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De incarnatione domini

OF SAINT CYRIL ON THE INCARNATION OF THE LORD.

A'. That the remembrance of the divine economy is beneficial to the hearers. A'. That the remembrance of the divine economy is beneficial to the hearers. The discourse concerning the Holy Trinity, as in an assembly of the pious and of those who are persuaded by the evangelical doctrines, has been sufficiently completed by us, I think. For we did not set out at present to contradict the impious, but to set forth the faith to the disciples of the apostles. But since the magnitude of the divine benefactions knows how to kindle to a greater degree the longing of those who love God, and makes them more ardent lovers of God, I will of necessity proceed to this discourse, joining the economy to the theology, and showing how great and how many things the Creator has done to benefit our race. For the springs of divine gifts have never ceased gushing forth good things for men. B'. A narration of the things done by God for the benefit of man from the beginning. But from the time he created this all-harmonious world, the Creator inundates our nature with various benefactions. And first, he made him when he was not, and honored him by fashioning him, and changed the dust into man's nature as he willed, and to the unsightly clay he bestowed beauty and a soul, the brightness of eyes, and the purity of tranquility, and the smoothness of cheeks, and the softness of the tongue, and channels of blood running through all the members of the body, and supplying sufficient irrigation for the flesh and sinews and skin, the hardness of bones, and 75.1421 the usefulness of the marrow stored within them, and all the other things that the visible part of the human creature has. And in addition to these things, he gave him a mind as a leader and governor, having filled it with wisdom, having filled it with every art and science, and he made the clay statue rational, and made the earthy statue his own image, having bestowed the ruling and sovereign and creative power to the intelligent and immortal soul. Then he appointed him king of beasts, and quadrupeds, and reptiles, of swimming and amphibious creatures, and of the birds that travel through the air. And before these things, as some most graceful bridal chamber, he stretched out the heaven above, fixing in it meadows of stars, providing both necessity and delight; commanding the sun to rise and to set, and to make days and nights, and to measure time by its course; the moon to wane and to wax, and by its frequent changes both to delight and to signify the yearly cycle; and he spread the earth beneath, and gave it a varied adornment, dividing it into groves and cornfields and meadows; arching mountains to a height, and hollowing out valleys, and showing plains supine and level, and commanding springs to gush forth in the midst, and rivers to run unceasingly, and the other things that beautify the earth and the sea. C'. Why he called the man Adam. Having thus created the first man, and having honored him with the image and inundated him with the multitude of gifts, he gives him the name of his nature; for he called him Adam; and this in the Hebrew tongue signifies dust. And this too is one care concerning man. For since he was about to

1

De incarnatione domini

ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΚΥΡΙΛΛΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΤΟΥ ΚΥΡΙΟΥ ΕΝΑΝΘΡΩΠΗΣΕΩΣ.

