minister to me, and will stand before my face to offer me sacrifice, fat and blood, says the Lord God. These will enter into my holy places, and these will approach me toward my table, to minister to me.’ (Ezekiel 44:15) And fat and blood and the liturgies upon the table — would they not reasonably say the mystery of Christ?
Palladius: You speak well.
Cyril: And most clearly he was also making for us the very time according to which the change of all unto the better will be, the manner of the renewal, God saying: ‘And it will be from the eighth day and beyond; the priests will make upon the altar your whole burnt offerings and the things of—
—your peace.’ But come, if it seems good, let us take the narration also from the sacred Writings themselves.
Cyril: I am ready for this, friend, since it seems good to you. And you again examine for me upon each of the contemplations the precise and polished mind. And if I should seem to you not to understand or speak very rightly, soberly correct and clearly re-harbor me, imitating the best of craftsmen, who whenever what is in hand should go out of the fitting account— (Ezekiel 44:15–16) (Ezekiel 43:27)
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Moses’ bush: Law burns but does not consume Israel§11
11—they reshaped skillfully unto what seems to be best. And as a kind of first-fruit of the words unto these things we will make the hierophant Moses, and having touched in a run-through upon the history according to him, I will try very well to give full assurance and to show clearly that the Law has perfected nothing, nor is sufficient unto salvation; but redeemer of all and Savior is Christ.
Palladius: Know that you give no measured help, showing yourself better than hesitation even in this; for the things in hand are very hard to reach, and the knowledge of what is sought is altogether hard to see — yet God who unveils is rich.
Cyril: You speak well, and your word sharpenes me thereafter to go track-wise, equal to the keenest-nosed dogs, of the thoughts in depth and more unseen. Once, then, in the desert according to the so-called Midian, while blessed Moses was shepherding flocks of sheep and was at the very foothills of the mountain Horeb, a strange and not unmarvelous thing was shown, God filling it. ‘For an angel appeared to him,’ (Exodus 3:2) it says, ‘in a flame of fire from a bush; and he saw that the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. And Moses said: Having come near I will see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.’ (Exodus 3:1–3) And the bush is not of the cultivated woods, but rather a kind of wild thorn, and mountain—
—growth. And that a light from the Law has come to be among the Jews, the Savior himself will make clear saying: ‘Search the Scriptures, because you think to have eternal life in them; and those are the ones witnessing about me. And you are not willing to come to me, that you may have eternal life.’ (John 5:39–40) And after other things again, toward the leaders of the Jews, and toward all the people: ‘Do not think that I will accuse you toward the Father; the one accusing you is Mo—
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If you believed Moses you would believe me; bush unconsumed§12
12—ses, upon whom you have hoped; for if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for about me that one wrote. And if you do not believe his words, how will you believe my words?’ For those who most ignorantly push away the elementary teaching through Law — how would they receive the one bringing in through Christ the knowledge of the perfectly good? Seeing the bush burning, yet not being burned down, nor yielding to the fire, blessed Moses was thereafter amazed — why the bush is not consumed. For one would be struck at Israel’s utter senselessness: they who received from God a Law as helper and ally, and who were enriched with the illumination through it, then counting the thing worthy of no word, nor having housed what was given into mind and heart, have remained without profit; for their mind is reasonably as dead and chilled for them. And one would also reasonably say upon them: Why is the bush not consumed? for they would have become with us boiling in the Spirit.
Palladius: You have spoken well.
