On Adoration and Worship in Spirit and Truth, Book 5

Courage in Christ: saints must not befriend the world’s cares§1

1ON ADORATION AND WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH — BOOK FIVE. Concerning the manliness that is in Christ. The saints’ aim therefore, Palladius—even if they should contend above others’ life—is to love appropriating nothing of the things in the world; for thus they would be both wise and powerful, and filled with good hope, and very well walled by favors from above, and, know it well, friend, the matter is not otherwise. For having the mind higher than the distractions in the world and temporary desires, they will meet enemies altogether easy to conquer, and will very easily prevail over those who have stood against, God shaking down those ones’ power beforehand; yet having themselves also fallen into worldly passions, and been wrapped in more earthy desires, they will then lie beside those who have chosen to pursue them as easy to overrun and most easy to catch, and having been shown bare of the security from above, they will lie beside the enemies as some most ready prey.

Palladius: And what would the assurance of what has been said be? I would wish to know clearly.

Cyril: The sacred Letter, usefully sounding beside what befell the ancients. For did not even divine Paul say that those things have been written toward our admonition?

Palladius: I say so; for the things shown from them will work for us not moderate benefit. For the shadows were types of the truth.

Cyril: Therefore let us speak already. For having crossed the Jordan those from Israel attacked Jericho; and indeed also following divine nods they were eager to besiege it out, as about to prevail at once and take it, and the most fight-ready were present having hung upon themselves the law of war. For it has been written (Joshua 6:1) (Joshua 6:1–3):

Armed before the Lord; Jericho’s ban; Achan takes the devoted things§2

2that ‘And Joshua the of Nun went in toward the priests, and said to them saying: Command the people to go round and encircle the city, and let the fight-ready go along armed opposite the Lord.’ (Joshua 6:6–19) For Christ commanding through the leaders’ voice, we campaign against the enemies, not choosing the battle toward blood and flesh, but rather toward rulers and authorities, and the law that has tyrannized in the members of the flesh. And we will then also be in God’s sight, fitted as it were with the divine and intelligible full armor. (For our weapons are not fleshly, according to Paul’s voice), and conspicuous with the boasts of righteousness. The Master God of all therefore looks upon the most fight-ready, wearing round them the bright vessels of righteousness—that is, the fight-ready going along armed as before Christ. And very honorable and truly much-wished is coming to be in God’s oversight, if it is not unpersuasive to think that upon those who have grieved him God sets the turning-away as some chastisement, saying: ‘When you stretch out the hands toward me, I will turn my eyes away from you.’ (Isaiah 1:15) And when the siege was stretching even unto a seventh day, Joshua the of Nun said again to the sons of Israel: ‘Cry out toward the Lord; for the Lord has handed the city over to us, and the city will be a ban, itself and all things as many as are in it, to the Lord of the powers Sabaoth; yet keep Rahab the prostitute safe—her, and all things as many as are in her house. But you guard yourselves from the ban, lest ever having thought you yourselves take from the ban, and make the camp of the sons of Israel a ban, and wipe us out, and every silver and gold, and bronze and iron will be holy to the Lord; it will be brought into the Lord’s (Joshua 6:19) treasury.’ For he was allowing those playing the man to revel in the other plunderings, yet says that every silver and gold, bronze and iron must be brought into the Lord’s treasury; for this was the so-called ban—that is, what has been allotted from all and marked off for God. But having counted the commandment worthy of no word, ‘Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah from the tribe of Judah took,’ (Joshua 7:1) it says, ‘from the ban. And the Lord was wroth in anger at the sons of Israel.’ (Joshua 7:1) For I think those leading out the well-strong mind in Christ past the worldly pleasures and the distractions in this life, and having chosen to be of good reputation through the weapons of righteousness, and already come to be in Christ’s oversight, must reach for nothing of the things wondered at in the world—not wealth, not glory, not power, or superiority, not the unholy doctrines from Greek wisdom. And unto a type of brightness in dignities and superiorities would be the silver; for the material is bright; and of wealth, the gold. And the well-sounding of the tongue of the wise in the world the

