On Adoration and Worship in Spirit and Truth, Book 3

After the Passover type: God leads by the desert road, not Philistia§1

Near road is faith in Christ; Law is the long circuit§2

2hope that is with God, faith that is in Christ, and the justification according to him, according at least to what has been said wisely by Paul: ‘Near you is the word, in your mouth and in your heart—that is, the word of faith which we proclaim, that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart it is believed unto righteousness, and with the mouth it is confessed unto salvation.’ (Romans 10:8–10) This road then, thus near and contracted, God was not letting those of old step through; but he was devising as it were some circuit not having the straight way—the law in turns of words and in enigmas, having a longer and not untroubled pedagogy—so that, having the things in shadows as a kind of practice of the more perfect, and being catechized beforehand into the mystery, they would not be simply terrified by whatever frights into flight and apostasy from Christ, but having been trained beforehand as it were and learning thoroughly what truly benefits, they would be readier toward desire and eagerness for the truth, and would have love toward God fixed and unshakeable. Through a long and as it were not straight road, then—the worship according to the letter—the law was pedagogue. But Christ is not so. For he showed us the straight and near one—that is, the one through faith—reforging into boldness, and into the need thereafter to play the man against those who stand opposed; and to love most of all to endure hardship for the good, and to set oneself nobly against the devil’s methods, saying perhaps that word in the prophet: ‘Behold the Lord helps me; who will mistreat me?’ (Isaiah 50:9) And what produces in us such admirable boldness would surely be nothing other than the power from on high—that is, the sharing and communion of the Holy Spirit.

Palladius: I understand what you say, and I admire you for the keenness.

Cyril: And the time of the salvation through Christ the accompanying text would also mark at once. For ‘In the fifth generation,’ it says, ‘the sons of Israel went up from the land of Egypt.’ (Exodus 13:18) For we have been redeemed from slavery, and indeed also from toils in vain distractions, and from misery concerning earth and dust (and you understand what I say), according to the evangelical parable, as in a fifth generation, at the fifth time. For ‘The kingdom of the heavens is like a man, a householder, who went out together with early morning to hire workers into his vineyard.’ (Matthew 20:1–7) And this he also said he does around the sixth and the ninth: ‘And around the eleventh, he found others idle, and said to those: Why have you stood here idle the whole day? Go, you also work into my vineyard.’ Observe then how in a fifth generation the last ones are being sent into the vineyard, and in the times that are

Fifth time and Passover lamb; pillar of cloud and fire is Christ§3

3last, when the Only-begotten became human, and endured the slaughter for the life of all. Therefore also Moses’ law was typifying that the lamb is to be taken from the tenth of the first month, and slaughtered toward evening of the fourteenth of the same month, so that in the same both the fifth time for us, as on the fifth day, and the things at the end of the age, the Savior’s slaughter coming to be through ‘toward evening,’ (Exodus 12:6) might be signified.

Palladius: Therefore the whole aim of God-breathed Scripture, as it seems, looks toward the mystery of Christ?

Cyril: Altogether so; for Christ is the end of law and prophets; ‘Since there is no other name under heaven given among humans in which we must be saved.’ (Acts 4:12) For the Savior’s disciple said thus, and the demonstration is near, if we strike upon what follows. ‘Setting out,’ (Exodus 13:20) it says, ‘the sons of Israel from Succoth, they encamped in Etham beside the wilderness; and God was leading them, by day in a pillar of cloud, to show them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire; the pillar of fire did not fail by night before all the people.’ (Exodus 13:22) Do you see how, when those from Israel had gone out from the Egyptians’ land, God was leading in a pillar of cloud and of fire? And through both Christ was being written.

Palladius: In what way?

Cyril: First, because a pillar and foundation of the truth is unshakeable and altogether unbreakable, and holding the earth up high. For in Christ we have been freed from minding the things of flesh, and from rolling in earthly evils; and we are lifted as it were high through him, minding things above, and citizenshiping in heaven. For it is written that ‘The mighty ones of God of the earth have been raised up exceedingly.’ (Psalm 47:9) And Christ also said somewhere through David’s voice concerning both the earth and the holy apostles: ‘I have made firm her pillars.’ (Psalm 75:3) For the holy disciples who hold up the earth were made firm, having put on the power from on high—that is, the grace through the Holy Spirit. And they themselves were pillars, according to conformation as toward Christ, and according to likeness in grace through Spirit. You will take it then for no other reason than what we just said that Christ has been named a pillar for us; and he was leading when it was day, in a pillar of cloud, and by night, it says, in a pillar of fire, to show them the way. And divine Scripture is accustomed to name night the time before the sojourn, in which, Satan still tyrannizing, the darkness of ignorance was mastering those upon the earth; and day again, the time of our Savior’s sojourn, in which we have been enlightened, receiving into mind the rays of true knowledge of God, and seeing the sun of righteousness with the eyes of the heart; and Paul will testify saying concerning the time before the sojourn

Night and day; fire of Law, cloud of baptism; Pharaoh pursues§4

4and the one according to it: ‘The night has advanced, and the day has drawn near; let us put away therefore the works of darkness, and put on the weapons of light, that we may walk decently as in day.’ (Romans 13:12–13) The ancient time therefore being understood unto night, and unto day again the one in which the Only-begotten became human, we say that he was going before those from Israel in a form of fire, as in the law that condemns and chastises (for fire is a sign of chastisement); but of us in a form of cloud, as in a type of holy baptism and of the salvation through water. Or is the cloud not water?

