Fragments on the first epistle of saint paul to the corinthians of the same saint cyril, archbishop of alexandria

 Christ has called his own in peace. and that he himself is one, and is not divided therefore we are all one in christ, and have been perfected for th

 Turtledoves and pigeons, and saying, do not make my father's house a house of trade, they opposed him, saying, what sign do you show us that you

 Of speech, and as it were concealing the inelegance in them but a bare and simple word, witnessed as in the power of god, is sufficient for the divin

 A mind that has believed, that it might appear also fruitful? and what is the increase from christ, or the strengthening through the spirit and the as

 To those who have sinned? or, having approached in a spirit of gentleness and as in love, should i pass by in silence? but the rebuke was better for t

 We have also partaken of his holy flesh, and we have been sanctified in a twofold manner and he has dwelt 264 in us as life and life-giver, so that h

 Of glory but if it is defiled, it is deprived of such glory. do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy spirit in you. for the spirit of

 That some make freewill offerings, that is, to bring something to god and these freewill offerings were: those things beyond the law, as fruits from

 Are you perfected? it was necessary, therefore, with a clear and most manifest preaching of the truth to open the way for them, and that circumcision

 They pour out their venom into the souls of the more simple, and persuade them to observe days and months, and they practice so-called will-worship, a

 Leaping upon them, and not rather making it a matter of earnest care to strengthen their weak conscience?

 From his own side his own blood gushed forth for them mixed with water, when the soldiers of pilate pierced him with a spear. he brings forward the wh

 The begotten word but we say that he is named the head of every man as an archetype, as i said, but since he has appeared as a man in the last times

 Jesus christ promised that when he had departed, he would send us the paraclete and he added to this, he will glorify me. and we understand quite r

 Inasmuch then as i am an apostle to the gentiles, i glorify my ministry. therefore, the son distributes the ministries, but the holy spirit effects

 And to those from the middle of the inhabited world of rivers, both cappadocians and egyptians, they spoke in their own tongues. and the matter was ac

 To be able to speak in the tongue of the medes, and another again in that of the elamites, and then if those of whom we speak were to address the syna

 It was a sound and the voice was unfamiliar, he has acted in vain, striking with some empty noise only the hearing of the learner.

 Of christ himself, of course for it is truly a proclamation of every good thing to those who have received the faith and in it, he says, they stand

 We have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. therefore if some agree that chris

 The psalmist said, you have favored, lord, your land, you have forgiven the iniquities of your people, you have covered all their sins and again,

 By the law of life which is praised and still holds sway but better are those in christ, for they have been justified through faith, and have become

 Son, and for the age to come the preeminence of authority over all things.

 For 309 incorruption man was made, but also that of the resurrection for god does not bring about the resurrection for punishment, but on account of

 To what is sown corruption and weakness and ugliness, and the soulish mind, which we say is the same as the carnal and more earthly but since it was

 Of irreproachable passions. therefore, the first man adam became a living soul but the second, and from heaven, that is christ, not so much a soul, b

 Distributor of good things he himself will transform the creation, and renew the universe, and will deliver it from bondage into the freedom of the

 But without law, sin is dead. who then is the provider to us of all these things, the author of righteousness, the giver of freedom, and the source an

Christ has called his own in peace. and that he himself is one, and is not divided; therefore we are all one in Christ, and have been perfected for this in the same mind and in the same judgment, binding us together into one accord through the spiritual union of him who said concerning us to God the Father: I will that as you and I are one, so "they also may be one in us." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? If another endured the cross for us, let us also be called his; and if we have been baptized, perhaps, into the name of another, let him have us, and let us inscribe him as savior and redeemer; but if "Christ died for our sins," and with him and him alone we have been "buried together through baptism into death," let him, he says, be rich with those he has purchased; for we have been saved through him and by him, who laid down his own soul for us.