Silver, gold, bronze, iron; Achan’s theft harms all Israel at Ai§3

Defeat at Ai; the ban in the camp; Achan’s confession§4

Little leaven; no soft mind in man’s gear; hypocrisy abominated§5

Deuteronomy’s war exemptions: house, vineyard, betrothal, fear§6

6more earthy things. And indeed in Deuteronomy it has been written again: ‘If you go out unto war upon your enemies, and see horse and rider, and a people more than you, you will not fear from them, because the Lord your God is with you, who led you up from Egypt’s land (Deuteronomy 20:1–8), and it will be when you draw near to the war, and the priest having drawn near will speak to the people, and will say toward them: Hear, Israel, you go forward today unto the war upon your enemies; let not your heart be loosened; do not fear, nor be shattered, nor turn aside from their face; because the Lord your God, who goes forward with you, will war together with you your enemies to save you. And the scribes will speak toward the people, saying: Who is the human who has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? Let him go and turn back into his house, lest he die in the war, and another human dedicate it. And who is the human who has planted a vineyard, and has not been gladdened from it? Let him go and turn back into his house, lest he die in the war, and another human be gladdened from it. And who is the human who has betrothed a woman, and has not taken her? Let him go and turn back into his house, lest he die in the war, and another human take her. And the scribes will add to speak toward the people, and will say: Who is the human who fears and is cowardly in heart? Let him go and turn back into his house, so that he may not make cowardly his brother’s heart, just as his own.’

Palladius: But that those who have taken courage upon God must be conspicuous in virtues and play the man toward every good thing whatever, I myself also would say. Yet some are sent away from the war as unsuited—how or in what manner I am not able to learn.

Cyril: Or do you not know that one would not become of good reputation beside God, nor would anyone choose to endure the toils for the piety unto him, unless he was considering the life in this world a sojourning? Which was being written for us most excellently and evidently, as in image and types, in the saints’ ways of life. For divine Abraham was sojourning in tents, and was making the running-across from places unto places; and all Israel according to the wilderness was making frequent departures, and has dwelt in tents. And the prophet David also very much boasts in this, saying thus toward God: ‘Spare me, because I am a sojourner in the earth and a passer-by, just as all my fathers.’ (Psalm 39:12) And he was very much accepting the dwellings above, saying thus: ‘How beloved are your tents, Lord of the powers! My soul longs and fails unto the Lord’s courts (Psalm 84:1-2).’ Such ones therefore mind the things above, and thirst for the dwellings in the heavens, which the Savior himself also promises to those who love him, saying: ‘I go, and will prepare a place for you, and will come again, and will take you along with myself, so that where I am, you also (John 14:2-3)

House, vineyard, betrothal type worldly loves; Paul undeterred§7

Spies of Canaan; timid report vs Caleb and Joshua§8

8men, and let them reconnoiter the Canaanites’ land, which I give the sons of Israel as a holding; one man according to tribe, according to peoples of their fatherhoods you will send them, every leader from them. And Moses sent them out from the Paran wilderness through the Lord’s voice, all men leaders of sons of Israel.’ And the ones sent out having been numbered according to tribes and races, he brings on again: ‘And going up they reconnoitered the land from the Sin wilderness, until Rehob, of those going into Hamath.’ (Numbers 13:2–28) And after other things: ‘And they came until a ravine of Cluster, and reconnoitered it, and cut from there a branch, and one cluster of grape upon it, and they lifted it upon carrying-poles, and from the pomegranates, and from the figs; and they named that place Cluster-ravine, because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut from there, and they turned back from there having reconnoitered the land, after forty days; and going they came toward Moses and Aaron, and toward every synagogue of the sons of Israel into the Paran wilderness Kadesh. And they answered them a word, and to every synagogue, and showed the fruit of the land, and narrated to him, and said: We came into the land into which you sent us, a land flowing milk and honey, and this is its fruit. But that the nation dwelling upon it is bold, and cities fortified walled and very great, and we have seen Enak’s race (Numbers 13:28) there.’ Do you understand how the easily terrified and most undaring of those who reconnoitered the land of the promise have confessed evidently that the land is both well-vined and fat, and weighed down with beautiful fruits, yet weave beside these the things unto cowardice, naming the dwelling nation bold, and saying cities fortified and walled up and down, and standing Israel out of the hope unto mastering, and frightening them down unto unmanliness?

Palladius: Thus it holds.

Cyril: But the wise and young-hearted, Caleb and Joshua, were standing against those ones’ sophistries, saying toward both the people and sacred Moses: ‘Not so; but going up we will go up and will inherit it, because we will be able toward them.’ And those sent out together were not ending at all, confirming that the land of the promise would be hard to take for those from Israel. Then he says: ‘And every synagogue taking up gave a voice, and the people was weeping that whole night, and all the sons of Israel were murmuring upon Moses and Aaron; and every synagogue said toward them: Would that we had died in Egypt’s land, or in this wilderness, if we had died; and why does the Lord lead us into this land to fall in the war? Our women and the children will be unto plunder. Now therefore it is better for us to turn back into Egypt. And they said the one to the other: Let us give a leader, and let us turn back

