Cyril of Jerus. 700

Lecture VII). The Father.

0700 Ep 3,14-15.

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, . . . of whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named, &c.

1). Of God as the sole Principle we have said enough to you yesterday1 : by “enough” I mean, not what is worthy of the subject, (for to reach that is utterly impossible to mortal nature), but as much as was granted to our infirmity. I traversed also the bye-paths of the manifold error of the godless heretics: but now let us shake off their foul and soul-poisoning doctrine, and remembering what relates to them, not to our own hurt, but to our greater detestation of them, let us come back to ourselves, and receive the saving doctrines of the true Faith, connecting the dignity of Fatherhood with that of the Unity, and believing In One God the Father: for we must not only believe in one God; but this also let us devoutly receive, that He is the Father of the Only-begotten, our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. For thus shall we raise our thoughts higher than the Jews2 , who admit indeed by their doctrines that there is One God, (for what if they often denied even this by their idolatries?); but that He is also the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, they admit not; being of a contrary mind to their own Prophets, who in the Divine Scriptures affirm, The Lord said unto me, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten thee3 . And to this day they rage and gather themselves together against the Lord, and against His Anointed4 , thinking that it is possible to be made friends of the Father apart from devotion towards the Son, being ignorant that no man cometh unto the Father but by5 the Son, who saith, I am the Door, and I am the Way6. He therefore that refuseth the Way which leadeth to the Father, and he that denieth the Door, how shall he be deemed worthy of entrance unto God? They contradict also what is written in the eighty-eighth Psalm, (He shall call Me, Thou art my Father, my God, and the helper of my salvation. And I will make him my first-born, high among the kings of the earth7 . For if they should insist that these things are said of David or Solomon or any of their successors, let them shew how the throne of him, who is in their judgment described in the prophecy, is as the days of heaven, and as the sun before God, and as the moon established for ever8 . And how is it also that they are not abashed at that which is written, From the womb before the morning-star have I begotten thee9: also this, (He shall endure with the sun, and before the moon, from generation to generation10 . To refer these passages to a man proof of utter and extreme insensibility.

3. Let the Jews, however, since they so will, suffer their usual disorder of unbelief, both in these and the like statements. But let us adopt the godly doctrine of our Faith, worshipping one God the Father of the Christ, (for to deprive Him, who grants to all the gift of generation, of the like dignity would be impious): and let us Believe in One God the Father, in order that, before we touch upon our teaching concerning Christ, the faith concerning the Only-begotten may be implanted in the soul of the hearers, without being at all interrupted by the intervening doctrines concerning the Father.

4. For the name of the Father, with the very utterance of the title, suggests the thought of the Son: as in like manner one who names the Son thinks straightway of the Father also11 . For if a Father, He is certainly the Father of a Son; and if a Son, certainly the Son of a Father. Lest therefore from our speaking thus, In One God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and of All Things Visible and Invisible, and from our then adding this also, And in One Lord Jesus Christ, any one should irreverently suppose that the Only-begotten is second in rank to heaven and earth,—for this reason before naming them we named God the Father, that in thinking of the Father we might at the same time think also of the Son: for between the Son and the Father no being whatever comes.

5. God then is in an improper sense12 the Father of many, but by nature and in truth of One only, the Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; not having attained in course of time to being a Father, but being ever the Father of the Only-begotten13 . Not that being without a Son before, He has since by change of purpose become a Father: but before every substance and every intelligence, before times and all ages, God hath the dignity of Father, magnifying Himself in this more than in His other dignities; and having become a Father, not by passion14 , or union, not in ignorance, not by effluence15 , not by diminution, not by alteration, for every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow of turning16 . Perfect Father, He begat a perfect Son, and delivered all things to Him who is begotten: (for all things, He saith, are delivered unto Me of My Father17 :) and is honoured by the Only-begotten: for, I honour My Father18 , saith the Son; and again, Even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love19 . Therefore we also say like the Apostle, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and God of all consolation20 : and, We bow our knees unto the Father from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named21 : glorifying Him with the Only-begotten: for he that denieth the Father, denieth the Son also22 : and again, (He that confesseth the Son, hath the Father also23 ; knowing that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father24 .

