On the Falling Away of the Synagogue
On the falling away of the synagogue, or the renaming of Abram as Abraham.
Of Saint Cyril, from the discourse entitled Demonstration, through the divine oracles spoken from the first to the inspired patriarchs, concerning the exchange and transfer involving the Jews and the nations.
The renaming of Abraham has been found to signify the threefold count of the divine and sovereign persons: for though the inspired patriarch was called Abram, God renamed him Abraham (Genesis 17:5).
If anyone should choose to interpret the matter — taking the opening letter of the name, alpha, together with the letter joined and clinging to it, I mean beta — he will surely discover, by carrying over the alpha that stands after rho,
Greek
Τοῦ ἁγίου Κυρίλλου, ἐκ τοῦ λόγου, οὗ ἡ ἐπι γραφή· Ἀπόδειξις διὰ τῶν ἀρχῆθεν γεγενημένων θείων χρησμῶν τοῖς θεσπεσίοις πα τριάρχαις περὶ τῆς ἀμείψεως καὶ μεταθέσεως τῶν Ἰουδαίων καὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν. Ἡ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ἀντωνομασία κατείληπται σημαίνουσα τὸν τριαδικὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν θεαρχικῶν ὑποστάσεων· ἐπεὶ γὰρ Ἄβραμ ὠνομάσθη ὁ θεσπέσιος πατριάρχης, Ἀβραὰμ ἀντωνομάσθη θεόθεν. Εἰ μέν τις ἕλοιτο διερμηνεῦσαι τουτὶ, τοῦ ὀνόματος τὸ προκαταρκτικὸν στοιχεῖον τὸ α ἄγων μετὰ τοῦ συνημμένου καὶ συμπελάζοντος αὐτῷ, τοῦ β φημι, πάντως εὑρήσει καθ' ὑπερβιβασμὸν τοῦ μετὰ τὸ ρ