Catechesis IV
CATECHESIS IV
On the Ten Doctrines "See to it that no man deceive you by philosophy and vain deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elements of the world [and not according to Christ] ."1
(1) Vice mimics virtue and cockle works to pass for wheat, which it resembles, though a discriminating palate is not thereby deceived. So the devil "disguises himself as an angel of light,"2 not to mount up again where he was before (with a heart as inflexible as an anvil, his will is forever impenitent), but to envelop in blinding mist and the poisonous air of scepticism those leading an angelic life. Many a wolf goes about in sheep's clothing;3 their fleece is that of sheep, not so their claws and fangs. Clad in the gentle wool, and beguiling the innocent by their appearance, they pour forth from their fangs the deadly poison of impiety. We have need therefore of divine grace, and a sober mind, and eyes that see clearly, lest, eating cockle for wheat, we take hurt out of our ignorance; or, mistaking the wolf for a sheep, we become his prey, or, supposing the baleful devil to be a good angel, we shall be devoured. For, "as a roaring lion, he goes about seeking whom he may devour," as Scripture says.4 This is the reason for the Church's admonitions; this is the reason for the present instructions and for the lessons that are read.
(2) True religion consists of these two elements: pious doc1 Col. 2.8.
2 2 Cor. 11.14.
3 Matt. 7.15.
4 Cf. 1 Peter 5.8.
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trines and virtuous actions. Neither does God accept doctrines apart from good works, nor are works, when divorced from godly doctrine, accepted by God. What does it profit a man to be an expert theologian if he is a shameless fornicator; or to be nobly temperate, but an impious blasphemer? The knowledge of doctrines is a precious possession; there is need of a vigilant soul, since many there are who would deceive you by philosophy and vain deceit.5 The Greeks, indeed, by their smooth tongue lead men astray, for honey drops from the lips of a harlot.6 Those of the Circumcision deceive their disciples by the divine Scripture, which they twist by false interpretations, though they study them from childhood to old age and grow old in ignorance. The children of heretics
"by smooth words and flattery deceive the hearts of the simple,"7 disguising with the honey of Christ's name the poisoned shafts of their impious doctrines. Concerning all these alike the Lord says: "Take care that no one lead you astray."B This is the reason for the teaching of the Faith, and for the expositions of it.
(3) Before delivering to you the Creed, I think it well at this time to present a short compendium of the necessary doctrines, that the multitude of things to be said, and the intervening period of the entire season of holy Lent may not cause forgetfulness in the minds of the more simple among you, but that scattering seeds of doctrines now in summary fashion, we may not forget the same when they are more widely tilled later. But let those present who are of more mature understanding and "have their faculties trained to discern good and evil,"9 be patient as they listen to an introductory course suited to children, milk for sucklings. In this way, those who need catechetical instruction will profit and 5 Cf. Col. 2.8.
6 Cf. Provo 5.3.
7 Rom. 16.18.
8 Matt. 24.4.
9 Reb. 5.14.
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those who have the knowledge will revive the memory of what they already know.
O/God (4) First, then, let there be laid as a firm foundation in your souls the doctrine concerning God: That God is One alone, unbegotten, without beginning, immutable, unchangeable; neither begotten by another, nor having any successor to His life; who neither began to live in time, nor shall ever have an end. He is both good and just, and so if ever you hear a heretic saying that the just God is one and the good
God another, you may at once be warned and recognize the poisoned shaft of heresy. For some have impiously dared to divide the One God in their teaching; and some have said that the Creator and Master of the soul was one, and that of the body another-a doctrine at once absurd and impious.10
For how could the same man be the servant of two masters, when the Lord says in the Gospel: "No man can serve two masters"?ll There is, then, One God alone, the Maker of souls and bodies; there is One, the Creator of heaven and earth, the Maker of angels and archangels, who is the Creator of many things, but the Father of One only before all ages, of One only, His Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom He made all things visible and invisible.
(5) This Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not circumscribed in any place nor is He less than the heavens; but the heavens are the works of His fingers,12 and the whole earth is held in His palm.13 He is in all things and about all. Consider not that He is less than the sun or equal to it, for He who fashioned the sun ought Himself, first, be far more sur10 The heresies referred to seem to be those of Marcion and Mani. Cf.