6. We worship, therefore, as the Father of Christ, the Maker of heaven and earth, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob25 ; to whose honour the former temple also, over against us here, was built. For we shall not tolerate the heretics who sever the Old Testament from the New26 , but shall believe Christ, who says concerning the temple, Wist ye not that I must be in My Father’s house27 ? and again, Take these things hence, and make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise28 , whereby He most clearly confessed that the former temple in Jerusalem was His own Father’s house. But if any one from unbelief wishes to receive yet more proofs as to the Father of Christ being the same as the Maker of the world, let him hear Him say again, Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing, and not one of them shall fall on the ground without My Father which is in heaven29 ; this also, Behold the fowls of the heaven that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them30 ; and this, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work31 .

7. But lest any one from simplicity or perverse ingenuity should suppose that Christ is but equal in honour to righteous men, from His saying, I ascend to My Father, and your32 Father, it is well to make this distinction beforehand, that the name of the Father is one, but the power of His operation33 manifold. And Christ Himself knowing this has spoken unerringly, I go to My Father, and your Father: not saying ‘to our Father,’ but distinguishing, and saying first what was proper to Himself, to My Father, which was by nature; then adding, and your Father, which was by adoption. For however high the privilege we have received of saying in our prayers, Our Father, which art in heaven, yet the gift is of loving-kindness. For we call Him Father, not as having been by nature begotten of Our Father which is in heaven; but having been transferred from servitude to sonship by the grace of the Father, through the Son and Holy Spirit, we are permitted so to speak by ineffable loving-kindness.

8. But if any one wishes to learn how we call God “Father,” let him hear Moses, the excellent schoolmaster, saying, Did not this thy Father Himself buy thee, and make thee, and create thee34 ? Also Esaias the Prophet, And now, O Lord. Thou art our Father: and we all are clay, the works of Thine hands35 . For most clearly has the prophetic gift declared that not according to nature, but according to God’s grace, and by adoption, we call Him Father.

9. And that thou mayest learn more exactly that in the Divine Scriptures it is not by any means the natural father only that is called father, hear what Paul says:—For though ye should have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I begat you through the Gospel36 . For Paul was father of the Corinthians, not by having begotten them after the flesh, but by having taught and begotten them again after the Spirit. Hear Job also saying, I was a father of the needy37 : for he called himself a father, not as having begotten them all, but as caring for them. And God’s Only-begotten Son Himself, when nailed in His flesh to the tree at the time of crucifixion, on seeing Mary, His own Mother according to the flesh, and John, the most beloved of His disciples, said to him, Behold! thy mother, and to her, Behold! thy Son38 : teaching her the parental affection due to him39 , and indirectly explaining that which is said in Luke, and His father and His mother marvelled at Him40 : words which the tribe of heretics snatch up, saying that He was begotten of a man and a woman. For like as Mary was called the mother of John, because of her parental affection, not from having given him birth, so Joseph also was called the father of Christ, not from having begotten Him (for he knew her not, as the Gospel says, until she had brought forth her first-born Son41 ), but because of the care bestowed on His nurture.

10 Thus much then at present, in the way of a digression, to put you in remembrance. Let me, however, add yet another testimony in proof that God is called the Father of men in an improper sense. For when in Esaias God is addressed thus, For Thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us42 , and Sarah travailed not with us43 , need we inquire further on this point? And if the Psalmist says, Let them be troubled from His countenance, the Father of the fatherless, and Judge of the widows44 , is it not manifest to all, that when God is called the Father of orphans who have lately lost their own fathers, He is so named not as begetting them of Himself, but as caring for them and shielding them. But whereas God, as we have said, is in an improper sense the Father of men, of Christ alone He is the Father by nature, not by adoption: and the Father of men in time, but of Christ before all time, as He saith, And new, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was45 .

11. We believe then In One God the Father the Unsearchable and Ineffable, Whom no man hath seen46 , but the Only-begotten alone hath declared Him47 ). For He which is of God, He hath seen God48 : whose face the Angels do alway behold in heaven49 , behold, however, each according to the measure of his own rank. But the undimmed vision of the Father is reserved in its purity for the Son with the Holy Ghost.

