Without us they are not perfected; small blessed with great
is conspicuous, from the precise piety unto God—‘According to faith,’ he says, ‘these all died, and they did not receive the promises, God having foreseen something better concerning us, so that they might not be perfected without us.’ And he also writes to others: ‘Already you have been perfected; without us you have reigned, and would that you had reigned, so that we also might reign together with you.’ You see how those having the deficient rank will also be perfected together with those in the end, and those not strong according to them are blessed together with the chosen? And the divine David also sings somewhere: ‘Blessed are you by the Lord, who made the heaven and the earth; the Lord has blessed Aaron’s house; the Lord has blessed Israel’s house; the Lord has blessed those who fear him, the small with the great.’ The so-called small are blessed together with the great, not having to boast in equal strength, and being worsted in eagernesses unto the need to endure hardship, yet perhaps being equaled in zeal and faith, and delighting Christ with strengths according to power. And Moses and Eleazar would be a type of the one high priest and lawgiver Christ, distributing the spoils to the people, holy angels standing by together, of whom also the rulers of the fatherhoods of the synagogue would be a type. Or do you not say that many of the holy angels upon earth have been ordered by God, unto the need to help those who have believed, and as it were to lead peoples?
Palladius: I say so; for how not?
Cyril: Christ is expected to come from heaven with the holy angels, and will sit upon his throne of glory, and will distribute to each the prizes fitting him, and the honors proportionally to the successes; therefore also wise Isaiah says to us concerning Christ: ‘Because of this he himself will lord over many, and of the strong he will divide spoils, instead of things for which his soul was handed over unto death, and was reckoned among the lawless.’ In Christ therefore is the distribution of the goods, as typed in Moses and Eleazar. For Christ is lawgiver in the same and high priest.
Palladius: You have spoken most excellently.
Cyril: And what indeed is also the manner itself of the distributing—is it not worth wondering?
Palladius: Very much so. For the quiet has been honored in equal portion with the fight-ready.
Cyril: Not equal, then—far from it—even if the fight-ready should have the half of the whole, and every synagogue the other half; for the whole number of those from Israel was unto six hundred thousands, and five hundreds fifty toward three thousands, the priestly tribe being apart and excepted from the catalogue. And a most fight-ready multitude was a thousand according to tribe. The spoils therefore having been portioned in equal, and each multitude having obtained the half of the whole, the honors are in much more for the fewer, and not for the more and overlying in
Greek