Palladius: How not?

Cyril: And when those from Israel had gone out from the Egyptians’, the one who used to take advantage of old—that is, Pharaoh—was being kindled toward angers, and was attempting to pursue. For ‘He yoked,’ it says, ‘his chariots and took along all his people with himself, and taking six hundred choice chariots, and all the cavalry of the Egyptians, and captains over all.’ (Exodus 14:6–16) And after other things again: ‘And the sons of Israel looking up with their eyes see, and behold the Egyptians had camped behind them, and they feared exceedingly. And the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord, and were bearing down on Moses openly saying: Because there are no graves in the land of Egypt, have you led us out to kill us in the wilderness? What is this you have done to us, leading us out of Egypt? Was this not the word which we spoke to you in Egypt, saying: Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it is better for us to serve Egyptians than to die in this wilderness.’ (Exodus 14:10-12) Toward such things Moses: ‘Take courage,’ he says; ‘stand and see the salvation from the Lord which he will do for us today. For in the manner you have seen Egyptians today, you will not add still to see them unto the age of time. The Lord will war for us, and you will be silent. And the Lord said to Moses: Why do you cry to me? Speak to the sons of Israel, and let them break camp; and you lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand upon the sea, and dry it. And let the sons of Israel go into the midst of the sea according to the dry.’ And God was making clear the manner of the help: for ‘The angel of God who was going before the camp of the sons of Israel removed, and went from behind; and the pillar of the cloud also removed from before their face, and stood from behind them; and it went in between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and stood, and there came to be darkness and gloom. And the night passed, and they did not mix with one another the whole night.’ And these things the word of the history weaves for us; but I think we must again see the precision of the thoughts, putting a fine mind into what is written.

Palladius: Very much so.

Cyril: Those from Israel therefore set out hastening unto the holy land, God advancing and leading as in a pillar of fire and of cloud. For there is not, there is not a arriving unto the upper and holy

Christ must lead to the city; Red Sea baptism; mediator stands between§5

5city, unless Christ is leading, and making clear the road of salvation. And against those who have chosen to do this, the enemies according to this world grind their teeth; yet the law sharpens toward boldness and emboldens those who have feared; and that the throng of the opposed will fall it makes very clear; for the Egyptians’ getting out of the way hints this altogether to us; and those being in fears of suffering God was saving again as in a type of holy baptism. For ‘Speak,’ it says, ‘to the sons of Israel, and let them break camp; and you lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand upon the sea, and dry it; and let the sons of Israel go into the midst of the sea.’ (Exodus 14:15-16) Or does not the divine Paul write concerning the sons of Israel, that all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea?

Palladius: I agree.

Cyril: Those who wish to follow Christ, then, and who hasten toward the city above, must not settle in the law, nor lodge unmoved in the commandments through Moses, and love to dwell in shadows and types; but rather break camp and move over elsewhere—that is, unto holy baptism. For this is what those of old were doing by God’s command, going through the midst of waves, and as Paul says, being baptized in the sea; for then indeed, then they will also have as helper the mediator of God and humans, Christ Jesus. For the Word, being God, became flesh; and in another manner, a mediator economically as one accustomed to go through the middle of both those who worship him and those who pursue them, and not allowing them to mix, and blocking the approaches of the opposed. For ‘The angel of God removed,’ (Exodus 14:19–20) it says, ‘and the pillar of the cloud, and went in between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and they did not mix with one another the whole night.’ (Exodus 14:19-20) And again as in an angel and as in a pillar of cloud Christ is signified. For his name is called ‘Angel of great counsel.’ (Isaiah 9:6)

Palladius: With Christ mediating, then, we will not mix with those who wish to war?

Cyril: Thus the matter holds; for you understand rightly. Yet I say that too, and not off the mark, as I think—what seems will go away; for those who have chosen just now to depart from the pleasure-loving and in-world life, and who have been most eager that one must follow the laws of God, yet have not yet been enriched with the grace through holy baptism, are not very strong, or fit toward the need to endure hardship, and to bear toils for virtue, and to be able to carry through an experience of wars. And just as the newly sprouting of plants declines the harm of the sun’s most intense bolt, yet would be injured not moderately if shaken by wilder thrusts of winds, and they altogether need the helps from art, and the surrounding enclosure; in the same way, I think, this

Soul before baptism is weak; after the sea Amalek is fought§6

Joshua under Moses; cross-shaped hands defeat Amalek§7

7Palladius: And what would the mind of what is written be? for I do not understand very much.

