Not every ornament forced; ark = Christ’s virgin temple; gold = divinity
Cyril: …testimonies, and what need there has become of unrotting woods. And what the gold for the ark would wish to show, and the things composed for now in the order of need and adornment—I mean moldings, twisted things, rings and carriers—if he should busy himself perhaps, he will find the matter hard. And not having a mystical word to fit them, he will perhaps speak superfluously, and will heap a crowd of random words upon the hearings of those more loving of learning. And the word is true for us not upon the ark alone perhaps—I would add that also upon the others which he has commanded to become.
Palladius: You seem to me to think and say things not unpersuasive. Therefore having let go what belongs, as you say, unto proportion and need, or unto adornment of the finished things, hurry to run through upon what is necessary for the contemplations—that is, in what manner Christ himself is signified for us through the things shown, or constructed; clarify without neglect.
Cyril: So then I will try, as far as it is possible to say and understand. And to one missing the true, and striking less than must upon the superiority of the thoughts, be forgiving. For seeing in a mirror and in a riddle would sometimes also throw off even the exact and sensible mind.
Palladius: You speak well.
Cyril: The ark for us, O Palladius, would be a type and image of Christ. For looking into the manner of the becoming-human of the Only-begotten, we will see as in an ark—the temple from the Virgin—the Word from God the Father lodged. ‘For in him all the fullness of the divinity dwelt bodily,’ according to the Scriptures. And the testimonies in the ark were Word of God. And its woods were unrotting, and it was beautified with the pure and most tested gold, inside and outside. For the body of Christ is incorruptible, being held through unto incorruption as with some gold—by the power and brightness of the indwelling Word, and by the life-making nature and energy of the holy Spirit. For because of this indeed Christ is also said to make alive. For the Word from God the Father, being life by nature, himself was making alive again his own temple by the power of his own spirit, setting it above corruption. ‘For his flesh did not know corruption,’ according to the voice of the holy Paul. And he was also addressing somewhere to Jews concerning his own body: ‘Loose this temple, and in three days I will raise it’; and indeed also Peter says that he has been put to death in flesh, yet has been made alive in spirit. So then a symbol of the over-bright divinity is the gold, as having been smeared upon the holy body, and secretly sending in its own brightness and incorruption, and as only the divine and beyond-mind nature itself and according to itself knows. For if ‘The just according to
Greek
μαρτύρια, καὶ τίς ἡ ξύλων ἀσήπτων γέγονε χρεία. Τί δ' ἂν βούλοιτο δηλοῦν, καὶ τῇ κιβωτῷ τὸ χρυσίον, τὰ τέως ἐν τάξει χρείας τε καὶ κόσμου συντεθειμένα, κυμάτια δὴ λέγω, στρεπτὰ, κρίκους τε καὶ ἀναφορέας, εἰ περιεργάζοιτο τυχὸν, σκληρὸν εὑρήσει τὸ χρῆμα. Καὶ λόγον αὐτοῖς ἐφαρμόσαι τὸν μυστικὸν οὐκ ἔχων, περιττοεπήσει τάχα που, καὶ ὄχλον εἰκαίων ἐπισωρεύσει ῥημάτων, ταῖς τῶν φιλομαθεστέρων ἀκοαῖς. Ἀληθὴς δὲ ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος οὐκ ἐπί τοι μόνης τῆς κιβωτοῦ τυχὸν, προσθείην δ' ἂν ὅτι καὶ ἐπί γε τῶν ἄλλων, ἃ δὴ γενέσθαι προστέταχεν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐκ ἀπίθανά μοι δοκεῖς διανοεῖσθαί τε καὶ λέγειν. Τοιγάρτοι μεθεὶς τό γε ἧκον, ὡς φὴς, εἰς συμμετρίαν. τε καὶ χρείαν, ἤγουν εἰς κόσμον τῶν ἀποτελεσμάτων, ἐπ' αὐτὸ διᾴττειν ἐπείγου τὸ τοῖς θεωρήμασιν, ἀναγκαῖον, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τίνα τρόπον αὐτὸς ἡμῖν ὁ Χριστὸς σημαίνεται διὰ τῶν παραδεδειγμένων, ἤτοι κατεσκευασμένων, ἀμελητὶ διασάφει.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν, ἐγὼ μὲν, ὡς ἔνι φράσαι τε καὶ νοεῖν, πειράσομαι. Διαμαρτάνοντι δέ τ' ἀληθοῦς, καὶ μεῖον ἢ χρὴ τῇ τῶν νοημάτων ὑπεροχῇ προσβάλλοντι, συγγνώμων ἔσο. Τὸ γὰρ ἐν ἐσόπτρῳ τε καὶ αἰνίγματι βλέπειν, ἀποσφήλειεν ἂν ἔσθ' ὅτε καὶ τὸν ἀκριβῆ τε καὶ ἔμφρονα νοῦν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εὖ λέγεις.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἡ κιβωτὸς ἡμῖν, ὦ Παλλάδιε, τύπος ἂν εἴη καὶ εἰκὼν τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Τὸν γὰρ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἀνασκοπούμενοι τρόπον, καθάπερ ἐν κιβωτῷ τῷ ἐκ Παρθένου ναῷ τὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς Λόγον ἐνηυλισμένον ὀψόμεθα. «Κατῴκησε γὰρ ἐν αὐτῷ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς,» κατὰ τὰς Γραφάς. Λόγος δὲ ἦν Θεοῦ, τὰ ἐν τῇ κιβωτῷ μαρτύρια. Καὶ ἄσηπτα μὲν ἦν αὐτῆς τὰ ξύλα, χρυσῷ δὲ τῷ καθαρῷ καὶ δοκιμωτάτῳ κατεκαλλύνετο, ἔσωθέν τε καὶ ἔξωθεν. Ἄφθαρτον γὰρ τὸ σῶμα Χριστοῦ, καθάπερ τινὶ χρυσῷ, τῇ τοῦ ἐνοικοῦντος Λόγου δυνάμει καὶ λαμπρότητι, καὶ τῇ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος φύσει καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ ζωοποιῷ, πρὸς ἀφθαρσίαν διακρατούμενον. Διὰ γάρ τοι τοῦτο καὶ ζωοποιεῖν λέγεται Χριστός. Ζωὴ γὰρ ὢν κατὰ φύσιν ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς Λόγος, τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ ἰδίου πνεύματος τὸν ἴδιον αὐτὸς ἀνεζωοποίει ναὸν, φθορᾶς ἀνωτέρω τιθείς. «Ἡ γὰρ σὰρξ αὐτοῦ οὐκ οἶδε διαφθορὰν,» κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ἁγίου Παύλου φωνήν. Προσεφώνει δέ που καὶ Ἰουδαίοις, περὶ τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος· «Λύσατε τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον, καὶ ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγερῶ αὐτόν·» καὶ μὴν καὶ ὁ Πέτρος τεθανατῶσθαι μὲν σαρκὶ, φησὶν, αὐτὸν, ἐζωοποιῆσθαι δὲ πνεύματι. Σύμβολον οὖν ἄρα τῆς ὑπερλάμπρου θεότητος, ὁ χρυσὸς, ἐπαληλειμμένης ὥσπερ τῷ ἁγίῳ σώματι, καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν αὐτοῦ λαμπρότητά τε καὶ ἀφθαρσίαν ἐνιείσης ἀποῤῥήτως, καὶ ὡς αὐτή που μόνη καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἡ θεία τε καὶ ὑπὲρ νοῦν ἐπίσταται φύσις. Εἰ γὰρ «Οἱ δίκαιοι κατὰ
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.