Acta Theologica

2014 34(1): 1-16

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/actat.v34i1.1
ISSN 1015-8758
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E. Artemi

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA SPEAKS

FOR GOD IN HIS INTERPRETATION
OF THE HOLY BIBLE
ABSTRACT
Cyril of Alexandria is known more for his defence of Alexandrian Christology than
for his accomplishments as an interpreter of the Old and New Testaments. Although
the fathers were aware that the Old Testaments idiom differed from that of the New
Testament, they considered the Bible to be one book and that each part thereof
complemented the other. Cyril emphasises that [t]he entire Scripture is one book,
and was spoken by the one Holy Spirit (Isaiah PG 70, 656A).1 The unity of the Bible
is based on Christ; without him, it is difficult to view Leviticus, Proverbs, Ezekiel,
Marks gospel, the Acts of the Apostles or the first epistle of John as part of one
Holy Book, the Bible.

1. INTRODUCTION
Cyril insists that the law of the Old Testament is a pedagogy which, using
metaphors and types, led infants to maturity and hid the beauty of the
presence of God within it (Glaphyra PG 68, 137B). In the New Testament, the
presence of God becomes visible in the enfleshed (sesarkomenos) Divine
Word. The New Testament enables people to understand the stories and
the pictures in the Old Testament spiritually (Glaphyra PG68, 148C). Cyrils
most interesting interpretation is the Gospel of John. In every interpretation
treatise, the patriarch of Alexandria develops his Christological teaching
and explains how God, and especially the Son of God, reveals Himself to
humanity. Cyril of Alexandria underlines the mystery of God through his
interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. For him, both the Old and the New
1 The abbreviation PG stands for J.P. Migne, Patrologia cursus completus
graeca. Paris, 1857-1866.
Dr. Eirini Artemi, Greek Archdiocese of Athens, E-mail: [email protected].

Produced by SUN MeDIA Bloemfontein

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Cyril of Alexandria speaks for God

Testaments are the ways in which God revealed Himself to Israel and to the
world. Linked to the Christological controversy, which led to the Council
of Ephesus in 431, the last important representative of the Alexandrian
tradition in the Greek Orient, Cyril the Bishop of Alexandria, was later
defined as the guardian of exactitude guardian of the true faith and
even as the seal of the Fathers. His important commentaries on many
of the New and Old Testament Books are based on the defence of the
Trinitarian and Christological faith against the Sabellian, Arian, Apollinarius
and Nestorius theses. His interpretation is based on a more literal and
occasionally typological exegesis. In his interpretation of the Holy Bible,
Cyril finds the opportunity to speak about the Triune God and mainly to
explain his Christological teaching. The latter was very important for his
theological disagreement with the Patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius.

2. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA AND THE BIBLE

Cyrils dealing with the interpretation of the Scriptures enables him to
exercise a harsh polemic against contemporary and former heretical
teachings. Any heresy is a danger to the unity and coherence of the body of
the Church (Glaphyra PG 68, 696BC). Heresy deprives man of salvation and
leads to the loss of his soul (Glaphyra PG 68, 556C; Epistles PG 77, 1088B).
Therefore, Cyril refutes any heretical errors on reasonable arguments and
hagiographical evidence. Cyril found it extremely difficult, at the time, to
campaign for Orthodoxy due to the contrasting interpretations between
the Antiochian and the Alexandrian schools of theology and interpretation.
The rivalry between these two schools is documented differently in their
interpretation of the Bible. In Alexandria, the prevailing biblical approach
used allegory in its interpretation of Scripture, whereas the Antiochian
school stressed the primacy of historical exegesis (Artemi 2012:22,
66,210).
Cyril is convinced that the theology of the Church must be based on
the interpretation the explanation of the Bible (I Ad Corinthians PG 74,
868B). The Greeks had invented a mythology for their gods and ignored
the One and real God, who is revealed through the plain text of the Bible
(IAd Corinthians PG 74, 868B; Contra Julianum PG 76, 853CD). The
biblical documentation is not simply an external reference to a text that
was written in the past; the awareness and realisation of the meaning of
Scripture is the very fact of the society of God (XII Prophetas PG 71, 33A,
36B). Cyril considers that the God-bearing men of both the Old and the
New Testaments are hydrants of the redemptive Word. He believes that the
theological teaching of the Testaments nurtures the world that has dried
up from sin (Ad Nestorium PG 76, 169A). Therefore, he does not hesitate