Cyril: And yet, as I think, there is nothing hard for those who wish to see; for having thought of Joshua being ordered by Moses, what else would one suspect than that altogether, that the Word being God came under law, according at least to the schema of the humanity, and was somehow subjected to the commandments through Moses in various ways—here enduring the circumcision according to flesh, here paying the didrachms, and ranging himself with those under law as under law, and saying clearly: ‘I came not to dissolve the law, but to fulfill.’ (Matthew 5:17) But even if he came under law because of the human, yet even so he was God, Savior and Redeemer of the whole people. For choosing from the whole people Israel, and from every nation powerful men—I mean again the holy apostles and those called through faith, to whom it would be said well: ‘But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people unto acquisition’ (1 Peter 2:9)—he arrayed with them against the ruler of this age; concerning whom the master of all, himself the one conquering all, says: ‘Now is judgment of this age; now the ruler of this age will be cast outside.’ (John 12:31) And the divine John also crowns with a bright vote those who have conquered with him and through him: ‘I write to you,’ (1 John 2:14) he says, ‘young men, that you are strong, and you have conquered the Evil One.’ (1 John 2:14) Or is what I say not true?

Palladius: Very much.

Cyril: And Moses said the arraying must be completed unto tomorrow; for Christ’s achievements did not appear in the time according to him; but they have rather been done in the next and neighboring—that is, after Moses and law. Then Moses goes up toward some hill and upon a crest of a mound, so that he might be able to look down upon the battle and Jesus’ achievements of all in it. For the mystagogy according to law also proportionately leads up toward being able as it were from afar to look upon Christ’s generalships. And when Moses was stretching up the hands, Israel was prevailing; and when letting them down, it was weak, and Amalek was prevailing; for unconquerable to the devil himself and to every enemy, and to the one wishing to ravage bitterly, has become not indeed all Israel, but as many as have honored the conformation toward Christ, through wearing his reproach—that is, the precious cross; for hands shown stretched out into air write clearly the schema of the cross. And as many as did not accept the cross have become easy to overrun for the enemies, not having the helper. When therefore Moses stretches out the hands for us, showing the schema of the cross, and Amalek falls having grown feeble, the schema signifies altogether for us those conquering Satan through the precious cross, and prevailing over the enemies. And when we see him letting the hands down, then Amalek prevailing, those who have come to be under the devil (Exodus 17:9–13)

Heavy hands: Israel slow to the cross; altar named the Lord my refuge§8

8and conquered we will understand, because of not wishing to accept the cross, to whom also Christ was addressing saying: ‘Amen, amen I say to you, if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins.’ (John 8:24) And he says Moses’ hands are heavy, and barely being raised, and stretched out very reluctantly, unto the need to show the precious schema of the cross—hinting that enigmatically, I think, that Israel was not very ready unto receiving the faith, coming most reluctantly and barely unto wishing to take up the reproach of Christ; for because of this the divine Paul also names the cross well a scandal to Jews. ‘And taking,’ (Exodus 17:12) it says, ‘a stone, they put it under him, and he was sitting upon it, and Aaron and Hur were supporting his hands, from here one and from here one.’ (Exodus 17:12) And a precious stone, chosen, cornerstone, honorable is Christ, upon whom also resting (for the sitting makes clear the rest) the more equitable and more teachable of those from Israel, the remnant of the grace according to election, spread the hands—that is, accept the cross—Christ as it were somehow supporting and holding them through even unto this, as is signified in Hur and Aaron, being understood at once as judge and high priest. For Hur was an unbribed judge; and Aaron high priest, the one holding together the remnant according to election of grace of those from Israel, toward the salvation through faith. For this I think is what was said prophetically through Isaiah’s voice: ‘And if the Lord of hosts had not left us a seed, we would have become as Sodom, and we would have been likened as Gomorrah.’ Amalek who stood opposed having fallen therefore—I mean Amalek—‘Write,’ it says, ‘this unto a memorial into a book, and give into Jesus’ (Exodus 17:14) ears.’ For through the writing of the holy evangelists Christ’s achievements were going to be stretched unto unfinished and long memory. And it said the writing is to be given into Jesus’ ears. For as it were an offering are praises and encomia to Christ—the writings of the saints. And Amalek already having fallen and been conquered, Moses raises an altar to God; and he also writes a name for it, ‘My Lord, my refuge.’ (Exodus 17:15) And this also would be a type of Christ. For he has become Lord to us and refuge; for having conquered the ruler of this age, and having trampled the power of death, and having offered himself for us as it were a blameless victim, unto an odor of fragrance to God and Father. A type of Christ therefore is the altar, for which also a fitting and true name is ‘My Lord, my refuge.’

Palladius: I agree; for you understand rightly.

