Owner shares guilt if forewarned; holy vs common harm
the one possessing the anger, if he should not know the manner of the greediness, nor be caught a sharer of that one’s baseness; for others’ accusations are not ours, if somehow they should become secret. And he does not allow to eat the ox’s meats, under-typing as in a type according to the eating and as it were the partaking—the needing not to share others’ uncleanness; is this not clearly the ‘Keep yourself pure, and do not share alien sins’?
Palladius: Altogether so.
Cyril: And he has judged that the master be condemned together with the calf, if somehow he should know the thing stumbled, and having learned should be proven about the greediness; for the being able to bar the manners of the injustice, and to hinder very well the faulty thing, then not enduring to do this, and very eagerly, all but also shows the human as having worked together, and as far as it comes unto wish and same-counseling having chosen to labor out together with those wishing to do unholy things. Let such a one then die, he says, except that he may give a ransom for his life. Therefore knowing beforehand and overlooking is partnership of the evil. And he distinguishes the strike upon a son or daughter, and upon a manservant or maidservant, not measuring the penalty equally upon both; because that both those and these are brothers by nature is clear to everyone; yet the holy is in the spiritual excess, and in the heights of the virtue; and precious beside God, so as also to become in a taxis of son and daughter, and to be carried above the human and slave-fitting measure. And the law also introduces to do holy things and to cling to the love unto brothers,
Greek
τῆς ὀργῆς τὸν κεκτημένον, εἰ μὴ τῆς πλεονεξίας εἰδείη τὸν τρόπον, μηδὲ τῆς ἐκείνου φαυλότητος ἁλίσκοιτο κοινωνός· οὐ γὰρ ἡμῶν ἐγκλήματα τὰ ἑτέρων, εἰ λαθραῖα γένοιτο τυχόν. Ἐσθίειν δ' οὐκ ἐᾷ τοῦ ταύρου τὰ κρέα, τό τοι μὴ χρῆναι μεταλαχεῖν τῆς ἑτέρων ἀκαθαρσίας, ὡς ἐν τύπῳ τῷ κατὰ τὴν βρῶσιν καὶ τὴν οἱονεὶ μέθεξιν ὑποτυπῶν· ἆρ' οὐχὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν ἐναργῶς, τὸ, «Σεαυτὸν ἁγνὸν τήρει, καὶ μὴ κοινώνει ἁμαρτίαις ἀλλοτρίαις;»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Συγκαταδικάζεσθαι δὲ τῷ μόσχῳ δεδικαίωκε τὸν δεσπότην, εἴπερ εἰδείη τὸ πλημμεληθὲν, καὶ μαθὼν ἐλέγχοιτο τὴν πλεονεξίαν· τὸ γὰρ ἀπείργειν δύνασθαι τῆς ἀδικίας τοὺς τρόπους, καὶ κατακωλύειν εὖ μάλα τὸ πλημμελὲς, εἶτα τοῦτο δρᾷν οὐκ ἀνέχεσθαι, καὶ λίαν ἐσπουδασμένως, μονονουχὶ καὶ συνειργασμένον ἀποφαίνει τὸν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ὅσον ἧκεν εἰς θέλησιν καὶ ταυτοβουλίαν τοῖς ἐθέλουσιν ἀνοσιουργεῖν καὶ συνεκπονεῖν ᾑρημένον. Τεθνάτω δὴ οὖν ὁ τοιόσδε, φησὶν, πλὴν εἰ μὴ λύτρα καὶ τὰς ἔν γε τούτοις ζημίας ἐπιθεῖεν οἱ κριταί. Βλέπει δὲ ὁ νόμος πρὸς τὸ χρηστὸν, καὶ συνθέλησιν τὴν εἰς ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ ὡς ἐν ψιλῇ συναινέσει συνδρομήν. «Κολάζει γὰρ μετριώτερον, εἴπερ ἕλοιντο, φησὶν, οἱ κριταί.» Καὶ δέχου τὸν τύπον εἰς ἀλήθειαν· κατακρίνει μὲν γὰρ θανάτῳ τὰ παγχάλεπα τῶν πλημμελημάτων ὁ πάντων κριτὴς, πλὴν προσίεται τοὺς ἡμαρτηκότας, καὶ λύτρα προσφέροντας, τὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας λυτικὰ, τὸ ἐκ μετανοίας δάκρυον, τὸν ἐπὶ ταῖς μεταγνώσεσι πόνον, τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης τοὺς τρόπους· «Κατακαυχᾶται γὰρ ἔλεος κρίσεως,» κατὰ τὰς Γραφάς. Ἀκριβῆ δὲ ὁ νόμος καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς πεπονθόσι ποιεῖται διαστολήν· εἰ μὲν γὰρ υἱὸν ἡ θυγατέρα, φησὶν, ὁ μόσχος ἀνέλῃ, τεθνάτω καὶ ἀφιλοικτιρμόνως· εἰ δὲ παῖδα ἢ παιδίσκην, ἀργύριον ἔστω τὸ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ζητούμενον. Τίς οὖν ὁ λόγος, πῶς οὐκ ἄξιον ἰδεῖν; καίτοι τὸ ἐλεύθερόν τε καὶ δοῦλον ἐν ἡμῖν, ἐκ πλεονεξίας καὶ οὐκ ἀῤῥώστημα φύσεως, καθάπερ ἀμέλει καὶ τὸ νοσεῖν· «Εἷς γὰρ ἡμᾶς ἔκτισε Θεὸς, καὶ εἷς ὁ πάντων Πατὴρ,» κατὰ τὴν τοῦ προφήτου φωνήν. Ἆρ' οὖν ὡς ἔγκλημα καὶ δουλείαν καταγράφει τινῶν ὁ Δημιουργός; ἆρα καὶ παρ' αὐτῷ τὸ δοῦλον ἐν μείοσι, καὶ δόξῃ πλεονεκτεῖ τὸ ἐλεύθερον; Οὐ μὲν οὖν. «Ἐν γὰρ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ οὐκ ἔνι δοῦλος, οὔτε ἐλεύθερος.» Οὐκοῦν, σκιὰ γὰρ ὁ νόμος, διὰ μὲν υἱοῦ τε καὶ θύγατρος, τὸ ἐλεύθερον τῶν ἁγίων σημαίνεται γένος· διὰ δέ γε παιδός τε καὶ παιδίσκης, τὸ δοῦλον ἔτι καὶ ὑπὸ ζυγὸν ἁμαρτίας. Ἔστι δὲ οὐ ταυτὸν, τὸ πλημμελεῖν εἰς ἁγίους ἢ ἁμαρτωλούς. Κολάζεται δὲ οὐκ ἐν ἴσῳ μέτρῳ τὰ ἐπ' ἀμφοῖν· ὅτι μὲν γὰρ ἀδελφοὶ τὴν φύσιν, οἴδε τε κἀκεῖνοι, παντί τῳ σαφές· ἀλλ' ἔστι τὸ ἅγιον, ἐν ὑπεροχῇ τῇ πνευματικῇ, καὶ ἐν τοῖς τῆς ἀρετῆς ὑψώμασι· καὶ παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ τίμιον, ὡς καὶ ἐν υἱοῦ τάξει γενέσθαι καὶ θύγατρος, καὶ τὸ ἀνθρώπινόν τε καὶ δουλοπρεπὲς ὑπερφέρεσθαι μέτρον. Ὁσιουργεῖν δὲ ὁ νόμος καὶ ἀγάπης ἔχεσθαι τῆς εἰς ἀδελφοὺς,
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.