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Cyril of Jerusalem: Catechetical Lectures
Edwin Hamilton Gifford; NPNF2-07 (1894) · Edition commentary
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Translator and historical edition notes (part 19)
ἐς τοῦτο διέβησαν. These words are omitted in many mss., and regarded by the Benedictine Editor as a spurious addition made to complete the construction. The words ἢ τοιαῦτα at the end of the sentence are better omitted, as in several good mss.
Cat. iv. 37; Apost. Const. vi.:
“Be not a diviner, for that leads to idolatry.…Thou shalt not use enchantments or purgations for thy child. Thou shalt not be a soothsayer nor a diviner by great or little birds. Nor shalt thou learn wicked arts; for all these things has the Law forbidden.”
Deut. xviii. 10, 11.
Apost. Const. vii. 41: “And after his renunciation let him in his association (συντασσόμενος) say, I associate myself with Christ.”
πειραθήσῃ (Cod. Mon. 1) is a better reading than πειρασθήσῃ. Cf. Plat. Laches, 188 E: τῶν ἔργων ἐπειράθην.
Phil. iii. 13. On the pillar of salt, see Wisd. x. 7: “Of whose wickedness even to this day the waste land that smoketh is a testimony,…and a standing pillar of salt is a monument of an unbelieving soul.” Joseph. Ant. I. xi. 4: “Moreover I have seen it, for it remains even unto this day.” Bp. Lightfoot, Clem. Rom. Ep. ad Cor. xi. remarks that the region abounds in pillars of salt, and “Mediæval and even modern travellers have delighted to identify one or other of these with Lot’s wife.”
Dan. ii. 35, 45.
Is. xxviii. 15.
Cf. S. Ambros. De Mysteriis, c. ii. 7: “Ad orientem converteris; qui enim renunciat diabolo ad Christum convertitur:”
“Where he plainly intimates.…that turning to the East was a symbol of their aversion from Satan and conversion unto Christ, that is, from darkness to light, from serving idols, to serve Him, who is the Sun of Righteousness and Fountain of Light”
(Bingh. Ant. xi. vii. 7).
Cf. Didaché, vii. 1; Justin M. Apolog. I. c. 61 A; Swainson, Creeds, c. iii. on the short Baptismal Professions. “The writings of S. Cyprian distinctly tell us, that in his day the form of interrogation at Baptism was fixed and definite. He speaks of the “usitata et legitima verba interrogationis,”—and we know as distinctly that the interrogation included the words, “Dost thou believe in God the Father, in His Son Christ, in the Holy Spirit? Dost thou believe in remission of sins and eternal life through the Church?”
1 Pet. v. 9.
Is. xxv. 8; Rev. vii. 17.
πανηγυρίσεις
Is. lxi. 10.
These words seem to imply that the Lectures on the Eucharist were to be delivered in the Holy Sepulchre, though the Mysteries themselves may be called metaphorically “the Holy of Holies.”
Lecture XX.
μυσταγωγίαι.
The renunciation and the profession of faith were made in the outer chamber or vestibule of the Baptistery.
Col. iii. 9.
Ib. ii. 15. Cyril’s use of this passage agrees best with the interpretation that Christ, having been clothed with the likeness of sinful flesh during His life on earth, submitted therein to the assaults of the powers of evil, but on the Cross threw off from Himself both it and them.
Eph. iv. 22.
Cant. v. 3.
See Dict. Christ. Antiq. “Baptism,” § 48: The Unclothing of the Catechumens: Bingh. Ant. XI. xi. 1: All
“persons were baptized naked, either in imitation of Adam in Paradise, or our Saviour upon the Cross, or to signify their putting off the body of sin, and the old man with his deeds.”
Apost. Const. vii. 22:
“But thou shalt beforehand anoint the person with holy oil (ἐλαίῳ), and afterward baptize him with water, and in the conclusion shalt seal him with the ointment (μύρῳ), that the anointing (χρῖσμα) may be a participation of the Holy Spirit, and the water a symbol of the death, and the ointment the seal of the Covenants. But if there be neither oil nor ointment, water suffices both for anointing, and for a seal, and for a confession of Him who died, or indeed is dying with us.”
The previous anointing “with oil sanctified by prayer” is mentioned in the Clementine Recognitions, III. c. 67, and in the Pseudo-Justin, Quæstiones ad Orthodoxos, Qu. 137. It was not however universal, and seems to have been unknown in Africa, not being mentioned by Clement of Alexandria (Pæd. II. c. viii. On the use of ointments), nor Tertullian, nor Augustine.
On the significance of the wild olive-tree, see Irenæus, V. 10.
See Index, “Exorcism.”