Only Caleb and Joshua enter; worldly pleasure unfit for spiritual array§9

9into Egypt.’ Unto this misery and unmanliness every synagogue has slipped down. And although Joshua the of Nun was as it were shifting them unto good daring, and tearing the garment, and pouring countless encomia of the land, they were not wishing to take heart again; yet grieving the helping God with their senseless small-soulednesses, and allotting the success of the hope to their own powers. Therefore thereafter he was also swearing, saying: ‘If any of these men will see the land which I swore to their fathers, except Caleb son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the of Nun.’ (Numbers 14:30) Is it doubtful that the cowardly and unenduring of toil, and short unto faith, destroys others together with himself, corrupting with bad conversations, and will fall from both lot and hope unto God; yet the well-strong and most mighty will both lie inside the hope, and will be known to God?

Palladius: Not ambiguous; for the demonstration suffices.

Cyril: Therefore just as we said at the beginnings, the one wrapped in worldly pleasures is unsuited unto the spiritual array.

Palladius: Very much.

Cyril: And I would add that (for I think one must hunt the benefiting very well) even the one newly having begun to succeed at whatever virtue is not yet sufficient toward battle, yet altogether easy to carry down toward the wronging.

Palladius: How do you say?

Cyril: In Deuteronomy it has been written: ‘And if someone takes a woman freshly, he will not go out unto war, and no deed will be cast upon him. He will be guiltless in his house; one year he will gladden the woman whom he took.’ (Deuteronomy 24:5) Therefore, Palladius, must one attend only and bare to the letter, and does the virtue-loving lawgiver seat the fight-ready at home, and not allow him to be of good reputation—one worsted by cold conversations unto a woman, and making flesh-love more urgent than the necessary things?

Palladius: Least of all would I myself grant that this seems good to the lawgiver; yet some persuasive word, as it seems, lies upon it.

Cyril: Therefore what I said I will say having cycled back. A man having touched virtue, and not yet having succeeded at it very well, is easy to carry down unto the opposite.

Palladius: Speak how. For I do not follow very much.

Cyril: Solomon says somewhere: ‘Say wisdom is your sister; and make prudence known for yourself.’ (Proverbs 7:4) For we appropriate the virtues as it were, having been most eager to bear fruit in them as much as possible; for one perhaps has the wise in knowledge, and another has gentleness and angerlessness not unpracticed, or some other of such things which he would choose to succeed at. Therefore at once the mind that has begun the

New virtue not yet battle-ready; apostles spare new gentile believers§10

10equity in these—is it sufficient unto being tested and tried? and having met those who twist the right things, will the one who has newly cohabited with wisdom not rather be twisted, or rather prevail and beat off those ones’ harms, not yet stepped and fixed sufficiently toward understanding?

Palladius: It seems so.

Cyril: And when someone is spurring, will the one practicing gentleness, if he is not yet somehow trained toward this, not easily go off toward anger?

Palladius: I think so.

Cyril: And an practiced wise man will fight through against wise men, and will lead out young-heartedly against those ones’ knaveries the things from rightness of reasonings?

Palladius: Truly.

Cyril: And what—will the one who has succeeded at gentleness not be hard toward angers, even if some should sometimes sharpen him toward this?

Palladius: I say so.

Cyril: Rightly therefore the law, having shaped elegantly as in a form of a woman the virtue cohabiting with the saints, ‘If someone takes a woman freshly,’ (Deuteronomy 24:5) it says, ‘he will not go out unto war, and no deed will be cast upon him; he will be guiltless in his house. One year he will gladden the woman whom he took.’ (Deuteronomy 24:5) For it does not allow the as-it-were newly fixed, and having a fresher eagerness unto the good, to be loaded with toils and persecutions, but as it were leisurely and remaining upon himself, and being warmed to be bound with the affections unto virtue. Some such thing we will find the holy apostles to have done, who to those turning from the nations, and newly called unto knowledge of God, clearly write: ‘For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to cast upon you no further burden, except that you abstain from fornication and strangled, and blood.’ (Acts 15:28) For having economically let go the more burdensome of the commandments, they were ordering to keep few and necessary things, not having been ignorant of the unenduring of hardship of those newly brought in unto the need to be pious. And indeed the God of the wholes remits such ones both anger and charges, even if they should fall into small-soulednesses, stepping through the unaccustomed road of the toils. And after this he exacts justices, and thereafter brings under the motions from anger, those no longer weak through the unaccustomed in the toils, but rather falling back unto the sweet and unsmooth, and most readily dissolving unto what is dissonant with them. Or is virtue not uphill, and the going unto it rough, and must the one who has chosen to succeed sweat?

Palladius: I say so.

