Christ as linen/hyacinth/purple/scarlet; pillars = Christ support
Cyril: …variegated.’ And adornment and beautifying in her of many forms is Christ, existing one according to nature, yet understood in many and differing riddles—as, bring to say, also twisted linen. For the Word from God the Father, being thin and bodiless according to nature, has somehow been twisted through the as-it-were intertwining toward flesh. So then both twisted linen, and indeed also as hyacinth, because not from earth, but from above and from heaven; for somehow the high and upper and ethereal body, the one reaching even as far as the firmament itself, is likened to hyacinth. So then as hyacinth because of from heaven, and purple, because not a slave, as generated, but from God a king, and Lord of the wholes. And twisted scarlet; for in an intertwining, as I said, toward flesh being understood, and truly existing, the Word of God has given his own blood for us. For a sign of blood is the scarlet; and cherubim, the writing of the skins, somehow showing very well that the things below have been joined to the things above, and the Church upon the earth has thereafter been united to the powers in heaven. And one must know that also the most wise Solomon engraved the cherubim on the walls of the temple. And in this same manner also the patterning of the house signified through a voice of Ezekiel has been thoroughly made. And covers for the curtains—hides, compressed with hooks and rings. And indeed also over-covers, hyacinth skins, and skins of rams dyed red, hinting the shelterer of the Church—Christ—through the hyacinth again as from heaven and from above, and through the red color as he has become in flesh. For somehow such is the color of the flesh.
Palladius: I say these things have been contemplated not outside word.
Cyril: And pillars for the curtains, going unto breadth one cubit and a half, and indeed length unto ten, sprinkled through with gold in heads and bodies, and fixed upon double and silver bases. And again Christ is understood as in each pillar—the support of the Church, the foundation of the truth, according to Paul’s voice. And he himself also sets and holds together all things. For through the one and a half cubit, as perfect according to nature of divinity, yet lesser again as in measures of humanity, he is sideways hinted. And it is not silly to say that all-perfect as in a whole cubit is Christ, since indeed he is God according to nature. And as in a half cubit, lowered because of the human. For nothing perfect is among generated things. And being rich, he became poor among us, and the Only-begotten lowered himself unto emptying.
Palladius: Truly.
Cyril: So then the human will not weigh equal with the superiorities of the divinity; far from it. Therefore he was also saying, as having become according to us and being understood
Greek