κολυμβήθραν. The pool or piscina was deep enough for total immersion, and large enough for many to be baptized at once. Cf. Bingh. Ant. VIII. vii. 2; XI. xi. 2, 3. For engravings of the very ancient Baptisteries at Aquileia and Ravenna, shewing the form of the font or piscina, see Dict. Christian Ant. “Baptistery.”
The same significance is attributed to the trine immersion by many Fathers, but a different explanation is given by Tertullian (Adv. Praxean, c. xxvi.): “Not once only, but three times, we are immersed into the several Persons at the mention of their several names.” Gregory of Nyssa (On the Baptism of Christ, p. 520 in this Series) joins both reasons together:
“By doing this thrice we represent for ourselves that grace of the Resurrection which was wrought in three days: and this we do, not receiving the Sacrament in silence, but while there are spoken over us the Names of the Three Sacred Persons on whom we believed, &c.”
Compare p. 529. Cf. Apost. Const VIII. § 47, Can. 50: “If any Bishop or Presbyter does not perform the three immersions of one initiation, but one immersion made into the death of Christ, let him be deprived.” Milles in his note on this passage mentions that “this form of Baptism is still used in the Greek Church. See Eucholog. p. 355. Ed. Jac. Goar. and his notes p. 365.”
Eccles. iii. 2.
Tertullian (De Baptismo, c. 10) denies that John’s Baptism availed for the remission of sins:
“If repentance is a thing human, its baptism must necessarily be of the same nature: else if it had been celestial, it would have given both the Holy Spirit and the remission of sins.”
Cyril’s doctrine is more in accordance with the language of the Fathers generally, and of St. Mark i. 4; Luke iii. 3.
πρόξενον.
ἀντίτυπον. The “Antitype” is here the sign or memorial of that which is past, and no longer actually present: See note 6 on xxi. 1. Cf. Heb. ix. 24.
Rom. vi. 3. In the following sentence several mss. have a different reading: “These things perhaps he said to some who were disposed to think that Baptism ministers remission of sins only, and not adoption, and that further it has not the fellowship, &c.” Against this reading, approve by Milles, the Benedictine Editor argues that in Rom. vi. 3, 4, there is no reference to adoption, but only to the fellowship of Christ’s Passion, and that Cyril quotes the passage only to prove the latter, the gift of adoption being generally admitted, and therefore not in question.
This clause is contained in the Nicene Creed, and in that which was offered to the Council by Eusebius as the ancient Creed of Cæsarea. It probably formed part of the Creed of Jerusalem, though it is not found in the titles of the Lectures, nor specially explained.
Ib. vi. 5. Cyril gives the phrase “planted together” a special application to those who had been baptized in the same place where Christ had been buried.
1 Cor. xi. 2: Now I praise you, &c.
Rom. vi. 13.
Ib. v. 4.
Lecture XXI.
Gal. iii. 27.
Eph. i. 5.
Phil. iii. 21.
Heb. iii. 14.
Ps. cv. 15.
ἀντίτυπον. Cat. xx. 6; xxiii. 20. Twice in this section as in Heb. ix. 24 (ἀντίτυπα τῶν ἀληθινῶν), ἀντίτυπον is the copy or figure representing the original pattern (τύπος, cf. Acts vii. 44). Otherwise (as in Cat. x. 11; xiii. 19; xxii. 3) τύπος is the figure to be subsequently realised in the antitype.
εἰκονικῶς .…εἰκόνες τοῦ Χριστοῦ.
χρώτων, literally “tinctures.” The Ben. Ed. writes:
“For φώτων we have written χρώτων with Codd. Coisl. Ottob. Roe, Casaub., &c…But we must write χρώτων from χρῶτα, not χρῶτων from χρῶτες. Authors use the word χρῶτα to signify the effluence of an odour. So Gregory of Nyssa takes it in his 3rd Homily on the Song of Songs, p. 512; and S. Maximus in Question 37 on Scripture: ‘χρῶτα we say is the godliness (εὐσέβειαν) whereby S. Paul was to the one a savour of life unto life.’…In the Procatechesis, § 15, Cyril calls the waters of Baptism ὑδάτων χριστοφόρων ἐχόντων εὐωδίαν.
If however any one prefers the reading φώτων, he may defend himself by the authority of Epiphanius, who in the Exposition of the Faith, c. 15, says that Christ descending into the water gave rather than received,.…illuminating them, and empowering them for a type of what was to be accomplished in Him.”
According to the Ebionite Gospel of St. Matthew in Epiphanius (Hær. xxx. Ebionitæ. c. 13), when Jesus came up out of the water a great light shone around the place: a tradition to which the Benedictine Editor thinks the reading φώτων may refer. Justin M. (Dialog. c. lxxxviii.): “When Jesus had stepped into the water, a fire was kindled in the Jordan.” Otto quotes the legend, as found in Orac. Sibyll. vii. 81–83:— ῞Ος σε Λόγον γέννησε Πατήρ Πνεῦμ᾽ ὄρνιν ἄφηκεν, ᾽Οξὺν ἀπαγγελτῆρα λόγων, Λόγον ὕδασιν ἁγνοῖς ῾Ραίνων, σὸν Βάπτισμα δι᾽ οὗ πυρὸς ἐξεφαάνθης .