Cat. 6.l6-32.
11 Matt. 6.24.
12 Cf. Ps. 8.4.
13 Cf. Isa. 40.12.
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passing, greater and brighter. He foreknows all future things and is mightier than all. He knows all things and does as He wills, not being subject to any sequence of events or nativity or chance or fate, perfect in all things and possessing in equal measure every form of virtue. He neither diminishes nor increases, but is ever and in every way the same; who has prepared chastisement for sinners and a crown for the just.
(6) Since, then, many have gone astray in divers ways from the One God-and some have deified the sun (so that after sunset, for the space of the night, they are godless); others, the moon, so they have no God during the day; still others, the other parts of the world; some have deified the arts, others food, others pleasures; and some, mad after women, have set up on high the image of a naked woman and, calling it Aphrodite, have bowed down before their passions in visible form. Others, again, dazzled by the splendor of gold, have deified that, and other substances as well. If a man first fixes as a foundation in his heart the doctrine of the One God and firmly believes it, he cuts away at once all the corruption of the evils of idolatry and of the error of the heretics. By faith, therefore, lay as a foundation in your soul this first doctrine of religion.
Of Christ (7) Believe also in the One and Only Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, begotten God of God, begotten Life of Life, begotten Light of Light, like in all things to Him who begot Him; who received not His being in time, but before all ages was eternally and incomprehensibly begotten of the Father; who is the Wisdom and Power of God and co-essential
Justice; who before all ages sits at the right hand of the Father. For it was not, as some have held, after His Passion, as though crowned by God for His patient suffering, that He received the throne on God's right hand, but for as long as He has existed-and He is begotten eternally-He has the
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kingly dignity, sitting together with the Father, since He is God, and Wisdom and Power, as has been said; reigning together with the Father, and Creator of all things through the Father; lacking nothing for the dignity of Godhead, and knowing Him who begot Him, as He is known by Him.14
To speak briefly, remember what is written in the Gospels:
"No one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son."15
(8) Do not separate the Son from the Father,16 nor yet by blending them, believe in the Son-Fatherhood, but believe that of One God there is one Only-begotten Son, who is before all the ages God the Word; the Word, not uttered externally and dispersed into the air, nor like words without substance, but the Word, the Son, the Maker of intelligible beings, the Word who listens to the Father and who speaks
Himself. And on these points, if God grant it, we will speak more fully at the proper time, for we do not forget our purpose, to give at present only a summary introduction to the Faith.
His Virgin Birth (9) Believe, too, that this Only-begotten Son of God came down from heaven to earth for our sins, taking on this passible human nature of ours, and being born of the holy
Virgin and the Holy Spirit, His incarnation taking place, not in appearance or fantasy but in truth. He did not pass through the Virgin as through a channelp but was truly made flesh from her, and truly nourished with her milk. For, if the Incarnation was a fantasy, salvation is also a fantasy.
Christ was twofold in nature: man in what was seen, but God 14 Cyril several times refers to the heretical view that Christ was advanced in honor in time, a view held among others by Paul of Samosata (3rd cent.).
15 Matt. 11.27.
16 Sabellius is the most prominent of the heretics holding the views expressed here.
17 The virgin as channel-a doctrine held by the Valentinian heretics.
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in what was not seen. As man He ate truly as we d<r-for He had like feelings of the flesh with us-but as God, He fed the five thousands from five loaves. He died truly as man, but raised him who was four days dead, as God. He truly slept in the ship as man, and walked upon the waters as God.
His Cross (10) He was truly crucified for our sins. And should you wish to deny this, the visible place itself, this blessed Golgotha,1S refutes you, where, in the name of Him who was here crucified, we are gathered together. Besides, the whole world has now been filled with pieces of the wood of the Cross.
He was crucified not for His own sins, but that we might be freed from ours. He was despised and buffeted by men at that time as man, but was acknowledged as God by creation.
For the sun, seeing its Master dishonored, was darkened and trembled, not enduring the sight.
