Letter To Constantius
LETTER TO CONSTANTIUS
This letter can be dated to 351, and is the ‘first offering’ of Cyril's episcopate. Several motives may have prompted him to write this letter. He may have felt the need to assert his loyalty to Constantius early in his episcopate, as the Emperor suspected Athanasius of supporting the other side. Secondly, Cyril may have anticipated a potential clash with the Emperor over the Arian party, which Constantius supported, and sought to win his favour in this way. Thirdly, the vision gave him an opportunity of enhancing the position of Jerusalem over against Caesarea (see Introduction, sect. 1).
Letter of Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, to the Emperor Constantius on the sign which appeared in the sky.
Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, to the most pious Constantius Augustus, most favoured by God. Greetings in the Lord.
1 This, the first offering of a letter which I have sent from Jerusalem to your Majesty, favoured by God, is as honourable for you to receive as it is for me to send. It will not bear a message of flattery but a report of the heavenly vision God has sent us; it will not be skilfully composed of persuasive rhetorical phrases but in the words of the holy gospels it will testify to the facts as they occurred.
2 It often happens that others at their own expense send golden crowns adorned with gleaming gems to crown your honoured head. But we shall not offer you an earthly crown, for earthly gifts come to an earthly end. Our purpose is to bring with all speed to your Piety's attention the display of divine energy that took place in the sky over Jerusalem during your reign so favoured by God. I do not presume to imagine that I am leading you from ignorance to divine knowledge: your piety already equips you to instruct others. My hope is rather that you may be confirmed in the knowledge which you already possess, and that, when you learn how God has honoured the imperial destiny which you have inherited from your ancestors with a richer, heavenly crown, you may now more than ever give fitting thanks to God the universal King, and face your enemies with greater heart when you understand how the miracle which has occurred in your time gives concrete proof that your reign is the object of God's love.
3 In the time of your blessed father Constantine of happy memory and most favoured by God, the saving wood of the Cross was found in Jerusalem when God's grace rewarded the piety of his noble search with the discovery of the hidden holy places. But you, most pious Lord Emperor, have surpassed your father's piety with an even greater reverence for the divine, and in your time miracles have now appeared no longer from the ground but in the heavens: the trophy of the victory which our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God, won over death—I refer to the blessed Cross —has been seen flashing like lightning over Jerusalem.
4 In these holy days of the Easter season, on 7 May at about the third hour, a huge cross made of light appeared in the sky above holy Golgotha extending as far as the holy Mount of Olives. It was not revealed to one or two people alone, but it appeared unmistakably to everyone in the city. It was not as if one might conclude that one had suffered a momentary optical illusion; it was visible to the human eye above the earth for several hours. The flashes it emitted outshone the rays of the sun, which would have outshone and obscured it themselves if it had not presented the watchers with a more powerful illumination than the sun. It prompted the whole populace at once to run together into the holy church, overcome both with fear and joy at the divine vision. Young and old, men and women of every age, even young girls confined to their rooms at home, natives and foreigners, Christians and pagans visiting from abroad, all together as if with a single voice raised a hymn of praise to God's Only-begotten Son the wonder-worker. They had the evidence of their own senses that the holy faith of Christians is not based on the persuasive arguments of philosophy but on the revelation of the Spirit and power (cf. 1 Cor 2.4); it is not proclaimed by mere human beings but testified from heaven by God himself.
5 Accordingly we citizens of Jerusalem, who saw this extraordinary wonder with our own eyes, have paid due worship and thanksgiving to God the universal King and to God's Only-begotten Son and shall continue to do so, and we have prayed at length in the holy places for your blessed reign and shall likewise continue to do so. However, since it was our duty not to consign these heavenly revelations to silence, I have made haste to communicate the good news to your godly Piety by means of this letter, so that to the excellent foundation of the faith that is already yours you may add the knowledge which comes from the recent divine manifestations. Thus may you conceive a firmer hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, and, as one who has God himself for an ally, with your wonted boldness and courage and with all eagerness may you bear the trophy of the Cross, the boast of boasts, carrying forward the sign shown to us in the skies, of which heaven has made an even greater boast by displaying its form to human beings.
6 In accordance, Emperor most favoured by God, with the testimony of the prophets and the words of Christ contained in the holy Gospels, this miracle has been accomplished now and will be accomplished again more fully. For in St Matthew's Gospel the Saviour granted his blessed apostles knowledge of future events and through them foretold to their successors in the clearest of statements: ‘And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky’ (Mt 24.30). When you take up the divine book of the Gospel, as is your custom, you will find recorded there the prophetic testimonies to this event. I urge you, my Lord, above all people, to devote more frequent study to these words, because of what follows in this passage. For our Saviour's predictions demand our most reverent attention if we are not to suffer harm from the power which opposes us.
7 These words of mine, Emperor most favoured by God, are the first offering which I send you; they are my first address from Jerusalem to you, our most noble and pious fellow-worshipper of Christ, the Only-begotten Son of our God and Saviour, of Christ who accomplished the salvation of the world in Jerusalem according to the sacred Scriptures, who in this place trod death underfoot and wiped away the sins of mankind with his own precious blood, who bestowed life, immortality and spiritual grace from heaven on all who believe in him. Guarded by his power and grace, distinguished by greater and more glorious achievements of piety, rejoicing in the royal issue of noble sons, may you receive protection from God himself, the universal King, the source of all goodness, through a succession of many peaceful years, so that together with all your family you may remain the glory of Christians and of the whole world.
8 May the God of all things keep you in good health for us and endow you with every virtue. May you continue to show your customary benevolence towards the holy churches and the Roman Empire. Augustus and Emperor most favoured by God, may you and all your family rejoice in still greater rewards for your piety through a succession of many years of peace.