Cyril: And the thing seems also to hint for us a not-ignorant contemplation of other thoughts. For when those from Israel were already about to leave the Egyptians’ land, and as it were not yet to shake off the yoke of unwilling service — for this reason to strike still against the wraths of the one ruling is a sign—
—of God. For Moses is the face. Cyril: Israel has been called, then, and the flock according to Law and under Law. ‘For the Lord,’ (Exodus 5:3) it says, ‘the God of the Hebrews has called us.’ (Exodus 5:3) And he obeyed God who calls, just as also Moses: ‘For all that the Lord God said, we will do, and we will hear.’ (Exodus 24:7) And since the power of the subordination according to Law is not sufficient unto cleansing — ‘For it is impossible for blood of bulls and goats to take away sins’ (Hebrews 10:4)—
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Do not come near; loose the sandal; Law’s way not clean§13
13—Moses is barred from drawing near to God: ‘Do not come near here,’ (Exodus 3:5) it says. For the good is unapproachable through Law; and the power of the way of life according to Moses is not very sufficient unto being able to carry one to God. But Christ presents him through sanctification. For those eager to be glued to the holy God must be holy: ‘For you will be holy,’ it says, ‘because I am holy.’ And that the manner of the way of life according to Law is not altogether blameless, he taught at once, saying: ‘Loose the sandal from your feet; for the place on which you stand is holy earth.’ (Exodus 3:5) For he has commanded the hierophant Moses to loose the sandal of the foot, showing the journey of the life according to Law not yet clean, nor altogether freed from works from corruption and deadness. And from the Greeks’ custom divine Moses was being taught for us that it is not lawful to draw near to God for the one being in remnants of deadness and corruption. For they were not going in sanctuaries wearing upon the feet sandals from dead animals. And the thing was written as a manner of pollution by those laws. And Law did not free us, friend, from deadness and corruption and uncleanness of things come to that — nor a journey of life according to the Mosaic letter — but rather faith in Christ, and the most perfect cleansing of the evangelical way of life.
Or the weakness of the understanding, somehow not remaining toward God, nor even able to see his glory, according to what is hymned in the Psalms: ‘Let their eyes be darkened from not seeing,’ (Psalm 69:23) or that, ‘Behold a foolish and heartless people; they have eyes, and they do not see.’ (Jeremiah 5:21) But we, approaching the words about the ineffable nature with clean and illuminated eyes, behold in the Son the beauty of God and Father—
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Who has seen me has seen the Father; Leah and Rachel§14
14—being contemplated. And to Jews thinking they have seen the Father, it was said wisely by Christ: ‘Neither have you seen his form, nor have you heard his voice.’ (John 5:37) And to Philip inquiring very eagerly, and asking more thickly than was needful, yet from love of learning, and saying: ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us,’ (John 14:8–10) Christ answered: ‘So long a time I am with you, and you have not known me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me?’ (John 14:9-10) And that the contemplation and tutoring through the commandment according to Law is not very strong, nor sufficient unto a precise and blameless showing of God, we will see as in shadow and riddle also through Laban’s two daughters. For it is written that Laban had two daughters; the name of the greater Leah, and the name of the other Rachel. And Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and very timely in appearance; and the patriarch Jacob was attached to Rachel, yet led Leah before her. The type having moved into the truth, you will see Christ’s mystery. For there are two women called unto spiritual kinship and fitted to him: an elder, the first, and through Moses as in the person of the Jew—
—ish synagogue. And to take out of a diabolical net is not Moses, or Law, but Moses’ Master — that is, Christ — and the power of the mystery according to him. And so, God saying: ‘Seeing I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry from the taskmasters; for I know their pain, and I have come down to take them out of the Egyptians’ (Exodus 3:7–8) hand, to lead them out of that land into a good and large land, into—
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Who am I to go to Pharaoh?; the Lord himself saved us§15
15—a land flowing milk and honey.’ And adding at once: ‘And now behold the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me; and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them; and now come, I will send you to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and you will lead out my people, the sons of Israel, from Egypt’s land (Exodus 3:8–11)’ — clearly and expressly Moses had cried out: ‘Who am I, that I will go to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and that I will lead out the sons of Israel from Egypt’s land (Exodus 3:11)?’ Is the type not evident, then, and does the manner of the declining not have the reference upon what is incomparably superior and overlying — that is, Christ? As to say ‘Who am I?’ is unfitting; but very easy is the taking-out of peoples, and saving of nations, and carrying unto freedom, the one holding together unto slavery having been crushed and weakened — that is, Satan.
Palladius: Most easy; for you have spoken rightly.
Cyril: What then? Is it not also from here altogether without toil to see that the Only-begotten has become steward of the salvation of all? For through him we have been redeemed, and the prophet says: ‘Not an elder, not an angel, but the Lord himself has saved us.’ (Exodus 16:3)
Palladius: From where have you spoken?
Cyril: For the God of all has commanded Moses clearly to go most unhesitatingly toward the sons of Israel, and to say openly as—
—he will. Speak again yourself.