Cyril: And having warred the intelligible Amalek with a hidden hand and conquered, Christ mastered the nations, and plundered his vessels, just as

One flock; Jethro comes with Zipporah and the two sons§9

9he himself says, having bound the strong one. For the flock that once practiced under that one—I mean those from the nations—he joined to the more ancient flocks; therefore he also was saying: ‘And other sheep I have, which are not from this court, and those too I must lead, and they will hear my voice; and there will come to be one flock, one shepherd.’ (John 10:16) And Christ is our peace, according to the Scriptures, the one who made both one, and dissolved the middle wall of the fence, and the enmity in his flesh, abolishing the law of the commandments in decrees, and bringing together into one new human both those from circumcision and those outside law. Observe then again this great mystery, yoked beside what we have just said, as in shadow and enigmas. For ‘Jethro heard,’ (Exodus 18:1) it says, ‘the priest of Midian, Moses’ (Exodus 18:1) father-in-law, all things as many as the Lord did for Israel his own people; for the Lord led Israel out from Egypt. And Jethro Moses’ father-in-law also took Zipporah Moses’ wife after her dismissal, and her two sons; the name of the one Gershom, saying: I was a sojourner in a foreign land; and the name of the second Eliezer, saying: For the God of my father is my helper, and he delivered me from Pharaoh’s hand. And Jethro Moses’ father-in-law came, and the sons and the wife, to Moses into the wilderness, where he had encamped at the mountain of God. And it was announced to Moses saying: Behold your father-in-law Jethro is arriving toward you, and the wife and your two sons with him. And Moses went out unto a meeting with his father-in-law Jethro, and bowed to him, and kissed him, and they greeted one another, and he led them into the tent; and Moses narrated to the father-in-law all things as many as the Lord did to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for the sake of Israel, and all the toil that came to be for them on the way, and that the Lord delivered them from Pharaoh’s hand, and from the hand of the Egyptians. And Jethro was amazed at all the goods which the Lord did for them, that the Lord delivered them from Egyptians’ hand and from Pharaoh’s hand. And Jethro said: Blessed is the Lord, that he delivered his people from the Egyptians’ hand, and from Pharaoh’s hand. Now I have known that the Lord is great beyond all the gods, because of this, that they set themselves upon them. And Jethro Moses’ father-in-law took whole-burnt-offerings and sacrifices to God; and Aaron and all the elders of Israel arrived to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God. And it came to be after the next day, Moses sat down to judge the people; and all the people were standing by Moses from morning until evening. And Jethro seeing all things as many as he did for the people, says: What is this which you do for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people has stood by you from morning until afternoon? And Moses says to the father-in-law: Because the people comes to me to seek a judgment from God. For when there comes to be a dispute for them and they come to me, I judge each, and I set together for them the ordinances of (Exodus 18:1–16)

Jethro’s counsel; Midianite as nations coming to the one God§10

10God and his law. And Moses’ father-in-law said to him: You are not doing this word rightly; you will not be able to do it alone. And now listen to me, and I will counsel you, and God will be with you. Become you to the people the things toward God, and you will bring up their words toward God, and you will testify to them the ordinances of God and his law, and you will signal to them the ways in which they will walk in them, and the works which they will do. And you look out for yourself from all the people powerful men, he says, and they will judge the people.’ And after other things again: ‘And Moses heard,’ (Exodus 18:24) it says, ‘his father-in-law’s voice, and did as many things as he said to him.’

Palladius: Come then again to me, and taking each in part, clarify.

Cyril: Or do you not say the Midianite is foreign-born and from the nations? For he did not spring from Abraham’s root; and he was also otherwise a sacrificer and servant of the will-worship then customarily practiced upon the earth. For they were worshiping, as much account has it, and were thinking among themselves, to a most high God just as indeed also Melchizedek; yet they were also receiving perhaps other gods, numbering with him the exceptional of the creatures—earth and heaven, sun and moon, and the more notable of the stars; and an ancient fault is the corruption and wandering upon this, and it extends even until now and stretches on. For some of those in Phoenicia and Palestine still raving think thus, who name themselves god-fearing, yet walk a middle path of religion, cleaving purely neither to the Jews’ customs nor to the Greeks’, but as it were tossed and divided unto both. And when those from Israel once chose to think thus the prophet Elijah was rebuking saying: ‘Until when will you limp upon both the hams? either Baal, Baal, or to God, God.’ (1 Kings 18:21) Jethro therefore was also, as is likely, administering some such manner of religion. Who when he knew the things come to be from God toward salvation of those from Israel, being charmed by august and admirable narrations, arrives with all house and all kin toward the holy Moses; who when he saw, received him gladly and has brought him into his own tent. And he narrates more precisely the achievements through the divine strength very well. And the wonder-works beyond every word. For the multitude of those wandering is called unto a change of mind as toward God—I mean the nations—first from hear-sayings which someone might make concerning God, then thus themselves through themselves as it were deserting toward the divine law—that is, the catechesis through holy letter. So that it also runs into the first tent. For the law is introductory; then, having been persuaded by the more ancient narrations, it moves over also unto choosing thereafter to think that God is one and alone, and indeed also unto the need to bear fruit to him. For the Midianite, having heard Moses’ narration, ‘Now I have known,’ he says, that the Lord is great beyond all the gods;

Jethro’s sacrifice; Moses catechizes; Christ the living bread perfects§11

11—because of this, that they set themselves upon them. And Jethro Moses’ father-in-law took whole-burnt-offerings and sacrifices to the Lord.’ Moses therefore is an elementary teacher, and carries us off unto first entrances of true knowledge of God—that is, the introductory catechesis through the more ancient Letters.