His Burial (11) He was truly laid as man in a rock tomb, but the rocks were rent for fear because of Him. He descended to the regions beneath the earth, that thence also He might redeem the just.19 For tell me, would you wish the living to enjoy
His grace, and that too when most of them are unholy, and have those who from Adam on had been long imprisoned not at length obtain deliverance? The Prophet Isaia heralded with loud voice so many things concerning Him; would you not wish the King to descend and deliver His herald? David was there, and Samuel, and all the prophets, and John himself, who said by his messengers: "Art thou he who is to 18 Here and elsewhere Cyril implies that the lectures were given on the actual site of the crucifixion.
19 The descent into Limbo was not in the Jerusalem creed.
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come, or shall we look for another?"20 Would you not wish Him to descend and deliver such men?
His Resurrection (12) He who descended to the regions beneath the earth ascended again, and the Jesus who was buried rose again truly on the third day. And if the Jews ever trouble you, meet them at once by thus questioning them: Can it be that Jona came forth from the whale after three days and Christ had not risen from the earth on the third day? If a dead man, by touching the bones of Eliseus, was raised to life, will not the Maker of men be raised far more easily by the power of the Father? He did, then, truly rise, and after He had risen, was seen again by His disciples; and the twelve disciples were witnesses of His resurrection, testifying, not with words meant to please, but contending for the truth of the resurrection even unto torture and death. Further: "On the word of two or three witnesses every word may be confirmed," according to Scripture.21 There are twelve witnesses to the resurrection of Christ, and do you still disbelieve in the resurrection?
His Ascension (13) When Jesus had completed the course of His patient endurance and had redeemed men from their sins, He ascended again into heaven, a cloud taking Him up; and angels stood by as He ascended and Apostles looked on. But if any man doubt what we say, let him believe the power of the things seen now. All kings, when they die, lose, along with their life, their power. But Christ, though He was crucified, is worshiped by the whole world. We proclaim the 20 Matt. 11.3.
21 Matt. 18.16.
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Crucified and the demons tremble; many at divers times have been crucified, but has the invocation of any other ever put the demons to flight?
(14) Let us not be ashamed of the Cross of Christ. But even though another hide it, do you seal it openly on your brow, that the demons, seeing the royal sign, may tremble and flee far away. Make this sign when eating and drinking, when sitting, lying down, rising, speaking, or walking; in a word, on every occasion. For He who was here crucified is in heaven above. For if, when He had been crucified and buried, He had remained in the tomb, we should perhaps have cause for shame, but He who was crucified here on Golgotha ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives on the east. For having gone down hence into the nether world, and returned to us again, He ascended again from us into heaven, His Father addressing Him and saying: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool."22
Of Judgment to Come (15) This Jesus Christ who ascended will come again from heaven, not from the earth. And I have said, "not from the earth," because many Antichrists at this time are to come from the earth. For already, as you have seen, many have begun to say: "I am the Christ,"23 and afterwards there is to come "the abomination of desolation,"24 assuming for himself the false title of Christ. But do you look for the true
Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God, coming henceforth no more from the earth, but from heaven, appearing to all as lightning and splendor of light above all, attended by a guard of angels, that He may judge the living and the dead, reigning over a kingdom, heavenly, eternal, and without end.
22 Ps. 109.1.
23 Matt. 24.5.
24 Matt. 24.15.
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For on this point also, make yourself sure, I pray you, since there are many who say there is an end to Christ's kingdom.
Of the Holy Spirit25 (16) Believe also in the Holy Spirit and cherish the right knowledge concerning Him; since there are many strangers to the Holy Spirit and they teach blasphemous things about Him. Learn then that this Holy Spirit is one and indivisible,
His powers manifold; various as are the effects He produces, He is not Himself divided. He knows the mysteries, and "searches all things, even the deep things of God."26 It is
He who descended upon the Lord Jesus Christ in the form of a dove, who wrought in the Law and the Prophets, yes, who even now, at the time of baptism, puts a seal upon your soul; of His holiness every intellectual nature stands in need.
If any man dare to blaspheme against Him, "It will not be forgiven him, either in this world or in the world to come";27 who is ranked in honor of dignity with Father and Son; of whom also Thrones, Dominationes, Principalities, and Powers have need. For there is one God, the Father of Christ, and One Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of the One
God, and One Holy Spirit who sanctifies and defies all, who spoke in the Law and the Prophets, both in the Old and the New Testaments.
