Homily on the meeting of the Lord

Of our father among the saints Cyril, archbishop of Jerusalem, a discourse on the meeting of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and on Simeon the God-receiver.

1 Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion. Proclaim joy, daughter of Jerusalem. Dance, O people of the city of God. Leap for joy, O gates and walls of Zion and all the earth. Cry aloud, O mountains, and leap greatly, O hills. Clap your hands, O rivers, and you crowds of Zion, embrace, seeing the presence of God in her. Today let the heavenly things be in harmony with the earthly, and let the Jerusalem above sing hymns with the Jerusalem below, because of Christ who is in her, heavenly and earthly. As heavenly, dance around him, O intellectual powers; as earthly, sing hymns to him, you who are on the earth, with the angels. 2 For today the God of gods has appeared in Zion. Today glorious things have been spoken of you, O city of God, Jerusalem, the city of the great King. Open the gates to the one who opened for all the heavenly gates and opened for all the gates of paradise and opened on the cross the gates of the tombs and shattered the gates of Hades that were from eternity and miraculously closed the gates of virginity. Today he who of old spoke an oracle to Moses on Mount Sinai in a manner befitting God, fulfills the law, having become under the law in a manner befitting a servant. Today God comes from Teman into Zion. Today the heavenly bridegroom with the God-bearing bridal chamber arrives in the temple. Daughters of Jerusalem, go out to meet him. Joyfully light your lamps for the true light, prepare the tunics of your souls for Christ the bridegroom. 3 With Zion, let us, the peoples of the nations, bearing light, go to meet him. In the temple, let us enter together with the temple and God and Christ. With the angels let us cry out the hymn of the angels: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, heaven and earth are full of his glory. The ends of the world are full of his goodness. All creation is full of his praise. All humanity is full of his condescension. The heavenly, the earthly, the subterranean are full of his compassion, full of his mercy, full of his pity, full of his gifts, full of his benefactions. 4 Therefore, all you nations, clap your hands. All the ends of the earth, come and see the works of God. Let every breath praise the Lord. Let all the earth worship, let every tongue sing, let every one sing psalms, let every one glorify the child God, forty days old and pre-eternal, a small child and the ancient of days, a suckling child and the maker of the ages. I see an infant and I recognize my God, a suckling infant and the one who nourishes the world, a whimpering infant and the one who bestows life and joy upon the world, an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and the one who redeems me from the swaddling clothes of sin, an infant in the arms of his mother with flesh truly and unceasingly on earth, and he himself also in the bosom of the Father truly and unceasingly in heaven. 5 I see an infant entering from Bethlehem into Jerusalem and in no way separated from the Jerusalem above. I see an infant legally offering a sacrifice to the temple on earth, but he himself receiving the pious sacrifices of all in heaven, he himself in the arms of the old man according to the economy and he himself on cherubic thrones in a manner befitting God, he himself being offered and purified and he himself purifying and cleansing all things. He is the gift and he is the temple. He is the high priest and he is the altar, he is the propitiation [and he is the one who intercedes]. And he is the one who offers and he is the sacrifice offered for the world, and he is the wood of life and of knowledge, he is the lamb and he is the fire. He is the whole burnt offering and he is the knife

Homilia in occursum domini

Τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις πατρὸς ἡμῶν Κυρίλλου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Ἱεροσολύμων λόγος εἰς τὴν ὑπαπάντην τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν καὶ σωτῆρος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ

καὶ εἰς τὸν Συμεῶνα τὸν θεοδόχον. 1 Χαῖρε σφόδρα, θύγατερ Σιών. κήρυττε χαράν, θύγατερ Ἱερουσαλήμ. χόρευε λαὸς πόλεως τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ. σκιρτήσατε πύλαι καὶ τείχη Σιὼν καὶ πᾶσα ἡ γῆ. βοήσατε τὰ ὄρη, καὶ οἱ βουνοὶ μεγάλα σκιρτήσατε. ποταμοὶ κροτήσατε χεῖρας, καὶ ὄχλοι Σιὼν περιλάβετε, θεοῦ παρουσίαν ἐν αὐτῇ βλέποντες. συμφωνείτω σήμερον τὰ οὐράνια τοῖς ἐπιγείοις, καὶ ἀνυμνείτω ἡ ἄνω μετὰ τῆς κάτω Ἱερουσαλήμ, διὰ Χριστὸν τὸν ἐν αὐτῇ, οὐράνιον καὶ ἐπίγειον. οὐράνιον νοεραὶ δυνάμεις περιχορεύσατε, ἐπίγειον οἱ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς σὺν ἀγγέλοις ὑμνήσατε. 2 Σήμερον γὰρ ὤφθη ὁ θεὸς τῶν θεῶν ἐν Σιών. σήμερον δεδοξασμένα ἐλαλήθη περὶ σοῦ, ἡ πόλις τοῦ θεοῦ Ἱερουσαλήμ, ἡ πόλις τοῦ βασιλέως τοῦ μεγάλου ἄνοιγε τὰς πύλας τῷ ἀνοίξαντι πᾶσι τὰς οὐρανίους πύλας καὶ ἀνοίξαντι πᾶσι τὰς παραδείσου πύλας καὶ ἀνοίξαντι τῶν τάφων ἐπὶ σταυροῦ τὰς πύλας καὶ συντρίψαντι ᾅδου τὰς ἀπ' αἰῶνος πύλας καὶ συγκλείσαντι παραδόξως τῆς παρθενίας τὰς πύλας. Σήμερον ὁ πάλαι τῷ Μωσῇ χρηματίσας ἐπὶ τοῦ ὄρους Σινᾶ θεοπρεπῶς πληροῖ τὸν νόμον ὑπὸ νόμον γενόμενος δουλοπρεπῶς. σήμερον ὁ θεὸς ἀπὸ Θαιμὰν ἐν Σιὼν ἔρχεται. σήμερον ὁ οὐράνιος νυμφίος μετὰ θεομήτορος παστάδος ἐν τῷ ναῷ παραγίνεται. θυγατέρες Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐξέλθετε εἰς ἀπάντησιν αὐτοῦ. τὰς λαμπάδας φαιδρῶς τῷ φωτὶ τῷ ἀληθινῷ ἐξάψατε, τοὺς χιτῶνας τῶν ψυχῶν τῷ νυμφίῳ Χριστῷ εὐτρεπίσατε. 3 Μετὰ τῆς Σιὼν οἱ τῶν ἐθνῶν λαοὶ φωτοφοροῦντες ὑπαντήσωμεν. ἐν τῷ ναῷ σὺν τῷ ναῷ καὶ θεῷ καὶ Χριστῷ συνεισέλθωμεν. μετὰ ἀγγέλων τὸν τῶν ἀγγέλων ὕμνον βοήσω μεν· ἅγιος, ἅγιος, ἅγιος κύριος σαβαώθ, πλήρης ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ. πλήρη τὰ πέρατα τοῦ κόσμου τῆς ἀγαθότητος αὐτοῦ. πλήρης πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις τῆς αἰνέσεως αὐτοῦ. πλήρης πᾶσα ἡ ἀνθρωπότης τῆς συγκαταβάσεως αὐτοῦ. τὰ οὐράνια, τὰ ἐπίγεια, τὰ καταχθόνια πλήρη τῆς εὐσπλαγχνίας αὐτοῦ, πλήρη τοῦ ἐλέους αὐτοῦ, πλήρη τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν, πλήρη τῶν δωρεῶν, πλήρη τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν αὐτοῦ. 4 Τοιγαροῦν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη κροτήσατε χεῖρας. πάντα τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς δεῦτε καὶ ἴδετε τὰ ἔργα τοῦ θεοῦ. πᾶσα πνοὴ αἰνεσάτω τὸν κύριον. πᾶσα ἡ γῆ προσκυνησάτω, πᾶσα γλῶσσα ᾀσάτω, πᾶσα ψαλλέτω, πᾶσα δοξολογησάτω παιδίον θεόν, τεσσαρακονθήμερον καὶ προαιώνιον, παιδίον μικρὸν καὶ παλαιὸν τῶν ἡμερῶν, παιδίον θηλάζον καὶ τῶν αἰώνων ποιητήν. Βρέφος βλέπω καὶ θεόν μου γνωρίζω, βρέφος θηλάζον καὶ τὸν κόσμον διατρέφον, βρέφος κλαυθμυρίζον καὶ κόσμῳ ζωὴν καὶ χαρὰν χαριζόμενον, βρέφος σπαργανούμενον καὶ τῶν σπαργάνων με τῆς ἁμαρτίας λυτρούμενον, βρέφος ἐν ἀγκάλαις μητρὸς μετὰ σαρκὸς ἀληθῶς ἀνελλιπῶς ἐπὶ γῆς, καὶ αὐτὸν καὶ ἐν κόλποις τοῦ πατρὸς ἀληθῶς καὶ ἀνελλιπῶς ἐν οὐρανοῖς. 5 Βρέφος βλέπω ἐκ Βηθλεὲμ εἰς Ἱερουσαλὴμ εἰσερχόμενον καὶ τῆς ἄνω Ἱερουσαλὴμ οὐδαμῶς χωριζόμενον. βρέφος βλέπω νομικῶς τῷ ναῷ θυσίαν προσάγων ἐπὶ γῆς, ἀλλ' αὐτὸ τὰς πάντων εὐσεβεῖς θυσίας δεχόμενον ἐν οὐρανοῖς, αὐτὸν ἐν ἀγκάλαις τοῦ πρεσβύτου οἰκονομικῶς καὶ αὐτὸν ἐν θρόνοις χερουβικοῖς θεοπρεπῶς, αὐτὸν προσφερόμενον καὶ ἁγνιζόμενον καὶ αὐτὸν τὰ πάντα ἁγνίζοντα καὶ καθαίροντα. αὐτὸς τὸ δῶρον καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ ναὸς ὤν. αὐτὸς ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς καὶ αὐτὸς τὸ θυσιαστήριον, αὐτὸς τὸ ἱλαστήριον [καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ πρεσβεύων]. καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ προσφέρων καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ ὑπὲρ κόσμου θυσία προσφερόμενος, καὶ αὐτὸς τὰ ξύλα τῆς ζωῆς καὶ τῆς γνώσεως, αὐτὸς ὁ ἀμνὸς καὶ αὐτὸς τὸ πῦρ ὑπάρχων. αὐτὸς ἡ ὁλοκαύτωσις καὶ αὐτὸς ἡ μάχαιρα