Cyril: But it was somewhere not unlikely, or rather, not holy and fitting, that those just now led toward this be trained with pardons, not yet fixed with the very eagernesses, yet going as with soft

Marah’s bitter water; wood sweetens; askesis before war on powers§11

Christ the wood of life; early murmuring pardoned; fire at Taberah§12

Fire and snakes for murmurers; Sinai; Christ leads to rest§13

13people was speaking against God and against Moses, saying: Why did you lead us out from Egypt’s land, to kill in the desert? for there is not bread, nor water; and our soul has loathed this empty bread. And the Lord sent into the people the snakes that kill, and they were biting the people, and much people of the sons of Israel died.’ You see therefore that the whispering and murmuring people has been consumed with fire and with snakes. For the ones set out from the mountain of the Lord, the ark leading them forward and seeking out rest beforehand; and Moses praying and mediating, and indeed also a cloud overshadowing them; yet the others, naming the bread from heaven empty, were making as great a cry-down as possible against both God and Moses. On account of this indeed, those ones necessarily became fire’s work, and these perished without delay by bites of bitter snakes.

Palladius: And what observation again would there be in both? and what is the mountain of the Lord?

Cyril: The mountain of the Lord, I think somewhere, he says is Sinai, upon which the Craftsman of all came down in a form of fire, and was seen by all the people, according to what has been written, and oracled the laws upon the things to be done: ‘For he set there for the sons of Israel righteous ordinances and judgments.’ (Exodus 15:25) Yet Christ was also of old lawgiving those things. Therefore he also calls the words through Moses his own laws. For he said: ‘Amen I say to you, until heaven and earth should pass away, one iota or one keraia will not pass away from the law, until all things should come to be. Heaven and earth will pass away, yet my words will not pass away.’ (Matthew 24:35) Come therefore already, leaving the thickness of the history, let us look down upon the thinness of the spiritual meanings. For those already counted worthy of God-vision and God-knowledge, and having beheld the brightness of the divine nature with the mind’s eyes, as it were on a mountain—that is, in a most high and very much settled-apart superiority (for God’s glory and nature is beyond everything)—who have presented themselves as it were through the faith to Christ, and have become not unhearing of the words from beside him, and have promised the obedience (for this Israel also did then saying: ‘All things as many as the Lord your God said, we will do and we will hear’ (Exodus 24:7)) will enjoy the sparing already genuinely fitting, and will share care sufficient unto salvation for them; for they will have him as leader, defender, and one leading forward toward reconnoitering the rest for them. For first Christ for us and on behalf of us set himself opposite Satan who conquered of old, having both fasted and been tempted in the desert, in order that we may have the rest, seeing him conquered, and fallen, and spread under our own feet. Therefore he also was saying: ‘You have affliction in the world, but take heart; I have conquered the world.’ (John 16:33) And again: ‘Behold I have given you authority to tread upon snakes and scorpions, and upon all the power of the Enemy.’ (John 16:33) (Luke 10:19)

Ark types Christ; mediator; cloud shelter; wages parable begins§14

14For first for us and on behalf of us having attacked death, he both dissolved that one’s power, and reconnoitered the rest for us, renewing unto incorruption. First he entered into paradise, as it were entreating away the turning sword, and standing off from us the sin that was shutting out. For he himself paid the debts on behalf of us, and by his bruise we were healed, according to what has been written. For first he went up toward the Father and God, inaugurating for us the upward journey, and preparing beforehand the upper dwellings. Therefore he also was saying: ‘I will go and prepare a place for you.’ (John 14:2) Christ therefore was being typed beforehand as in the ark; for that one had been constructed from woods that do not rot, and was packing densely in itself the divine law, which is God’s Word. And you would see the mystery upon Christ resembling this. For the Word was God in an incorruptible temple. Therefore the ark was going forward reconnoitering the rest for those from Israel. And our Christ also goes forward according to the manners just now said to us; and besides this also filling the mediator’s need, he becomes advocate toward the Father, and propitiation on behalf of us, according as Moses also of old; who in the lifting of the ark was saying: ‘Rise up, Lord, let your enemies be scattered, let all who hate you flee;’ (Numbers 10:35) yet in the resting: ‘Return, Lord, thousands of myriads in Israel.’ (Numbers 10:36) For when the Only-begotten has been raised toward our help and the one who of old was saying through the Psalmist’s voice: ‘From the misery of the poor and the groaning of the needy now I will rise, says the Lord;’ (Psalms 12:5) then the enemies have fallen, and those who have stood against and fight with the divine glory have fled. For he has triumphed in the cross over rulers and authorities; and having died he has abolished the ruler of this age, according to what has been written; and having as it were rested, and brought to an end the whole economy through the resurrection from dead ones and the journey upward toward the Father, he turned the whole earth, and was making thousands of myriads his own worshipers: ‘For when,’ he was saying, ‘I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all toward myself.’ (John 12:32) Therefore Moses’ prayer would be a type of Christ’s mediation, according at least to the human form, praying and asking for us the finest things from beside the God and Father. For as divine John says: ‘We have an advocate toward the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is propitiation concerning our sins, and not concerning ours only, but also on behalf of the whole world.’ (1 John 2:2) And besides again we have him as shelterer, being understood as in the overshadowing cloud. For let the one being justified by the faith into him hear: ‘By day the sun will not burn you, nor the moon the night.’ (Psalm 121:6) And some also say in the distribution of the wages, according to the evangelical parable (Matthew 20:12)