Cyril: I will speak. Dwelling long times with Egyptians, those from Israel, and having slipped into every kind of sin, and delighting in the local luxuries, Moses did not ignore that they will be slow and very hard to move toward good order; yet he was wisely taking that the toil of the works will push them toward obedience unwillingly, if they should see him working wonders. For pleasure is a thing truly hard to exit, and the wildness of passions in us is not easily tamed. And when sweat presses and toils hang over, the one promising to free would easily persuade even to think little of the sweetest things. And I think that God who has the knowledge of every good was then especially letting loose upon those from Israel the Egyptians’ greed — most economically — so that they would be easy toward flight, and not, bound in the foster-pleasures, become hard and altogether hard to lead, and dishonoring the grace of the one calling into freedom, make voluntary the service in Egypt, preferring the immediately pleasant to a few toils. Rather even counting these among better things than those from God — and so, most gladly having put off the greed of those who long tyrannized, and camping according to the desert, and eating the things from above and from heaven — I mean the supply of the manna — they remember not without tears the luxury in Egypt. Preferring rather to have died, as was somehow far better and stronger for them, still luxuriating at the tables in Egypt, stretching themselves and crying out childishly: ‘Would that we had died struck by the Lord in Egypt, when we sat upon the pots—
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Pleasure hard to leave; rod as kingdom; Adam restored in Christ§16
16—of meat.’ Truly hard to exit is pleasure, and the wildness of passions in us is not easily tamed. And when sweat presses and toils hang over, the one promising to free would easily persuade even to think little of the sweetest things. And I think God who has knowledge of every good was then especially letting the Egyptians’ greed upon those from Israel most economically, so that they would be easy toward flight… Putting the narration well. For we will see of the human nature in him the reshaping unto the ancient, and the as-it-were metamorphosis into what we were in Adam, when first brought into being, not yet lacking the glory from above and sanctification.
Palladius: How have you spoken? for the word is unclear.
Cyril: The rod, or the scepter, would be for us a symbol of kingdom, would it not, Palladius?
Palladius: Very much so, since they also make it an oath— (Exodus 16:3) (Exodus 4:2–4)
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Rod fallen: Adam slips from God’s hand; Christ the right hand§17
17—they say some of the more ancient ones have made, those accustomed to hymn the things of the Greeks.
Cyril: What then? Do you not say that it is a plant of paradise, and older than the cutting, that it has been allotted to bloom out in gardens?
Palladius: I say so.
Cyril: Come then with your thoughts upon that ancient Adam; and in the firstfruits and root of the race reckon as it were the whole of humanity in himself. And toward this think also that he had been made according to the image of the one who created, and had been ordered to rule the things upon the earth, and was as it were in the hand of God, through the life in sanctification, and all but a plant of paradise blooming well and most noble. But when, deceived by the serpent’s bitternesses, he was carried aside from what was in the beginnings, and was caught thereafter having disregarded the divine commandment, then indeed, then, being torn away from the first position and root, he slipped from the hand of the one who held him unto sanctification, and fell down onto earth—that is, from the heights of virtue—and weakly descended into choosing to mind the things of the flesh, already somehow having sickened with unmixed wickedness, and differing, I think, in nothing from a serpent. And thus he was stripped of kingdom and of the glory that was in the beginnings, and was sent out of paradise and luxury. Or did not the divine Moses say these things to us?
Palladius: He said them indeed.
Cyril: And the lawgiver, seeing him already brought down to this baseness, fled somehow, and was disgusted at the wickedness present in him. For Moses fled, leaving the serpent. And it is written that ‘A holy Spirit of wisdom will flee deceit, and will rise from senseless reasonings.’ (Wisdom of Solomon 1:5) For sanctification and uncleanness are incompatible with one another, light and darkness, righteousness and injustice.
Palladius: Truly.