Αʹ. Ὅτι ὠφέλιμον τοῖς ἀκούουσιν ἡ τῆς θείας οἰκονομίας ἀνάμνησις. Αʹ. Ὅτι ὠφέλιμον τοῖς ἀκούουσιν ἡ τῆς θείας οἰκονομίας ἀνάμνησις. Ὁ μὲν περὶ τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος ὡς ἐν εὐσεβῶν συλλόγῳ, καὶ τοῖς εὐαγγελικοῖς δόγμασιν πειθομέ νων, ἀποχρώντως ἡμῖν, ὡς οἶμαι, λόγος διήνυσται. Οὐ γὰρ ἀντειπεῖν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος τοῖς ἀσεβέσιν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς φοιτηταῖς τῶν ἀποστόλων ἐκθέσθαι πίστιν προὐθέμεθα. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ τῶν θείων εὐεργεσιῶν τὸ μέγεθος ὑφάπτειν οἶδε μειζόνως τῶν φιλοθέων τὸν πόθον, καὶ θερμοτέρους αὐτοὺς καθίστησιν ἐραστὰς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀναγκαίως καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦτον βαδιοῦμαι τὸν λόγον, τῇ θεολογίᾳ τὴν οἰκονομίαν συνάπτων, καὶ δεικνὺς ἡλίκα καὶ ὅσα ὁ Ποιητὴς τὸ ἡμέτερον εὐ ηργέτησε γένος. Οὐ γὰρ ἐπαύσαντο πώποτε τῶν θείων δωρεῶν αἱ πηγαὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὰ ἀγαθὰ ἀναβλύζουσαι. Βʹ. ∆ιήγησις τῶν ὑπὸ Θεοῦ γεγενημένων εἰς τὴν ἀνθρώπου εὐεργεσίαν ἐξ ἀρχῆς. Ἀλλ' ἀφ' οὗπερ τόνδε τὸν παναρμόνιον κόσμον ἐδημιούργησεν, ταῖς ποικίλαις εὐεργεσίαις τὴν ἡμε τέραν ἐπικλύζει φύσιν ὁ Ποιητής. Καὶ πρῶτον μὲν μὴ ὄντα πεποίηκε καὶ διαπλάττων ἐτίμησεν, καὶ τὸν χοῦν εἰς ἀνθρώπου φύσιν μετέβαλεν ὡς ἠθέλησε, καὶ τῷ δυσειδεῖ πηλῷ κάλλος καὶ ψυχὴν ἐδωρήσατο, ὀφθαλμῶν λαμπρότητα, καὶ γαλήνης καθαρότητα, καὶ παρειῶν λειότητα, καὶ γλώττης ἁπαλότητα, καὶ αἵματος ὀχετοὺς εἰς ἅπαντα τοῦ σώματος ∆ιαθέοντας μέλη, καὶ ἀρδεῖαν ἀποχρῶσαν σαρκὶ καὶ νεύροις χορηγοῦντας καὶ δέρματι, ὀστῶν ἀντιτυπίαν, καὶ 75.1421 τῶν ἐν τούτοις ἀποκειμένων μυελῶν τὸ χρειῶδες, καὶ τἄλλα ὅσα τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου ζώου τὸ ὁρώμενον ἔχει. Καὶ πρὸς τούτοις, νοῦν ἔδωκεν ἡγεμόνα καὶ κυβερνήτην, σοφίας πληρώσας, τέχνης ἁπάσης καὶ ἐπιστήμης ἐμπλήσας, καὶ λογικὸν ἀπέφηνε τὸ πήλι νον ἄγαλμα, καὶ οἰκείαν εἰκόνα πεποίηκε τὸν χοϊκὸν ἀνδριάντα, τὸ ἀρχικὸν καὶ αὐτοκρατορικὸν καὶ δη μιουργικὸν τῇ νοερᾷ ψυχῇ καὶ ἀθανάτῳ δωρησάμε νος. Εἶτα βασιλέα κτηνῶν, καὶ τετραπόδων, καὶ ἑρ πετῶν, νηκτῶν, καὶ ἀμφιβίων, καὶ τῶν ἀεροπόρων ὀρνίθων ἐχειροτόνησε. Πρὸ δὲ τούτων ὥσπερ τινὰ παστάδα χαριεστάτην ἄνωθεν ἐξέτεινεν οὐρανὸν, λειμῶνας ἀστέρων ἐγκαταπήξας, χρείαν τε ὁμοῦ καὶ τέρψιν παρέχοντας· ἥλιόν τε ἀνίσχειν κελεύσας, καὶ δύεσθαι, καὶ ποιεῖν ἡμέρας καὶ νύκτας, καὶ τῷ δρόμῳ τὸν χρόνον μετρεῖν· σελήνην φθίνειν καὶ πλήθειν, καὶ ταῖς πυκναῖς μεταβολαῖς ἥδειν τε ὁμοῦ καὶ σημαίνειν κύκλον τὸν ἐνιαύσιον· γῆν δὲ κάτωθεν ὑπεστόρεσε, καὶ ποικίλον αὐτῇ κόσμον δέδωκεν, εἰς ἄλση καὶ λήϊα καὶ λειμῶνας διακρίνας· ὄρη κυρτώ σας εἰς ὕψος, καὶ νάπας κοιλάνας, καὶ πεδία ὕπτια καὶ ἰσόπεδα δείξας, καὶ πηγὰς ἀναβλύζειν ἐν μέσῳ κελεύσας, καὶ ποταμοὺς τρέχειν ἄπαυστα, καὶ τἄλλα ὅσα γῆν καλλωπίζει καὶ θάλατταν. Γʹ. ∆ιὰ τί τὸν ἄνθρωπον προσηγόρευσεν Ἀδάμ. Οὕτω δημιουργήσας τὸν πρῶτον ἄνθρωπον, καὶ τῇ εἰκόνι τιμήσας καὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν δωρεῶν ἀποκλύ σας, τίθησιν αὐτῷ τὸ τῆς φύσεως ὄνομα· Ἀδὰμ γὰρ αὐτὸν προσηγόρευσεν· τοῦτο δὲ τὸν χοῦν δηλοῖ τῇ Ἑβραίων φωνῇ. Μία δὲ καὶ αὕτη περὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον κηδεμονία. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἔμελλε