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

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 is nothing when deprived of the other commandments of God; likewise also uncircumcision is nothing if not adorned with a gospel life. It is fitting, therefore, for the one who has been called to remain in his calling, whatever his state may be; and he necessarily proceeds to the need to ward off, as it were, another slander against the divine preaching; for a spirit of slavery was in those under the law; but the gospel ordinance, he says, imparts the spirit of adoption to those who are willing to believe, and no longer calls to slavery, but to a free dignity.

FROM THE SAME, FROM THE FOURTH TOME OF CYRIL ON CORINTHIANS.

Were you a slave when you were called? Let it not concern you. SINCE some, being deemed worthy of the grace of the Holy Spirit,

were shaking off the yoke of slavery according to the flesh, he writes also through other words, "Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh," and he, as it were, charms them most cleverly through these words, saying, Were you a slave when you were called? Let it not concern you; but if you can also become free, rather use it; that is, even if, having the yoke of slavery according to the flesh attached to you, you were called through faith into a free sonship, and even if you have become a partaker of the divine nature, be better than faintheartedness, you will not find the labor in slavery to be without reward; for the creator knows that nature is free; for it was so made by him; but a certain greed, creeping in somehow at times, has marred the beauty of freedom. It is necessary, indeed, for those who have suffered to cast off 274 the evil, since Christ transforms all things to their original state; for what is in him is a new creation, and there is neither slave nor "free, but he is all and in all." And so Isaiah has proclaimed beforehand the state of the expected and future life, and the equality that is with God, saying, "And the people will be as the priest, and the servant as his master, and the maidservant as her mistress." Therefore, even if you could, he says, become free, rather use it; for, as I said, the yoke is not unprofitable for those who have used good will and have lived rightly in it; but it will not at all be an injustice that slavery according to the flesh has now been imposed on some out of greed, if freedom is preserved for all in an equal manner and measure, at least with God who judges righteous things and weighs our affairs piously. Besides, he says, it would not be possible for us, being human, to escape the name of slavery; for everything that has been made is a slave and is subject to the divine scepters, all that has been called into being; so that the slave is Christ's freedman, and the one called to freedom is in every way a slave, as the psalm says, "for all things are your slaves."

Indeed, the mystagogue shows that those who are saved through him are benefited by Christ in another way also; for this reason he says, You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men; for we were bought with a price, admittedly, since Christ the Savior of us all laid down his own blood for 275 us, and we have been rescued from the greed of the devil, from the cruelty of demons, and we have been called to freedom through Christ. Therefore, as those who have been bought and who owe their own life to the one who purchased them, do not become slaves of men, he says. And we are not saying that he persuades them to leap away from slavery according to the flesh, but rather he teaches this, and very rightly, not to be slaves to those who attempt to lead the faithful into legal observance, and of the ancient deceit

ἐπιτελεῖσθε;" ἔδει τοίνυν σαφεῖ καὶ ἐναργεστάτῳ κηρύγματι τῆς ἀληθείας αὐτοῖς ἀνευρῦναι τὴν ὁδὸν, καὶ ὡς ἡ περιτομὴ οὐδέν ἐστι τῶν ἄλλων ἐντολῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐστερημένη· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἡ ἀκροβυστία οὐδέν ἐστι μὴ εὐαγγελικῷ βίῳ κεκοσμημένη. Προσήκει τοίνυν τὸν κεκλημένον ἐν τῇ κλήσει μένειν ὅπως ἂν ἔχοι σχήματος· μέτεισι δὲ ἀναγκαίως ἐπὶ τὸ χρῆναι πάλιν δυσφημίαν ἑτέραν μονονουχὶ ἀποσοβεῖν τοῦ θείου κηρύγματος· πνεῦμα μὲν γὰρ δουλείας ἦν ἐν τοῖς ὑπὸ νόμον· τὸ δὲ θέσπισμα τὸ εὐαγγελικὸν, τῆς υἱοθεσίας τὸ πνεῦμα τοῖς πιστεύειν ἐθέλουσιν ἐνίεσθαί φησιν, καὶ οὐκ ἔτι καλοῦν εἰς δουλείαν, ἀλλ' εἰς ἐλεύθερον ἀξίωμα.

ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΕΚ ΤΟΥ ∆ ΤΟΜΟΥ ΤΗΣ ΠΡΟΣ ΚΟΡΙΝΘΙΟΥΣ ΚΥΡΙΛΛΟΥ.

∆οῦλος ἐκλήθης; μή σοι μελέτω. ἘΠΕΙ∆Η τινες τῆς τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος

