Justice must exceed Pharisees; no hate in heart; no hypocrisy
Palladius: You speak well. For I will remember Christ saying thoroughly to those having been justified in faith: ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, if your justice does not abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of the heavens.’
Cyril: Yet let these things hold thus for us; and let us be busy, if it seems good, with the measure of the Mosaic fairness, and the glory of the justice according to law; for the one having been most rightly eager to hunt the knowledge of the just, and indeed also having made in word the excelling in loving perhaps the one toward brothers, it is fitting to be seen safe and having stepped, and what he truly is—not easily-shaken, nor light, not having the useful as plastered-on, and as it were wishing to shadow the wolf’s form with a sheep’s fleece, but rather hurrying to have naked and unreproveable the freedom of his own manner. Therefore the law says: ‘You will not walk with deceit in your nation, and you will not hate your brother in the heart; with rebuke you will rebuke your neighbor, and you will not take a sin because of him.’ Therefore he has commanded not only to stand off from the deed of the hatred, but also to cast out the very disease of the mind; for the one hating in heart has already been blood-guilty, even if he should not yet stretch out the hand for murder. And Christ also, defining the Gospel justice more severely, was saying: ‘You have heard that it was said for the ancients: You will not murder; yet I say to you that everyone being angered with his brother emptily will be liable to the judgment.’ Therefore the justice in Christ has been stretched beyond the law’s boundary. And he also refuses the human-pleasing—the cursed thing, which is woven as it were from two pursuits having been sickened with no measured corruption unto one another. For what or of what sort is the hypocrites’ life? Is it not the being seen useful in humans’ sight, and the seeming to be, yet not still also being according to truth useful?
Palladius: And very much.
Cyril: Twofold then is the manner woven for us from unlike wishes. Yet the divine David
Greek
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εὖ λέγεις. Μεμνήσομαι γὰρ τοῖς ἐν πίστει δεδικαιωμένοις διειπόντος Χριστοῦ· «Ἀμὴν, ἀμὴν, λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐὰν μὴ περισσεύσῃ ἡ δικαιοσύνη ὑμῶν πλέον τῶν Γραμματέων καὶ Φαρισαίων, οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθητε εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν.»
