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 Sabaoth [1052] , who sitteth above the Cherubim [1053] : they have dared to blaspheme the Lord Adonai [1054] : they have dared to blaspheme Him who is in the Prophets the Almighty God [1055] . 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 number [1056] , and, For all these things there is honour from the Almighty [1057] : to Whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
[1032] The text is translated from the Septuagint, in which S. Cyril found the title Almighty (Pantokrator), 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: Jer. xxxii. 18, 19: The Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of Hosts, is His name, Great in counsel, and mighty in work.
[1033] "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.)
[1034] 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. iv. 221: Deum namque ire per omnis Terrasque, tractusque maris, cælumque profundum. and Æn. vi. 726: Spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus Meus agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet.
[1035] Ps. xxxvi. 5. Cyril appears to have borrowed this statement from Clement of Alexandria, who states (Stromat. V. xiv. § 91) that from this Psalm the thought occurred to Aristotle to let Providence come down as far as to the Moon.
[1036] Ps. cxxxix. 8.
[1037] See note on Lect. IV. 4.
[1038] Matt. x. 28.
[1039] Ib. xii. 29.
[1040] Job xl. 14, tout' estin arche plasmatos Kuriou, pepoiemenon enkatapaizesthai hupo ton angelon autou. In this description of Behemoth the Septuagint differs much from the Hebrew, which is thus rendered in our English Versions, xl. 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 Job xli. 5: Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? and Ps. civ. 26: There is that Leviathan whom thou hast formed to play therein (Sept. to take thy pastime with him). See Baruch iii. 17, with the note in the Speaker's Commentary.
[1041] Ps. cxix. 91.
[1042] Dan. iv. 34.
[1043] On this doctrine of the Manicheans see Archelaus (Disputatio, cap. 42), Epiphanius (Hæres. lxvi. § 81). Compare Clement. Hom. xv. 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."
[1044] Prov. xvii. 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 Epist. 153, § 26.
[1045] The former clause is from Haggai ii. 8; the latter, taken from the words of the Tempter in Luke iv. 6, is quoted both by Cyril and by other Fathers as if from Haggai. Chrysostom (Hom. xxxiv. § 5, in 1 Cor. xiii.) treats the use which some made of the misquotation as ridiculous.
[1046] Matt. xxv. 35, 36.
[1047] Ib. xix. 21.
[1048] The connexion of somata with money and possessions suggests the not uncommon meaning "slaves." See Polyb. xviii. 18 § 6: kai ten endouchian apedonto kai ta somata, kai sun toutois eti tinas ton kteseon, "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. iv. § 23, to the Manichean doctrine of the body as the root of sin.
[1049] Matt. iv. 9; Luke iv. 6.
[1050] For enkecheiresthai, the reading of all the printed Editions, which hardly yields a suitable sense, we should probably substitute enkecheiristhai. A similar confusion of the two verbs occurs in Polybius (Hist. VIII. xviii. 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" (tes ges ten phulaken encheiristheis para Theou).
[1051] On this point compare Irenæus (Hær. V. xxi.-xxiv.), and Gregory of Nyssa (Orat. Catech. § 5).
[1052] 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."
[1053] Ps. lxxx. 1.
[1054] 'Adonai, Heb. ynd', "the Lord," an old form of the Plural of majesty, used of God only.
[1055] pantokratora, Heb. yds l'", El-Shaddai, "God Almighty."
[1056] Job v. 8, 9. Cyril's quotation agrees with the Codex Alexandrinus of the Septuagint, which has pantokratora , "Almighty," while the Vatican and other mss. read ton panton despoten.
[1057] Job xxxvii. 23: God hath upon Him terrible majesty (R.V.). The Vatican and Alexandrine mss. of the Septuagint read epi toutois megale he doxa kai time pantokratoros. (For these things great is the glory and honour of the Almighty.) But Cyril's text is the same as the Aldine and Complutensian.
Lecture IX.
On the Words, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and of All Things Visible and Invisible.
Job xxxviii. 2-3
Who is this that hideth counsel from Me, and keepeth words in his heart, and thinketh to hide them from Me [1058] ?