οὐσιώδης ἐπιφοίησις ἐγένετο. The Benedictine Editor understands this phrase as an allusion to the descent of the Holy Ghost on Jesus in a substantial bodily form. So Gregory Nazianzen (Orat xliv. 17), says that the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles οὐσιωδῶς καὶ σωματικῶς. But Anastasius Sinaita interprets οὐσιωδῶς in this latter passage as meaning “in the essence and reality of His (Divine ) Person:” and this latter sense agreeing with the frequent use of οὐσιωδής by Athanasius is well rendered by Canon Mason (The Relation of Confirmation to Baptism, p. 343, “in the fulness of His being.”
Cf. Greg. Naz. Orat. xxxix: “The Sprit also bears witness to His Godhead, for he comes to that which is like Himself.”
Cf. Tertullian, De Baptismo, c. 7: “Exinde egressi de lavacro perungimur benedictâ unctione.” It is clear that the Unction mentioned in these passages was conferred at the same time and place as Baptism. Whether it formed part of that Sacrament, or was regarded by Cyril as a separate and independent rite, has been made a matter of controversy. See Index, “Chrism.”
Is. lxi. 1.
Acts x. 38.
Ps. xlv. 6, 7.
νοητῷ cannot here be translated “spiritual” because of πνευματίκῆς immediately following. Cf. i. 4, note.
Compare xix. 7; xxiii. 7, 19; and the section on “Eucharist” in the Introduction.
Χριστοῦ χάρισμα καὶ Πνεύματος ἁγίου παρουσίᾳ τῆς αὐτοῦ Θεότητος ἐνεργητικὸν γινόμενον. The meaning of this passage seems to have been obscured by divergent views of the order and construction of the words. In the Oxford translation, followed by Dr. Pusey (Real Presence, p. 357), the Chrism is “the gift of Christ, and by the presence of His godhead it causes in us the Holy Ghost.” The order of the operations proper to the two Divine Persons seems thus to be inverted. According to the Benedictine Editor, and Canon Mason (Relation of Confirmation to Baptism, p. 344), it is “Christ’s gracious gift, and is made effectual to convey the Holy Ghost by the presence of His own Godhead,”—i.e. apparently, the Godhead of the Holy Ghost conveys the Holy Ghost.
But according to the context “the presence” must be that of the Divine Person who has been invoked, namely the Holy Ghost: and this is clearly expressed in the order of the words Πνεύματος ἁγίου παρουσίᾳ τῆς αὐτοῦ θεότητος ἐνεργητικόν. The connexion of the words Πν. ἁγ. παρουσίᾳ is put beyond doubt by the Invocation in the Liturgy of S. James quoted in Myst. V. 7, note 8. The true meaning thus seems to be that the Chrism is Christ’s gift of grace, and imparts His Divine nature by the presence of the Holy Ghost after the Invocation. This meaning is confirmed by the formula given in Apost. Const. vii. 44, for the consecration of the Chrism:
“Grant also now that this ointment may be made effectual in the baptized, that the sweet savour of Thy Christ may remain firm and stable in him, and that, having died with Him, he may rise again and live with Him.”
The Chrism is thus regarded as “the Seal” which confirms the proper benefits of Baptism.
ἐπὶ μετώπου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων σου αἰσθητηρίων. The forehead may be regarded as representing the sense of touch; or we may translate, according to the idiomatic use of ἄλλος, “thy forehead and thine organs of sense besides.” See Winer, Grammar of N.T. Greek, P. III. Sect. lix. 7: Riddell, Digest of Platonic Idioms, § 46.
2 Cor. iii. 18.
Is. l. 4.
Matt. xi. 15.
2 Cor. ii. 15.
Eph. vi. 14, and 11.
Phil. iv. 13.
1 Kings i. 39.
Rom. xi. 16.
1 John ii. 20: But ye have an unction (χρῖσμα) from the Holy One.
Is. ii. 2.
Ib. xxv. 6. The Septuagint differs much from the Hebrew, both here and in the following verse. R.V.
“And in this mountain shall the Lord of host make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.”
Ib. v. 7. R.V. “And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering that is cast over all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations.”
Lecture XXII.
αὐτή found in all mss. is changed for the worse into αὕτη by the Benedictine Editor.
Introduction, “Eucharist.” The word σύσσωμοι has a different sense in Eph. iii. 6, where it is applied to the Gentiles as having been made members of Christ’s body the Church.