Palladius: It fits.

Cyril: And Christ perfects those catechized through law. And if I should say law again, understand the old covenant. And indeed toward Jethro Moses was using only the narrations concerning God; and he shifts him thereafter unto this judgment, so as to confess expressly that there is no other God, except that only the one is, who is by nature and truly. And this is catechumens’ first faith—I mean being freed from polytheist opinion, and receiving the one who is truly one and by nature God. And Aaron was both counting Jethro worthy of a table, and calling him unto eating of bread. For ‘Aaron has arrived,’ it says, ‘and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread together with Moses’ (Exodus 18:12) father-in-law before God.’ For Christ, the truer Aaron, perfects us with the living bread; and he perfects not only those from the nations, but rather mixed also those chosen from Israel’s blood, of whom the elders would be a type. And not moderate emphasis toward sanctification has the need to eat the bread as before God. For what is so in God’s sight as a mystical table, and sacrifice, and those partaking of it?

Palladius: You speak well.

Cyril: That being perfected through Christ, we also spring up from the pedagogy in law toward better understanding, we will see effortlessly receiving a clear image of the matter—Moses and Jethro; for ‘Moses the divine was sitting judging,’ (Exodus 18:13) it says; ‘and all the people was standing by him from morning until evening.’ (Exodus 18:13) And Jethro introduces a judgment which Moses has honored, and having thought it holds most excellently he accepted it; for ‘Moses heard,’ it says, ‘the father-in-law’s voice, and did as many things as he said to him.’ Or would not the one able to speak the better counsel and judgment be thought altogether and in every way to exist also in more advanced understanding?

Palladius: I say so.

Cyril: And that the perfection through Christ is better and far beyond the catechesis in law, carrying us up unto knowledge incomparably overlying, the most holy Paul would easily show, through the surpassing of the knowledge of Christ, just as he himself says, most eagerly counting the gains in law a loss, and thinking them dung, that he might gain Christ. And toward those still honoring only the things through Moses, and not accepting the perfection through Christ, the prophet Jeremiah was saying: How will you say

Wise in Law rejected the Word; perfection overturns intelligible Amalek§12

12‘that We are wise, and the Lord’s law (Jeremiah 8:8) is with us? In vain has a false measuring-line come to be for scribes; wise men were shamed, they were terrified and were caught; what wisdom is in them, that they rejected the Lord’s word?’ But for us who do not reject the saving word (for we gladly accept the proclamations through Christ) he himself has become wisdom from God. We have therefore outstripped even in understanding those in law, and we who are catechized with the narrations according to law, having eaten the bread before God, have been trained both to speak and to think the better things. For Jethro gives counsel, and Moses listens. And Jethro would reasonably be as it were a person of those from the nations, and Moses of those according to law.

Palladius: You have spoken rightly.

Cyril: Therefore the perfection through Christ, and the power of the mysteries according to him, both makes us wise, and makes us to be seen better than death, overturning the hidden and intelligible Amalek—that is, Satan. And the Psalmist was saying most rightly: ‘For in God we will make power, and he himself will set at naught those who afflict us.’ (Psalm 60:12) And again concerning those made bright in faith he was crying out as toward him: ‘For you are the boast of their power, and in your name they will rejoice the whole day.’ (Psalm 89:17) For we boast being saved in Christ, and having him as a weapon of good pleasure, according to the Scriptures. And of this again a type and clear image for us would come to be what is written at the end of the second of Kingdoms; and it holds thus: ‘And David rose early, and a word of the Lord came to be toward Gad the prophet the seer toward David, saying: Go and speak toward David, saying: Thus says the Lord: Three things I will say upon you; choose for yourself one from them, and I will do it for you. And Gad went in toward David, and announced, and said to him: Choose for yourself to come to be, either three years famine come upon you in your land, or three months you flee before your enemies, and they will be pursuing you; or three days death come to be in your land. Now therefore know and see what word I shall answer to the one who sent me. And David said to Gad: Narrow things are for me exceedingly from everywhere even the three; I will fall then into the Lord’s hands (2 Samuel 24:14), because his compassions are many exceedingly; but into humans’ hands I will not fall. And David chose for himself the death; and the days were of wheat harvest, and the Lord gave death in Israel from morning until the hour of the meal; and the breaking began in the people, and there died from the Lord’s people from Dan even until Beersheba seventy thousand men; and the angel of God stretched out his hand unto Jerusalem to destroy it; and the Lord was comforted upon the evil, and said to the angel destroying in the people: Enough; let go your hand. And the angel of God was standing by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebu— (2 Samuel 24:11–16)

David’s altar on Ornan’s floor; type of Christ’s mystery§13

The breaking stood; death of old was cut short§14

Death from Adam until the holy table; Christ the shepherd for the sheep§15

15death was cut short. And the holy Writing was marking that the altar was small at the beginnings, yet Solomon added to it at the last. Or do you not say that the insight of what lies before is as in a short form in these things?