252 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. He was admittedly sent to proclaim Jesus to the Gentiles; but we say it is the work of the apostolate to fulfill, as in season and in need, if he should so choose, even the baptizing of some. But so that he might not appear to be spending the time needed for preaching on other pursuits, leaving it very well to those appointed in each place and to all ordained to the episcopacy to do this at their leisure, he himself rather preached the gospel, inasmuch as he was entrusted with the need for the word and had comprehended the mystery of Christ very precisely indeed; but just as the divine Stephen, although appointed a deacon of the tables, did not reject the need to initiate into the mysteries, so also the divine Paul, although set apart for the necessity of preaching the mystery of Christ, fulfilled in season also the need for baptism, the authority for both being available to him, and no one preventing him if he chose to do this. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? To those who think highly of worldly wisdom and do not accept the faith—clearly, that is, faith in Christ—the gospel is foolishness; but to us it is not so, far from it; for we are disposed to believe that it is the power of God, and a way of salvation leading to sanctification, and wisely tutoring to the knowledge of the truth through abundant preachings. I myself think that he now calls "wise" the orators, who, by the cleverness of their words, always weaving the plausible with the false, were eager to secure for it the appearance of truth; and "scribes" I think means the grammarians or literary critics, whose custom it was to scrutinize the writings of the poets and to interpret them for the young; and "disputers" he says are those accustomed to verbal battles and who are supposedly testers of things with precision, 253 who, by the discoveries of their thoughts, as if for one to have an unassailable position on each of the subjects at hand, pretend to seek the truth, but not yet rightly, but rather in all things negligently; for they are ignorant of the God of all, who effortlessly constructed this entire universe by ineffable energies, and brought into being all non-existent things, by merely nodding; therefore the wisdom of the world has truly been made foolish. For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe.

He calls both the wisdom of God and human understanding and eloquence, that is, the very floweriness of speech; so that he might teach that God is the creator of the mind and the giver of prudence and eloquence, even if some have used them for things that were not fitting; and by foolishness of the preaching, he means the simplicity of the words; for the divine disciples were unskilled in speech, but rich in knowledge. Since both Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom. The word of Paul is true in both respects; for when Christ once drove out from the sacred precincts those who were selling the sheep and the oxen,

Χριστοῦ τοὺς ἰδίους κεκληκότος ἐν εἰρήνῃ. καὶ ὅτι εἷς ἔστιν αὐτὸς, καὶ οὐ μεμέρισται· ἓν οὖν οἱ πάντες ἐσμὲν ἐν Χριστῷ, κατηρτίσμεθά τε πρὸς τοῦτο ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ νοῒ καὶ ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ γνώμῃ, συνδέντος ἡμᾶς εἰς ὁμοψυχίαν καθ' ἕνωσιν τὴν πνευματικὴν τοῦ περὶ ἡμῶν λέγοντος τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρί Θέλω ὥσπερ ἐγὼ καὶ σὺ ἕν ἐσμεν, οὕτως "καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἡμῖν ἓν "ὦσιν." Μεμέρισται ὁ Χριστός; μὴ Παῦλος ἐσταυρώθη ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν; Εἰ ἕτερος τὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀνέτλη σταυρὸν, αὐτοῦ καὶ λεγώμεθα· καὶ εἰ βεβαπτίσμεθα τυχὸν εἰς τὴν ἑτέρου κλῆσιν, ἐκεῖνος ἡμᾶς ἐχέτω, καὶ αὐτὸν ἐπιγραψώμεθα σωτῆρα καὶ λυτρωτήν· εἰ δέ "Χριστὸς ἀπέθανεν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν "ἡμῶν," καὶ αὐτῷ καὶ μόνῳ συντεθάμμεθα "διὰ τοῦ βαπ"τίσματος εἰς τὸν θάνατον," πλουτείτω, φησὶ, τοὺς ἠγορασμένους αὐτός· σεσώσμεθα γὰρ δι' αὐτοῦ τε καὶ παρ' αὐτοῦ τεθεικότος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τὴν ἰδίαν ψυχήν.

