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too that there are spiritual sheep, for He says to the Apostles:
"Behold I am sending you forth like sheep in the midst of wolves."13 Again, He is called a Lion;14 not a devourer of men, but, as it were, showing by this title His kingly, strong, and resolute nature. Then too, He is called a Lion in opposition to the lion, our adversary, who roars and devours those who have been deceived.15 For the Savior came, not having changed His own gentle nature, and yet as the mighty lion of the tribe of Juda, saving them that believe, but trampling upon the adversary. He is called a Stone;16 not a lifeless one, cut out by human hands, but the "chief corner stone" in whom he who will believe" shall not be put to shame."17
(4) He is called Christ;18 not as having been anointed by human hands, but anointed eternally by the Father to His
High-Priesthood over men. He is called Dead;19 not as abiding among the dead, as all in the nether world, but alone "free among the dead."20 He is called Son of Man;21 not as having had His generation from the earth, as each one of us, but as "coming upon the clouds of heaven"22 to judge the living and the dead. He is called Lord;23 not improperly, as those among men are so called. He is fittingly called Jesus,24 having the title from His salutary healing. He is called Son,25 not as having been advanced by adoption, but naturally begotten. Many, therefore, are the titles of our Savior. That His many titles may not cause you to think of many sons, and that you may meet the errors of the heretics, who say that Christ is one,
13 Matt. 10.16.
14 Gen. 49.9.
15 Cf. I Peter 5.S.
16 I Peter 2.4.
17 Cf.lbid. 6.
IS Matt. l.l6.
19 Apoc. l.lS.
20 Cf. Ps. S7.6.
21 Matt. 16.13.
22 Matt. 24.30.
23 Luke 2.11.
24 Matt. 1.21.
25 Matt. 3.17.
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Jesus another,26 the Door another, and so on, the faith forearms you, saying well: "in One Lord Jesus Christ." For though the titles are many, their subject is one.
(5) The Savior comes in various forms to each man for his profit. For to those who lack joy, He becomes a Vine;27 to those who wish to enter in, He is a Door;28 for those who must offer prayers, He is a mediating High-Priest.29 Again, to those in sin, He becomes a Sheep, to be sacrificed on their behalf. He becomes "all things to all men,"3() remaining in His own nature what He is. For so remaining, and possessing the truly unchangeable dignity of the Sonship, as the best of physicians and a sympathetic teacher, He adapts Himself to our infirmities. He is Lord in truth, not having advanced to the Lordship, but possessing that dignity by nature. He is called Lord, not improperly as we are, but in very truth
He is Lord, since by the decree of the Father He has the Lordship over His own works. Our lordship is over those equal in honor and subject to the same affections, often even over our elders, and often a youth is the master of aged servants. But in our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Lordship is not of this kind, but first He is Maker, then Lord; first, by the will of the Father, He made all things; then He assumed the Lordship over the things made.
(6) Christ the Lord was born in the city of David.31 Know, too, that Christ is Lord with the Father even before His incarnation, and hence accept what is said, not only by faith, but also with proof from the Old Testament. Go to the first book, Genesis. God says: "Let us make mankind," not "in My image," but "in our image."32 And, after Adam was
26 Valentinians and others distinguished between Jesus and Christ (Iren.
3.16.8).
27 John 15.1.
28 John 10.7.
29 1 Tim. 2.5; Reb. 7.26.
30 1 Cor. 9.22.
31 Luke 2.11.
32 Gen. 1.26.
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made, Scripture says: "God created man.
In the image of God he created him."33 For He did not restrict the dignity of the Godhead to the Father alone, but included the Son also; that it might be shown that man is not the work of God alone, but of our Lord Jesus Christ also. This Lord who cooperates with the Father worked with Him also in the case of Sodom, according to the Scripture: "The Lord poured down on Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur from the Lord out of heaven."34 This Lord afterwards appeared to Moses, insofar as he could behold Him.35 For the Lord is kind, ever adapting
Himself to our infirmi ties.
(7) To realize that it is He who appeared36 to Moses take the testimony of Paul: "For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, but the rock was Christ";37 and again: "By faith he left Egypt";38 and thereafter: "Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of the Egyptians."39 Moses says to Him: "Show me yoursel£."40
You see that then also the prophets saw Christ, that is, in the measure each was able. "Show me yourself, that I may see you clearly."41 But He said: "No one sees me and still lives."42 Therefore, because no one could see the face of the Godhead and live, He assumed the face of human nature, that seeing this we might live. Yet, when He wished to show even this with a little majesty, at the time when "his face
33 Ibid. 27.
34 Gen. 19.24.
35 Exod. 3.2, 6; 34.5, 6.
36 The various divine apparitions recorded in the Old Testament at an early date were attributed to the Son of God by way of anticipation of the incarnation, but always "under the likeness of his glory" (d.