Cyril: Therefore the falling of the rod from Moses’ hand would signify that the one made according to the divine image was in the beginnings a plant of paradise, and in glory of kingdom, and in the Creator’s hand; but he slipped onto earth through choosing to mind the things of the flesh, and through bitterness come to the extreme he was as it were a serpent to the eyes of the Godhead. But Moses was commanded to stretch out the hand and take hold of the tail; and it was reshaped at once unto what was in the beginnings. And it was a serpent no longer, but a rod again, and a plant of paradise. And when God and Father was well pleased to recapitulate all things in Christ, and to recreate what was made unto the original, he sent to us from heaven the Only-begotten, the right hand, the worker of all things and truly savior, according to ‘The right hand of the Lord has done power; the right hand of the Lord has exalted me.’ (Psalm 118:16) Then indeed, then he took hold of the humanity lying on the earth and of bitterness us— (Exodus 4:2–4) (Genesis 1:26–28)
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Tail not head: Christ remolds the race back to Adam; leprous hand§18
18—having freed from the beastlike nature of baseness and sins, and brought back through sanctification unto queenly honor, and gentleness unto virtue. And giving to those who believe the ancient dwelling-place in firstfruits and first to the robber crucified with him: ‘Amen, amen I say to you,’ (Luke 23:43) he says, ‘today you will be with me in paradise.’ (Luke 23:43)
Palladius: The word has been made for us most excellently and rightly. Yet tell that: for what reason does he command to take the tail, and not the head, or the middle parts?
Cyril: For thus, friend, it had to be accomplished; since taking the tail, and not middle or head, is useful for the mystery.
Palladius: In what way?
Cyril: For the head is as it were beginning of every living thing, and the tail is end. Come then, let the whole race of man be reckoned for us as still a living thing for the present. Christ therefore took hold of the tail—that is, of those in the last and final ones; for he has descended in the last times of the age. But just as even if Moses took hold of the tail, the reshaping ran up even as far as the head (for the serpent was completely transformed into a rod)—in this same way, even if Christ laid hold of the last ones, yet the remolding through grace extends through the whole race and arrives even as far as the head itself—that is, Adam. For it is written that for this Christ died and rose, that he might be lord of both dead and living. Therefore with the last ones the redemption of those in the beginnings is also accomplished together.
Palladius: The word is persuasive for us, and the narration is not off the mark.
Cyril: Most firm therefore toward faith in this matter, he was also making him with two other powers by divine signs. For it is written at once: ‘For the Lord said to him again: Bring your hand into your bosom. And he brought his hand in, and his hand became leprous as snow. And he said again: Bring your hand into your bosom. And he brought his hand into his bosom, and brought his hand out of his bosom; and it was restored again to the color of his flesh.’ (Exodus 4:6-7) Observe then how what is accomplished is God-fitting, and fitting among things that come greatly to be wondered at, and as it were in labor together with the first toward the declaration of the mystery according to Christ.
Palladius: Therefore clarify; for I do not yet understand.
Cyril: Leprosy is a passion of flesh, better than according to physicians, and not capturable by their experiences. And the leper is unholy and unclean, according to the ancient commandment through Moses, and intensely hated even among those who honor the customs of the Greeks. Half—
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Leprosy and bosom: fall from God’s shelter; restoration in Christ§19
19—dead somehow already is the one who has suffered this, and the dead is abominable and unclean. Therefore the being able to heal a leper has been kindled as something supernatural and beyond our measures, or only to the divine and ineffable nature and energy. Therefore also Christ was wondered at when saying with authority to the one made leprous: ‘I will; be cleansed.’ For the all-working voice, which also raises the dead themselves from tombs, has fulfilled in that case the wonder superior to death and corruption. He therefore ordered him to hide the hand in the bosom, then having stripped it of the bosom’s covering, to show it leprous through and through; and again having hidden it in the bosom a second time, he shows it at once freed from what had befallen—so that those from Israel might understand from this that, as it were all but armored with some unspeakable and ineffable power, he will stand for those wronged and unholy yoked under the Egyptians’ greed. And this word is not deep, but useful for the history. But I think it is necessary, examining precisely the sense of what lies before us, to seek this: what the hiding of the hand in the bosom would be; and what the having become outside, being terribly leprosed; and still besides the manner of the cleansing. For putting the hand into the bosom, he was freeing from the passion.
Palladius: You speak well. For the test on each point would benefit us not moderately.
Cyril: Therefore it seems to me that the marvel indicates something such as in a shadow. For as long as the human made according to the divine image was as it were nursed in God’s bosom, and had not yet trampled the commandment given, clothed with sparing and love from him, he continued pure and sanctified, and not knowing the death-making through death. But when he went out from the shelter and friendship under God through the bendings toward the base, he was clearly convicted as unholy and abominable, and having sickened with the uncleanness of death. And when God and Father received us again in Christ and clothed us with the divine grace, and as it were somehow having us in his bosom through adoption, having cast off together with the uncleannesses also the death-making from the ancient curse, we spring up again unto what was in the beginnings. For it is written concerning Moses’ hand that ‘It was restored to the color of his flesh.’ (Matthew 8:3)
Palladius: You have spoken most elegantly.