12. Having reached this point of my discourse, and being reminded of the passages just before mentioned, in which God was addressed as the Father of men, I am greatly amazed at men’s insensibility. For God with unspeakable loving-kindness deigned to be called the Father of men,—He in heaven, they on earth,—and He the Maker of Eternity, they made in time,—He who holdeth the earth in the hollow of His hand, they upon the earth as grasshoppers50 . Yet man forsook his heavenly Father, and said to the stock, Thou art my father, and to the stone, Thou hast begotten me51 . And for this reason, methinks, the Psalmist says to mankind, Forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house52 , whom thou hast chosen for a father, whom thou hast drawn upon thyself to thy destruction.

13. And not only stocks and stones, but even Satan himself, the destroyer of souls, have some ere now chosen for a father; to whom the Lord said as a rebuke, Ye do the deeds of your father53 , that is of the devil, he being the father of men not by nature, but by fraud. For like as Paul by his godly teaching came to be called the father of the Corinthians, so the devil is called the father of those who of their own will consent unto him54 .

For we shall not tolerate those who give a wrong meaning to that saying, Hereby know we the children of God, and the children of the devil55 , as if there were by nature some men to be saved, and some to be lost. Whereas we come into such holy sonship not of necessity but by choice: nor was the traitor Judas by nature a son of the devil and of perdition; for certainly he would never have cast out devils at all in the name of Christ: for Satan casteth not out Satan56 . Nor on the other hand would Paul have turned from persecuting to preaching. But the adoption is in our own power, as John saith, But as marry as received Him, to them gave He power to become the children of God, even to them that believe in His name57 . For not before their believing, but from their believing they were counted worthy to become of their own choice the children of God.

14. Knowing this, therefore, let us walk spiritually, that we may be counted worthy of God’s adoption). For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God58 . For it profiteth us nothing to have gained the title of Christians, unless the works also follow; lest to us also it be said, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham59 ). For if we call on Him as Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, let us pass the time of our sojourning here in fear60 , loving not the world, neither the things that are in the world: for if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him61 . Wherefore, my beloved children, let us by our works offer glory to our Father which is in heaven, that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father which is in heaven62 ). Let us cast all our care upon Him, for our Father knoweth what things we have need of63 .

15. But while honouring our heavenly Father let us honour also the fathers of our flesh64 : since the Lord Himself hath evidently so appointed in the Law and the Prophets, saying, Honour thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee, and thy days shall be long in the land65 . And let this commandment be especially observed by those here present who have fathers and mothers). Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing to the Lord66 . For the Lord said not, (He that loveth father or mother is not worthy of Me, lest thou from ignorance shouldest perversely mistake what was rightly written, but , more than Me67 . For when our fathers on earth are of a contrary mind to our Father in heaven, then we must obey Christ’s word. But when they put no obstacle to godliness in our way, if we are ever carried away by ingratitude, and, forgetting their benefits to us, hold them in contempt, then the oracle will have place which says, (He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death68 .

16. The first virtue of godliness in Christians is to honour their parents, to requite the troubles of those who begat them69 , and with all their might to confer on them what tends to their comfort (for if we should repay them ever so much, yet we shall never be able to return their gift of life70 ), that they also may enjoy the comfort provided by us, and may confirm us in those blessings which Jacob the supplanter shrewdly seized; and that our Father in heaven may accept71 our good purpose, and judge us worthy to shine amid righteous as the sun in the kingdom of our Father72 : To whom be the glory, with the Only-begotten our Saviour Jesus Christ, and with the Holy and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever, to all eternity. Amen).