Cloud shelter; fire for apostasy; manna scorned; snakes; slackness§15

Flesh-loves vs heavenly; quail desire; seventy; meat unto cholera§16

Quail cholera; sow to flesh; graves of desire; take up the cross§17

17from Egypt?’ For this was grieving the Redeemer very much—that Israel should also disregard even the slavery itself, and count as nothing the toils in Egypt, for the sake of the most foul-smelling meats and vegetables. And us ourselves also warm and sharp pleasures often persuade to count the slavery under the devil as bearable, and for the sake of corruptible and more earthy desires to be bound down in the yokes of sin. Yet he was giving even then the flesh-eating, not unto one, nor unto ten perhaps, but unto thirty days, through which the extension of the anger upon them is signaled. And even now he allows those who have turned aside ungovernably into worldly pleasures both to share, if they should choose, the fleshly things, and unto times sometimes long. For thus some are said to be handed over into an unapproved mind, to do the things not fitting. Yet for those ones the eating came to be unto cholera, and for those who love the fleshly things and prefer before the intelligible manna, which is God’s utterance, the corruptible and earthly, the undertaking will end toward death; and this is, I think, the: ‘The one sowing unto the flesh will from the flesh harvest corruption.’ (Galatians 6:8) And the loosing perhaps of such a weakness: ‘Walk by Spirit, and you will not fulfill desire of flesh. For the flesh campaigns against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; for these are set opposite one another.’ (Galatians 5:16-17) As if those from Israel had wished to count sufficient luxury the supply of the manna, which is intelligible bread of angels, and a type of sweetness through the Spirit, they would not have fulfilled desire of flesh, nor would they have harvested the corruption from it.’ And most conspicuous are the people’s memorials; for there, it says, they buried the people the desirer, according to the: ‘They will be unto a seeing for all flesh;’ (Isaiah 66:24) and the people that suffered those things has been named desirer-people, according to that, I think somewhere, said concerning some: ‘Whose glory is in their shame;’ (Philippians 3:19) for from the sin is the naming; and endless was being inscribed upon those who died pitiably the reproach upon the unmanlinesses, and from what they were being condemned the conspicuousness.

Palladius: True.

Cyril: Therefore it must especially be declined by those who have truly chosen to love learning—the not-enduring in toils, and weak murmuring, and ungrateful empty-talk, and what is somehow more unholy than the others, reaching for the pollutions from baseness and flesh-love. For such a one wavers both ways, and has the mind’s tendon limping. For it has been written that ‘Woe to timid hearts, and hands let slack, and to a sinner stepping upon two paths.’ (Sirach 2:12) And I think those counting worthy of every word the endurance-loving and the steadfast unto patience must remember Christ saying: ‘If someone wishes to come behind me, let him deny himself, and lift his cross, and follow (Philippians 3:19) (Sirach 2:12) (Matthew 16:24)