Cyril: And the third sign for us upon this cries out most clearly and openly the mystery of Christ. For God said again thus to Moses: ‘And if they will not believe you, nor listen to the voice of the first sign, they will believe you the voice of the second sign.’ (Exodus 4:6–8) And indeed what this is he clarified, saying: ‘And it will be if they will not believe these two signs, nor listen to your voice,’
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River to blood: three signs; faith follows the last—Christ’s death§20
20‘you will take from the water of the river, and will pour upon the dry, and the water, which you take from the river, will be blood upon the dry.’ (Exodus 4:9) For last for the world has become the sign of Christ’s death, and the cleansing through water and blood, the holy body also being added of course, which is signified through the dry; and that water and blood were given forth to us from the holy side, opened with the spear, I will omit to say, because it is most known to all. Yet that the Savior’s death has been named a sign, one might learn this also clearly from holy Scriptures. For the all-daring Pharisees, although many wonders had already been accomplished beforehand, as if nothing had happened, were coming saying to Christ: ‘Teacher,’ they say, ‘we wish to see a sign from you.’ (Matthew 12:38) And he to them: ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, and a sign will not be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah was in the belly of the sea-monster three days and three nights, so will the Son of man also be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.’ (Matthew 12:39) Therefore first is our laying-hold in Christ, through the law according to Moses; for ‘He has given a law for help,’ (Isaiah 8:20) according to the prophet’s voice. And Moses took hold of the tail. And second cleansing in Christ again through holy prophets, and through John’s voice and sending. For they were saying: ‘Wash yourselves, become clean’; and he was calling into a baptism of repentance. And third sign, which they also say is last, Christ’s death, upon which also faith: ‘For if they will not believe you,’ he says, ‘nor listen to the voice of the first sign, they will believe the voice of the second sign.’ (Exodus 4:8) You see that he says faith will follow very well, not the first sign—that is, not the laying-hold according to law, nor indeed the cleansing through the middle—that is, through holy prophets, and perhaps John—but only the voice of the last sign. For Christ’s mystery is not voiceless, but calls all those throughout the whole earth with a high and piercing proclamation toward the cleansing through water and blood, and indeed also into the life-making according to partaking of the holy flesh. Therefore the law was serving the fore-announcements concerning Christ, but it itself is not very sufficient unto being able to save some. And someone might show clearly, I think, Moses also confessing this through the writing that lies before us. For although God was saying that I will be with you, and was persuading him beforehand with wonders, he was entreating saying: ‘Lord, I am not sufficient before yesterday, nor before the third day, nor from when you began to speak to your servant. I am thin-voiced and slow-tongued. And the Lord said to Moses: Who gave a mouth to a human, and who made hard-of-hearing and deaf, seeing and blind? Is it not I the Lord God? And now go, and I will open your mouth, and will instruct you what you are about to speak. And Moses said: I beg, Lord,’ (Exodus 4:10)
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Slow-tongued Law; appoint another—Christ the true Levite Aaron§21
21‘appoint another who is able, whom you will send.’ (Exodus 4:13) For the law is not strong, nor sufficiently having unto being able to save the whole earth, and to snatch the human from the devil’s tyranny. And Moses did not fail to know, as slow-tongued and thin-voiced, especially when God began to converse with him, and commanding him to make words concerning him: for ‘Thus,’ he says, ‘you will say to the sons of Israel: I am the one who is. This is my name.’ (Exodus 3:14) For the law is slow-tongued toward articulating very well the word concerning the one who is; nor indeed is it able to initiate into the august and ineffable nature worshiped in holy Trinity. And thin-voiced toward this, being able to speak only and barely to those from Israel, and being heard in Judea alone, although of all the other nations not even, so to say, having taken the proclamation into their ears. Therefore the divine Moses, knowing beforehand the one who has sufficiently unto implanting in hearers the precise and polished word concerning God, and unto proclaiming easily to every earth—that is Christ: ‘I beg, Lord,’ he says, ‘appoint another who is able, whom you will send.’ (Exodus 4:13) For Christ is the one who is truly able; and that according to times according to the good pleasure of God and Father he will be appointed unto this, was also fore-announced through law. And Moses’ declining, even after a divine promise, and after exhibition of many signs, would be a type of Israel both hesitating and declining the divine and evangelical ministry and obedience under Christ, who after countless words concerning faith and exhibition of wonders have kept hard-hearing, and have remained disobedient. And Moses’ declining is twofold. For there are two times in which Israel was unbridled and hard to lead: through Moses and Joshua, and Judges, and immediately after that, the time in which prophets came to be, and John, who lies as it were in the mid-space of apostles and prophets. For it was end of prophetic ministry, and as it were firstfruits of apostolic brightness. But Moses’ declining was calling God to angers. And the matter thereafter shifts into another economy as it were, through which those brought down by the Egyptians’ greed had to be saved. ‘And the Lord being angry at Moses, said: Is not Aaron your brother the Levite? I know that speaking he will speak to you, and behold he will come out to meet you; and seeing you he will rejoice in himself, and you will speak to him; and you will give my words into his mouth; and I will open your mouth, and his mouth, and will instruct you what you will do, and he will speak to the people for you; and he will be your mouth; and you will be to him the things toward God.’ For the law having somehow collided as weak, and those from Israel being greatly disobedient, Christ was added, the true Levite, the great high priest, the one ranked with those under law, as brother through the human, who spoke to Moses as God, but being instructed by the
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Christ interprets the Law; Moses delays Midian for fleshly care§22
22Father according to the prophetic schema, even if he is Lord; for ‘A prophet I will raise up for them from their brothers; and I will put my words into his mouth; and he will speak to them according to all things whatever I command them.’ (Deuteronomy 18:18) And Christ himself also was saying: ‘From myself I do not speak; but the Father who sent me, he himself has given me commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.’ (John 12:49) Christ therefore addressed the people, and becomes mouth to Moses interpreting the law for us spiritually, and Moses again to him the things toward God. For somehow Moses seems to be nearer to God, since Emmanuel came under law, and was promising to keep the things through all-wise Moses, saying: ‘Do not think that I came to dissolve the law, or the prophets; I came not to dissolve, but to fulfill.’ (Matthew 5:17) Clear initiator therefore is Christ, transferring the things of the slow-tongued law unto clearness, and reshaping as it were the thin-voicedness of the letter into most well-sounding interpretation. For the law is spiritual in Christ, and the proclamations through him are brotherly to the ancient ones; for Aaron was Moses’ brother.
Palladius: The law therefore is weak as far as what comes to itself; for it has perfected nothing.
Cyril: Thus, I say, and one might also observe the as-it-were petty of the way of life according to it through what follows. For it is written that ‘Moses went, and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him: I will go and return to my brothers who are in Egypt; and I will see if they still live. And Jethro said to Moses: Go in health. And after those many days, the king of Egypt died; and the Lord said to Moses in Midian: Go, depart into Egypt; for all who seek your soul have died.’ (Exodus 4:18–20) And Moses taking the wife and the children, mounted them upon the beasts of burden, and returned into Egypt.
Palladius: And what in these things? for I am not able to understand and say upon what one might reasonably blame the life according to law.