περιφανὴς, ἀπό γε τῆς εἰς Θεὸν ἀκριβοῦς εὐσεβείας «Κατὰ πίστιν,» φησὶν, «ἀπέθανον οὗτοι πάντες, καὶ οὐκ ἐκομίσαντο τὰς ἐπαγγελίας, τοῦ Θεοῦ περὶ ἡμῶν κρεῖττόν τι προβλεψαμένου, ἵνα μὴ χωρὶς ἡμῶν τελειωθῶσιν.» Ἐπιστέλλει δὲ καὶ ἑτέροις· «Ἤδη τετελειωμένοι ἐστέ· χωρὶς ἡμῶν ἐβασιλεύσατε, καὶ ὤφελόν γε ἐβασιλεύσατε, ἵνα καὶ ἡμεῖς ὑμῖν συμβασιλεύσωμεν.» Ὁρᾷς ὅπως συντελειωθήσονται τοῖς ἐν τέλει, καὶ οἱ τάξιν ἔχοντες τὴν καταδεᾶ, καὶ συνευλογοῦνται τοῖς ἐξειλεγμένοις οἱ μὴ κατ' αὐτοὺς εὐσθενεῖς; Ψάλλει δέ που καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος Δαβίδ· «Εὐλογημένοι ὑμεῖς τῷ Κυρίῳ, τῷ ποιήσαντι τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν· εὐλόγησε Κύριος τὸν οἶκον Ἀαρών· εὐλόγησε Κύριος τὸν οἶκον Ἰσραήλ· εὐλόγησε Κύριος τοὺς φοβουμένους αὐτὸν, τοὺς μικροὺς μετὰ τῶν μεγάλων.» Συνευλογοῦνται τοῖς μεγάλοις οἱ καλούμενοι μικροὶ, ἐν ῥώμῃ μὲν ἐπαυχεῖν οὐκ ἔχοντες ἴσῃ, καὶ ταῖς εἰς τὸ χρῆναι τληπαθεῖν ἡττώμενοι προθυμίαις, ζήλῳ δὲ τάχα καὶ πίστει παρισούμενοι, καὶ ταῖς κατὰ δύναμιν εὐσθενείαις Χριστὸν εὐφραίνοντες. Καὶ τύπος ἂν εἶεν Μωσῆς τε καὶ Ἐλεάζαρ ἑνὸς τοῦ ἀρχιερέως τε καὶ νομοθέτου Χριστοῦ, διανέμοντος τῷ λαῷ τὰ σκῦλα, συμπαρεστηκότων ἀγγέλων ἁγίων, ὧν καὶ τύπος εἶεν ἂν οἱ ἄρχοντες τῶν πατριῶν τῆς συναγωγῆς. Ἢ οὐκ εἶναι φὴς πολλοὺς ἐπὶ γῆς τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων, παρὰ Θεοῦ τεταγμένους, εἴς γε τὸ δεῖν τοῖς πεπιστευκόσιν ἐπικουρεῖν, καὶ οἱονεὶ καθηγεῖσθαι λαῶν;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Φημί· πῶς γὰρ οὔ;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἥξειν ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ προσδοκᾶται Χριστὸς μετὰ τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων, καὶ καθιεῖται μὲν ἐπὶ θρόνου δόξης αὐτοῦ, διανεμεῖται δὲ ἑκάστῳ τὰ αὐτῷ πρέποντα γέρα, καὶ ἀναλόγως τοῖς κατορθώμασι τὰς τιμάς· τοιγάρτοι καὶ ὁ σοφὸς ἡμῖν Ἡσαΐας περὶ Χριστοῦ φησι· «Διὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸς κυριεύσει πολλῶν, καὶ τῶν ἰσχυρῶν μεριεῖ σκῦλα, ἀνθ' ὧν παρεδόθη εἰς θάνατον ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀνόμοις ἐλογίσθη.» Ἐν Χριστῷ τοιγαροῦν ἡ τῶν ἀγαθῶν διανέμησις, ὡς ἐν Μωσῇ τε καὶ Ἐλεάζαρ ἐκτυπουμένων. Νομοθέτης γὰρ ἐν ταυτῷ καὶ ἀρχιερεὺς ὁ Χριστός.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἄριστα ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Τίς δὲ δὴ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ τοῦ διανείμασθαι τρόπος, ἆρ' οὐχὶ θαυμάζειν ἄξιον;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν. Ἐν ἴσῃ γὰρ μοίρᾳ τετίμηται τῷ μαχίμῳ τὸ ἠρεμοῦν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκ ἴση μὲν οὖν, πολλοῦ γε καὶ δεῖ, κἂν εἰ τὴν τοῦ παντὸς ἡμίσειαν ἔχῃ τὸ μάχιμον, τὴν δὲ ἑτέραν ἡμίσειαν ἡ πᾶσα συναγωγή· σύμπας μὲν γὰρ τῶν ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ ὁ ἀριθμὸς εἰς ἑξακοσίας χιλιάδας ἦν, καὶ πεντακοσίους πεντήκοντα πρὸς τρισχιλίους, ἀνὰ μέρος οὔσης καὶ ἐξῃρημένης τοῦ καταλόγου τῆς ἱερατευούσης φυλῆς. Πληθὺς δὲ ἦν μαχιμωτάτη, χίλιοι κατὰ φυλήν. Ἐν ἴσῳ δὴ οὖν διαμοιρηθέντων τῶν σκύλων, καὶ τὴν τοῦ παντὸς ἡμίσειαν ἑκατέρας λαχούσης πληθύος, ἐν πολλῷ πλείονι τοῖς ἐλάττοσιν, αἱ τιμαὶ, καὶ οὐχὶ τοῖς πλείοσι καὶ ὑπερκειμένοις ἐν
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 4 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 4 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 4 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 4)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 4)
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.