1 See Lecture VI. 1, and 5.
2 “In Athanasius, Quaestio I). ad Antiochum,tom. II. p. 331, Monarchia is opposed to Polytheism: ‘If we worship One God, it is manifest that we agree with the Jews in believing in a Monarchia: but if we worship three gods, it is evident that we follow the Greeks by introducing Polytheism, instead of piously worshipping One Only God.0’” (Suicer, Thesaurus, Monarciva).
3 (Ps 2,7,
4 Ps 2,2.
5 (Jn 14,6,
6 Jn 10,9.
7 (Ps 89,26-27.
8 vv. 29, 36, 37.
9 (Ps 110,3, “From the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth” (R. V)..
10 (Ps 72,5.
11 Compare Athanasius (de Senteutiâ Dionyssi, § 17): “Each of the names I have mentioned is inseparable and indivisible from the next to it. I spoke of the Father, and before bringing in the Son, I designated Him also in the Father. I brought in the Son, and even if I had not previously mentioned the Father, in any wise He would have been presupposed in the Son.”
12 katacrhstikw`". A technical term in Grammar, applied to the use of a word in a derived or metaphorical sense. See Aristotle’s description of the various kinds of metaphor, Poet. § 21,7—16. The opposite to katacrhstikw`" is kurivw", as used in a parallel passage by Athanasius, Oratioi. contra Arianos, § 21 fin. “It belongs to the Godhead alone, that the Father is properly (kurivw") Father, and the Son properly Son.”
13 “And in Them, and Them only, does it hold, that the Father is ever Father, and the Son ever Son.” (Athan., as above).
14 Compare vi. 6: o J gennhqei;" aAEpaqw`" The importance attached to the assertion of a “passionless generation” arose from the objections offered by Eusebius of Nicomedia and others to the word o Jmoouvsio" when proposed by Constantine at Nicaea. We learn from Eusebius of Caesarea (Epist ad suae paroeciae homines, § 4) that the Emperor himself explained that the word was used “not in the sense of the affections (pavqh) of bodies,” because “the immaterial, and intellectual, and incorporeal nature could not be the subject of any corporeal affection.” Again, in § 7, Eusebius admits that “there are grounds for saying that the Son is ‘one in essence0’with the Father, not in the way of bodies, nor like mortal beings, for He is not such by division of essence, or by severance, no, nor by any affection, or alteration, or changing of the Father’s essence and power.” (See the next note).
15 Athanuasius (Expos. Fidei, § 1): “word not pronounced nor mental, nor an effluence of the Perfect, nor a dividing of the passionless nature.” Also (de Decretis, § 1): “God being without parts is Father of the Son without partition or passion; for there is neither effluence of the Immaterial, nor influx form without, as among men.”
16 (Jc 1,17.
17 (Mt 11,27.
18 (Jn 8,49.
19 (Jn 15,10.
20 (2Co 1,3.
21 (Ep 3,14-15.
22 (1Jn 2,22: “This is the Antichrist, even he that denieth the Father and the Son” (R. V.).
23 v. 23, bracketed in the A. V. as spurious, but rightly restored in R. V.
24 (Ph 2,11.
25 (Ex 3,6,
26 Compare Lect. 4,33.
27 (Lc 2,49.
28 (Jn 2,16.
29 (Mt 10,29. S. Cyril instead of “your Father” writes “my Father which is in heaven:” so Origen and Athanasius.
30 (Mt 6,26.
31 (Jn 5,17,
32 (Jn 20,17. On this text, quoted again in Cat. 11,19, see the tree Sermons of Bishop Andrewes On the Resurrection.
33 eAEnergoiva, meaning here, the operation of God, by nature in begetting His Son, by adoption in making many sons.
34 Dt 32,6.
35 (Is 44,8.
36 (1Co 4,15.
37 (Jb 29,16.
38 (Jn 19,26-27.
39 filostorgiva might be applied to the mutual affection of mother and son, but the context shews that it refers here to parental love only; see Polybius, V. § 74, 5; Xenoph). Cyrop. I. § 3, 2.
40 (Lc 2,33.
41 (Mt 1,25.
42 (Is 43,16.
43 Is 51,2.
44 (Ps 68,5. Cyril quotes as usual from the Septuagint (Ps 67,6), where the clause taracqhvsoutai aAEpo; proswvpou auAEtou`, answering to nothing in the Hebrew is evidently an interpolation, and may have crept in from a marginal quotation of Is. 64,2.
45 (Jn 17,5.
46 (1Tm 2,16.
47 (Jn 1,18,
48 (Jn 6,46, (He hath seen the Father. The weight of authority is against the reading (to;n qeovn) which Cyril follows.
49 Mt 18,10.
50 (Is 40,12 and 22.
51 (Jr 2,27.
52 (Ps 14,10.
53 (Jn 8,41.
54 (Ps 50,18,
55 (1Jn 3,10.
56 (Mc 3,23.
57 (Jn 1,12,
58 (Rm 8,14.
59 (Jn 8,39.
60 (1P 1,17.
61 (1Jn 2,15.
62 (Mt 5,16,
63 (1P 5,7 Mt 6,8,
64 (He 12,9.
65 (Dt 5,16,
66 (Col 3,20.
67 (Mt 10,37.
68 (Ex 21,17 Lv 20,9 Mt 15,4,
69 Compare for the thought Euripides, Medea, 1029—1035.
70 aAEntigennh`sai. Jeremy Taylor (Ductor Dubitantium, Book III. cap. ii. §17) mentions several stories in which a parent is nourished from a daughter’s breast, who thus ’saves the life she cannot give.’
71 On the change of Moods, see Jelf, Greek Grammar, § 809. The second verb (kataxiwvseien) wish be realized, as it probably may be. Cf. Herod. 9,51.
72 (Mt 13,43.