Palladius: I say so; and how would the mind become clear—make it distinct already.

Cyril: Or do you not know that human nature has confessedly slipped down into death and corruption, sharpening the Creator toward angers, as in the firstfruits of our race—that is, Adam, who at the beginnings set aside the divine commandment, and heard thus: ‘You are earth, and unto earth you will go away’ (Genesis 3:19)?

Palladius: Truly.

Cyril: From early morning therefore—that is, from first times of the present age—death was pastured upon those upon the earth, until the hour of the meal—that is, until a time of table. For when a time of the holy table stood in for us—clearly that in Christ and mystical, upon which we eat the bread from heaven and life-making—the terrible and hard-to-meet one of old, death, was abolished, God having been entreated; and the destroyer has barely been shamed, who when he wished also to cast the destroying hand upon those inhabiting the holy city, the intelligible Jerusalem, God having been entreated, is then barely checked; for ‘Let go now,’ (2 Samuel 24:16) he says, ‘it is enough.’ (2 Samuel 24:16) And a holy city is the Church, whose inhabitants would be those being perfected unto sanctification through living bread. And of the city thus august and worth admiring the divine David also makes mention saying: ‘Glorious things have been spoken concerning you, the city of God.’ (Psalm 87:3) For Christ has dwelt in us, who is life and life-making. Therefore also God scares the destroyer away from those sanctified, as no longer owing to conquer after the manifestation of the time of the holy table, which the time of the meal hints. Christ therefore has delivered us, being understood as in the person of David. For when he was seeing death consuming those upon the earth, he has become an advocate for us toward the Father; for he was bringing himself forward for us, and willingly put himself under death, and has shamed the destroyer, saying the sin is his own; not that he has done the sin, but that, according to the Scriptures, ‘he himself takes up our sins, and is in pain concerning us, and was reckoned among the lawless,’ (Isaiah 53:4–12) although not knowing sin; ‘and he has become a curse for us.’ (Galatians 3:13) And he says the shepherd rather than the sheep must suffer; for as a good shepherd he has set his soul for the sheep. Then according to a divine reminder, the divine David, where he has already seen the destroying angel idle and standing (for he saw him by the threshing-floor, it says), having fixed an altar there, has offered up to God whole-burnt-offerings and peace-offerings (and these are forms and manners of the sacrifices according to the law). And through the threshing-floor you will understand the Church, into which

Threshing-floor is Church; Christ bought her; oxen that thresh§16

16having arrived, he stood thereafter, and death was abolished, and the destroyer drew together the hand terrible of old and destroying; for it is a house of the life according to nature—that is, of Christ. And we say the Church is a threshing-floor as from likeness and image, upon which like sheaves, or ears, those being sheared from the life from the world through the word of the holy harvesters are gathered—that is, of apostles and evangelists—so that they might also be brought together into the courts above, and as into a master’s storehouse, into the heavenly Jerusalem, might be brought in as some clean wheat, according to the putting-away of the more useless and superfluous things and thoughts together, which are understood as in a form of the chaff. And it has been said somewhere by Christ to the holy apostles: ‘Do you not say that there is a four-month, and the harvest comes? Behold I say to you: Lift up your eyes, and see the fields, that they are white toward harvest already. The one harvesting receives a wage, and gathers fruit unto eternal life.’ (John 4:35–36) And again: ‘The harvest is much, but the workers few. Beg therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he cast out workers into his harvest.’ (Matthew 9:37–38) Naming, I think, the intelligible harvest the multitude of those about to believe, and saying holy harvesters are those having the divine word unto mind and tongue, which is living and clear, and sharper beyond every two-edged sword, and arriving as far as division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrows. And by the name of the threshing-floor the blessed Baptist also was making clear the Church, saying somewhere thus concerning Christ: ‘I baptize you with water, but the one stronger than I comes, of whom I am not sufficient to loose the strap of his sandals; he himself will baptize you in Holy Spirit and fire; whose winnowing-fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean his threshing-floor, and will gather his wheat into the storehouse, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’ (Matthew 3:12) This intelligible threshing-floor therefore—I mean the Church—Christ bought for fifty shekels—that is, not light prices; for he has given himself for her, and has fixed in her the altar; and since he himself is the one performing the sacred rite (for he has become high priest), he himself also brought himself forward as the victim, as in a form and type of the threshing calf, and has become a whole-burnt-offering and a peace sacrifice. For the intervening has been loosed in Christ, and we who of old were standing apart and marked off through the sin enter in together through him and in him to God and Father, having dissolved that ancient enmity. For he himself is our peace, according to the Scriptures.

Palladius: Will we therefore understand the threshing calf as Christ? in what manner do you say?

Cyril: For has not the law through Moses named for us the threshing oxen the holy disciples? for he said enigmatically: ‘You will not muzzle an ox threshing.’ (Deuteronomy 25:4) Which also the blessed Paul having understood very clearly: ‘Does God care for the oxen (Deuteronomy 25:4) (1 Corinthians 9:9)?