Follow Christ; cloud and tent; Church filled with glory§18

18me.’—that is: If indeed someone should wish to be my disciple, let him come eagerly through the equal sufferings with me, and as it were go and love the same path; for this one will rest together and live together. And this he himself was seeking for us from beside the God and Father, saying: ‘I wish that where I am, there they also may be with me.’ (John 17:24) And otherwise we are with Christ, walking upon earth, yet no longer fleshly, but living as citizens spiritually, and being eager to make lodging and rest what seems good to him. You have written in Numbers the type upon this: ‘And on the day,’ (Numbers 9:15–23) it says, ‘in which the tent was stood, the cloud covered the tent, the house of the witness. And the evening was upon the tent as a form of fire until morning; thus it was coming to be continually; the cloud was covering it by day, and a form of fire the night. And when the cloud went up from the tent, after these things the sons of Israel set out; and in the place where the cloud stood, there the sons of Israel were encamping; through the Lord’s command (Numbers 9:18) the sons of Israel will encamp, and through the Lord’s command they will set out. All the days in which the cloud overshadows upon the tent, the sons of Israel will encamp; and whenever the cloud is drawn upon the tent more days, the sons of Israel will also keep God’s watch, and will not set out; and it will be whenever the cloud shelters days in number upon the tent, through the Lord’s voice they will encamp, and through the Lord’s command they will set out; and it will be whenever the cloud comes to be from evening until morning, and the cloud goes up in the morning, and they will set out by day or night, and the cloud goes up, they will set out by day, or a month’s days with the cloud’s overshadowing increasing upon it, the sons of Israel will encamp, and will not set out, because through the Lord’s command they will set out. They kept the Lord’s watch through the Lord’s command in Moses’ hand.’ The holy tent having been raised according to the desert, it says the cloud has filled it; then it commanded those from Israel to set out together and settle down together with it, charging them to make the observation of the settings-out up and down with much exactness, and showing from this that the transgression is precarious for those who wish to be slack. Yet these things historically. Let us already contemplate spiritually. For at once both the truest tent has been raised and has risen upon the earth—that is, the Church—it has been filled with Christ’s glory; for the ancient tent’s being covered with the cloud signals, I think somewhere, nothing other than this. Christ therefore has filled the Church with his own glory, and for those spending time in ignorance and wandering, as it were in night and darkness, he shines up in fire’s manner, clearly casting in the intelligible illumination; yet for those already illuminated, and having the intelligible day in heart, granting his own shade and shelter, and fattening them down with spiritual dews—that is, with the consolations from above and through the Spirit.

Fire by night, cloud by day; three settings-out; without Christ nothing§19

19For this is the being seen as in a form of fire by night, yet in a form of cloud by day. For it was necessary, necessary for those still infants to have illumination and shining that carries off unto God-knowledge; yet for those above these and made bright through the faith, shelter and help, so that they might be able to carry through nobly the present life’s heat and the day’s burden: ‘For all who wish to live piously in Christ will be persecuted.’ (2 Timothy 3:12) And when the cloud sets out, the tent also sets out together, and when it settles it is set down together, and with it those from Israel were doing this; for the Church follows Christ everywhere, and the holy multitude of those believing is not separated from the one calling unto salvation.

Palladius: And what would our setting-out and settling be understood as, perhaps, Christ leading forward and leading?

Cyril: The word will somehow be indifferent for us in these things at least, the wishing to be with God of both setting out together and settling down together with the cloud showing us as it were some type; yet casting the mind into meanings as thin as possible, we will say that again: that first setting-out is the from unbelief unto faith, and from ignorance unto knowledge, and from not knowing who the one by nature and truly God is, unto knowing clearly the Master and Maker of all. And a second and beneficial setting-out as it were after that is the from baseness and licentiousness unto wishing already somehow to do and think the better things. And a third more advanced than this and in greater good-repute is the from the lacking unto the having-aright, both practically and dogmatically at once. Or do we not go by little toward the growth understood in Christ, advancing unto a perfect man, and springing up also unto the measure of the age of his fullness? This is perhaps somewhere what is hymned to us through divine Paul’s voice: ‘Forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before, according to a mark I pursue unto the prize of the upward calling.’ (Philippians 3:13) And setting out intelligibly from ignorance unto recognition, from unlearning unto understanding, from unbelief unto faith, and always advancing in virtues, do we not change harbor from place to place, and transferring from such a disposition or habit perhaps unto such another already somehow resemble those accustomed to journey?

Palladius: I understand what you say.

Cyril: Yet neither the setting-out from baseness, nor indeed reaching and somehow lodging among the better things, would anyone be able to set right, unless Christ being together and leading. Therefore he also was saying to the holy disciples: ‘Without me you are not able to do anything.’ (John 15:5) Therefore both being with God, and doing all things with him, would hint enigmatically then at setting out together when the cloud sets out, and resting together when it is still. Yet, through the Lord’s command (Numbers 9:18)

Silver trumpets: dogma and ethics; gather to the tent§20

20they will set out, he says; and this, I think, signals that those who think they must follow in Christ also need a word that provokes unto strength, and unto the good order fitting the saints: ‘For all things,’ he says, ‘let them come to be becomingly and according to order.’ (1 Corinthians 14:40) And a type again of this also is what has been written next. For God said thus toward the hierophant Moses: ‘Make for yourself two trumpets of beaten work, silver you will make them, and they will be for you to call back the synagogue, and to lift the camps. And you will trumpet in them, and all the synagogue will be gathered upon the door of the tent of the witness. And if they trumpet in one, all the rulers leaders of Israel will come toward you. And you will trumpet a signal, and the camps encamping east will set out; and you will trumpet a second signal, and the camps encamping south will set out. And you will trumpet a third signal, and the camps encamping beside sea will set out. And you will trumpet a fourth signal, and the camps encamping toward north will set out; with a signal they will trumpet in their setting-out, and whenever you gather the synagogue, you will trumpet, and not with a signal. And Aaron’s sons (Numbers 10:1–8) the priests will trumpet with the trumpets; and it will be for you an eternal lawful thing unto your generations.’

