Tail not head: Christ remolds the race back to Adam; leprous hand
—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,’ he says, ‘today you will be with me in paradise.’
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.’ 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—
Greek
ἀπαλλάξας θηριοπρεποῦς, τῆς ἐν φαυλότητι τε καὶ ἁμαρτίαις, ἀνεκόμισέ τε δι' ἁγιασμοῦ πρὸς βασιλίδα τιμὴν, καὶ ἡμερότητα τὴν εἰς ἀρετήν. Ἐνδιαίτημα δὲ τὸ ἀρχαῖον τοῖς πιστεύουσι διδοὺς ἐν ἀπαρχῇ καὶ πρώτῳ τῷ συγκεκρεμαμένῳ λῃστῇ· «Ἀμὴν, ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, φησὶ, σήμερον μετ' ἐμοῦ ἔσῃ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πεποίηται μὲν ὡς ἄριστά γε ἡμῖν καὶ ὀρθῶς ὁ λόγος. Πλὴν ἐκεῖνο φράσον, ἀνθ' ὅτου τῆς κέρκου λαβέσθαι κελεύει, καὶ οὐχὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς, ἢ μέσων.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ὧδε γὰρ, ὦ φιλότης, ἐκπράττεσθαι ἐχρῆν· ἐπείτοι τὸ κέρκου λαβέσθαι, καὶ οὐχὶ μέσων ἢ κεφαλῆς, τῷ μυστηρίῳ χρήσιμον.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τίνα τρόπον;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀρχὴ μὲν γὰρ ὥσπερ παντὸς ζώου ἡ κεφαλὴ, κέρκος δὲ πέρας. Φέρε δὴ οὖν ὡς ἔτι ζῶον, τὸ σύμπαν ἡμῖν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου γένος καταλογιζέσθω πρὸς τὸ παρόν. Ἐπελάβετο τοίνυν τῆς κέρκου Χριστὸς, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τῶν ἐν ἐσχάτοις καὶ τελευταίων· καταπεφοίτηκε γὰρ ἐν ἐσχάτοις τοῦ αἰῶνος καιροῖς. Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ εἰ καὶ τῆς κέρκου Μωσῆς ἐπελάβετο, καὶ μέχρι αὐτῆς ἀνέθει τῆς κεφαλῆς ὁ μεταπλασμὸς (μετεστοιχειοῦτο γὰρ ὁλοκλήρως εἰς ῥάβδον ὁ ὄφις)· κατὰ τὸν ἴσον τουτονὶ τρόπον, κἂν εἰ τῶν ἐσχάτων ἀντελάβετο Χριστὸς, ἀλλ' εἰς πᾶν διήκει τὸ γένος, καὶ μέχρις αὐτῆς ἀφικνεῖται τῆς κεφαλῆς, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τοῦ Ἀδὰμ, ἡ διὰ χάριτος ἀναμόρφωσις. Γέγραπται γὰρ, ὅτι εἰς τοῦτο Χριστὸς ἀπέθανε καὶ ἀνέστη, ἵνα καὶ νεκρῶν καὶ ζώντων κυριεύσῃ. Οὐκοῦν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις καὶ ἡ τῶν ἐν ἀρχαῖς συγκατορθοῦται λύτρωσις.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πιθανὸς ὁ λόγος ἐστί τε ἡμῖν, καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ τὸ διήγημα.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἑδραιότατον οὖν πρὸς τὴν ἐπὶ τῷδε πίστιν, καὶ δυσὶ δυνάμεσιν αὐτὸν ἑτέραις ἐποιεῖτο θεοσημείαις. Γέγραπται γὰρ εὐθύς· «Εἶπε γὰρ αὐτῷ Κύριος πάλιν· Εἰσένεγκε τὴν χεῖρά σου εἰς τὸν κόλπον σου. Καὶ εἰσήνεγκε τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐγενήθη ἡ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ λεπρῶσα ὡς χιών. Καὶ εἶπε πάλιν· Εἰσένεγκε τὴν χεῖρά σου εἰς τὸν κόλπον σου. Καὶ εἰσήνεγκε τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν κόλπον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐξήνεγκε τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ κόλπου αὐτοῦ· καὶ πάλιν ἀποκατεστάθη εἰς τὴν χρόαν τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ.» Ἄθρει δὴ οὖν ὡς ἔστι θεοπρεπὲς, καὶ τῶν ἄγαν ἡκόντων εἰς τὸ θαυμάζεσθαι πρέπειν τὸ κατορθούμενον, συνωδίνον δὲ ὥσπερ τῷ πρώτῳ τοῦ κατὰ Χριστὸν μυστηρίου τὴν δήλωσιν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐκοῦν διασάφει· συνίημι γὰρ οὔτι πω.
{ΚΥΡ.} Σαρκὸς μὲν ἡ λέπρα πάθος, ἄμεινον δὲ ἢ κατὰ ἰατροὺς, καὶ ταῖς παρ' ἐκείνων ἐμπειρίαις οὐχ ἁλώσιμον. Ἀνιερὸς δὲ καὶ ἀκάθαρτος ὁ λεπρὸς, κατά γε τὴν πάλαι διὰ Μωσέως ἐντολὴν, ἀπηχθημένος δὲ λίαν καὶ παρὰ τοῖς τὰ Ἑλλήνων τιμῶσιν ἔθη. Ἡμι
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius on worship in spirit and truth. Book 2 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 2 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 2 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 2)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 2)
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.