ἀξιούμενοι χάριτος, τὸν τῆς κατὰ σάρκα δουλείας ἀπεσείοντο ζυγὸν, ἐπιστέλλει μὲν καὶ δι' ἑτέρων "Μόνον μὴ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν εἰς "ἀφορμὴν τῇ σαρκὶ," καταγοητεύει δὲ ὥσπερ καὶ διὰ τούτων αὐτοὺς ἀστειότατα λέγων ∆οῦλος ἐκλήθης; μή σοι μελέτω· ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ δύνασαι ἐλεύθερος γενέσθαι, μᾶλλον χρῆσαι· τουτέστι κἂν εἰς τὸν τῆς δουλείας τῆς κατὰ σάρκα ζυγὸν ἐπηρτημένον ἔχων ἐκλήθης διὰ τῆς πίστεως εἰς ἐλευθέραν υἱότητα, κἂν εἰ τῆς θείας φύσεως γέγονας κοινωνὸς, ἄμεινον ἔσο μικροψυχίας, οὐκ ἄμισθον εὑρήσεις τὸν ἐπὶ τῇ δουλείᾳ πόνον· οἶδεν μὲν γὰρ ἐλευθέραν τὴν φύσιν ὁ δημιουργός· πεποίηται γὰρ οὕτως παρ' αὐτοῦ· πλεονεξία δέ τις παρεισδραμοῦσά πως κατὰ καιροὺς τῷ τῆς ἐλευθερίας κάλλει διελυμήνατο. δεῖ δὲ δὴ πάντως τοὺς πεπονθότας, ἀποφορτί 274 σασθαι τὸ κακὸν, μεταστοιχειοῦντος ἅπαντα πρὸς τὸ ἐν ἀρχαῖς τοῦ Χριστοῦ· καινὴ γὰρ κτίσις τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ οὔτε δοῦλος οὔτε "ἐλεύθερος ἀλλὰ τὰ πάντα καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν" αὐτός. καὶ γοῦν ὁ Ἡσαΐας τοῦ προσδοκωμένου καὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος ἔσεσθαι βίου τὴν κατάστασιν καὶ τὴν ἰσότητα τὴν παρὰ Θεῷ προανακέκραγεν λέγων "Καὶ ἔσται ὁ λαὸς ὡς "ὁ ἱερεὺς, καὶ ὁ παῖς ὡς ὁ κύριος, καὶ ἡ θεράπαινα ὡς ἡ "κυρία." οὐκοῦν κἂν εἰ δύναιό φησιν ἐλεύθερος γενέσθαι, μᾶλλον χρῆσαι· καὶ γάρ ἐστιν, ὡς ἔφην, οὐκ ἀκερδὴς ὁ ζυγὸς τοῖς ἀγαθῇ κεχρημένοις εὐνοίᾳ καὶ ὀρθῶς ἐν αὐτῷ διαγεγονόσιν· ἀδικήσει δὲ τὸ σύμπαν οὐδὲν τὸ νῦν ἐκ πλεονεξίας ἐπεῤῥίφθαι τισὶ τὴν κατὰ σάρκα δουλείαν, ἔσται ἂν ἅπασιν ἐν ἴσῳ τρόπῳ καὶ λόγῳ σώζηται τὸ ἐλεύθερον παρά γε τῷ τὰ δίκαια κρίνοντι καὶ τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς ὁσίως ταλαντεύοντι Θεῷ. ἄλλως τε, φησὶν, οὐκ ἂν εἴη τῶν ἐνδεχομένων ἀνθρώπους ὄντας ἡμᾶς τὸ τῆς δουλείας ὄνομα φυγεῖν· δοῦλον γὰρ ἅπαν ἐστὶ τὸ πεποιημένον καὶ τοῖς θείοις ὑποφέρεται σκήπτροις πᾶν ὅπερ ἐστὶ κεκλημένον εἰς γένεσιν· ὥστε καὶ ὁ δοῦλος ἀπελεύθερός ἐστι Χριστοῦ, δοῦλος δὲ πάντως καὶ ὁ κεκλημένος εἰς ἐλευθερίαν, καθά φησιν ὁ ψαλμός "ὅτι τὰ "σύμπαντα δοῦλα σά."

Ἀποφαίνει γεμὴν ὁ μυσταγωγὸς καὶ καθ' ἕτερον τρόπον ὠφελουμένους Χριστῷ τοὺς δι' αὐτὸν σεσωσμένους· ταύτῃ τοί φησι Τιμῆς ἠγοράσθητε, μὴ γίνεσθε δοῦλοι ἀνθρώπων· ἠγοράσμεθα μὲν γὰρ τιμῆς ὁμολογουμένως τεθεικότος ὑπὲρ 275 ἡμῶν τὸ ἴδιον αἷμα τοῦ πάντων ἡμῶν Σωτῆρος Χριστοῦ, ἐξῃρήμεθα δὲ τῆς τοῦ διαβόλου πλεονεξίας, τῆς τῶν δαιμονίων ὠμότητος, κεκλήμεθα δὲ πρὸς ἐλευθερίαν διὰ Χριστοῦ. οὐκοῦν ὡς ἠγορασμένοι καὶ τῷ πριαμένῳ τὴν ἑαυτῶν ὀφείλοντες ζωὴν, μὴ γίνεσθέ φησι δοῦλοι ἀνθρώπων. καὶ οὔτι φαμὲν ὡς τῆς κατὰ σάρκα δουλείας ἀποπηδᾶν ἀναπείθει, διδάσκει δὲ μᾶλλον ἐκεῖνο καὶ μάλα ὀρθῶς μὴ δουλεύειν τοῖς ἀποφέρειν τοὺς πεπιστευκότας ἐπιχειροῦσιν εἰς νομικὴν παρατήρησιν, καὶ τῆς ἀρχαίας ἀπάτης