Palladius: What then do we say the pair of the trumpets is, and the differences of the signals, and instead of what he has commanded that they must be made beaten, and from silver?

Cyril: Two therefore are the trumpets; for double in churches is the proclamation of the consolation: for one carries the believers off unto dogmatic rightness, and adulterates down the word of the twisted ones; such as was the of those forbidding to marry, and teaching unfittingly to abstain from foods which God created unto partaking for the faithful. And I would also count in these the Jews’ leaders, who having let go as stale what has been honored and seems good by the divine law, and counting it worthy of altogether little word, were ordering those being taught that they must recline upon their own teachings and human commandments. And some others also were teaching unintelligently that those justified in faith must be circumcised, in order that they may boast in another’s flesh according to what has been written. Yet it was being said concerning them: ‘Outside the dogs, outside the evil workers.’ (Philippians 3:2) And another escorts toward ethical correction, and whitens the path of the citizenship in Christ. And silver are the trumpets: the brightness upon both the words, and the very much sincerity; as the material’s own nature shows you gracefully. And in the trumpets, he says, let the people be called back upon the tent. For by proclamations we gather those in tents as it were private into churches; and having run together, we also persuade them to set out from the more shameful unto the things fitting the sanctified, and as it were to change harbor very well toward the good from baseness, being re-trained (Galatians 6:13) (Philippians 3:2)

One trumpet for the perfect; four Gospel signals; three life-measures§21

21Or does not a word carry off the equitable one and genuine lover of the life in Christ unto dogmatic rightness and unto correction of manners?

Palladius: So I say.

Cyril: Therefore two are the trumpets that gather the people upon the tent. And if they trumpet in one, he says, all the rulers leaders of sons of Israel will come toward you. For I suppose that even those more perfect in habit need consolation and encouragement, yet not so much as the multitude of the others would also need; on account of this two trumpets barely call back all the others, yet one the chosen ones; for a little suffices the wise, and if he should take a starting-point he will add what is lacking, according to the: ‘Give a wise man a starting-point, and he will be wiser; make known to a righteous man, and he will add receiving.’ (Proverbs 9:9) Then he has commanded four differences of signals to be made, so that through them those toward dawn and southwest, north and south may both break camp and set out; I think therefore that the four writings of the Gospels are signaled to us through this, through which the whole world is trained unto dogmatic and ethical science at once. And if indeed we must also invent and say something other, we will in no way shrink, making the hunt of the useful better than sleep and sweat. Of the word therefore beside us we will find four differences, through which the whole earth will set right the best and truly reputable life; one therefore and first is that through which we are accustomed to call toward recognition of truth and unto taking up of divine light those who have worshiped the creation beside the Creator, and who say unlearnedly to the wood: You are my father, and to the stone: You begot me, according to the prophet’s voice. Yet for those already having believed, the three other differences of the word would fittingly suit; since indeed the Savior also was teaching that there are three differences of life and citizenship; for he said that the seeds cast upon the good earth made fruit, one a hundred, one sixty, one thirty. Therefore there is for each of such ones the word especially fitting him; for not yet doing rightly will we benefit with equal unguarded words those divided between God and world because of being yoked under marriages according to law, and those who have taken up the all-best and ascetic life, or that fitting priesthood, but to those we will say: ‘Have you been bound to a wife? Do not seek loosing; have you been loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife;’ (1 Corinthians 7:27) and as many things as it fits the married to think and do. Yet to the ascetic ones and those who have known to endure: ‘Put to death your members that are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire.’ And the: ‘The sufferings of the present time are not worthy toward the glory about to be revealed unto us.’ And to those called unto priesthood: ‘A priest’s lips will guard knowledge, and they will seek law from his mouth,’ and as many things as writing to Timothy the most wise (Colossians 3:5) (Romans 8:18) (Malachi 2:7)

Column fragment: Paul; narratives crawl?§22

Priests alone trumpet; ready to walk with God; Reuben and Gad type§23

23and are carried off somewhere toward what does not have rightly?

Palladius: Least of all.

