32. But thou wonderest at the event: even she herself who bare him wondered at this. For she saith to Gabriel, How shall this be to me, since I know not a man? But he says, The Holy Ghost shall came upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: wherefore also the holy thing which is to be born shall be called the Son of God [1475] . Immaculate and undefiled was His generation: for where the Holy Spirit breathes, there all pollution is taken away: undefiled from the Virgin was the incarnate generation of the Only-begotten. And if the heretics gainsay the truth, the Holy Ghost shall convict them: that overshadowing power of the Highest shall wax wroth: Gabriel shall stand face to face against them in the day of judgment: the place of the manger, which received the Lord, shall put them to shame. The shepherds, who then received the good tidings, shall bear witness; and the host of the Angels who sang praises and hymns, and said, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of His good pleasure [1476] : the Temple into which He was then carried up on the fortieth day: the pairs of turtle-doves, which were offered on His behalf [1477] : and Symeon who then took Him up in his arms, and Anna the prophetess who was present.
33. Since God then beareth witness, and the Holy Ghost joins in the witness, and Christ says, Why do ye seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth [1478] ? let the heretics be silenced who speak against His humanity, for they speak against Him, who saith, Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have [1479] . Adored be the Lord the Virgin-born, and let Virgins acknowledge the crown of their own state: let the order also of Solitaries acknowledge the glory of chastity for we men are not deprived of the dignity of chastity. In the Virgin's womb the Saviour's period of nine months was passed: but the Lord was for thirty and three years a man: so that if a virgin glories [1480] because of the nine months, much more we because of the many years.
34. But let us all by God's grace run the race of chastity, young men and maidens, old men and children [1481] ; not going after wantonness, but praising the name of Christ. Let us not be ignorant of the glory of chastity: for its crown is angelic, and its excellence above man. Let us be chary of our bodies which are to shine as the sun: let us not for short pleasure defile so great, so noble a body: for short and momentary is the sin, but the shame for many years and for ever. Angels walking upon earth are they who practise chastity: the Virgins have their portion with Mary the Virgin. Let all vain ornament be banished, and every hurtful glance, and all wanton gait, and every flowing robe, and perfume enticing to pleasure. But in all for perfume let there be the prayer of sweet odour, and the practice [1482] of good works, and the sanctification of our bodies: that the Virgin-born Lord may say even of us, both men who live in chastity and women who wear the crown, I will dwell in them; and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people [1483] . To whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
[1340] This passage supplies a complete answer to the suspicion of a quasi-Nestorian tendency referred to in note 6, on xi. 20. See x. 19, note 2, on the title Theotokos.
[1341] The Present Participle (kataxioumenoi) means that the Candidates for Baptism were already on the way to be admitted to Holy Communion. Compare Cat. i. 1, where the same Candidates are addressed as "partakers of the mysteries of Christ, as yet by calling only, but ere long by grace also."
[1342] Aubertin remarks on this passage that "this spiritual Lamb, consisting of head and feet, can be received only by the spiritual mouth." This explanation, however true in itself, cannot fairly be held to express fully the meaning of Cyril. See the section of the Introduction referred to in the Index, "Eucharist."
[1343] Ex. xii. 9: the head with the feet. The same figurative interpretation is given by Eusebius (Eccl. Hist. I. ii. § 1): "In Christ there is a twofold nature; and the one--in so far as He is thought of as God--resembles the head of the body, while the other may be compared with the feet,--in so far as He, for the sake of our salvation, put on human nature with the same passions as our own."
[1344] 'Ioanne to Theologo. The title is given to Moses by Philo Judæus (Vita Mos. III. § 11), to Prophets by Eusebius (Demostr. Evang. ii. 9), to Apostles by Athanasius (de Incarn. § 10: ton autou tou Soteros theologon andron), and especially to St. John, because the chief purpose of his Gospel was to set forth the Deity of Christ. See note on Revel. i. 1, in Speaker's Commentary, and Suicer, Thesaurus, Theologos.
[1345] John i. 1.
[1346] Ib. i. 14.
[1347] Ib. xiii. 4.
[1348] Rom. ii. 20.
[1349] John vi. 32, 33, 50.
[1350] Ib. v. 43. Cf. 2 John 7.
[1351] Isa. vii. 14.
