[1919] Dan. vii. 9.
[1920] Is. i. 18.
[1921] Matt. xxiv. 30.
[1922] Ib.
[1923] Cat. xiii. 4. In the letter to Constantius, three or four years later than this Lecture, Cyril treats the appearance at that time of a luminous Cross in the sky as a fulfilment of Matt. xxiv. 30: but he there adds (Ep. ad Constantium, § 6) that our Lord's prediction "was both fulfilled at that present time, and shall again be fulfilled more largely." On the opinion that "the sign of the Son of Man in heaven" should be the Cross, see Suicer, Thesaurus, Stauros. It is not improbable that the earliest trace of this interpretation is found in The Teaching of the Apostles, § 16: "Then shall appear the signs of the Truth: the first the sign of a (cross) spreading out (ekpetaseos) in heaven."
[1924] Zech. xii. 12.
[1925] Cf. Barnab. Epist. c. vii.: "For they shall see Him in that day wearing the long scarlet robes about His flesh, and shall say, Is not this He, whom once we crucified, and set at nought, and spat upon (al. and pierced, and mocked)?"
[1926] Matt. xxiv. 31.
[1927] Ib. xxv. 34.
[1928] Is. xi. 3: (R.V.) He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, nor reprove after the hearing of his ears.
[1929] Phil. ii. 7.
[1930] Luke xvii. 34.
[1931] Ib. v. 35.
[1932] The Jerusalem ms. (A) alone has the true reading pedas, which is confirmed by pepedemenous in the quotation following, instead of paidas, which is quite inappropriate, and evidently an itacism.
[1933] Ex. xi. 5.
[1934] 'Enkrateia. "Id est viduitas" (Ben. Ed.). This special reference of the word to widowhood is to some extent confirmed by 1 Cor. vii. 9: ei de ouk enkrateuontai, and is rendered highly probable by Cyril's separate mention of marriage and virginity.
[1935] Matt. xxv. 31.
[1936] Matt. xviii. 12; Luke xv. 4. Ambrose, Expos. in Luc. VII. 210: "Rich is that shepherd of whose flock we are but the one hundredth part. Of Angels and Archangels, of Dominions, Powers, Thrones, and others He hath countless flocks, whom He hath left upon the mountains." Cf. Gregor, Nyss. Contra Eunom. Or. xii.
[1937] There is much variation in the reading and punctuation of this passage. I have followed the text adopted by the Jerusalem Editor with Codd. A. Roe. Casaub. and Grodecq, in preference to the Benedictine text, with which the Editor himself is dissatisfied.
[1938] Dan. vii. 10.
[1939] Rom. ii. 15, 16.
[1940] John v. 22.
[1941] neumati. Cat. xi. 22.
[1942] Matt. xxv. 32.
[1943] Phil. ii. 10.
[1944] Cant. V. 3. Compare Cat. iii. 7; xx. (Mystag. ii.) 2.
[1945] Matt. xxv. 35.
[1946] Matt. v. 16.
[1947] The prayer for the Catechumens in the Apostolic Constitutions, viii. 6, contains a petition that God would "vouchsafe to them the laver of regeneration, and the garment of incorruption, which is the true life."
[1948] prostheinai. Cf. Acts ii. 41: prosetethesan . According to some mss. the sentence would run thus: "Hast thou been entrusted with the word of teaching? Be a good steward of thy hearers' souls. Hast thou power to rule (prostenai)? Do this diligently."
[1949] Rom. xiv. 9.
[1950] Marcellus, Bishop of Ancyra, and his pupil Photinus, are anathematized in the Creed called Makrostichos as holding that Christ first became "Son of God when He took our flesh from the Virgin....For they will have it that then Christ began His Kingdom, and that it will have an end after the consummation of all and the judgment. Such are the disciples of Marcellus and Scotinus of Galatian Ancyra, &c." See Newman on Athanasius, de Synodis, § 26, (5), notes a and b. Compare the description of Marcellus in the Letter of the Oriental Bishops who had withdrawn from the Council of Sardica to Philippopolis (a.d. 344). "There has arisen in our days a certain Marcellus of Galatia, the most execrable pest of all heretics, who with sacrilegious mind, and impious mouth, and wicked argument seeks to set bounds to the perpetual, eternal, and timeless kingdom of our Lord Christ, saying that He began to reign four hundred years since, and shall end at the dissolution of the present world" (Hilar. Pictav. Ex Opere Hist. Fragm. iii.).