Cyril: And observe that he allots only to those who have obtained to be priests the using the trumpets; dedicating, I think somewhere, to the peoples’ trainers and those sanctified unto priesthood the word that mystagogues, and indeed also that oils toward desire of virtue. For on account of this, I think, toward Moses he says: ‘Make for yourself two trumpets.’ (Numbers 10:2) And as it were sealing the matter by law: ‘And Aaron’s sons,’ he says, ‘the priests, will trumpet with the trumpets; and it will be for you an eternal lawful thing unto your generations.’ (Numbers 10:1–8)

Palladius: Therefore we will receive the manners of the signals unto the word resembling each of those accustomed to be well-approved. And thus we will set out together and settle down together with the cloud—that is, we will walk together intelligibly, and will rest together with Christ.

Cyril: You speak well. For a prophet’s word also having thus will persuade us to think this: ‘And now, Israel, what does the Lord God seek from beside you, except to do judgment, and to love mercy, and to be ready to walk with the Lord your God?’ (Deuteronomy 10:12)

Palladius: Yet that walking with the Lord your God is a fine matter, and worthy of everything, and enriching the glory upon manliness—how would it not be clear? Yet what again would the ‘to be ready’ be? Speak to me wishing it.

Cyril: How not? for of both thinking and being eager to do the things of God lying beside our feet, and nothing hindering, nor indeed dragging opposite unto an unapproved mind, this, I think, is the being ready to walk with God.

Palladius: And whom at all do we say those wishing to follow God are, yet not still also choosing to do this from a whole soul, but buckling toward the unmanly and declining the steadfast?

Cyril: Those who are slow, and barely going upon wishing to think the things upon which God would be pleased, yet not still also holding with whole mind a holy-fitting citizenship, who allot as it were a small portion of the eagerness and readiness present in them to the love unto God, yet have known to spend the whole remaining most prodigally and forwardly on the distractions in this life, and on unprofitable sweats and bitter cares, of whom unto a type would be those from Reuben and Gad; for it has been written again in Numbers: ‘And there was a multitude of cattle for the sons of Reuben and

Reuben and Gad bargain: cattle east of Jordan; share war not lot§24

Called vs chosen; baptism reluctance; Reuben firstborn not free§25

25to choose the things upon the earth, yet barely caring for few of the necessary things, and not making God’s things in eagerness. ‘For many,’ he says, ‘are called, yet few chosen.’ (Matthew 22:14) Those therefore finishing among the called through the faith, yet not still numbered with the chosen ones, because of being let loose toward the pleasant, are sometimes slow and very reluctant, and perhaps even around the grace of the holy baptism itself; and they have shuddered at enduring the toils fitting saints on behalf of God’s good-repute and their own benefit, and being persecuted together with the genuine ones, even if a time should lead toward this; yet the divine law reproaching them, and the divine anger sometimes startling them, they go reluctantly upon the saving baptism, and share toils with the chosen ones, either fasting together more moderately, or also sometimes being zealous together for the Churches being warred upon, yet not still also being persuaded to despise the things in the world, but as it were slipping back to an own lot portioned out to them—the pleasures and delights upon the earthly things. On account of this Christ was saying to the lovers of rightness, and those having been very eager to be pious: ‘Take heed, lest ever your hearts be weighed down with cares and worries of life.’ (Luke 21:34) Or do you not say the matter is harmful, friend?

Palladius: I say so; for how not?

Cyril: And casting a thin eye of mind into what has been written, you would very well wonder at the beauty of the image.

Palladius: In what manner?

Cyril: Those who for the sake of cattle-feeding of children and wives, of folds and buildings, have received the reluctance upon the best things, are Reuben and Gad.

Palladius: And what then is this?

Cyril: For the one was firstborn from Jacob, yet the other sprang from the maidservant Zilpah.

Palladius: True.

Cyril: Therefore firstborn through the faith are the called, and having obtained beside God the exceptional lot, as far as concerns the grace, yet not freedom-loving, because of the inclination unto the more shameful things; and we say that a church of firstborn ones registered in heavens has been named the ones justified in faith. Yet the firstborn is not freedom-loving, but rather a partner and fellow-lover with those who have not fled the shame of slavery.

Palladius: You have spoken most excellently.

Cyril: Yet already of my word going toward a shore, and as it were somewhere making the castings-out of the persuasions, it comes upon me to say and to remind again, that one must play the man toward every thing whatever finishing unto benefit, and lead the toils as a training unto virtue, and be disposed not otherwise than that God the one saving (Hebrews 12:23)

God gifts strength; remember Egypt; Book 5 closes into Book 6 title§26