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to base his writings on the texts of the Holy Bible. Finally, he considers the
New Testament to be superior to the Old Testament, because the former
reveals more important truths and the way that should be followed in order
to become perfect, and complete his restoration (Isaiah PG 70, 217D).
Through his works, Cyril shows the respect which the Holy Father
nourishes for both the Old and the New Testaments. He considers both
as equal sources of the Bible that strongly and unequivocally proclaim
the existence of one triune God. Simultaneously, the Bible ridicules those
heretics who distort the biblical truth. Only in the Bible does the divine
beauty light (Contra Julianum PG 76, 856D-857A). Cyril also emphasises
that the language of the Bible is inferior to that of Greek ancient
philosophical texts, but he explains that the latter are used as a practice
for the real education of the Bible (Contra Julianum PG 76, 857C-860A).
For Cyril, the Scriptures are the pillar of his thought, because he
considers their texts to be inspired by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and to
be the true documents for the mystery of Jesus Christ:
The aim (skopos) of the inspired Scriptures is the mystery of
Christ signified to us through a myriad of different kinds of things.
Someone might liken it to a glittering and magnificent city, having
not one image of the king, but many, and publicly displayed in every
corner of the city Its aim, however, is not to provide us an account
of the lives of the saints of old. Far from that. Rather it seeks to
give us knowledge of the mystery [of Christ] through those things by
which the word about him might become clear and true (Glaphyra
PG 69, 308C).

Cyril emphasises the following:

But I think that those who are engaged on the Holy Scriptures
ought to admit all writings that are honest and good and free from
harm. For thus collecting together the varied thoughts of many and
bringing them together into one scope and understanding, they will
mount up to a good measure of knowledge, and imitating the bee,
wise workwoman, will compact the sweet honeycomb of the Spirit
(Ad Johannes I PG 73, 18A).

In general, for Cyril, the Bible is always related to the mystery of Christ:
He is less interested in understanding what Moses or Zechariah or
Paul or Matthew meant than he is in understanding what Christ
means (Weinandy & Keating 2003:21).

The Bible is about Christ and nobody can speak for the incarnate Word
without using the words of the Bible. Cyrils point of view thus differs

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Cyril of Alexandria speaks for God

from that of the previous fathers. For Irenaeus, as for all early Christian
interpreters, the Scriptures did not stand alone, but were understood and
interpreted within the context of the Churchs faith and life, its creeds, its
liturgy, its practices and its beliefs (Weinandy & Keating 2003:15). For Cyril,
the books of the Bible protect the faithful from the heretics and establish
the faith in them. In these divine books, God put the whole truth for Himself.
Although the human being is not able to contain the whole universe, the
human mind can only accept some parts of the ultimate revelation of God,
in order to be protected from the tales of the heretics (Ad Johannes I PG
73, 21B).
The Bible exhibits the divine truth:
The Spirit does not reveal the truth to those who spend too much
effort preparing for battle and who exult in tangled and deceptive
arguments rather than rejoice in the truth. This is because the Spirit
does not enter a deceitful soul nor does he otherwise allow his
precious pearls to be rolled under the feet of swine. Instead, he would
rather spend his time with simple minds because they move without
guile and avoid superfluous sophistry (Ad Johannes I PG73, 9AB).

