accumulating fire for themselves and heaping up punishments upon their own heads. A
V, 1–5. Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered.
Cyril. That is to say, the wrath [is] all but striking them down, and having laid them low like some fat and large rams and bulls. To whom might fitly be said by us: "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you." And we may also add to these: "Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter." For such have become the guides of the Jews, grazing like a—so to speak—fat and spacious field, upon the gifts offered by the peoples. B And having become fat like those aforementioned, they have fallen by the sword of the Lord, the wretches.
V, 7. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.
Cyril. For although, he says, God delays the punishment of those who sin, awaiting their repentance, He does not do this because He neglects these things, or because He delights in the ways of those who sin, but [because He is] granting them time for conversion.
Having spoken of the punishment of the unjust, he exhorts those who have suffered injustice to be patient, awaiting the coming of the Lord. At the same time, he also forbids [them] to busy themselves with oaths, and [encourages them] to attend to prayer and the chanting of psalms, and to have faith regarding the priests of God, and love toward one another, and to pray for one another. And the demonstration of the power of prayer is brought into the midst by [the example of] Elijah; and finally, [he reveals] how great is the reward of those sinners who turn back.
V, 12. But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither any other oath.
Cyril. Let the testimony of our life be more valid than an oath. But if anyone, moved by impudence and not showing enough respect for your conduct, should demand an oath of you, let your [answer] be: "Yes, yes; or, No, no," instead of an oath.
D For this reason we are forbidden to swear by heaven and by the earth, lest we give to the creature the worship due beyond the creature, making them into gods. For those who swear, he says, swear by the greater, as the Apostle says.
UPON THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. PETER
8. In whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
Cyril. Serious, then, and grievous is unbelief,
A but faith is the greatest of good things, establishing itself as the cause of all salvation. For it is contained in the Scripture: "Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded." Unto you therefore is honor to them that believe.
Cyril. He calls our Lord Jesus Christ an elect, precious, and honorable stone, as He is distinguished by the glory and excellence of His divinity. He calls Him a "corner stone," because through the one faith He binds the two peoples into one spiritual society, the one from Israel and the other from the Gentiles. But, "He that believeth," he says, "on him shall not be confounded." Consider how He reveals deliverance to those who are afflicted. And he says: "I lay the elect stone in the foundations of Sion," and what is the benefit thence? "And he that believeth on him shall not be confounded."
B Let him refrain his tongue from evil.
Cyril. This is a most holy and salutary doctrine, and I account this instruction to be worthy of all speech. For it is written that "Death and life are in the hand of the tongue: and they that rule it shall eat the fruits thereof." And the disciple of Christ says somewhere: "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body." Great, therefore, is the self-restraint of the tongue, just as, of course, the failure to have it is a very grievous malady.
"By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water."
Cyril. He solves here that objection which some raise by saying: If the Incarnation was so useful, why did Christ not put on human nature many years before? Behold, indeed, "and he went and preached unto the spirits in prison," in order to deliver those of them who were going to believe, if He had appeared on earth having assumed flesh in their time. For these surely recognized Him even when He appeared in the underworld, and enjoyed His manifestation.
C Having gone in spirit, He preached to those in Hades, as a soul appearing with souls, whom the gatekeepers of Hades seeing, they trembled, and the brazen gates were shattered, and the iron bolts were crushed; and the Only-Begotten spoke with authority to the souls who suffered like things, according to the rule of the economy, saying to those in bonds: "Go forth," and to those in darkness: "Be enlightened."
This is, He preached also to those in Hades, so that He might loose all those who were going to believe in Him, if He had dwelt among them having been incarnate at the time of their life; for these recognized Him even in Hades. For the reason D that he who has been incarnate at the time of their life appeared on earth. For these recognized Him even in hell, and enjoyed His manifestation. For there are...
A many things in the economy concerning us that exceed nature and exceed description. Just as, therefore, Christ through His incarnate presence rightfully addressed all who are on earth, and those who believed were saved; so also, through His descent into hell, He freed from the bonds of death those who believed and acknowledged Him. For the souls of those who had lived in idolatry and forbidden excesses, being as it were blinded by carnal passions, were not able to gaze upon the rays of His theophany, so as to faithfully recognize Him who appeared in the regions below for the sake of setting all free—at least so far as it depended upon Him—and who proclaimed to all in common, and at the same time showed Himself both kind and just. Therefore, let them blame no one but themselves, who, having rejected such a benefit, and having abandoned the Creator and Lord of all things, surrendered themselves to man-hating demons, and lived according to their will.
IV, 1. Forasmuch then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind, etc.
Cyril. It is necessary, therefore, to think that the Word of God, having become like us, suffered voluntarily in the flesh. For we have been baptized into His death in such a way as to recognize [Him] being one and the same Son, by the nature of His divinity impassible, but passible according to the flesh.
Cyril. For as Christ is God, the disciple wisely and intelligently says that He suffered in the flesh, removing from suffering the ineffable nature, to which it is foreign to suffer. By His own flesh, therefore, did the Word of God suffer, although in His own nature He cannot suffer. Christ, then, is God—impassible by His divinity, but passible according to the flesh.
IV, 11. If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth.
Cyril. Let those who provide hospitality to others show themselves cheerful and eager, not as if giving something so much as appearing to be helped by others. And this, indeed, for a twofold reason: for first, they enjoy the company of those they host, and then besides, they earn the reward of hospitality. But if you have received a brother into your home, do not be distracted by excessive service, nor aspire to things that exceed your strength and utility. For the superfluous is a burden always and everywhere; this would dampen your own zeal and be a weight to your guests. Do not consider your guest to be the cause of your poverty, or of your tribulations, or of bodily infirmities; but show yourself liberal even in your constraints.