Lecture VIII. Almighty.

0800 Jr 39,18-19 (Septuagint).

The Great, the strong God, Lord of great Counsel, and mighty in His works, the Great God, the Lord Almighty and of great name1 .

1). By believing In One God we cut off all misbelief in many gods, using this as a shield against Greeks; and every opposing power of heretics; and by adding, In One God the Father, we contend against those of the circumcision, who deny the Only-begotten Son of God. For, as was said yesterday, even before explaining the truths concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, we made it manifest at once, by saying “The Father,” that He is the Father of a Son: that as we understand that God is, so we may understand that He has a Son. But to those titles we add that He is also “Almighty;” and this we affirm because of Greeks and Jews2 together, and all heretics.

2. For of the Greeks some have said that God is the soul of the world3 : and others that His power reaches only to heaven, and not to earth as well, Some also sharing their error and misusing the text which says, “And Thy truth unto the clouds4,” have dared to circumscribe God’s providence by the clouds and the heaven, and to alienate from God the things on earth; having forgotten the Psalm which says, If I go up into heaven, Thou art there. if I go down into hell, Thou art present5. For if there is nothing higher than heaven, and if hell is deeper than the earth, He who rules the lower regions reaches the earth also.

3. But heretics again, as I have said before, know not One Almighty God. For He is Almighty who rules all things, who has power over all things. But they who say that one God is Lord of the soul, and some other of the body, make neither of them perfect, because either is wanting to the other6 . For how is he almighty, who has power over the soul, but not over the body? And how is he almighty who has dominion over bodies, but no power over spirits? But these men the Lord confutes, saying on the contrary, Rather fear ye Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell7 . For unless the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has the power over both, how does He subject both to punishment? For how shall He be able to take the body which is another’s and cast it into hell, except He first bind the strong man, and spoil his goods8 ?

4. But the Divine Scripture and the doctrines of the truth know but One God, who rules all things by His power, but endures many things of His will. For He rules even over the idolaters, but endures them of His forbearance: He rules also over the heretics who set Him at nought, but bears with them because of His long-suffering: He rules even over the devil, but bears with him of His long-suffering, not from want of power; as if defeated. For he is the beginning of the Lord’s creation, made to be mocked9, not by Himself, for that were unworthy of Him, but by the Angels whom He hath made. But He suffered him to live, for two purposes, that he might disgrace himself the more in his defeat, and that mankind might be crowned with victory. O all wise providence of God! which takes the wicked purpose for a groundwork of salvation for the faithful. For as He took the unbrotherly purpose of Joseph’s brethren for a groundwork of His own dispensation, and, by permitting them to sell their brother from hatred, took occasion to make him king whom He would; so he permitted the devil to wrestle, that the victors might be crowned; and that when victory was gained, he might be the more disgraced as being conquered by the weaker, and men be greatly honoured as having conquered him who was once an Archangel.