Cat. 9.1). Cyril wishes to supply arguments to his candidates against the Jews.
37 1 Cor. 10.4.
38 Heb.I1.27.
39. Ibid. 26.
40 Exod.33.13 (Sept.).
41 Ibid.
42 Ibid. 20.
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shone as the sun,"43 the disciples fell to the earth terrified.44
Now if His bodily countenance, shining not according to the full power of Him who wrought, but in the measure the disciples could bear, terrified them and even thus they could not bear it, how could anyone gaze upon the majesty of the Godhead? It is a great thing you desire, 0 Moses, the Lord says; and I approve your insatiable longing and "this word will I do"45 for you, but according to your capacity. "Behold
I will set you in the hollow of the rock" ;46 for as you are small, you will lodge in a small place.
(8) Now here please note carefully what I am to say, because of the Jews. For it is our purpose to demonstrate that the Lord, Jesus Christ, was with the Father. The Lord then said to Moses: "I will make all my beauty pass before you, and in your presence I will pronounce my name, 'Lord: "47
Being Himself the Lord, what Lord does He proclaim? You see how in a veiled manner He was teaching the holy doctrine of Father and Son. Again, in what follows, it is written in express terms: "Having come down in a cloud, the Lord stood with him there and proclaimed his name, 'Lord.' Thus the Lord passed before him and cried out, 'The Lord, the Lord, merciful and gracious, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity, and guarding justice and continuing his kindness for a thousand generations, and forgiving wickedness and crime and sin.' "48 And thereafter: "Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship"49 before the Lord proclaiming the Father, and said: "0 Lord, do come along in our company."50
(9) This is the first proof, and now for a second clear 43 Matt. 17.2.
44 Cf. ibid. 6.
45 Exod.33.17.
46 Ibid. 22.
47 Ibid. 19 (Sept.).
48 Cf. Exod. 34.5-7.
49 Ibid. 8.
50 Ibid. 9.
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proof: "The Lord said to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand: "51
The Lord says this to the Lord, not to a servant, but to the Lord of all things and His own Son, to whom He has subjected all things.52 "But when He says all things are subject to him, undoubtedly he is excepted, who has subjected all things to him":53 "that God may be all in all:'54 The Onlybegotten Son is Lord of all things, yet is the obedient Son of the Father, for He did not seize the Lordship but received it by nature, of the Father's own will. For neither did the Son seize it, nor the Father begrudge imparting it. He it is who says: "All things have been delivered to me by my
Father,"55 delivered to Me not as though I lacked them before; and I keep them well, not despoiling Him who has given them.
(10) The Son of God is the Lord, the Lord who was born in Bethlehem of J udaea, according to the words of the angel to the shepherds: "I bring you good news of great joy . . • for there has been born to you today in the town of David
Christ the Lord."56 Of Him an Apostle elsewhere says: "He sent his word to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ who is Lord of all."57 When he says
"of all," exclude nothing from His lordship, for whether they be angels or archangels "or dominations or principalities,"S8 or any other created thing named by the Apostles, all are subjected to the lordship of the Son. He is Lord of angels, as you have it in the Gospel: "Then the devil left him; and behold, angels came and ministered to him."59 For Scripture does not say that they helped Him, but that they ministered to Him, a function belonging to servants. When He was