Cyril: And yet one might see the matter filled with very much blame, Palladius, casting the thoughts of what lies before more sharp-sightedly; how the divine Moses, having been appointed unto sending, does not run straight toward this having left the things in the world, but is divided also into fleshly care, and first communicates the departure to those according to kin. And he did not sooner rush out of the Midianites’, unless he was learning thereafter that the tyrant of the Egyptians had died; for he was fearing greatly to die. And when he had been freed from the terrors upon these things, God having fore-announced to him, then only barely taking the wife and the children, he goes down into the Egyptians’, accomplishing what had been ordered. And these things would be a type of the according-to-law
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Divided Law-life vs whole Christ-life; death’s fear; Zipporah begins§23
23life, somehow divided, and looking toward both—toward the divine I mean and the human. For it is not free of earthly and worldly care, nor indeed altogether holy, although the evangelical way of life does not have at all the being divided toward the things of flesh, or toward the affairs in the world, but wholly as it were consecrating to God those who have come under Christ. For ‘Those of Jesus Christ,’ (Galatians 5:24) he says, ‘have crucified the flesh with the passions and the desires.’ (Galatians 5:24) And indeed when one of the disciples coming said to Christ: ‘Teacher, permit me first to go away and bury my father’ (Matthew 8:21–22); he was being taught the wholly holy way of life, hearing at once: ‘Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.’ (Matthew 8:22) And the divine Paul also writes to some: ‘When God was well pleased to reveal his Son in me, that I might evangelize him among the nations, immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood.’ (Galatians 1:15-16) But Moses does confer. For the life according to law is divided, as I said, and still also lies under the fear of death. For Moses was fearing to go down into Egypt, declining to die. But this also has been abolished in Christ. And the holy Paul will confirm saying concerning both Christ and us: ‘Since the children have shared flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same; that through death he might abolish the one having the power of death—that is, the devil—and might free these, as many as by fear of death were through all the living liable to slavery.’ (Hebrews 2:15) Therefore also of dying itself thereafter, the mind of the saints grows bold. For Paul said again: ‘For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.’ (Philippians 1:21) And again: ‘Who will separate us from the love of Christ? tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?’ (Romans 8:35) And that the life according to law is held in the terrors of death, but the boast of the way of life in Christ has fled this, would become clear, holy Scripture crying that death has reigned from Adam even until Moses. But the one who abolished death, and shook down the power of corruption, and saved together those who believe and those once trained under law—who else would he be, except our Lord Jesus Christ alone? For ‘Not an elder, not an angel, but the Lord himself saved them,’ (Isaiah 63:9) a prophetic oracle said. And you might see also very clearly the mystery upon this as again in a type in what befell blessed Moses. For as he was already going out from the Midianites’, and thereafter hastening into Egypt, God said: ‘As you go in and return into Egypt, see all the wonders which I have given in your hands; you will do them before Pharaoh.’ (Exodus 4:21) And after other things: ‘And it came to be,’ he says, ‘on the way, in the lodging, an angel of the Lord met him, and was seeking to kill him; and Zipporah taking a flint, circumcised the foreskin of her son, and fell toward the
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Zipporah’s flint circumcision shames the destroyer until Moses§24
24feet of him, and said: The blood of the circumcision of my child has stood.’ Will you need a long word toward clarity? or is the contemplation clear?
Palladius: Not at all; for I understand in no way whatever what is being shown as in a shadow by what befell.
Cyril: For do you not say it is true, friend, that human nature has become held by death from that ancient curse? for it has been said to us, as in the firstfruits of the race and highest root Adam: ‘You are earth, and unto earth you will go away.’ (Exodus 4:25)
Palladius: Very much so.
Cyril: Therefore since it has befallen the beginning of the race to sicken with the death from sin, necessarily the matter also passed through unto us ourselves, and together with the root also the plants springing up from it were pastured upon. For of a corruptible body the fruit is corruptible. Thus death has reigned against all, and even until Moses himself—that is, the times according to law. Clear and evident type therefore of death’s having strength until Moses, and human things’ being subject to corruption, is the angelic undertaking against Moses then. Yet Zipporah the housemate and fitted-together was shaming the destroyer, and making him stand off from Moses, circumcising her own child with a flint, entreating and saying: ‘The blood of the circumcision of my child has stood.’ (Exodus 4:26) And the blood has stood, he says, not as of the flow of blood having ceased; for neither, I think, would this ever turn the destroyer from wanting to murder, but as it were somehow she was saying: What seems good to God has been done and fulfilled—that is, the circumcision of the child; just as if someone might happen to say: The type of this deed has stood, or, The word toward this has stood. Instead of: It has come to an end and has been shown.
Palladius: Then who would Zipporah be understood as by us? and what the flint, and the circumcision that came through it? and how has the divine angel been shamed, and Moses fled the death hanging over him and owed, a child having been circumcised?