5. Nothing then is withdrawn from the power of God; for the Scripture says of Him, for all things are Thy servants10 . All things alike are His servants, but from all these One, His only Son, and One, His Holy Spirit, are excepted; and all the things which are His servants serve the Lord through the One Son and in the Holy Spirit. God then rules all, and of His long-suffering endures even murderers and robbers and fornicators, having appointed a set time for recompensing every one, that if they who have had long warning are still impenitent in heart, they may receive the greater condemnation. They are kings of men, who reign upon earth, but not without the power from above: and this Nebuchadnezzar once learned by experience, when he said; For His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His power from generation to generation11 .

6. Riches, and gold, and silver are not, as some think, the devil’s12 : for the whole world of riches is for the faithful man, but for the faithless not even a penny13 . Now nothing is more faithless than the devil; and God says plainly by the Prophet, The gold is Mine, and the silver is Mine, and to whomsoever I will I give it14 . Do thou but use it well, and there is no fault to be found with money: but whenever thou hast made a bad use of that which is good, then being unwilling to blame thine own management, thou impiously throwest back the blame upon the Creator. A man may even be justified by money: I was hungry, and ye gave Me meat15 : that certainly was from money). I was naked, and ye clothed Me: that certainly was by money. And wouldest thou learn that money may become a door of the kingdom of heaven? Sell, saith He, that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven16 .

7. Now I have made these remarks because of those heretics who count possessions, and money, and men’s bodies accursed17 . For I neither wish thee to be a slave of money, nor to treat as enemies the things which God has given thee for use. Never say then that riches are the devil’s: for though he say, All these will I give thee, for they are delivered unto me18 , one may indeed even reject his assertion; for we need not believe the liar: and yet perhaps he spake the truth, being compelled by the power of His presence: for he said not, All these will I give thee, for they are mine, but, for they are delivered unto me. He grasped not the dominion of them, but confessed that he had been entrusted19 with them, and was for a time dispensing them. But at a proper time interpreters should inquire whether his statement is false or true20 .

8. God then is One, the Father, the Almighty, whom the brood of heretics have dared to blaspheme. Yea, they, have dared to blaspheme the Lord of Sabaoth21 , who sitteth above the Cherubim22 : they have dared to blaspheme the Lord Adonai23 : they have dared to blaspheme Him who is in the Prophets the Almighty God24 . But worship thou One God the Almighty, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Flee from the error of many gods, flee also from every heresy, and say like Job, But I will call upon the Almighty Lord, which doeth great things and unsearchable, glorious things and marvellous without number25 , and, For all these things there is honour from the Almighty26 : to Whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen).