(17) Keep this seal in mind at all times. I have spoken of it summarily, touching the main points, but if the Lord grant,
I shall discuss it more fully later, to the best of my power, with proof from the Scriptures. For in regard to the divine and holy mysteries of the faith, not even a casual statement should be delivered without the Scriptures, and we must not be drawn aside merely by probabilities and artificial argu25 Cyril alludes in the first sentence to a heresy making the Holy Spirit a mere creature. He deals at great length with the Holy Spirit in Cat. 16-17.
26 1 Cor. 2.10.
27 Matt. 12.32.
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ments. Do not believe even me merely because I tell you these things, unless you receive from the inspired Scriptures the proof of the assertions. For this saving faith of ours depends not on ingenious reasonings but on proof from the inspired Scriptures.
Of the Soul (18) After the knowledge of this august and glorious and all-holy faith, next know yourself for what you are, that you are a man, twofold in nature, composed of soul and body, and that, as was said a short time ago, the same God is the creator of the soul and the body. Know also that this soul of yours is free, self-determining, the fairest work of God, made according to the image of its Creator, immortal because of God who makes it immortal, a living being, rational, imperishable, because of Him who has conferred these gifts; having power to do as it will. For it is not according to your nativity that you sin, nor is it according to fortune that you fornicate, nor, as some foolishly say, do the conjunctions of the stars compel you to cleave to wantonness. Why, to avoid confessing your own evil deeds, do you ascribe the blame to the guiltless stars? Pay no attention henceforth to astrologers, for concerning them Holy Scripture says: "Let the astrologers stand forth to save you";28 and further on:
"Behold they all shall be consumed by fire as stubble and they shall not deliver their soul from flame."29
(19) Learn this also, that before the soul comes into the world, it has committed no sin; but though we came into the world sinless, we now of our own choice commit sin.
Listen not, I pray you, to anyone who gives a perverse interpretation of the words: "If I do what I do not wish,"30 but remember Him who says: "If you are willing, and obey,
28 Isa.47.13.
29 Cf. Isa. 47.14 (Sept.).
30 Rom. 7.16.
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you shall eat the good things of the land; but if you refuse and resist, the sword shall consume you";31 and again: "As you have yielded your members as slaves of uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity, so now yield your members as slaves of justice, unto sanctification."32 Remember also the Scripture which says: "As they have resolved against possessing the knowledge of God";33 and: "Seeing that what may be known about God is manifest to them";34 and again: "Their eyes they have closed."35 Remember also how God again accuses them and says: "I had planted you, a choice vine of fully tested stock; how could you turn out obnoxious to me, a spurious vine?"36
(20) The soul is immortal, and all souls are alike, both of men and women; only their bodily members are differentiated. There is not a class of souls sinning by nature and a class of souls acting justly by nature. But both act from choice, since the substance of souls is of one kind and alike in all.
1 realize that 1 am talking at length and much time has already elapsed; but what is to be put above salvation? Are you unwilling to take the trouble to receive provision for the way against the heretics? Are you unwilling to learn the turnings of the road, to avoid falling down the precipice through ignorance? If your teachers count it no little gain for you to learn these things, ought not you, the learner, gladly receive the multitude of the things that are told you?
(21) The soul possesses freedom; and though the devil can make suggestions, he has not the power to compel against the will. He brings to your mind the thought of fornication; if you will, you accept it; if you will not, you do not accept it. For, if you committed fornication by necessity, then why did God prepare Gehenna? If you acted justly by nature and 31 Isa. 1.19, 20.
32 Rom. 6.19.
33 Rom. 1.28.
34 Ibid. 19.
35 Matt. 13.15.
36 Jer. 2.21.
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not by choice, why did God prepare ineffable crowns? The sheep is meek, but it has never been crowned for its meekness; for its meekness comes not from choice but from nature.