πεποικιλμένη.» Κόσμημα δὲ καὶ ὡραϊσμὸς ἐν αὐτῇ πολυειδὴς, ὁ Χριστὸς, εἷς μὲν κατὰ φύσιν ὑπάρχων, αἰνίγμασι δὲ πολλοῖς καὶ διαφόροις νοούμενος, οἷον, φέρε εἰπεῖν, καὶ βύσσος κεκλωσμένη. Ἰσχνὸς γὰρ ὢν καὶ ἀσώματος κατὰ φύσιν ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ τοῦ Πατρὸς Λόγος, κέκλωσται τρόπον τινὰ διὰ τῆς οἱονεὶ πρὸς σάρκα συμπλοκῆς. Οὐκοῦν καὶ βύσσος κεκλωσμένη, καὶ μὴν, καὶ ὡς ὑάκινθος, ὅτι μὴ ἐκ γῆς, ἀλλ' ἄνωθεν καὶ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ· ὑακίνθῳ γάρ πως παρεικάζεται τὸ ὑψοῦ τε καὶ ἄνω καὶ αἰθέριον σῶμα, τὸ καὶ μέχρις αὐτοῦ διῆκον τοῦ στερεώματος. Οὐκοῦν ὡς ὑάκινθος διὰ τὸ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, πορφύρα δὲ, ὅτι μὴ δοῦλος, ὡς γενητὸς, ἀλλ' ἐκ Θεοῦ βασιλεὺς, καὶ τῶν ὅλων Κύριος. Κεκλωσμένον δὲ κόκκινον· ἐν συμπλοκῇ γὰρ, ὡς ἔφην, τῇ πρὸς σάρκα νοούμενος, καὶ ὑπάρχων ἀληθῶς ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, τὸ ἴδιον αἷμα δέδωκεν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν. Αἵματος γὰρ σημεῖον, τὸ κόκκινον· Χερουβὶμ δὲ, τῶν δειρέων ἡ γραφὴ, τὸ συνῆφθαι τάχα που τοῖς ἄνω τὰ κάτω, καὶ ταῖς ἐν οὐρανῷ δυνάμεσι τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς Ἐκκλησίαν ἡνῶσθαι λοιπὸν καταδηλοῦντος τοῦ πράγματος εὖ μάλα. Ἰστέον δὲ ὅτι καὶ ὁ σοφώτατος Σολομὼν, ἐνεκόλαψε τοῖς τείχεσι τοῦ ναοῦ τὰ Χερουβίμ. Ἐκπεποίηται δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν τουτονὶ τρόπον καὶ ἡ διατύπωσις τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ σημαινομένου διὰ φωνῆς Ἰεζεκιήλ. Καλύμματα δὲ ταῖς αὐλαίαις δέῤῥεις, ἀγκύλαις τε καὶ κρίκοις συνεσφιγμέναι. Καὶ μὴν καὶ ἐπικαλύμματα, δέρματα ὑακίνθινα, καὶ δέρματα κριῶν, ἠρυθροδανωμένα, τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τὸν σκεπαστὴν Χριστὸν ὑπεμφαίνοντα, διὰ μὲν τοῦ ὑακίνθου πάλιν, ὡς ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἄνωθεν. διὰ δέ γε τοῦ ἐρυθροῦ χρώματος, ὡς ἐν σαρκὶ γέγονεν. Τοιουτονὶ γάρ πώς ἐστι τὸ τῆς σαρκὸς χρῶμα.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐκ ἔξω λόγου ταυτὶ τεθεωρῆσθαί φημι.
{ΚΥΡ.} Στύλοι δὲ ταῖς αὐλαίαις, εὖρος μὲν εἰς πῆχυν ἰόντες ἕνα τε καὶ ἥμισυ. Μῆκος δέ γε μὴν εἰς δέκα, κεφαλὰς μὲν καὶ σώματα χρυσῷ διαπεπασμένοι, βάσεσι δὲ διπλαῖς καὶ ἀργυραῖς ἐπερηρεισμένοι. Νοεῖται δὲ πάλιν ὡς ἐν ἑκάστῳ στύλῳ Χριστὸς, τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τὸ ἔρεισμα, τὸ τῆς ἀληθείας ἑδραίωμα, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Παύλου φωνήν. Ἵστησι δὲ καὶ συνέχει τὰ πάντα αὐτός. Διὰ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ ἑνός τε καὶ ἡμίσους πήχεως, ὡς τέλειος κατὰ φύσιν θεότητος, μείων δὲ αὖ, ὡς ἐν ἀνθρωπότητος μέτροις, πλαγίως ὑποσημαίνεται. Οὐκ εὔηθες δὲ εἰπεῖν, ὅτι παντέλειος μὲν, ὡς ἐν ὁλοκλήρῳ πήχει Χριστὸς, ἐπεί τοι Θεός ἐστι κατὰ φύσιν. Ὡς δὲ ἐν ἡμίσει πήχεως, ὑφειμένος διὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον. Τέλειον γὰρ ἐν γενητοῖς οὐδέν. Πλούσιος δὲ ὢν, ἐπτώχευσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ καθῆκεν ἑαυτὸν εἰς κένωσιν ὁ Μονογενής.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀληθές.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν οὐκ ἰσοστατήσει ταῖς τῆς θεότητος ὑπεροχαῖς τὸ ἀνθρώπινον· πολλοῦ γε καὶ δεῖ. Τοιγάρτοι καὶ ἔφασκεν, ὡς καθ' ἡμᾶς γεγονὼς καὶ νοού
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 9 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 9 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 9)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 9)
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.