Cyril: The word is unclear, and the mind of the things sought truly hard to reach; but trusting God, as far as I am able, I will speak again. Zipporah, being daughter of the priest of Midian (and this man a foreigner, and not from Israel’s blood), fulfills for us a type and person of the Church from the nations, called toward God as from worldly worship. For it has been said somewhere to her through David’s voice: ‘Hear, daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people, and your father’s house,’ (Psalm 45:10)
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Zipporah as the Church of the nations, and the flint as Christ§25
25‘because the King has desired your beauty, because he himself is your Lord.’ (Psalm 45:11) She has been called therefore following the law, and as it were fitted-together to Moses the pedagogue, and carrying away well toward Christ’s mystery. For the law is an elementary teacher, and brings up unto beginnings of the oracles of God, and as it were seeds in us through enigmas and shadow the knowledge of the mystery according to Christ. And indeed Christ was saying to Jews, who had also rejected Moses the most holy: ‘Or do you think that I will accuse you to the Father? There is the one accusing you, Moses, in whom you have hoped. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for concerning me that one wrote.’ (John 5:45–46) Zipporah therefore having been received by us into the person of the Church from the nations, the child from her will altogether be somewhere unto a type of the new people, those who have believed having received the infancy in Christ through spirit and rebirth unto God, whom also David said somewhere a people being created. Therefore the newborn child in Christ—that is, the new people also through faith—shames death by circumcision. For the flint is a symbol of the unbroken nature, whose strength and unbreakableness is signified as in a hard stone. And indeed Joshua the son of Nun, having brought those from Israel across the Jordan, circumcised them with stone knives, prefiguring the circumcision in Christ through spirit. For Christ is rock, whom as in a type the flint that circumcised Zipporah’s child also makes clear beforehand, as I said just now. When also death fled, and having honored the mystery of the circumcision in Christ the one seeking to kill departed from Moses, the deed whispering to us enigmatically that not only has death stood off from those counted worthy of the circumcision in Christ, but also the matter—I mean indeed Christ’s mystery—has cried out help to the fathers. For just as we all died in Adam, so also the grace through Christ is carried unto all. For he died for this, that he might be lord of both dead and living. Therefore in the time of the new people’s circumcision the life of the fathers was also accomplished together. For they live to God, being about to live; for holy word also said this to us. And time of the circumcision understood in spirit is Christ’s presence, as older than Moses, as God, and second and after him, inasmuch as he appeared human unto the ministry upon us. For observe that God was appointing Moses first, then joined Aaron, prefiguring in time as second the manifestation of Christ of Moses’ sending and ministry, who was in equality toward Moses through the human, and in divine and incomparable superiority through having been begotten from God Father. And it is permitted you to see this also from the holy Scriptures themselves, if you should choose. For ‘Moses and Aaron did,’ (Exodus 7:6) he says, ‘just as the Lord commanded them, thus they did; and Moses was of eighty years, and Aaron his brother was of eighty-three years, when they spoke to Pharaoh.’ (Exodus 7:6) You hear how both (Romans 14:9) (Exodus 7:6–7)
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The Greek is on each section page: §25
Christ equal yet above Moses; Passover lamb; unleavened with bitter herbs§26
26were somehow in equal as to having come unto the eightieth year, even if into ministry after him? Thus also Christ. Equal somehow to Moses through the human, and second unto economy, but overlying and having stood up above, as in Godhead and glory according to the holy Trinity.
Palladius: How clear and evident the word.
Cyril: What then? is that also not worthy to see besides these?
Palladius: What sort?
Cyril: For those from Israel have not yet run out from the Egyptians’ land. But neither would they thus have been released from the hard-to-bear and hated slavery to them, or rather, neither would they at all have fled the death cast upon the firstborn in Egypt, and the hard-to-escape hand of the destroyer, unless having sacrificed the lamb unto a type of Christ who takes away the sins of the world. They anointed the doorposts with the blood, according to the law defined for them through Moses; and they were making Christ’s mystery as it were a weapon and rampart of their own soul. For Christ’s death is a medicine loosing death, and those partaking of the mystical blessing are better than corruption, according to ‘Amen, amen I say to you; the one eating my flesh, and drinking my blood, has eternal life.’ (John 6:54) And having eaten up the lamb, they were eating unleavened breads upon it, the type indicating the elegance of the evangelical teachings as in unleavened and most pure food, yet to be not without sweat, and without bitterness according to the tribulations. Therefore bitter herbs being eaten together with the unleavened breads indicate that the guileless and most pure life in Christ will not be without bitterness. Therefore the bitter herb must necessarily be brought in together with the unleavened foods. For ‘All who wish to live in Christ will be persecuted,’ (John 6:54) he says. Yet those who have suffered this are blessed. For suffering together they will also reign together, according to what is written. Does the word go out somewhere toward the unbeautiful?
Palladius: Not at all. ON THE WORSHIP AND SERVICE IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH (John 4:23)
Greek · §26
The Greek is on each section page: §26