51 Ps. 109.1.
52 Heb.2.8.
53 I Cor. 15.27.
54 Ibid. 28.
55 Matt 11.27.
56 Luke 2.10, II.
57 Acts 10.36.
58 Col. 1.16.
59 Matt. 4.11.
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born of a virgin Gabriel served Him, having received his service as his own special privilege.GO When He was about to go into Egypt, that He might destroy the idols of Egypt,61 again, "an angel appeared in a dream to Joseph."62 When He rose again after His crucifixion, an angel proclaimed the good tidings, and as a good servant said to the women: "Go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen; and behold, he goes before you into Galilee; ... Behold, I have foretold it to yoU."63 As though he were to say: I have not disobeyed my command; I bear witness to the fact that I have told you; that if you disregard it, the blame may not be on me, but on those who have disregarded it. This, then, is the one
Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the passage just read says: "For even if there are what are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth," and so on, "yet for us there is only one God, the Father from whom are all things, and we unto him; and one
Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him."64
(II) He is called by two names, Jesus Christ; Jesus because He is a Savior, Christ because He is a Priest. With this in mind the divinely inspired prophet Moses gave these two titles to two men eminent above all, changing the name of his own successor in the sovereignty, Auses, to Jesus,65 and giving to his own brother, Aaron, the surname Christ,66 that through these two chosen men he might represent at once the High Priesthood and the Kingship of the One Jesus
Christ who was to come. For Christ is a High Priest, like Aaron, since He "did not glorify himself with the high priesthood, but he who spoke to Him, 'Thou art a priest forever, according to the order of Melchisedec.' "67 But 60 Luke 1.16.
61 Cf. Isa. 19.1.
62 Matt. 2.13.
63 Matt. 28.7.
64 1 Cor. 8.5, 6.
65 Num. 13.17.
66 Cf. Lev. 4.5 (Sept.).
67 Heb. 5.5, 6.
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Jesus, son of Nave, was a type of Him In many things; for when he began to rule the people, he began from the J ordan;G8 thence also did Christ begin to preach the Gospel after He was baptized.GD The son of Nave appoints the twelve to divide the inheritance;7o and Jesus sends forth the twelve
Apostles, heralds of truth, into the whole world.71 He who was the type saved Rahab, the harlot, who had believed;72 the True Jesus on the other hand says: Behold: "the publicans and the harlots are entering the kingdom of God before yoU."73 With but a shout, the walls of Jericho collapsed in the time of the type;74 and because of these words of Jesus:
"There will not be left here one stone upon another,"75 the temple of the Jews just opposite us is fallen; not that this sentence was the cause of its ruin, but rather the sin of the transgressors.
(12) There is One Lord Jesus Christ, a wonderful name, proclaimed beforehand indirectly by the prophets. For Isaia the prophet says: "Your savior comes! Here is his reward with him."76 Among the Hebrews, "Jesus" is interpreted
Savior; for the prophetic gift, foreseeing the spirit of the Jews bent upon the slaying of the Lord, veiled His name, that they might not know it clearly beforehand and plot against Him more readily. He was openly called Jesus, not by men, but by an angel, coming not of his own authority, but by the power of God, and saying to Joseph: "Do not be afraid to take to thee Mary thy wife, for that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus";77 and giving the 68 Jos.3.1.
69 Matt. 3.13.
70 Jos. 14.1.
71 Matt. 10.5.
72 Jos. 6.25; Reb. 11.31.
73 Matt. 21.31.
74 Jos.6.20.
75 Matt. 24.2.
76 Isa. 62.11.
77 Matt. 1.20. 21.
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reason for this name, he straightway adds: "For he shall save his people from their sins."78 Consider how He who was not yet born could have a people, unless He were in being before He was born. This the prophet says in His person: "From my mother's womb he gave me my name";79 because the angel foretold that He would be called Jesus. Again, concerning the plots of Herod, he says: "He ... concealed me in the shadow of his arm."BO (13) Therefore, according to the Hebrews, Jesus means
Savior, but in the Greek tongue, "the Healer"; inasmuch as He is both healer of bodies and physician of spirits, curing the blind of body and bringing light to minds; healing those visibly lame and guiding the steps of sinners to repentance,
He says to the paralytic: "Sin no more,"81 and: "Take up thy pallet and walk."82 Because the body was palsied through the sin of the soul, He first healed the soul, that He might then extend the healing to the body also. Therefore, if anyone is sick in soul because of sin, he has a Physician; if any man here be of little faith, let him say to Him: "Help my belief."88
If any man is beset with bodily ailments, let him not be diffident but rather draw near-for He heals these ills alsoand know that Jesus is the Christ.
(14) For the Jews grant that He is Jesus, but deny that He is also Christ. For this reason, the Apostle says: "Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?"84 But Christ is a High Priest, having "an everlasting priesthood";85 neither having begun His priesthood in time, nor having any successor in His High Priesthood, as you have heard in Church on the Lord's day when we were discoursing on the 78 Ibid.
79 Isa. 49.1.
80 Ibid. 2.
81 John 5.14.
82 Ibid. 8.
83 Mark 9.23.
84 1 John 2.22.
85 Heb. 7.24.
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words "according to the order of Melchisedec."s6 He did not receive the High Priesthood through bodily succession, nor was he anointed with man-prepared oil, but before all ages by the Father; and He so far surpasses the others as He is made a priest with an oath. "Others indeed were made priests without an oath, but he with an oath through him who said unto him: The Lord hath sworn and will not repent."87 The will of the Father in itself was sufficient assurance, but as a double measure of assurance, with the will there follows also the oath: "That by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to deceive, we may have the strongest. comfort"S8 for our faith, who receive
Christ Jesus the Son of God.
(15) This Christ, when He came, the Jews denied,89 though the devils confessed Him.90 His forefather David was not ignorant of Him when he said: "I will place a lamp for my anointed."91 Some have interpreted "lamp" as the splendor of prophecy; others have understood by the lamp the flesh
He assumed of the Virgin, according to the words of the Apostle: "But we carry this treasure in vessels of clay."92
The Prophet was not ignorant of Him when he said: "And declaring his Christ to men."93 Moses also knew Him, and Isaia and Jeremia as well; none of the prophets was ignorant of Him. Even the devils acknowledged Him, for He rebuked them and Scripture adds: "Because they knew that he was the Christ."94 The Chief Priests did not know Him, and the devils confessed Him; the Chief Priests did not know Him, and the Samaritan woman proclaimed Him, saying: "Come
86 Ps. 109.4.
87 Heb. 7.20, 21.
88 Heb. 6.18.
89 John 19.5.
90 Luke 4.41.
91 Ps. 131.17.
92 2 Cor. 4.7.
93 Amos 4.13 (Sept.).
94 Luke 4.41.
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and see a man who has told me all that I have ever done.
Is he not the Christ?"95
(16) This is Jesus Christ who came "as high priest of the good things to come,"96 who, in the lavishness of His Godhead, imparted His own title to all of us. For kings among men possess the royal title unshared with others, but Christ Jesus, being the Son of God, has vouchsafed that we be called
"Christians." But someone will say: the name "Christians" is new and unheard of until now, and new things are often objected to because of their strangeness. The Prophet anticipated this objection when he said: "But my servants shall be called by a new name, which shall be blessed upon the earth."97 Let us ask the Jews: Do you serve the Lord, or not?
Show me, therefore, your new name; for you were called "Jews" and "Israelites" in the time of Moses and the other prophets, and after the return from Babylon, and up to the present day; where, then, is your new name? But we, since we serve the Lord, have that new name, new indeed, but the new name "which shall be blessed upon the earth."98 This name has taken hold of the world; for while the Jews are within the bounds of a certain region, the Christians reach to the ends of the earth; for what is proclaimed is the Name of the Only-begotten Son of God.
(17) Rest assured that the Apostles knew and preached the Name of Christ, or rather, they had Christ Himself within them. Paul says to his hearers: "Do you seek a proof of the Christ who speaks in me?"99 Paul proclaims Christ. Now who is this? It is His former persecutor. 0 mighty wonder!
He who formerly persecuted Him, himself preaches Christ.
Why? Was it that he was won over by bribery? But there was no one to persuade him thus. Was it that he saw Him
95 John 4.29.
96 Heb.9.11.
97 Isa. 65.15, 16 (Sept.).
98 Ibid.
99 2 Cor. 13.3.
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present on earth and was moved by shame? He had already ascended into heaven. He went forth to persecute and, after three days, the persecutor is a preacher in Damascus. By what power? Others call upon friends to testify for friends; I have offered you a witness who was once an enemy, and do you still doubt? Great, indeed, is the testimony of Peter and John, yet open to suspicion, because they were His friends.
But when he who was formerly His enemy afterwards dies for His sake, who can entertain doubts about the truth?
(18) At this point in my discourse I confess my amazement at the wise dispensation of the Holy Spirit, in limiting the Epistles of the others to a small number, but granting the grace to Paul, the former persecutor, to write fourteen.
For it was not as though Peter or John were less than Paul that He withheld the gift in their case-God forbid!-but that His doctrine might be beyond question, He gave the grace to the former enemy and persecutor to write more, that thus we might all be confirmed in our faith. Indeed, all were astonished at Paul and said: "Is not this he who used to make havoc" aforetime "and who has come here for the purpose of taking us in bonds to J erusalem?"lOO Do not be astonished, Paul says; "I know that 'it is hard' for me 'to kick against the goad:101 I know that 'I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God,'w2 but 'I acted ignorantly:w3 For I consider·ed the preaching of Christ to be the destruction of the Law, for I did not know that He came 'to fulfill the Law, not to destroy it:104 But 'the grace of our Lord has abounded beyond measure'lOo in me."