[1352] Carpocrates, Cerinthus, the Ebionites, &c. See Irenæus (Hær. I. xxv. § 1; xxvi. §§ 1, 2).
[1353] Dr. Swainson (Creeds, Chap. vii. § 7), speaking of the Creed of Cyril of Jerusalem, says that "the words sarkothenta kai enanthropesanta are found in it, but no reference whatever is made to the birth from the Virgin." The present passage, and that in Cat. iv. § 9, "begotten of the Holy Virgin and the Holy Ghost," seems to shew that such a clause formed part of the Creed which Cyril was expounding. The genuineness of both passages is attested by all the mss. and Dr. Swainson was mistaken in charging the Editors of the Oxford Translation with having omitted to "mention that Touttée was himself doubtful as to the words within the brackets" [ek Parthenou kai Pneumatos Agiou]. The brackets are added by Dr. Swainson himself, and Touttée had no doubt of the genuineness of the words: on the contrary he believed them to be part of the Creed itself. His note is as follows: "The words of the Virgin and Holy Ghost I have caused to be printed in larger letters as if taken from the Symbol: although they are wanting in the Title of this Lecture and in § 13, where the third Article of the Creed is referred to. But they are read in nearly all the Latin and Greek Symbols, and are referred to in Cat. iv. § 9."
[1354] enanthropesanta. The word occurs in the true Nicene formula, where, as Dr. Swainson thinks, it is "scarcely ambiguous," "it is defective." Both the Verb and the Substantive enanthropesis are constantly used by Athanasius to denote the Incarnation in a perfectly general way, without any indication of ambiguity or defect. In the Creed proposed by Eusebius of Cæsarea instead of enanthropesanta we find en anthropois politeusamenon; and in the Expositio Fidei ascribed to Athanasius, but of somewhat doubtful authenticity, the Incarnation is described thus ek tes achrantou parthenou Marias ton hemeteron aneilephen anthropon Christon 'Iesoun. In the Apollinarian controversy the attempt was made to interpret enenthropesen as meaning not that "He became Man," but that "He assumed a man," i.e. that "the man was first formed and then assumed" (Gregory, Epist. ad Cledon, quoted by Swainson, p. 83), or else merely that "He dwelt among men." But the context of the passages in which Cyril uses the word (iv. 9; xii. 3) clearly shews that he employed it in the perfectly orthodox sense which it has in the Nicene Formula and in Athanasius.
[1355] See below, § 21 ff. Cyril means that the direct proof cannot be given at once, because there are many errors to be set aside first. Compare the end of § 4.
[1356] See Cat. iv. 9, notes 3, 4.
[1357] Athanasius (contra Arian. Or. I. § 9) quotes as from Arius, Thalia, "Christ is not Very God, but He, as others, was made God (etheopoiethe ) by participation." The Eusebians in the Confession of Faith called Macrostichos (a.d. 344) condemned this view as being held by the disciples of Paul of Samosata, "who say that after the incarnation He was by advance made God, from being made by nature a mere man." The orthodox use of the word Theopoieisthai is seen in Athan. de Incarnat. § 54: autos enenthropesen, hina hemeis theopoiethomen.
[1358] John i. 14.
[1359] John v. 34.
[1360] Gen. i. 26.
[1361] Ib. iv. 1.
[1362] Numb. xxv. 6.
[1363] Micah vii. 2.
[1364] Ps. xiv. 3; Rom. iii. 12.
[1365] Hosea iv. 2.
[1366] Ps. cvi. 37.
[1367] 2 Chron. xxxiii. 6.
[1368] Amos ii. 8: they lay themselves down beside every altar upon clothes taken in pledge (R.V.).
[1369] Isa. i. 6.
[1370] Ps. xiv. 7.
[1371] Ib. lxxx. 17, 18.
[1372] Ps. cxliv. 5.
[1373] 1 Kings xix. 10.
[1374] Mal. iii. 1.
[1375] Isa. xl. 9, 10.
[1376] Zech. ii. 10, 11.
[1377] Isa. lxvi. 18.
[1378] John i. 11.