In concluding, Cyril emphasises the end, the highest goal of the entire
Bible, namely the coming of Christ. To this end, there is a stable unity
between the Old and the New Testament. To quote Henri De Lubac
(1959:322):
Jesus Christ brings about the unity of the Scripture, because He is
the endpoint and the fullness of Scripture. Everything in it is related
to Him. In the end He is its sole object. Consequently, He is, so to
speak, its whole exegesis.

Sometimes, Cyril uses verses from the New Testament as hermeneutical

keys to reading the Old Testament, thus revealing his understanding
that both Testaments are a unified whole. An example of what we have
referred to above is that Cyril looks to passages such as Matthew 5:17
and John4:24 as providing the hermeneutical keys to interpret the Old
Testament (Beazley 2009:6). Within the unified whole of Scripture, Cyril
recognises that each author has a particular and for his
individual works (Wilken 2004:842). Finally, Cyril explains the very origin of
both the Old and the New Testaments. It requires that the doctrine in both
be harmonious, because both refer to mans salvation according to Gods
project, which is the incarnation of the Second Person of the Triune God.

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3. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA AS INTERPRETER OF

THEBIBLE
According to Cyril, the Bible is meant to reveal the mystery of Christ,
which is the mystery of the Incarnation of the Divine Word (Glaphyra PG69,
308C). The divinely inspired biblical texts were written by the prophets,
the evangelists and the apostles and are the source of mans salvation.
Through these texts, the Triune God reveals Himself, His will and all the
divine mysteries. Of course, Cyril never fails to stress that interpreting
the holy texts is a difficult task (Ad Johannes PG 73, 16A). A great deal
of patristic exegesis is replete with inter-textual connections based on
theological and perceived connections of grammatical and thematic
elements. Cyril is no exception to this (Beazley 2009:4).
Faithful to the memory of his uncle Theophilus, Cyril adopts the use
of typological interpretation, avoiding allegory for the majority of his
treatises (Artemi 2012:66, 210). He is concerned with the correlation
between the historical data of the texts and their spiritual meaning. For
this reason, he prefers typology. He contends that scholars should not
overlook the grammatical and spiritual elements of the divinely inspired
texts of Scripture, because they would not have the opportunity to learn
the true meaning of the writings and to benefit spiritually. Although Cyril
uses typological interpretation, he is often labelled as eclectic in his
methodology in that he can appear to draw from both Alexandrian and
Antiochian sources, because of variances in exegetical practices from the
well-perceived boundaries between Alexandrian and Antiochian exegeses
(Keating 2004:13-14). It is likely that such perceived eclecticism posits that
there might be less of a dichotomy at work in Greek Patristic exegesis.
Thus, it is important to evaluate Cyril on his own terms, as Keating
suggests (Keating 2004:5). This requires a working knowledge of Cyrils
time and history, as his own terms appear intrinsically wrapped within the
history and tradition of his time. However, in order to understand Cyril,
one should not assume that the voices of his contemporaries speak for
Cyril, as he may not always be a harmonious voice on this historical stage
(Beazley 2009:9).

, ,
. ,

.
,
,
(Isaiah I PG 70, 192AB).

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Cyril of Alexandria speaks for God

Typological interpretation was used in many of the Old and the New
Testament texts. Many terms in the Old Testament, such as the paschal
lamb, typify the mystery of the Incarnation of Christ. Reference to this lamb
is the pre-designation of Christ and his sacrifice, which was the means
of mankinds salvation from the bondage of sin (Lucem PG 72, 820B). At
another point, he mentions that Isaac was the type of Christ, who is
loaded with the wood for his own sacrifice, just as the Lord himself was
burdened with the cross (Lucem, PG 72, 933D) on which he would suffer in
his human nature and die on Calvary (Golgotha).
The use of the typological method was not limited to the examples cited
earlier, but was applied to many other events of the Old Testament which
prefigured the events of the New Testament. Cyril has the opportunity to
show that the events and the law of the Old Testament are a type, typos,
indication of the proper nature of devotion to God: the beauty of truth is
hidden within it:
(= ),
,
,
. , b
(De
adoratione in spiritu et veritate, X PG 68, 137AB).