Of the Body (22) You have been taught, beloved, the lore of the soul, as far as time allows at present. Now receive as best you can the doctrine concerning the body also. Let no one tell you that this body of ours is a stranger to God; for those who believe that the body is something alien readily abuse it to fornication. Yet what is it that they complain of in this wonderful body?37 For what does it lack in comeliness? What is there in its structure that is not wrought skilfully? Ought they not to have considered the brilliant conformation of the eyes? And how the ears are set obliquely to receive the sound without hindrance? And how the sense of smell can distinguish and perceive odorous exhalations? And how the tongue ministers to two things, the sense of taste and the power of speech? And how the lungs, placed out of sight, are equipped for the unceasing respiration of air? Who gave the heart its incessant beating? Who made the division into so many veins and arteries? Who interwove the bones with the sinews so skilfully? Who assigned a part of our food for our substance, and separated a part for seemly excretion, and hid our uncomely members in more fitting places? Who, when the human race was likely to fail, made it perpetual by a simple conjunction?
(23) Tell me not that the body is the cause of sin; for, if the body is the cause of sin, how is it that a corpse does not sin? Put a sword in the right hand of one just dead and no murder takes place. Let beauties of all kinds pass before a young man just dead and no desire of fornication arises.
37 The marvelous composition of the body was a commonplace argument for its creation by God.
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Why? Because the body of itself does not sin, but the soul through the body. The body is the soul's instrument, its cloak and garment. If then it is given up to fornication by the soul, it becomes unclean; but if it dwells with a holy soul, it becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit. It is not I who say these things, no, it is the Apostle Paul who has said:
"Do you not know that your members are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in yoU?"38 Defile not, then, your flesh in fornication; stain not your fairest garment. But if you have stained it, now cleanse it by repentance; for it is the time for purification.
(24) Let this doctrine of chastity be heeded above all by the order of solitaries and virgins, who are establishing in the world an angelic mode of life, and after them, by the rest of the people of the Church. A great crown is laid up for you, brethren; barter not a great dignity for a petty pleasure.
Listen to the Apostle saying: "Lest there be any immoral, or profane person, such as Esau, who for one meal sold his birthright."39 Once enrolled in the angelic books for your profession of chastity, take care that you are not blotted out thereafter for practicing fornication.
(25) Again, because you practice chastity, do not be puffed up with conceit against those who live in the humbler state of matrimony. "For let marriage be held in honor, and let the marriage bed be undefiled,"40 as the Apostle says. For have not you who keep your purity been born of married persons?
Do not, therefore, because you possess gold, contemn the silver. But let those be of good cheer also, who, being married, use marriage rightfully; who order their marriage according to law, not making it wanton by uncontrolled license; who recognize times of abstinence, that they may give themselves to prayer; who, at the assemblies, bring into the Church clean bodies as well as clean garments; who have entered into 38 1 Cor. 6.19.
39 Reb. 12.16.
40 Reb. 13.4.
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marriage for the sake of begetting children, not for self-indulgence.
(26) Let not those who have been married only once41 find fault with those who have indulged in a second marriage.
For, while continence is a noble and admirable thing, it is also allowable to enter upon a second marriage, that the weak may not commit fornication. For, "it is good for them if they so remain, even as I," says the Apostle. "But if they do not have self-control, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn."42 But let all other things be put far away, fornication, adultery, and every kind of licentiousness; and let the body be kept pure for the Lord, that the Lord also may respect the body.
(27) Let the body eat to live and be a ready servant; not, however, that it may be given up to luxuries. Concerning food, let these be your ordinances, since with regard to meats many also stumble. For some, without discrimination, partake of the things offered to idols; others, while they practice an ascetic life, condemn those who eat; and so, in various ways, the soul of some is defiled in the question of meats, out of ignorance of the useful reasons for eating or abstaining. For we fast by abstaining from wine and flesh, not because we abhor them as abominations, but because we expect the reward, that by scorning sensible things, we may enjoy a spiritual and invisible table, and that, though we now
"sow in tears, we shall reap rejoicing"43 in the world to come.
Do not despise, then, those who eat and take food because of bodily weakness. Do not censure those who "use a little wine for their stomach's sake, and frequent infirmities."44
And do not condemn them as sinners. Do not abhor flesh meats as something strange; for the Apostle knows some
41 Apparently there was considerable prejudice against a second marriage in the early church. It was very strong among the puritan sects like the Montanists.
42 1 Cor. 7.8, 9.