[1379] Isa. lxvi. 19, a passage interpreted by the Fathers of the sign of the Cross. Eusebius (Demonstr. Evang. vi. 25): "Who, on seeing that all who have believed in Christ use as a seal the symbol of salvation, would not reasonably be astonished at hearing the Lord's saying of old time, And they shall come, and see My glory, and I will leave a sign upon them?" Cf. Cat. iv. 14; xiii. 36.
[1380] Ps. xviii. 9. The "feet," interpreted allegorically, mean the Humanity, and the "darkness" the mystery of the Incarnation. See Euseb. Demonstr. Evang. vi. 1, § 2.
[1381] 1 Kings viii. 27; 2 Chron. vi. 18.
[1382] Ps. lxxii. Title, and v. 6.
[1383] Matt. ii. 2.
[1384] Ib. ii. 4.
[1385] Ps. lxxii. 5.
[1386] Zech. ix. 9.
[1387] asage, a rare word, formed from sage, "harness."
[1388] Zech. ix. 11.
[1389] Zech. xiv. 4. "There is an excellent view from the city of the Mount of Olives which stands up over against it, especially from the height of Golgotha where Cyril was delivering his Lectures" (Cleopas).
[1390] Isa. xxxv. 4-6.
[1391] Ib. iii. 14.
[1392] Cf. Epist. Barnab. § 13: "For had He not come in flesh, how could we men have been safe in beholding Him? For in beholding the Sun, which being the work of His hands shall cease to be, men have no strength to fix their eyes upon him."
[1393] Exod. xx. 19.
[1394] Deut. v. 26.
[1395] Heb. xii. 21.
[1396] Dan. x. 6.
[1397] Dan. x. 12.
[1398] Ib. x. 11.
[1399] Ib. x. 16, 17.
[1400] Ib. x. 18.
[1401] Ps. cxiv. 3.
[1402] Justin M. (Tryph. § 100): "Eve, when she was a virgin and undefiled, having conceived the word of the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death: but the Virgin Mary received faith and joy, when the Angel Gabriel announced the good tidings to her."
[1403] Rom. vii. 23.
[1404] Ib. v. 20.
[1405] 1 Cor. ii. 8.
[1406] Death is here called "the dragon," as in xiv. 17 he is called "the invisible whale," in allusion to the case of Jonah.
[1407] On Christ's descent into Hades compare iv. 11; xiv. 19; and Eusebius (Dem. Evang. x. 50), and Athanasius (c. Arian. Or. iii. 56): "The Lord, at Whom the keepers of hell's gates shuddered and set open hell. The Lord, Whom death as a dragon flees."
[1408] Isa. xxv. 8. The first clause, He hath swallowed up death for ever (R.V.), is mistranslated in the Septuagint.
[1409] tauten ten parakatatheken. 1 Tim. vi. 20; 2 Tim. i. 14.
[1410] Gen. xviii. 1 ff.
[1411] Ib. xxxii. 30.
[1412] Ex. xxxiii. 22.
[1413] 1 Kings xix. 8.
[1414] Luke ix. 30, 31. On the tradition that Mt. Tabor was the place of the Transfiguration, accepted by S. Jerome and other Fathers, compare Lightfoot (Hor. Hebr. in Marc. ix. 2).
[1415] Cat. xii. 5. For heurein the recent Editors with mss. A.R.C. and Grodecq. have erein.
[1416] neeludas;
[1417] Heb. xiii. 8. Cyril is supposed to refer to two objections to the Incarnation, one founded on the lateness of Christ's coming, the other on the Divine immutability. But the meaning of the passage is not clear, and the construction of the second sentence is incomplete.
[1418] Deut. xviii. 15; Acts vii. 37.
[1419] exetazomenon , a clear instance of the Gerundive, or quasi-Future, sense of the Present Participle, common in Cyril. "This intention is not fulfilled in the sequel of these Lectures" (R.W.C.).
[1420] Gen. xlix. 8, 10.
[1421] According to Cyril (§ 19, below) and other Fathers, the continuance of Jewish rulers ceased on the accession of Herod an Idumean. Compare Justin M. (Tryphon §§ 52, 120); Eusebius (Demonstr. Evang. VIII. 1). On modern interpretations of the passage see Delitzsch (New Commentary on Genesis), Briggs (Messianic Prophecy, p. 93), Cheyne (Isaiah, Vol. II. p. 189), Driver (Journal of Philology, No. 27, 1885).