FRAGMENTA IN EPISTOLAM II B. PETRI
A "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory" (II Pet. i, 16, 17).
Cyril: Indeed, they are truly fables and human inventions, the problems of the heretics, whom Paul encourages us to avoid, writing: "A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject" (Tit. iii, 10), and the rest.
He begins now by rebuking the heretics, in that they, being strangers to the truth, are compelled to adorn their inventions with varied discourse. But as for us, he says, the matter does not stand thus; for we beheld the truth with our own eyes, being with Him on the mount. We have, therefore, also the prophets as preachers of this very same truth, and their word became firmer to us through what we saw; for what they had foretold, those same things Christ fulfilled in deed. And we are witnesses, who also received the testimony of the Father. And you also will do well in giving heed to the prophetic word; for it illuminates those in ignorance, until the pure day of the Gospel shines upon you, and the spiritual Lucifer, that is Christ, rises in your hearts, being testified to by the Father.
B "But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness" (II Pet. ii, 12).
Cyril: And so, the divine Psalmist says: "Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is compared to the senseless beasts, and is made like them" (Ps. xlviii, 21). For since they serve habits estranged from reason, they seem to differ but little from the beasts which, as I said, were made for destruction alone. C The impious, he says, have their whole life corrupted. It is the custom of divine Scripture to take things that are by nature wild beasts and set them before men as examples. It does this so that by their natural qualities the dispositions of men may be clearly denoted; and thus the character of these men, whether wicked or just, may be shown.
As for the wicked, if it commands: "Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding" (Ps. xxxi, 9). Or when, rebuking those who have become such, it says: "Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is compared to the senseless beasts, and is made like them." And again: "They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife" (Jerem. v, 8). D And the Saviour calls Herod "a fox" (Luc. xiii, 32); and He says to His disciples: "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents."
and harmless as doves." A He said this, not that we should become serpents or doves—for He did not make us such, nor indeed does nature understand this—but that we might avoid the irrational impulses of the others and, by recognizing the wisdom of the serpent so as not to be deceived, might also take on the gentleness of the dove. And again, taking likenesses from divine things for men, the Saviour says: "Be ye merciful, as your Father who is in heaven is merciful." And: "Ye shall therefore be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." B He said this again, not that we should become like the Father—for it is impossible for us to be like the Father, being creatures and having come into being out of nothing—but just as He commands us not to become beasts, saying, "Be ye not as the horse and the mule," so that we might not imitate their irrationality; so, when He said, "Be ye merciful as the Father," He was not saying it so that we might become like God, but so that, looking to His benefactions, we might perform the good that we do not for the sake of men, but for His sake, so that we may have our reward from Him, and not from men. C For just as, since there is one Son by nature, both true and only-begotten, we also have become sons by the grace of Him who called us; and although we are men, we are called gods, not as the true God or His Word, but as God who granted this has willed; so also we become merciful like God, yet not by being made equal to God, nor by becoming true benefactors by nature—for doing good is not our invention, but God’s—rather, that we might pursue those very things which are done for us by God by grace, and distribute them to others, not being partial, but simply extending the benefaction to all. For in this way alone can we in some sense become His imitators, and in no other way, since we serve one another through what we have received from Him.
iii, 16. As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood.
Cyril of Alexandria. It D seems to some that the all-wise Paul speaks of things that are difficult, or "hard to be understood," to use the language of the holy apostles; but that he is filled with the wisdom from above, there is no room to doubt, for Christ speaks in him.
iii, 17. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
Cyril. It is proper, therefore, to turn away from such men, even if they put on the name of Christ for the sake of deception. For our Lord Jesus Christ Himself provides for our safety and salvation with this commandment, saying: "Beware of those who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." And again: "See that no man deceive you; for many..."
lest he deceive you; for many shall come in my name, saying: I am the Christ, and shall deceive many." And Paul cries out: "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers of the faith in the Lord Jesus." A
FRAGMENTS ON THE FIRST EPISTLE OF SAINT JOHN
TO THE FIRST EPISTLE OF DIVINE JOHN
C I, 5. "God is light, and in him there is no darkness."
*Cyril:* It is understood either as God existing substantially as light, insofar as He becomes true light to those who walk in Him through their virtues; or he speaks of "darkness" as wickedness, on account of the Jews.
II, 7. "Beloved, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment, which ye had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning."
*Cyril:* He is discoursing to you about love; for this is what that "as he walked" signifies—in love. For the Lord Himself had said: "Greater love than this no man hath, that one should lay down his life for his friends." B Therefore, concerning the commandment of love, I do not write to you a new one; for He had long ago promised it through the prophets: "For not an ambassador, nor an angel, but the Lord Himself saved them, because He loved them and cared for them."
II, 13. "I write unto you, fathers; I write unto you, young men; I write unto you, children."
*Cyril:* Understand for me here the ages according to the inward man; for the evangelist was not writing to infants. And the young men are those who have come to spiritual strength; and the elders are those who have attained to prudence; and the children, those who have but recently believed in Christ. C
II, 15. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."
*Cyril:* And what are the things in the world but vanity, in which many indulge to no useful end? By which they appear to labor persistently, but they distract their own life with superfluous and vain toil, and serve base desires. Not without reason, therefore, does the disciple of Christ deter us from them, saying: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world," and so forth.
III, 21. "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have confidence toward God."
*Cyril:* As long as you are in this life—for this life is not... D