[1951] "The person meant by Cyril, though he withholds the name, is Marcellus of Ancyra; who having written a book against the Arian Sophist Asterius to explain the Apostle's statement concerning the subjection of the Son to the Father, was thought to be renewing the heresy of Paul of Samosata. On this account he was reproved by the Bishops at the Council of Jerusalem, a.d. 335, for holding false opinions, and being ordered to recant his opinions promised to burn his book. Afterwards he applied to Constantine, by whom he was remitted to the Council of Constantinople, a.d. 336, and deposed by the Bishops. As however he was acquitted by the Councils of Rome, a.d. 342, and of Sardica, a.d. 347, it became a matter of dispute whether he was really heretical....From the fragments of his books transcribed by Eusebius, you may possibly acquit him of the Sabellian heresy and the confusion of the Father and the Son, but certainly not of the heresy concerning the end of Christ's kingdom, and the abandonment by the Word of the human nature which He assumed for our sake; so express are his words recorded by Eusebius in the beginning of the 2nd Book Contra Marcellum, pp. 50, 51." (Ben. Ed.) Cf. Dict. Chr. Biogr. "Eusebius of Cæsarea," p. 341; and note 3 on § 9 above.
[1952] John viii. 25.
[1953] Luke i. 33.
[1954] ten parousan.
[1955] Dan. vii. 13, 14.
[1956] Ib. ii. 45; Rom. ix. 5.
[1957] Ps. xlv. 6.
[1958] Ib. cii. 25-27.
[1959] Heb. i. 10-12.
[1960] 1 Cor. xv. 25.
[1961] 1 Cor. xv. 28. Theodoret Comment. in Epist. i. ad Cor. xv. 28: "This passage the followers of Arius and Eunomius carry continually on their tongue, thinking in this way to disparage the dignity of the Only-begotten."
[1962] John viii. 29.
[1963] Rom. v. 14. "achri from akros, as mechri from mekos, makros" (L. and Sc.). It is not always possible to mark this distinction in translation: cf. Lobeck, Phrynichus, p. 14; Viger, De Idiot. Gr. p. 419.
[1964] 2 Cor. iii. 14, 15.
[1965] Ib. x. 14, 15, 16.
[1966] 1 Cor. xv. 25.
[1967] Heb. iii. 13.
[1968] Dan. vii. 14, 27.
[1969] 1 Tim. vi. 20.
Lecture XVI.
On the Article, And in One Holy Ghost, the Comforter, Which Spake in the Prophets.
1 Corinthians xii. 1, 4
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant....Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit, &c.
1. Spiritual in truth is the grace we need, in order to discourse concerning the Holy Spirit; not that we may speak what is worthy of Him, for this is impossible, but that by speaking the words of the divine Scriptures, we may run our course without danger. For a truly fearful thing is written in the Gospels, where Christ has plainly said, Whosoever shall speak a word against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come [1970] . And there is often fear, lest a man should receive this condemnation, through speaking what he ought not concerning Him, either from ignorance, or from supposed reverence. The Judge of quick and dead, Jesus Christ, declared that he hath no forgiveness; if therefore any man offend, what hope has he?
2. It must therefore belong to Jesus Christ's grace itself to grant both to us to speak without deficiency, and to you to hear with discretion; for discretion is needful not to them only who speak, but also to them that hear, lest they hear one thing, and misconceive another in their mind. Let us then speak concerning the Holy Ghost nothing but what is written; and whatsoever is not written, let us not busy ourselves about it. The Holy Ghost Himself spoke the Scriptures; He has also spoken concerning Himself as much as He pleased, or as much as we could receive. Let us therefore speak those things which He has said; for whatsoever He has not said, we dare not say.
