Homily on “I Go Away” · §1 · Cyril of Jerusalem

The one “I” of both natures

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Cyril of Jerusalem opens his homily by quoting the Gospel saying of Christ, “I am going to my Father…,” and then states how the pronoun “I” functions in it.

A homily by Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, on the text, “I am going to my Father; and whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:12–13). In the statements made about both his divinity and his humanity, he places the “I,” so that the meaning of the words is shown by their sequence, while the discernment of the natures is shown by the difference in what is said. And because he speaks in both cases as though about one person, he signifies the union of the person.

Greek

Homilia in illud: Ego vado ad patrem meum Κυρίλλου ἐπισκόπου Ἱεροσολύμων εἰς τὸ "Ἐγὼ πορεύομαι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα μου· καὶ ὃ ἐὰν αἰτήσητε ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου, τοῦτο ποιήσω, ἵνα δοξασθῇ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν τῷ υἱῷ". Ἐπ' ἀμφοτέρων τῶν περὶ τῆς θεότητος καὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος λεγομένων τίθησιν τὸ ἐγώ, ὡς τὴν μὲν διάνοιαν τῶν ῥημάτων ἐκ τῆς ἀκολουθίας φαίνεσθαι, τὴν δὲ διάγνωσιν τῶν φύσεων ἐκ τῆς διαφορᾶς τῶν λεγομένων. ἐκ δὲ τοῦ διαλέγεσθαι ἐν ἀμφοτέραις ὡσὰν περὶ ἑνός τινος τὴν τοῦ προσώπου συνάφειαν σημαίνει.

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About this text

A brief passage from a homily on "I am going to my Father," showing that Christ says "I" of both his divinity and his humanity as one person.

Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 313–386) was the bishop of Jerusalem in the fourth century. He wrote this homily to explain the saying of Christ recorded in John 14:12b–13, in which Christ declares that he is going to his Father and promises to do whatever is asked in his name so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

The homily takes up the question of how the same pronoun "I" can refer to both Christ's divinity and his humanity. Cyril argues that the context shows the meaning of the words, while the difference in what is said distinguishes the two natures. Because Christ speaks as one person in both cases, the text points to the union of his person.

To follow the argument a reader should know that "divinity" and "humanity" here mean the two natures of Christ, "natures" refers to those two distinct realities united in one person, "person" is the single subject who speaks and acts, "union" is the joining of the natures in that one person, and "I" is the pronoun Christ uses of himself in the Gospel saying.

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Translated from PG (Greek)

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