43 Cf. Ps. 125.5.
44 Cf. 1 Tim. 5.23.
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such men when he says: "They will forbid marriage, and will enjoin abstinence from foods which God has created to be partaken of with thanksgiving by the faithful."45 When you abstain from these things, do not, then, abstain from them as though they were abominable, else you receive no reward. Rather, while recognizing that they are good, yet prefer the better, spiritual things set before you.
(28) Safeguard your soul, never eating of the things offered to idols. For, in regard to the meats, not only I, at this time, but before now, the Apostle also, and James, once the Bishop of this Church, have shown concern. For the Apostles and the ancients wrote a Catholic epistle to all the Gentiles that they should abstain first of all from things sacrificed to idols, and then from blood and things strangled. For many men, being of savage nature and living like dogs, lap up the blood after the manner of the fiercest wild beasts, and eat their fill unsparingly of things strangled. But do you, the servant of Christ, see to it that when you eat you eat with reverence. But of meats enough.
Apparel (29) Let your dress be plain, not serving for adornment, but for necessary covering. The purpose of clothes is not to minister to your vanity, but to keep warm in winter and cover your nakedness. Take care lest, under pretense of hiding your unseemliness, by your extravagant apparel, you fall into another sort of unseemliness.
Of the Resurrection (30) Treat this body with care, I pray you, and understand that with this body you will rise from the dead to be judged. But, if any thought of doubt should steal into your
45 1 Tim. 4.3.
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mind, as though the thing were impossible, judge the things unseen from your own experience. For tell me-just think where you were, you, yourself, a hundred or more years ago.
From what an extremely small and mean substance have you come to such magnitude of stature and to such dignity of form! Cannot He, who brought what was not into being, raise up again that already in existence which has decayed?
Will He, who raises up the corn for us when it dies, year by year, have difficulty in raising up us, for whose sake the corn has been raised? You see how the trees have stood now for so many months without fruit or foliage. But with the passing of winter they return wholly to life again, as though from the dead. Shall not we much more and far more easily live again? The rod of Moses, by the will of God, was transformed into the quite dissimilar nature of a serpent; and shall not man, who has fallen into death, be restored anew?
(31) Attend not to those who say that this body does not rise; for rise it does. Isaia is a witness of this when he says:
"The dead shall rise, and those in the tombs shall be raised";46 and according to Daniel: "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some unto life everlasting and some unto shame everlasting."47 Now, while the resurrection is common to all men, it will not be alike for all; for we shall all, indeed, receive everlasting bodies, but not all like bodies. For the just receive them that through eternity they may join the chorus of angels, but the sinners that they may endure the torment due to their sins forever.
(32) For this reason, the Lord, beforehand in His lovingkindness, has granted us the repentance of the laver of baptism, that, by casting off the chief, nay, rather the whole burden of our sins, and receiving the seal of the Holy Spirit, we may be made heirs of eternal life. But since we have already spoken sufficiently of the laver of baptism, let us proceed to the remaining topics of our introductory teachings.
46 Isa.26.19 (Sept.).
47 Cf. Dan. 12.2 (Sept.).
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Of the Holy Scriptures (33) The teaching you have heard is that of the divinelyinspired Scriptures, both of the Old and the New Testament.
For there is One God of the two Testaments, who foretold in the Old Testament the Christ who appeared in the New, and who, through the preparatory school of the Law and the Prophets, led us to Christ. For "before the faith came, we were guarded under the Law" ;48 and, "the Law trained us for Christ's school."49 And so, if ever you hear any heretic blaspheming the Law or the Prophets, quote that saving word against him: Jesus came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it.50 Be eager to learn, and from the Church, what are the books of the Old Testament, what of the New; and I pray you, read none of the apocryphal books. For why should you, when you do not know the books acknowledged by all, trouble yourself needlessly with those whose authenticity is disputed? Read the divine Scriptures, these twenty-two books of the Old Testament translated by the seventy-two interpreters.51
(34) When Alexander, king of Macedon, died, his empire was divided into four kingdoms, Babylon and Macedon, Asia and Egypt. One of the Egyptian dynasty, Ptolemy Philadelphus, a great lover of learning, when he became king and was collecting books from every quarter, heard from Demetrius of Phalerum, the curator of his library, of the divine
Scriptures of the Law and the Prophets. He judged it far better not to get the books by force from unwilling persons, but rather to win over the possessors with gifts and friendship, since he knew that what is forced from men, because it is given against their will, is often adulterated, while that which is freely offered is given with all sincerity. When he had