252 Οὐ γὰρ ἀπέστειλέν με Χριστὸς βαπτίζειν, ἀλλ' εὐαγγελίζεσθαι. Ἀπέσταλται μὲν ὁμολογουμένως διακηρύξων τοῖς ἔθνεσι τὸν Ἰησοῦν· ἀλλ' ἔργον εἶναί φαμεν τῆς ἀποστολῆς τὸ ὡς ἐν καιρῷ τε καὶ χρείαις πληροῦν, εἴτ' οὖν ἕλοιτο, καὶ τὸ βαπτίσαι τινάς. ἵνα δὲ μὴ τὸν τοῦ χρῆναι κηρύττειν καιρὸν ἑτέροις φαίνοιτο δαπανῶν σπουδάσμασι, παρεὶς εὖ μάλα τοῖς κατὰ χώρας καὶ πᾶσι τεταγμένοις εἰς ἐπισκοπὴν τὸ ὡς ἐν σχολῇ τοῦτο δρᾶν, εὐηγγελίζετο μᾶλλον αὐτὸς, ἅτε δὴ καὶ λόγου χρείαν πεπιστευμένος καὶ πολὺ λίαν ἠκριβωκὼς τὸ Χριστοῦ μυστήριον· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ὁ θεσπέσιος Στέφανος, καίτοι τραπεζῶν διάκονον προχειρισάμενος, οὐκ ἀπόπεμπτον ἐποιεῖτο τὸ χρῆναι μυσταγωγεῖν, οὕτω καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος καίτοι τεθειμένος εἰς τὸ δεῖν εὐαγγελίζεσθαι τὸ Χριστοῦ μυστήριον, ἐπλήρου κατὰ καιρὸν καὶ τὴν τοῦ βαπτίσματος χρείαν, προκειμένης ἐπ' ἄμφω τῆς ἐξουσίας αὐτῷ, καὶ ἐξείργοντος οὐδενὸς εἴπερ ἕλοιτο τοῦτο δρᾶν. Ποῦ σοφός; ποῦ γραμματεύς; ποῦ συζητητὴς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου; Τοῖς μὲν μέγα φρονοῦσιν ἐπὶ σοφίᾳ κοσμικῇ καὶ τὴν πίστιν οὐ προσιεμένοις, δῆλον δὲ ὅτι τὴν εἰς Χριστὸν, μωρία τὸ εὐαγγέλιον· ἡμῖν δὲ οὐχ οὕτως, πολλοῦ γε καὶ δεῖ· διατεθείμεθα γὰρ ὅτι δύναμις Θεοῦ ἐστι, καὶ σωτηρίας ὁδὸς ἀποφέρουσα πρὸς ἁγιασμὸν, καὶ εἰς τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας ἐπίγνωσιν παιδαγωγοῦσα σοφῶς δαψιλῶν κηρυγμάτων. οἶμαι δὲ ἔγωγε σοφοὺς νῦν αὐτὸν ἀποκαλεῖν τοὺς ῥήτορας, οἳ τῇ τῶν λόγων δεινότητι τὸ πιθανὸν ἀεὶ τῷ ψεύδει συμπλέκοντες, τῆς ἀληθείας αὐτῷ τὴν δόκησιν περιποιεῖν ἐσπούδαζον· γραμματέας δὲ οἶμαι τοὺς γραμματιστὰς ἤτοι γραμματικοὺς, οἷς ἦν ἔθος τὰς τῶν ποιητῶν περιεργάζεσθαι συγγραφὰς καὶ διερμηνεύειν τοῖς νέοις· συζητητὰς δέ φησι τοὺς λογομαχεῖν εἰωθότας καὶ ἀκριβείᾳ δῆθεν τῶν πραγμά 253 των βασανιστὰς, οἳ ταῖς τῶν ἐννοιῶν εὑρέσεσιν, ὡς ἑνὶ τὸ ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν προκειμένων ἀδιαβλήτως ἔχειν δοκοῦν, ζητεῖν ὑποκρίνονται τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἀλλ' οὔτι πω ὀρθῶς, μᾶλλον δὲ εἰς ἅπαν ἠμελημένως· ἠγνοήκασι γὰρ τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεὸν, ὃς τόδε τὸ σύμπαν ἀποῤῥήτοις ἐνεργείαις ἀπονητὶ διεπήξατο, καὶ παρήνεγκεν εἰς τὸ εἶναι τὰ οὐκ ὄντα πάντα, κατανεύσας μόνον· μεμώραται τοίνυν ἀληθῶς ἡ τοῦ κόσμου σοφία. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐν τῇ σοφίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ ἔγνω ὁ κόσμος διὰ τῆς σοφίας τὸν Θεὸν, εὐδόκησεν ὁ Θεὸς διὰ τῆς μωρίας τοῦ κηρύγματος σῶσαι τοὺς πιστεύοντας.

Σοφίαν Θεοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ὀνομάζει σύνεσιν καὶ τὴν εὐγλωττίαν, ἤτοι αὐτὸ τὸ τῆς λέξεως ἀνθηρόν· ἵνα διδάξῃ ὅτι νοῦ ποιητὴς ὁ Θεὸς καὶ φρονήσεως χορηγὸς καὶ εὐγλωττίας, καὶ εἴ τινες αὐτοῖς ἐχρήσαντο ἐφ' ἃ μὴ προσῆκεν· μωρίαν δὲ τοῦ κηρύγματος, τῶν λέξεων τὴν ἁπλότητα λέγει· ἰδιῶται μὲν γὰρ τῷ λόγῳ γεγόνασιν οἱ θεσπέσιοι μαθηταὶ, πλούσιοι δὲ τῇ γνώσει. Ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἰουδαῖοι σημεῖον αἰτοῦσι καὶ ἕλληνες σοφίαν ζητοῦσι. Κατ' ἄμφω ἀληθὴς ὁ τοῦ Παύλου λόγος· ἐξελαύνοντος γάρ ποτε τοῦ Χριστοῦ τῶν ἱερῶν περιβόλων τοὺς πωλοῦντας τὰ πρόβατα καὶ τὰς βοῦς,