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 he might abolish through himself the death that had assailed our members; and this frees us from corruption and the snares of death and makes us superior to fleshly passions. And we receive in ourselves the unleavened teaching of the divine oracles which nourishes the ruling faculty, and we live together with Christ, clearly spiritually, having overcome the passions of the flesh. If, therefore, he is "the head of the body, the church," then we are the individual members. Whenever, therefore, we fall into unseemly pleasures, then indeed we shall sin against him, whose members we have also become; for it is as if we give his members to prostitutes; his members are polluted by sin and are made the members of a prostitute. For just as he who is joined to a woman will be one body with her, so also he who is joined to God intellectually will be one spirit with him. For we have become "partakers of the divine nature," and we have been joined and sanctified through the Spirit in Christ.
OF THE SAME CYRIL, FROM THE THIRD VOLUME ON THE EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS.
Every sin that a man commits is outside the body, but he who commits fornication
sins against his own body. One might say: The murderer, tell me, in what way will he commit the murder? Is it not through blood? And if someone chose to revile others, is he not such through the tongue? Then which of the sins would be done, if not through the body? Will the Spirit-bearer, then, perhaps appear to be a liar? May it not be; for he speaks in Christ, and Christ is the truth; he will therefore be true. If we consider the matter in this way: if someone should happen to choose to be wicked in his ways, he will certainly be so towards others and not towards himself. For the murderer will kill not himself, but others, and the reviler will insult not himself, but others, and the greedy man will wrong not himself but against others, and in each of the wicked deeds you will find some such way of their being done. Therefore, in this way, Every sin is outside the body, but he who commits fornication sins against his own body. For he will be caught wronging his own body, 266 and in what way, I will say. The members of our body, having remained members of Christ through purity, will certainly partake of his life and glory; "for he will transform the body of our lowliness to be conformed to the body of his glory;" but if they become the members of a prostitute, how could they receive the transformation and the intellectual splendor of conformity to him? For when the bodies are raised from the earth at the time of the resurrection, "The righteous will shine forth like the sun," but the impious and profane and those who have lived wickedly will be raised, but they will no longer live a glorious life, and they remain without a share in glory; for they will rise not "in the judgment nor in the council of the righteous," but for punishment and penalty, for they will go away into the outer darkness; for how can that which is being punished be in glory? And he adds something else, not without power to persuade one to hate the accursed pleasure of the body.
Since both the murderer and the dishonorer and the reviler, even if he commits the sin with the body, yet does it against others, for these reasons it is said, Every sin is outside the body, but he who commits fornication wrongs his own body; our bodies through purity remain members of Christ, and they partake of his life and
μετεσχήκαμεν δὲ καὶ τῆς ἁγίας αὐτοῦ σαρκὸς, ἡγιάσμεθά τε διττῶς· καὶ κατῴκηκεν 264 ἐν ἡμῖν ὡς ζωὴ καὶ ζωοποιὸς, ἵνα τὸν τοῖς μέλεσιν ἡμῶν ἐπισκήψαντα θάνατον καταργήσῃ δι' ἑαυτοῦ· καὶ τοῦτο ἡμᾶς ἀπαλλάσσει φθορᾶς καὶ τῶν τοῦ θανάτου βρόχων καὶ ἀμείνους ποιεῖ παθῶν σαρκικῶν. καὶ δεχόμεθα τὴν ἄζυμον ἐν ἑαυτοῖς διδασκαλίαν τῶν θείων λογίων τὴν τρέφουσαν τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν, καὶ συζῶμεν Χριστῷ, δῆλον δὲ ὅτι πνευματικῶς, περιγενόμενοι τῶν τῆς σαρκὸς παθῶν. εἰ τοίνυν αὐτός ἐστιν "ἡ κεφαλὴ τοῦ σώματος τῆς ἐκκλησίας," ἡμεῖς ἄρα ἐσμὲν οἱ καθ' ἕκαστα μέλη· ὅταν οὖν εἰς ἀτόπους ἡδονὰς καταπίπτωμεν, τότε δὴ τότε πλημμελήσομεν εἰς αὐτὸν, οὗ καὶ γεγόναμεν μέλη· πόρνοις γὰρ ὥσπερ τὰ αὐτοῦ χαριούμεθα· τὰ μέλη αὐτοῦ μολύνονται τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ καὶ πόρνης ποιοῦνται μέλη. ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ γυναικὶ κολλώμενος ἓν πρὸς αὐτὴν ἔσται σῶμα, οὕτως καὶ ὁ Θεῷ συνδεσμούμενος νοητῶς ἒν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔσται πνεῦμα· γεγόναμεν γὰρ "θείας κοινωνοὶ φύσεως," συνήφθημέν τε καὶ ἡγιάσμεθα διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐν Χριστῷ.
ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΚΥΡΙΛΛΟΥ ΕΚ ΤΟΥ Γ ΤΟΜΟΥ ΤΗΣ ΠΡΟΣ ΚΟΡΙΝΘΙΟΥΣ.