Disciples as calves; altar grows; Christ death for all§17

17Or does he altogether say it through us? For through us it was written, that the one plowing ought to plow upon hope, and the one threshing upon hope of partaking.’ Calves therefore, according to the image of the first—that is, of Christ—are also the blessed disciples. And Christ is a threshing calf also otherwise; for through him is the cleansing and the putting-away of superfluous things—I mean distractions and the fleshly thoughts according to the world, which are also food of flame, just as also the chaff. And the altar having been raised, upon which also a peace-offering and the whole-burnt-offering, what grieves has been loosed; for the Lord listened to the earth, and the breaking was held together. For Christ having priested himself for us, death was abolished, and corruption was overturned, the God who is able in all things somehow already holding ready the ear for the prayers of all; for ‘While you are still speaking,’ (Isaiah 65:24) he says, ‘I will say: What is it?’ (Isaiah 65:24) And the altar’s being small at the beginnings, and saying it was added to it later, makes clear the progress of the Gospel that will come to be according to times, and of the holy Churches the being contracted at the beginnings, and breadth as it were also in what follows. For the altars are as it were always being widened, Churches always somehow being added to the first ones with others, and the peoples being stretched unto an unmeasured multitude, who have been redeemed through the sacrifice in Christ, having him as sacred minister and the holy victim, and fragrant thoroughly cleansing, and as an altar worth admiring, and as in a form of the threshing-floor the Church’s master.

Palladius: How clear and evident the word is; for it has been made with good craft.

Cyril: Or have you yourself, doubting nothing, not said that Christ is the life and redemption of all?

Palladius: I would say so, know it. For I think thus.

Cyril: For one died for all who is worth all; and he made his own soul an exchange of ours, shaming the devil’s perversity, and as it were somehow standing the insolence of the sin tyrannizing against us, and the unbridled speech upon the charges of all.

Palladius: In what manner do you say?

Cyril: For since sin has reigned of those upon the earth, many having bent toward the evil things from youth, just as it has been written, and the heart of all lying carefully upon the need and wishing to accomplish them, we have necessarily also fallen under a sentence of death. For a transgression of divine law, and a setting-aside of the Master’s wills, has death as the sentence. And the Creator pitied human nature thus corrupted, and the Only-begotten became human, and has worn a body naturally held by death, and has been named flesh, so that having endured for us the death hung over us from sin, he might abolish the sin, and might stop (2 Corinthians 5:14–15) (Genesis 8:21)

Satan’s charge silenced; Zechariah’s ephah and lead talent§18

18thereafter Satan charging, as of our having paid out in Christ himself the sentences of the charges unto sin; for ‘he takes up our sins, and is in pain concerning us,’ (Isaiah 53:4–5) according to the prophet’s voice. Or have we not been healed by his bruise?

Palladius: Truly. For ‘He was wounded for our sins, and has come to be in ill-treatment and in a blow.’ (Isaiah 53:5)

Cyril: The sin has therefore been loosed, Christ having suffered for us, and I do not think he would still necessarily cry down against those sanctified through Christ, and the prophet Zechariah will show this clearly for us saying as in a vision: ‘And the angel speaking in me went out, and said toward me: Look up with your eyes, and see this going out. And I said: What is it? and he said: This is the measure going out. And he said: This is their injustice in all the earth. And behold a talent of lead being lifted, and behold one woman was sitting in the middle of the measure; and he threw the stone of the lead into her mouth; and I lifted the eyes, and saw; and behold two women going out, and wind in their wings; and these had wings as wings of a hoopoe; and they took up the measure between the earth and between the heaven. And I said toward the angel speaking in me: Where are these carrying the measure away? And he said toward me: To build for it a house in the land of Babylon, and to prepare, and they will set it there upon its preparation.’ (Zechariah 5:6-11) Do you wish we say the things upon each again, and contemplate as far as possible?

Palladius: Very much so.

Cyril: The prophet has seen some measure running out of Jerusalem, and when he asked what it is, the angel said: ‘This is their injustice in all the earth.’ (Zechariah 5:6) And it is like, as if he might happen to say: In this measure are measured the trespasses according to times of those throughout the whole earth. For when our sin has come as far as a clear quantity, the lawgiver then brings on the sentences having been grieved; yet he often endures from innate love of humans, and puts up with those trespassing, not altogether being indignant before the completion. And indeed he said toward sacred Abraham: ‘For the Amorites’ sins have not yet been filled up until now.’ And toward the Pharisees raging unrestrainedly Christ said: ‘And you fill up the measure of your fathers.’ The measure therefore going out, the talent of the lead is lifted, and the woman filling the measure has been thrown into the middle, or even was receiving the stone of the lead in her own mouth; then the divine angel says: This is the lawlessness.

Palladius: The word is not yet very clear.