48 Gal. 2.23.
49 Ibid. 24.
50 Cf. Matt. 5.17.
51 The reference is to the Septuagint. In chapter 34 Cyril tells the popular legend of its origin.
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sent to Eleazar, the High Priest at that time, very many gifts for the temple here at Jerusalem, he had six men out of each of the twelve tribes of Israel dispatched to him for the work of translation. Then, to prove whether the books were divine or not, and to prevent collusion by the members of the mission, he assigned to each of the interpreters a separate dwelling in the place called Pharus, lying near Alexandria, and committed to each all the Scriptures to translate. When they had completed their task in seventy-two days, the king compared all their translations, which they had made in separate cells without communicating with one another, and found that they exactly agreed, not only in sense, but even in words. For the process did not admit of a naturalistic explanation, nor was it any contrivance of human ingenuity; no, but the translation of the divine Scriptures, spoken by the Holy Spirit, was completed by the Holy Spirit.
(35) Of these, read the twenty-two books, and have nothing to do with the apocryphal writings. Study earnestly only those books which we read openly in Church. For far wiser and more devout than yourself were the Apostles and the ancient bishops, the rulers of the Church, who handed down these books. Therefore, since you are a child of the Church, do not transgress her ordinances. Of the Old Testament, then, as it has been said, study these twenty-two books and, if you are eager to learn, strive to fix them by name in your memory as I enumerate them. For of the Law the books of Moses are the first five, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; then Josue, the son of Nun, and the book of Judges, which, along with Ruth, is numbered the seventh. Of the remaining historical books, the first and second books of Kings are among the Hebrews one book, and the third and fourth one book. Likewise, the first and second books of Paralipomenon make one book, and the first and second books of Esdras are reckoned as one. The book of Esther is the twelfth; and these are the historical books. The books written in verse are five, Job, the book of Psalms, Proverbs, Eccle-
CA TECHESIS IV
siastes, and the Canticle of Canticles, which is the seventeenth book. There follow the five prophetic books: the one book of the twelve prophets, of Isaia one, of Jeremia with Baruch, the Lamentations and the Epistle one; the Ezechiel, and the book of Daniel, the twenty-second of the Old Testament.
(36) Of the New Testament, there are only four gospels; for the rest are not genuine and are harmful. The Manichaeans also wrote a "Gospel according to Thomas," which, through the spurious odor of sanctity conferred by its title, corrupts simple folk. Receive also the Acts of the Twelve
Apostles; and in addition to these, the seven Catholic Epistles of James, Peter, John, and Jude; then, as a seal upon all of them, and the last work of the disciples, the fourteen Epistles of St. Paul.52 But let all the rest be put in the second rank; and whatever books are not read in the churches read not by yourself, in accordance with what you have been told. Thus far concerning these matters.
(37) Flee every diabolical influence53 and hearken not to the apostate Serpent, who of his own deliberate choice was transformed from a good nature; who can persuade the willing, but can force no one. Attend not to the fabulous divinations of the Greeks. As for sorcery, incantation, and the wicked practices of necromancy, do not admit them within your hearing. Stand aloof from every form of intemperance, being neither a glutton nor a lover of pleasure, and, above all, from covetousness and usury. Venture not among the assemblies of the heathen spectacles; never use amulets in times of sickness; put aside also the defilement of frequenting taverns.
Fall not into the sect of the Samaritans or into Judaism; for henceforth Jesus Christ has redeemed you. Stand aloof from all observation of Sabbaths and speak not of any of the indifferent meats as common or unclean. But abhor especially all the assemblies of the wicked heretics; and in every way
52 I\'ote the omission of the Apocalypse form Cyril's Canon.
53 This chapter gives us some idea of the pagan atmosphere in which the Christian had to live.
ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM
make your own soul safe, by fasting, prayers, alms, and the reading of the divine oracles, that living in temperance and in the observance of pious doctrines for the rest of your time in the flesh, you may enjoy the one salvation of the laver of baptism, and so, enrolled in the heavenly hosts by God the Father, you may be deemed worthy of the heavenly crowns, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever.
Amen.