Πᾶν ἁμάρτημα ὃ ἐὰν ποιήσῃ ἄνθρωπος, ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν, ὁ δὲ πορνεύων
εἰς τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα ἁμαρτάνει. ΦΑΙΗ τις ἄν Ὁ φονευτὴς, εἰπέ μοι, τίνα δὴ τρόπον ἐνεργήσει τὸν φόνον; ἆρ' οὐ δι' αἵματος; εἰ δὲ δή τις ἕλοιτο φιλοψογεῖν ἑτέρους, οὐ διὰ γλώττης ἐστὶ τοιοῦτος; εἶτα ποῖον ἔσται τῶν πλημμελημάτων ὃ δρῶτο ἂν, οὐχὶ διὰ τοῦ σώματος; ψευδοέπης οὖν ἆρα λοιπὸν ὁ πνευματοφόρος ἀναφανεῖταί που; μὴ γένοιτο· λαλεῖ γὰρ ἐν Χριστῷ, Χριστὸς δέ ἐστιν ἡ ἀλήθεια· ἔσται δὴ οὖν ἀληθής. εἰ τῇδέ πη. τὸ χρῆμα διασκεπτόμεθα, εἴ τις ἕλοιτο τυχὸν σκαιὸς εἶναι τοὺς τρόπους, εἰς ἑτέρους που πάντως ἔσται τοιοῦτος καὶ οὐκ εἰς ἑαυτόν. ἀποκτενεῖ γὰρ ὁ φονευτὴς, οὐχ ἑαυτὸν, ἀλλ' ἑτέρους, ὑβρίσει δὲ καὶ ὁ λοίδορος οὐχ ἑαυτὸν, ἀλλ' ἑτέρους, ἀδικήσει δὲ καὶ ὁ πλεονέκτης οὐχ ἑαυτὸν ἀλλ' ἐφ' ἑτέρους, καὶ ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν ἐκτόπων τινὰ τῶν δρωμένων τοιαύτην εὑρήσεις ὁδόν. οὐκοῦν κατὰ τόνδε τὸν τρόπον Πᾶν ἁμάρτημα ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν, ὁ δὲ πορνεύων εἰς τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα ἁμαρτάνει. ἁλώσεται γὰρ ἀδικῶν αὐτὸ τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα, 266 καὶ τίνα τρόπον, ἐρῶ. τὰ μέλη τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν διὰ μὲν τῆς ἁγνείας Χριστοῦ μέλη μεμενηκότα, μεθέξουσι πάντως τῆς παρ' αὐτοῦ ζωῆς τε καὶ δόξης· "μετασχηματίσει γὰρ τὸ "σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν σύμμορφον τῷ σώματι τῆς "δόξης αὐτοῦ·" εἰ δὲ δὴ γένοιτο πόρνης μέλη, πῶς ἂν λάβοι τὸν μετασχηματισμὸν καὶ τὴν τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν συμμορφίας λαμπρότητα νοητήν; ἐγηγερμένων γὰρ τῶν ἀπὸ γῆς σωμάτων κατὰ τὸν τῆς ἀναστάσεως καιρόν "Ἐκλάμψουσι μὲν οἱ "δίκαιοι ὡς ὁ ἥλιος," οἱ δὲ ἀσεβεῖς τε καὶ βέβηλοι καὶ βεβιωκότες ἐκτόπως, ἐγερθήσονται μὲν, οὐ μὴν ἔτι καὶ τὴν εὐκλεᾶ διαβιώσονται ζωὴν, ἀμέτοχοι δὲ μένουσι καὶ δόξης· ἀναστήσονται γὰρ οὐκ "ἐν κρίσει οὔτε μὴν ἐν βουλῇ "δικαίων," ἀλλ' ἐπὶ ποινῇ καὶ δίκῃ, κατοιχήσονται γὰρ εἰς τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον· πῶς γὰρ ἐν δόξῃ τὸ κολαζόμενον; προσεπάγει δέ τι καὶ ἕτερον, οὐκ ἀνικάνως ἔχον ἀναπεῖσαι μισεῖν τὴν ἐπάρατον τοῦ σώματος ἡδονήν.
Ἐπειδὴ καὶ ὁ φονεύων καὶ ἀτιμάζων καὶ λοιδορῶν, εἰ καὶ σώματι ποιεῖ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἀλλ' ὅμως εἰς ἑτέρους αὐτὸ πράττει, τούτων τῶν τρόπων λέγεται Πᾶν ἁμάρτημα ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματος, ὁ δὲ πορνεύων αὐτὸ τὸ ἴδιον ἀδικεῖ σῶμα· τὰ σώματα ἡμῶν δι' ἁγνείας μένουσι μέλη Χριστοῦ, καὶ μεταλαμβάνουσι τῆς παρ' αὐτοῦ ζωῆς καὶ