Cyril: Therefore it will be, and not unto a long time. For the talent of the lead would himself be Christ, who is lifted—that is, is exalted through the cross

Lead talent Christ stops sin’s mouth; tin stone; pearl§19

19—and is seen distinguished with the dignities of the Godhead. For God has highly exalted him, and has gifted him the name above every name. And he shuts the mouth of the sin, according to what is hymned in the Psalms: ‘And every lawlessness will stop up its mouth’ (Psalm 107:42); having been told to cry down against those who have sinned from weakness, and have been justified in faith. For ‘God is the one justifying; who is the one condemning?’ (Romans 8:33) And Christ having suffered for us, how was it consistent that the penalties for our own trespasses should still be demanded of us ourselves?

Palladius: You have spoken most rightly. For we have been justified in Christ, and have very well beaten off the cry-down from the sin. And most gladly I would learn from you, for what cause Christ is signaled as in lead, and the lawlessness appears as in a woman’s person.

Cyril: And indeed this too is easy to see from the holy Letters; for Christ is already likened also to many others, through the quality of the things signaled, of the things understood upon him.

Palladius: What sort of thing do you say?

Cyril: He has become for us a base and security, and an unshaken under-step, and an unbreakable foundation; and because of this he has been named a stone. For ‘Behold,’ he says, ‘I set into Zion’s (Isaiah 28:16) foundations a chosen stone, a cornerstone, honorable. And the one believing upon him will not be put to shame.’ And again he himself is the bright and worth-admiring treasure of the Church, our spiritual wealth; and he has been said a pearl. For ‘The kingdom of the heavens,’ (Matthew 13:45) he says, ‘is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls. And finding one very precious pearl, going away, he was selling all things as many as he had, and bought it.’ (Matthew 13:46) And he has joined us through himself to God and Father, having dissolved the enmity in his body, just as it has been written; and indeed he said toward the Father and God in the heavens, concerning those justified in the faith unto him: ‘Father, I wish that just as I and you are one, so also they may be one in us.’ (John 17:21) He has been called for this reason a tin stone, for with tin the things being glued are glued. And God said somewhere through Zechariah’s voice, showing us his own Son, as about to come and go according to times: ‘And they will rejoice, and will see the tin stone in Zerubbabel’s hand (Zechariah 4:10).’ Thus therefore here too he says him a talent of lead. And what the reason of this is, I will say again. Unapproved silver melted mixed with lead is very well thoroughly cleansed, the lead naturally snatching into itself the filth of what is being burned together; some such thing Christ has also fulfilled unto us ourselves. For being unapproved he was mixed with us bodily and spiritually together, and thus thereafter melted down the filth in us. For he takes up our sins, so that we through him and through him may be both clean and made bright. And

Jeremiah’s lead; woman as weakness; hoopoe wings to Babylon§20

20indeed the prophet Jeremiah was bewailing the peoples of the Jews not accepting the cleansing through Christ, saying: ‘The bellows has failed from fire, lead has failed; in vain a silversmith silversmiths; their evils have not been melted; call them rejected silver, because the Lord has rejected them.’ (Jeremiah 6:29–30) You understand therefore how divine Scripture has not been ignorant that the cleansing upon silver is not able to be practiced without lead. Therefore since Christ has thoroughly cleansed us being unapproved, he is likened to lead, and he himself stops up the mouth of the sin, of the one as in a form of a woman. And a woman is a symbol of weakness and of pleasure together, and every lawlessness is practiced through these. For the mind having been corrupted beforehand by some pleasure unto whatever, or this, and thus being unnerved, lets go the toils that carry off unto virtue, and the human soul falls toward sin; therefore some are said lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. And the prophet also addresses those who from psychic weakness have been sickened with the sin, and the palsy unto baseness: ‘Strengthen hands let go, and knees paralyzed.’ (Isaiah 35:3)

Palladius: But thus this. And a pair, tell me, of women, who carry the measure and the lawlessness away unto the Babylonians’ land—what would it wish to make clear?

Cyril: The mouth of the lawlessness has been stopped up, noble one, through Christ; for we have been justified in him, and have been freed from every charge, and the cry-down of the lawlessness against us has ceased. For this has become the aim of the economy unto us, by the one who through us, according to us, and for us, unto death, even if he lived again; for it was not possible that the life be defeated by death. But some disobeyed Christ’s Gospel, and not having accepted the redemption from the sin, bear it again as a burden, having hung it upon their own heads through weakness of mind, and softness of understanding and unmanliness of soul. These are carried about by every evil wind, and being most violently pushed together unto every form of uncleanness they make as much eagerness as possible unto the base things. And a sign of eagerness is the wing, which he also says is of a hoopoe, and this is a form of a small bird, always running round the most foul-smelling of the marshes, and gathering from mire and uncleanness unto food. As many therefore as spend their own eagernesses unto pollution, these would altogether reasonably be said to have the hoopoe’s wings. And they themselves are womanlike, and made soft, and thereafter conformed to the sin tyrannizing against them. For in the manner those under him and with him have become conformed to Christ through sanctification, so also those loaded with the lawlessness, and having chosen to live together with unclean baseness, are conformed and like-formed to it. And they carry the measure away unto Babylon, and seek a house for it there, enigmatically (Zechariah 5:11)

Rejecting Christ shares the lot of idolaters; all justification in Christ§21