1. To look upon God with eyes of flesh is impossible: for the incorporeal cannot be subject to bodily sight: and the Only begotten Son of God Himself hath testified, saying, No man hath seen God at any time [1059] . For if according to that which is written in Ezekiel any one should understand that Ezekiel saw Him, yet what saith the Scripture? He saw the likeness of the glory of the Lord [1060] ; not the Lord Himself, but the likeness of His glory, not the glory itself, as it really is. And when he saw merely the likeness of the glory, and not the glory itself, he fell to the earth from fear. Now if the sight of the likeness of the glory brought fear and distress upon the prophets, any one who should attempt to behold God Himself would to a certainty lose his life, according to the saying, No man shall see My face and live [1061] . For this cause God of His great loving-kindness spread out the heaven as a veil of His proper Godhead, that we should not perish. The word is not mine, but the Prophet's. If Thou shalt rend the heavens, trembling will take hold of the mountains at sight of Thee, and they will flow down [1062] . And why dost thou wonder that Ezekiel fell down on seeing the likeness of the glory? when Daniel at the sight of Gabriel, though but a servant of God, straightway shuddered and fell on his face, and, prophet as he was, dared not answer him, until the Angel transformed himself into the likeness of a son of man [1063] . Now if the appearing of Gabriel wrought trembling in the Prophets, had God Himself been seen as He is, would not all have perished?
2. The Divine Nature then it is impossible to see with eyes of flesh: but from the works, which are Divine, it is possible to attain to some conception of His power, according to Solomon, who says, For by the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the Maker of them is seen [1064] . He said not that from the creatures the Maker is seen, but added proportionably. For God appears the greater to every man in proportion as he has grasped a larger survey of the creatures: and when his heart is uplifted by that larger survey, he gains withal a greater conception of God.
3. Wouldest thou learn that to comprehend the nature of God is impossible? The Three Children in the furnace of fire, as they hymn the praises of God, say Blessed art thou that beholdest the depths, and sittest upon the Cherubim [1065] . Tell me what is the nature of the Cherubim, and then look upon Him who sitteth upon them. And yet Ezekiel the Prophet even made a description of them, as far as was possible, saying that every one has four faces, one of a man, another of a lion, another of an eagle, and another of a calf; and that each one had six wings [1066] , and they had eyes on all sides; and that under each one was a wheel of four sides. Nevertheless though the Prophet makes the explanation, we cannot yet understand it even as we read. But if we cannot understand the throne, which he has described, how shall we be able to comprehend Him who sitteth thereon, the Invisible and Ineffable God? To scrutinise then the nature of God is impossible: but it is in our power to send up praises of His glory for His works that are seen.
4. These things I say to you because of the following context of the Creed, and because we say, We Believe in One God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and of All Things Visible and Invisible; in order that we may remember that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the same as He that made the heaven and the earth [1067] , and that we may make ourselves safe against the wrong paths of the godless heretics, who have dared to speak evil of the All wise Artificer of all this world [1068] , men who see with eyes of flesh, but have the eyes of their understanding blinded.
5. For what fault have they to find with the vast creation of God?--they, who ought to have been struck with amazement on beholding the vaultings of the heavens: they, who ought to have worshipped Him who reared the sky as a dome, who out of the fluid nature of the waters formed the stable substance of the heaven. For God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water [1069] . God spake once for all, and it stands fast, and falls not. The heaven is water, and the orbs therein, sun, moon, and stars are of fire: and how do the orbs of fire run their course in the water? But if any one disputes this because of the opposite natures of fire and water, let him remember the fire which in the time of Moses in Egypt flamed amid the hail, and observe the all-wise workmanship of God. For since there was need of water, because the earth was to be tilled, He made the heaven above of water that when the region of the earth should need watering by showers, the heaven might from its nature be ready for this purpose.
6. But what? Is there not cause to wonder when one looks at the constitution of the sun? For being to the sight as it were a small body he contains a mighty power; appearing from the East, and sending forth his light unto the West: whose rising at dawn the Psalmist described, saying: And he cometh forth out of his chamber as a bridegroom [1070] . He was describing the brightness and moderation of his state on first becoming visible unto men: for when he rides at high noon, we often flee from his blaze: but at his rising he is welcome to all as a bridegroom to look on.
Observe also his arrangement (or rather not his, but the arrangement of Him who by an ordinance determined his course), how in summer he rises higher and makes the days longer, giving men good time for their works: but in winter contracts his course, that the period of cold may be increased, and that the nights becoming longer may contribute to men's rest, and contribute also to the fruitfulness of the products of the earth [1071] . See also how the days alternately respond each to other in due order, in summer increasing, and in winter diminishing; but in spring and autumn granting equal intervals one to another. And the nights again complete the like courses; so that the Psalmist also says of them, Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night proclaimeth knowledge [1072] . For to the heretics who have no ears, they all but cry aloud, and by their good order say, that there is none other God save the Creator who hath set them their bounds, and laid out the order of the Universe [1073] .