1 The text is translated from the Septuagint, in which S. Cyril found the title ALMIGHTY (Pantokravtwr), one of the usual equivalents in the Septuagint for Lord of Hosts (Sabaoth). In the English A. V. and R. V. the passage stands thus: Jr 32,18-19: The Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of Hosts, is His name, Great in counsel, and mighty in work.
2 “For even the Jewish nation had wicked heresies: for of them were. . . the Pharisees, who ascribe the practice of sinners to fortune and fate; and the Basmotheans, who deny providence and say that the world is made by spontaneous motion” (Apost. Const. VI. 6). Compare Euseb. (E. H. IV. 22).
3 Cicero, De Natura Deorum, Lib. I. 27: “Pythagoras thought that God was the soul pervading all nature.” The doctrine was accepted both by Stoics and Platonists, and became very general. Cf. Virg). Georg. 4,221:
Deum namque ire per omnis
Terrasque, tractusque maris, caelumque profundum.
and Aen. 6,726:
Spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus
Meus agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet.
4 (Ps 36,5, appears to have borrowed this statement form Clement of Alexandria, who states (Stromat. V. 14,§ 91) that from this Psalm the thought occurred to Aristotle to let Providence come down as far as to the Moon.
5 (Ps 139,8,
6 See note on Lect. IV. 4.
7 (Mt 10,28,
8 Mt 12,29.
9 (Jb 40,14, tou`tj e[stin aAErch; plavsmato" Kurivou, pepoihmmevnon eAEgkatapaivzesqai u Jpo; tw`n aAEggevlwn auAEtou`. In this description of Behemoth the Septuagint differs much from the Hebrew, which is thus rendered in our English Versions, 40,19: (He is the chief of the ways of God: he (only, R. V.) that made him can make his sword to approach unto him. Compare Jb 41,5: Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? and Ps 104,26: There is that Leviathan whom thou hast formed to play therein (Sept). to take thy pastime with him). See Baruch 3,17, with the note in the Speaker’s Commentary.
10 (Ps 119,91.
11 (Da 4,34.
12 On this doctrine of the Manicheans see Archelaus (Disputatio, cap. 42), Epiphanius (Haeres. lxvi. § 81). Compare Clement. Hom. 15,cap. 9: “To all of us possessions are sins.” Plato (Laws, V. 743) : “I can never agree with them that the rich man will be really happy, unless he is also good: but for one who is eminently good to be also extremely rich is impossible.”
13 (Pr 17,6, according to the Septuagint. See note on Cat. V. 2, where the same passage is quoted. Clement of Alexandria (Stromat. II. 5) refers to it in connexion with the passage of Plato quoted in the preceding note. S. Augustine also quotes and explains it in Eipst. 153, § 26.
14 The former clause is from Ag 2,8; the latter, taken from the words of the Tempter in Lc 4,6, is quoted both by Cyril and by other Fathers as if from Haggai. Chrysostom (Hom. 34,§ 5 in 1Co xiii). treats the use which some made of the misquotation as ridiculous.
15 (Mt 25,35-36.
16 Mt 19,21.
17 The connexion of swvmata with money and possessions suggests the not uncommon meaning “slaves.” See Polyb. 18,18 § 6: kai; th;n eAEndoucivan aAEpevdonto kai; ta; swvmata, kai; su;n toutoise[ti tina;" tw`n kthvsewn, “household furniture, and slaves, and besides these some also of their lands.” See Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, “Slavery,” where it is shewn that Christians generally and even Bishops still possessed slaves throughout the 4th Century.
But here it is perhaps more probable that Cyril refers, as before, Cat. 4,§ 23, to the Manichean doctrine of the body as the root of sin.
18 (Mt 4,9 Lc 4,6,
19 For eAEgkeceirh`sqai, the reading of all the printed Editions, which hardly yields a suitable sense, we should probably substitute eAEgkeceirivsqai. A similar confusion of the two verbs occurs in Polybius (Hist.VIII. 18,6); the proper use of the latter is seen in Joh. Damasc. (De Fide Orthod. II. 4, quoted by Cleopas), who speaks of Satan as being “of these Angelic powers the chief of the earthly order, and entrusted by God with the guardianship of the earth” (th`" gh`" th;n fulakh;n eAEgceirisqei;" para; Qeou`).
20 On this point compare Irenaeus (Haer. V. xxi.—xxiv)., and Gregory of Nyssa (Orat. Catech. § 5).l
21 The reference is to Manes, of whom his disciple Turbo says (Archelai Disput. § 10), “the name Sabaoth which is honourable and mighty with you, he declares to be the nature of man, and the parent of lust: for which reason the simple, he says, worship lust, and think it to be a god.”
22 (Ps 80,1.
23 jAdwnaiv, He yn:doa)
, “the Lord,” an old form of the Plural of majesty, used of God only.
24 pantokravtora, He yD-v lae
, El-Shaddai, “God Almighty.”
25 (Jb 5,8-9. Cyril’s quotation agrees with the Codex Alexandrinus of the Septuagint, which has pantokravtora, “Almighty,” while the Vatican and other Mss. read to;n pavntwn despovthn.
26 (Jb 37,23: God hath upon Him terrible majesty (R. V). The Vatican and Alexandrine Mss. of the Septuagint read eAEpi; touvtoi" megavlh h J dovxa kai; timh; pantokravtoro". (For these things great is the glory and honour of the Almighty). But Cyril’s text is the same as the Aldine and Complutensian.






Cyril of Jerus. 700