(19) There are many true testimonies, my dear brethren, concerning Christ. The Father from heaven bears witness
100 Acts 9.21.
101 Ibid. 5.
102 1 Cor. 15.9.
103 1 Tim. 1.13.
104 Matt. 5.17.
105 1 Tim. 1.14.
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concerning the Son;106 the Holy Spirit, descending in a bodily shape, in the form of a dove;107 the Archangel Gabriel, announcing the good tidings to Mary.IOS The Virgin Mother of God is His witness;109 the blessed place of the manger is
His witness.l1O Egypt bears witness to Him, having received Him when still young in body.lll Simeon is a witness, who took Him in his arms and said: "Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, 0 Lord, according to thy word, in peace; because my eyes have seen thy salvation."112 Anna, a prophetess, a most religious widow of austere life, bears witness to Him.lIs A witness also is John the Baptist, the greatest of the prophets and the inaugurator of the New Testament, and, in a way, linking in himself the Old and the New Testaments.1I4
Among rivers, the Jordan bears witness;1I5 among seas, the Sea of Tiberias.ll6 The blind, the lame, the dead brought back to life bear witness to Him;1I7 the devils also, saying:
"What have we to do with thee, Jesus?" We "know who thou art, the Holy One of God."118 The winds, calmed at His command, bear witness;1I9 the five loaves, multiplied for five thousand.120 His witness is the holy wood of the cross, seen among us even to this day, and by those who have taken portions thereof, from hence filling almost the whole world.
His witness is the palm tree in the valley which supplied 106 Mark 3.17; 17.5.
107 Luke 3.22.
108 Luke 1.27-38.
109 Ibid. 27. "The Virgin Mother of God": the Greek theotokos, defined against Nestorius at Cha1cedon.
110 Luke 2.7.
III Matt. 2.14.
112 Luke 2.38-41.
113 Ibid. 36-38.
114 John 1.15.
115 Matt. 3.13.
116 John 6.1.
117 Matt. 11.5.
118 Mark 1.24.
119 Matt. 8.26, 27.
120 Matt. 14.16-21.
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branches to the children who shouted His praises.12l Gethsemane is His witness, all but showing Judas still, to those who understand. This holy mount of Golgotha, conspicuous in its elevation, bears witness to Him.122 The Holy Sepulchre bears witness, and the stone which lies there even to this day.123 A witness to Him is the sun now shining, which, at the time of our Savior's Passion, suffered eclipse;124 and the darkness, which then lasted from the sixth to the ninth hour;125 and the light, which shone from the ninth hour until evening. The Holy Mount of Olives, from which He ascended to the Father, bears witness.126 The rain-bearing clouds which received their Lord bear witness;127 and the heavenly gates, of which the Psalmist says: "Lift up, 0 gates, your lintels; reach up, you ancient portals, that the king of glory may come in!"128 His former enemies bear witness, one of whom is blessed Paul, who, though His enemy for a while, served Him for a long time. The twelve Apostles are His witnesses, who preached the truth not only in words, but by their own torments and deaths. The shadow of Peter is a witness, healing the sick in the name of Christ;129 and the handkerchiefs and aprons, which of old worked cures through Paul by the power of Christ.130 The Persians and Goths and all the gentile converts bear witness, by dying for the sake of Him whom they did not see with the eyes of the flesh.
The devils, who even to this day are driven out by the faithful, bear witness to Him.
(20) So many and diverse, and still more than these, are the witnesses of Christ; can it be that faith in Christ, thus
121 John 12.13.
122 Matt. 27.33.
123 Ibid. 60.
124 Cf. Luke 23.45.
125 Cf. Matt. 27.45.
126 Cf. Acts 1.12.
127 Ibid. 9.
128 Ps. 23.7.
129 Cf. Acts 5.15.
130 Cf. Acts 19.12.
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witnessed, will be hereafter denied? Therefore, if any man did not believe before, let him now believe; but if any man believed before, let him receive a greater increase of faith, believing in our Lord Jesus Christ; and let him realize whose name he bears. You are called a Christian; be careful of that name; let not our Lord Jesus Christ be blasphemed through you; but rather, let your good works shine before men, that they who see them may glorify in Christ Jesus our Lord the Father who is in heaven,131 to whom be glory, now and forever and ever. Amen.
131 Cf. Matt. 5.16.