3. There is One Only Holy Ghost, the Comforter; and as there is One God the Father, and no second Father;--and as there is One Only-begotten Son and Word of God, who hath no brother;--so is there One Only Holy Ghost, and no second spirit equal in-honour to Him. Now the Holy Ghost is a Power most mighty, a Being divine and unsearchable; for He is living and intelligent, a sanctifying principle of all things made by God through Christ. He it is who illuminates the souls of the just; He was in the Prophets, He was also in the Apostles in the New Testament. Abhorred be they who dare to separate the operation of the Holy Ghost! There is One God, the Father, Lord of the Old and of the New Testament: and One Lord, Jesus Christ, who was prophesied of in the Old Testament, and came in the New; and One Holy Ghost, who through the Prophets preached of Christ, and when Christ was come, descended, and manifested Him [1971] .
4. Let no one therefore separate the Old from the New Testament [1972] ; let no one say that the Spirit in the former is one, and in the latter another; since thus he offends against the Holy Ghost Himself, who with the Father and the Son together is honoured, and at the time of Holy Baptism is included with them in the Holy Trinity. For the Only-begotten Son of God said plainly to the Apostles, Go ye, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost [1973] . Our hope is in Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost. We preach not three Gods [1974] ; let the Marcionites be silenced; but with the Holy Ghost through One Son, we preach One God. The Faith is indivisible; the worship inseparable. We neither separate the Holy Trinity, like some; nor do we as Sabellius work confusion. [1975] But we know according to godliness One Father, who sent His Son to be our Saviour; we know One Son, who promised that He would send the Comforter from the Father; we know the Holy Ghost, who spake in the Prophets, and who on the day of Pentecost descended on the Apostles in the form of fiery tongues, here, in Jerusalem, in the Upper Church of the Apostles [1976] ; for in all things the choicest privileges are with us. Here Christ came down from heaven; here the Holy Ghost came down from heaven. And in truth it were most fitting, that as we discourse concerning Christ and Golgotha here in Golgotha, so also we should speak concerning the Holy Ghost in the Upper Church; yet since He who descended there jointly partakes of the glory of Him who was crucified here, we here speak concerning Him also who descended there: for their worship is indivisible.
5. We would now say somewhat concerning the Holy Ghost; not to declare His substance with exactness, for this were impossible; but to speak of the diverse mistakes of some concerning him, lest from ignorance we should fall into them; and to block up the paths of error, that we may journey on the King's one highway. And if we now for caution's sake repeat any statement of the heretics, let it recoil on their heads, and may we be guiltless, both we who speak, and ye who hear.
6. For the heretics, who are most profane in all things, have sharpened their tongue [1977] against the Holy Ghost also, and have dared to utter impious things; as Irenæus the interpreter has written in his injunctions against heresies [1978] . For some of them have dared to say that they were themselves the Holy Ghost;--of whom the first was Simon [1979] , the sorcerer spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles; for when he was cast out, he presumed to teach such doctrines: and they who are called Gnostics, impious men, have spoken other things against the Spirit [1980] , and the wicked Valentinians [1981] again something else; and the profane Manes dared to call himself the Paraclete sent by Christ [1982] . Others again have taught that the Spirit is different in the Prophets and in the New Testament. [1983] Yea, and great is their error, or rather their blasphemy. Such therefore abhor, and flee from them who blaspheme the Holy Ghost, and have no forgiveness. For what fellowship hast thou with the desperate, thou, who art now to be baptized, into the Holy Ghost also [1984] ? If he who attaches himself to a thief, and consenteth with him, is subject to punishment, what hope shall he have, who offends against the Holy Ghost?
7. Let the Marcionists also be abhorred, who tear away from the New Testament the sayings of the Old [1985] . For Marcion first, that most impious of men, who first asserted three Gods [1986] , knowing that in the New Testament are contained testimonies of the Prophets concerning Christ, cut out the testimonies taken from the Old Testament, that the King might be left without witness. Abhor those above-mentioned Gnostics, men of knowledge by name, but fraught with ignorance; who have dared to say such things of the Holy Ghost as I dare not repeat.