Hebrews: firstborn worshiped; angels spirits; throne forever; anointed as man
From Hebrews: “And when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says: Let all the angels of God worship him.” The Word from God the Father is named only-begotten by nature, because he alone has been begotten from the Father alone. He is also called firstborn when he entered the world as one who had become human and part of it. Yet even so he is worshiped by the holy angels — and worship is reserved and fitting for God alone. How, then, is Christ not God, the one worshiped even in heaven?
“Of the angels he says: He makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire; but of the Son: Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”
If the one who holds a throne forever is the maker of angels — having loved righteousness and hated lawlessness, and for that reason said to be anointed with the oil of gladness by God the Father — what thoughts should we form about him? If he makes his angels spirits and holds a throne of deity, how is he anointed with the oil of gladness? So he creates angels as God, and is anointed as human — not into the nature of deity, but into the skilled economy of the anointing.
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About this text
Cyril’s court treatise on right faith for Arcadia and Marina (CPG 5219). One Son, Word made flesh — not two Christs. English from Pusey’s Greek.
English follows Pusey’s 1877 Greek of De recta fide ad Arcadiam et Marinam. OCR of that print was cleaned section by section before Pass A/B. This is a reading translation for study, not a new critical edition.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Pusey, De recta fide ad reginas (Oxford, 1877) (Greek · CPG 5219 §§1–100)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. It is not a complete critical edition.