Moses led from brick-making; Christ from the intelligible slavery
Palladius 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.' 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.'
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.' 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' — 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.' 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.'
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—
Greek
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τίνα τρόπον;
{ΚΥΡ.} Μωσῆς μὲν γὰρ ὁ θεσπέσιος σαρκικῆς δουλείας ἐξεκόμιζε τὸν Ἰσραὴλ καὶ τῶν εἰς πλινθείαν ἐξῃρεῖτο πόνων, ἔργων τε τῶν περὶ γῆν, καὶ μεταίχμιον ὥσπερ τι κείμενος Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, τοὺς ἄνωθεν σφίσι διεκόμιζε λόγους. Ὁ δὲ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστὸς, τὰ ὡς ἐν τύπῳ καὶ σκιαῖς μεταχαράττων εἰς ἀλήθειαν, δουλείας ἡμᾶς ἐξέλκει τῆς νοητῆς, τὴν μὲν πάλαι καθ' ἡμῶν τυραννήσασαν ἁμαρτίαν ἐξιστὰς, κατασείων δὲ τοῦ διαβόλου τὸ κράτος, καὶ φρονήματος μὲν ἐπιγείου καὶ τῶν περὶ σάρκα σπουδασμάτων ἀποφοιτᾷν ἀναπείθων τοὺς ἕπεσθαι δεῖν οἰομένους αὐτῷ, μεταπλάττων δὲ ὥσπερ εἰς ἔφεσιν ἀρετῆς, ἀριδηλότατά τε ἡμῖν τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς ἀπαγγέλλων θέλησιν· τοιγάρτοι καὶ ἔφασκεν· «Τὰ ῥήματα ἃ ἐγὼ λαλῶ, οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμὰ, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πέμψαντός με.» Καὶ πάλιν· «Ἀπ' ἐμαυτοῦ οὐ λαλῶ, ἀλλ' ὁ πέμψας με Πατὴρ, αὐτός μοι ἐντολὴν δέδωκε, τί εἴπω, καὶ τί λαλήσω.» Καὶ γοῦν ὁ Μωσῆς εἰκόνα καὶ ἀνατύπωσιν τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ μεσιτείας, τὰ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἐποιεῖτο, λέγων τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσραήλ· «Προφήτην ἐκ τῶν ἀδελφῶν σου ἀναστήσει σοι ὡς ἐμὲ, Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου. Αὐτοῦ ἀκούσεσθε κατὰ πάντα ὅσα ᾐτήσω παρὰ Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ σου ἐν Χωρὴβ, τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς ἐκκλησίας.» Ἐν τύπῳ μὲν οὖν καὶ εἰκόνι τὰ διὰ Μωσέως, καὶ τῆς κατ' αὐτὸν μεσιτείας ἡ δύναμις· ἀποῤῥητότερος δὲ τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ μεσιτείας ὁ τρόπος. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ νόμου καὶ σκιᾶς διάκονος ἦν καὶ παιδαγωγίας τῆς ἄνωθεν διακομιστής· Χριστὸς δὲ ὡς νόμου καὶ προφητῶν δεσπότης, τὰ αὐτῷ δοκοῦντα θεσμοθετεῖ, καὶ μεσίτης ἦν, συνθεούσης ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ εἰς ἓν ὥσπερ ἰούσης, θεότητός τε καὶ ἀνθρωπότητος. Ἄμφω γὰρ ἅμα νοεῖται Χριστός. «Καὶ Μωσῆς μὲν ὡς θεράπων εἰς ὅλον τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ πιστὸς, Χριστὸς δὲ ὡς υἱὸς, ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ, οὗ οἶκός ἐσμεν ἡμεῖς·» οἱ διὰ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν πίστεως πρὸς ἐλευθερίαν ἠγμένοι τὴν ἀληθῆ. Ἄραρεν οὖν, ὅτι μεσίτης μὲν σαρκικῆς ἐλευθερίας, γράμματός τε καὶ σκιᾶς ὁ ἱεροφάντης Μωσῆς· ὁ δὲ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς, τῶν ὑπὲρ νόμον εἰσηγητὴς, καὶ τῆς σαρκικῆς ἐλευθερίας τὴν ἀσυγκρίτως ἀμείνω δωρούμενος, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τὴν κατὰ πνεῦμα. Τοιγάρτοι καὶ ἔφασκε καὶ τοῖς σαρκικῶς ἠλευθερωμένοις τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσραήλ· «Ἐὰν ὑμεῖς μείνητε ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ ἐμῷ, ἀληθῶς μαθηταί μού ἐστε, καὶ γνώσεσθε τὴν ἀλήθειαν, καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια ἐλευθερώσει ὑμᾶς.» Καὶ πάλιν· «Πᾶς ὁ ποιῶν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, δοῦλός ἐστι τῆς ἁμαρτίας· ὁ δὲ δοῦλος οὐ μένει ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ὁ υἱὸς μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Ἐὰν οὖν ὁ Υἱὸς ὑμᾶς ἐλευθερώσῃ, ὄντως ἐλεύθεροι ἐστέ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἄριστα ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Καυχησόμεθα δὴ οὖν οὐ τοῖς κατὰ σάρκα λαμπροῖς, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἐν πνεύματι καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ τῇ
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.