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀλλ' ὧδε μὲν ἡμῖν ἐχέτω ταυτί· πολυπραγμονῶμεν δὲ, εἰ δοκεῖ, τῆς Μωσαϊκῆς ἐπιεικείας τὸ μέτρον, καὶ τῆς κατὰ νόμον δικαιοσύνης τὴν δόξαν· τὸν γάρτοι φιλοθηρεῖν τοῦ δικαίου τὴν γνῶσιν ὀρθότατα διεσπουδακότα, καὶ μὴν καὶ τὸ διαπρέπειν ἐν ἀγαπήσει τυχὸν τῇ πρὸς ἀδελφοὺς ἐν λόγῳ πεποιημένον, ἀσφαλῆ τε καὶ βεβηκότα, καὶ ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἀληθῶς, ὁρᾶσθαι πρέπει, οὐκ εὐκατάσειστον, οὐδὲ ἐλαφρὸν, οὐ κατάπλαστον ἔχοντα τὸ χρηστὸν, καὶ ὥσπερ ὄϊος τῷ κωδίῳ κατασκιάζει ἐθέλοντα τὴν λύκου μορφὴν, μᾶλλον δὲ γυμνὴν καὶ ἀνεπίληπτον ἔχειν ἐπείγεσθαι τοῦ ἰδίου τρόπου τὴν ἐλευθερίαν. Τοιγάρτοι φησὶν ὁ νόμος· «Οὐ πορεύσῃ δόλῳ ἐν τῶ ἔθνει σου, καὶ οὐ μισήσεις τὸν ἀδελφόν σου τῇ καρδίᾳ σου.» Τίθησί τε καὶ ἑτέρως αὐτό· «Καὶ ἱμάτιον γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐκ δύο ὑφασμένον οὐκ ἐπιβαλεῖς σεαυτῷ·» καὶ πάλιν· «Οὐκ ἐνδύσῃ κίβδηλον ἔριον καὶ λίνον ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ.» Πάνδεινον γὰρ ἀληθῶς καὶ μώμου παντὸς ἐπέκεινα, τοῖς ἐν ὑπολήψει χρηστότητος ἀπάτη καὶ δόλος· καὶ ἔστι τὸ χρῆμα τῶν ἄγαν παρὰ Θεῷ κατεστυγημένων, καὶ ἀδελφὴν ἔχον ἀεί πως τὴν διψυχίαν, καὶ τὸ οἱονεὶ τῆς γνώμης διφυές τε καὶ ἀλλοπρόσαλλον, ἐφ' οἷς ὅτι μάλιστα καταθήγεται πρὸς ὀργὰς ὁ θεῖός τε καὶ ἀκήρατος νοῦς. Ἔφη γάρ που περί τινων· «Βολὶς τιτρώσκουσα ἡ γλῶσσα αὐτῶν· δόλια γὰρ τὰ ῥήματα τοῦ στόματος αὐτῶν· τῷ πλησίον αὐτοῦ λαλεῖ τὰ εἰρηνικὰ, καὶ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἔχει τὴν ἔχθραν. Μὴ ἐπὶ τούτοις οὐκ ἐπισκέψομαι; λέγει Κύριος, ἢ ἐν λαῷ τοιούτῳ οὐκ ἐκδικήσει ἡ ψυχή μου;» Ἀναβήσεσθαι δὲ καὶ εἰς τὸ ὄρος τοῦ Κυρίου φησιν ὁ Δαβὶδ, τὸν ἀθῷον χερσὶ, καὶ καθαρὸν τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὃς οὐκ ἐδόλωσεν ἐν γλώσσῃ αὐτοῦ, οὐδὲ ἐποίησε τῷ πλησίον αὐτοῦ κακόν. Ἀποφάσκει δὴ οὖν ὁ νόμος ὡς αἴσχιστόν τε καὶ ἀπηχὲς, τὸ ἐν δόλῳ πορεύεσθαι, τουτέστι, τὸ πανούργως ἑλέσθαι βιοῦν, καὶ ὑποπλάττεσθαι μὲν τῆς δικαιοσύνης τὸ σχῆμα, κατασίνεσθαι δὲ ἀδελφοὺς, τῶν τῆς ἀγάπης νόμων ἠφειδηκότα· ἄμφιόν γε μὴν ἔχειν ἡμᾶς οὐκ ἐᾷ τὸ ἐκ δυοῖν ὑφασμένον, αἴνιγμά που τὸ χρῆμα τιθεὶς, τοῦ μὴ ἀνέχεσθαι, διπλόην ὥσπερ ἔχειν εἰς νοῦν· διπλόην δὲ εἶναί φημι, τὴν ἔσω καὶ νοητὴν, τὴν ἐπάρατον ἀνθρωπαρέσκειαν, ἣ ἐκ δυοῖν ὥσπερ ἀναπλέκεται σπουδασμάτοιν, τὴν εἰς ἄλληλα διαφθορὰν οὐ μετρίαν ἠῤῥωστηκότοιν. Τίς γὰρ ἢ ποῖος τῶν ὑποκριτῶν ὁ βίος; ἆρ' οὐχὶ τὸ ἐν ὄψει μὲν ἀνθρώπων ὁρᾶσθαι χρηστοὺς, καὶ τὸ δοκεῖν μὲν εἶναι, μὴ μὴν ἔτι καὶ εἶναι κατὰ ἀλήθειαν χρηστούς;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ μάλα.
{ΚΥΡ.} Διττὸς οὖν ὁ τρόπος ἐξ ἀνομοίων ἡμῖν θελημάτων ἐξυφασμένος. Ἀλλ' ὅ γε θεσπέσιος Δαβὶδ
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 7 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 7 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 5 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 7)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 7)
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.