Fragments on Matthew · §127 · Cyril of Alexandria

Matthew 11:27

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The one who sees the Son, who has the Father’s image in himself, sees the Father himself. He reveals the Father as himself appearing to the Father in the prototype, while again showing the archetype under his own form. These things must be thought of in a way worthy of God.

Since he said, “All things have been handed over to me,” (Matthew 11:27) so that he would not seem to be of another kind and lesser beside the Father, he added this to show that his own nature is ineffable and incomprehensible, like the Father’s. For only the divine nature of the Trinity knows itself. The Father alone knows the Son, his own fruit of his nature; the divine Offspring alone knows the One from whom he was born; the Holy Spirit alone knows “the depths of God,” (1 Corinthians 2:10) that is, the thoughts of the Father and of the Son.

Greek

Ὁ ὁρῶν τὸν υἱὸν τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς εἰκόνα ἔχοντα ἐν ἑαυτῷ αὐτὸν ὁρᾷ τὸν πατέρα. ἀποκαλύπτει δὲ τὸν πατέρα ὡς ἐν πρωτοτύπῳ αὐτὸς τῷ πατρὶ φαινόμενος, ὑποφαίνων δὲ ἂν πάλιν ἐν ἰδίᾳ μορφῇ τὸ ἀρχέ τυπον. ταῦτα δὲ θεοπρεπῶς νοητέον. ἐπειδὴ δὲ εἶπε πάντα μοι παρε δόθη, ἵνα μὴ δόξῃ ἑτέρας φυλῆς εἶναι καὶ παρὰ τὸν πατέρα ἥττων, ἐπήγαγε τοῦτο, ἵνα δείξῃ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φύσιν ἀπόρρητον καὶ ἀκατάληπτον οὖσαν ὡς τὴν τοῦ πατρός· μόνη γὰρ ἡ θεία φύσις τῆς τριάδος ἑαυτὴν ἐπιγινώσκει. μόνος ὁ πατὴρ οἶδεν τὸν υἱὸν τὸν ἴδιον τὸν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ φύσεως καρπόν, μόνον τὸ θεῖον γέννημα ἐπιγινώσκει τὸν ἐξ οὗ ἐτέχθη μόνον τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα οἶδεν "τὰ βάθη τοῦ θεοῦ", ὅ ἐστι τὰς ἐννοίας τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ.

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