Dialogue 1 opening: Hermias after the storm; Be still and know
A. Yesterday and the day before we could not see sacred Hermias — he seemed neither to shop, I think, nor to go out, but the storm kept him home; that is likely enough. Now fair weather has barely shown bright.
B. You speak the truth. Old age is always hard to please, and most reluctant to go outside when it rains hardest.
A. Then it is graceful and straight speech, if someone chooses, to compare you to the fish in the sea: when a harsh and ill-sounding wind churns the surge and leaps down roaring, they slip one by one and in schools into the hollows in the deep, and diving into the blooming weed as into a wood or thicket, they invent what helps them; but when the gleam of the sun’s ray swims upon the waters and they look out on the whole sea as if already smiling, they take heart, swim up again, and frolic on the crests of the waves, sending fear and hesitation away together.
B. Know well that my case is no other than that, my friend.
A. And for now you are far from crowd and business, and your mind is at rest by the hearth, as I suppose.
B. And what follows from that?
A. Very great and holy-seeming benefit. Or shall we not grant quiet some share among good things?
B. Most certainly.
A. For what is sung from God through the Psalmist’s lyre will surely show the word about this to be true.
B. What do you mean?
A. Be still and know that I am God. Bodily sight, free of dust and smoke and everything that can cloud it, sends a fine and unhindered energy upon the things that usually fall under it. But if some passion wounds it, it strikes the things seen less than it should, and will sometimes miss exactness itself — and that is no surprise. The human mind, if it is quiet and settled and used to leaving stale and foul imagination, will look sharp and clear and take in unerring knowledge of what is. But if some passion thickens it, it will never see through to the divine beauty itself, and will settle as on denser things — like birds soaked through, robbed of upward flight by being bound.
B. You speak well.
Greek
ΛΟΓΟΣ ΠΡΩΤΟΣ Ὅτι ὁμοούσιος καὶ συναΐδιος τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ ὁ Υἱός. {Α.} Τὸν ἱερὸν ἡμῖν Ἑρμείαν χθές τε καὶ τρίτην ἰδεῖν μὲν οὐκ ἦν, μήτε ἀγοράζειν, οἶμαί που, μήτε μὴν ἐξοίχεσθαι 385 δοκοῦν, ἀλλ' οἴκοι μὲν δὴ κατεσόβει τὸ χεῖμα· πεπρᾶχθαι γὰρ ὧδε καὶ μάλα εἰκός. Λαμπρὰ δὲ νῦν μόλις ἔδειξεν εὐδία. {Β.} Λέγεις ἀληθῆ. Γῆράς τε γὰρ ἀεὶ δυσπέμφελον, καὶ ἐς τὸ ἔξω ἰέναι δυσοκνότατα ἔχον, ἢν μάλιστα ὕοι. {Α.} Εὔχαρι δὴ οὖν καὶ εὐθυεπὲς τό, εἴπερ τις ἕλοιτο, τοῖς ἐν τῇ ἁλί σε παρεικάζειν ἰχθῦσιν, οἳ πνεύματος μὲν ἀπηνοῦς καὶ δυσηχεστάτου διακυκῶντος τὸ ῥόθιον καὶ ῥοιζηδὸν καταθρώσκοντος, χηραμούς τε τοὺς ἐν βυθῷ καθ' ἕνα τε καὶ ἀγεληδὸν εἰσχέονται, καὶ ὥσπερ τινὰ δρυμὸν ἢ λόχμην τὴν εὐανθῆ πόαν εἰσδύνοντες, ἐκμηχανῶνται τὸ ὠφελοῦν· ἐπειδὰν δὲ τοῖς ὕδασι τὸ τῆς ἡλίου βολῆς ἐπι νήχηται σέλας, ὅλην τε αὖ ἤδη καταθρήσειαν οἱονεὶ γελῶσαν τὴν θάλασσαν, ἀναθαρροῦσί τε καὶ ἀνανήχονται, καὶ ἐπ' ἄκρων σκαίρουσι κυμάτων, δεῖμά τε ὁμοῦ καὶ ὄκνον ἀποπεμψάμενοι. {Β.} Ὡς εὖ ἴσθι τοι μὴ ἑτέρως τό γε ἐμόν, ὦ τᾶν, ἢ οὕτως ἔχειν. {Α.} Ὄχλου δὲ δὴ καὶ πραγμάτων εἶ τέως ἀπωτάτω, καὶ ἐνηρεμεῖ σοι κατὰ τὴν ἑστίαν ὁ νοῦς, καθάπερ ἐγᾦμαι. {Β.} Καὶ τί τὸ ἐντεῦθεν; {Α.} Πλείστη τις ὅση καὶ ἁγιοπρεπὴς ἡ ὄνησις. Ἢ οὐχὶ δή τι τῶν ἀγαθῶν καὶ ταῖς ἠρεμίαις δώσομεν; {Β.} Μάλιστά γε. {Α.} Τὸ γάρ τοι παρὰ Θεοῦ διὰ τῆς τοῦ Ψάλλοντος ᾀδόμενον λύρας ἀληθῆ που πάντως τὸν ἐπὶ τούτῳ λόγον ἀποφανεῖ. {Β.} Τὸ ποῖον δὴ φῄς; 386 {Α.} "Σχολάσατε καὶ γνῶτε ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ Θεός." Ὄψις μὲν γὰρ ἡ σωματική, κόνεώς τε καὶ καπνοῦ καὶ ἑτέρου παντὸς τοῦ καταθολοῦν ἰσχύοντος ἐλευθέρα, λεπτὴν καὶ ἀπαρεμπόδιστον ἐνίησι τὴν ἐνέργειαν τοῖς ὑποπίπτειν εἰωθόσιν αὐτῇ. Εἰ δὲ δή πού τι κατασίνοιτο τῶν παθῶν, μεῖον μὲν ἢ χρὴ τοῖς ὁρωμένοις προσβαλεῖ, ἀφαμαρτήσει δὲ ὅτι καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς ἀκριβείας ἔσθ' ὅτε τὸ ἀπεικὸς οὐδέν. Νοῦς γε μὴν ὁ ἀνθρώπινος, εἰ μὲν ἠρεμαῖός τις εἴη καὶ καθεστηκώς, καὶ φαντασίας ἑώλου καὶ βδελυρᾶς ἀποφοιτᾷν εἰθισμένος, ὀξύ τε καὶ διειδὲς ἐμβλέψεται, καὶ ἀπλανῆ τῶν ὄντων εἰσδέξεται γνῶσιν. Εἴ γε μὴν ὑπό του καταπαχύνοιτο τῶν παθῶν, οὔτ' ἂν αὐτό ποτε τὸ θεῖον διόψεται κάλλος, ἐνιζήσει δὲ ὥσπερ τοῖς γεωδεστέροις, καθάπερ τὰ τῶν στρουθίων διάβροχα τὴν εἰς τὸ ἄνω πτῆσιν τῷ δεδέσθαι παρῃρημένα. {Β.} Εὖ λέγεις
About this text
Cyril of Alexandria, Dialogue 1 on the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity (Greek). Complete on this page: prologue + opening + rem CLOSEOUT.
English follows PG 75 Greek (CPG 5216). Durand SC French and modern English syncs were not used as wording. Dialogue 1 CLOSEOUT.
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 75 — De sancta et consubstantiali Trinitate dialogi (Greek · Dialogue 1 prologue + opening)
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.