Cyril often uses typological interpretation in an allegorical way, as

referred to above regarding the interpretation of the sacrifice of Isaac by
Abraham as an indication of Christs sacrifice. In Cyrils work, Glaphyra in
Genesim (Glaphyra III PG 69, 137B-140A), the interpretation of this passage
of the Old Testament (Gen. 22:1-2, 5-19) is based on the breadth of
history (Glaphyra III PG 69, 140A), the historical and grammatical method.
In another treatise, Cyril incorporates the allegorical interpretation of this
event of the Old Testament as it was first presented by Paul in his Letter to
the Galatians. In this instance, Isaac and his sacrifice represent Christ and
his sacrifice, as mentioned earlier. Allegorically, Isaac was the beginning of
the realisation of Gods promise to Abraham, namely that his descendants
would increase like the grains of sand of the sea (Gen. 13:16-17) and the
stars of heaven (Gen. 15:5-7), meaning not the progeny of the flesh, but
those who believe in Christ and are baptised in the name of the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit.
Cyril mentions that the Greek poets and sages were the first to use the
allegorical method, because they:
... admired elegance of speech, and good language was among
their main aims, and they boasted in mere refinements of words and

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revelled in bombastic language: and their poets had falsehood for

their material, wrought by proportions and measures into what is
graceful and tuneful; but for the truth they cared little, being sick
through a lack of right and profitable doctrine, meaning that God
Who Is by his nature. And truly, as holy Paul says, They became vain
in their imaginations, and their heart, being void of understanding,
was darkened. Saying that they were wise they became foolish,
and changed the glory of the Incorruptible God into the likeness of
the image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed beasts
and creeping things (Quod unus sit Christus PG 75, 1253D-1256A;
Rom.1:21; Eph. 4:18).

Cyrils allegorical method conceals what each interpreter conveys, but

it reveals the hidden treasure in the god-like words: (=
) b (Ad Johannes PG 73, 61C). This
treasure is revealed only through the Holy Spirit in the minds of scholars,
,
, (I Ad Corinthios PG 74,
884D).
The patriarch of Alexandria explains that the indwelling of the Spirit
in the authors of the New Testament resembles the lamp in the tent of
Testimony, in which the fire illuminated both the stage and the surrounding
area (Ad Johannes PG 73, 193BC, 569C). By this example, he means that
all scholars need to be illuminated by the Holy Spirit, in order to understand
the same truth as did the authors of the books of the New Testament.
In general, the Holy Spirits role in deepening the study of the events is
emphasised. The Holy Scripture cannot be interpreted only by means of
allegorical and historical-grammatical methods, but Cyril teaches that the
interpretation of the Holy Bible is the result of the scholars illumination
from God. This does not mean that Cyril no longer uses these methods. In
the case of Christs parables, Cyril leaves aside the established methods of
interpretation in order to understand the scope and depth of the meaning
of the parables. In any case, he argues, the best tool for the interpretation
of the parables is the narrators ability to explain the meaning of them
according to the teaching of Christ (Lucem PG 72, 625A).
Despite his interpretive efforts aimed at clear and sound theological
teaching, Cyril knows that it is very difficult to talk about the divine
mysteries. He refers to God as a Being, which differs from each created
being, because He created everything while He Himself was uncreated and
eternal. The Alexandrian father had to interpret the revealed divine truth
through the finite limits of human language. This involved many obstacles
and risks. For this reason, many theologians or scholars of holy texts

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Cyril of Alexandria speaks for God

consciously avoided theological interpretations of the Bible and opted for

silence. On the other hand, God sometimes commanded: Speak and be
not silent. The holy father abided by the divine command. Cyril constantly
believes that the books of the Bible were written by authors enlightened
by the grace of the Holy Spirit. These authors lived in a particular era,
were influenced by a certain philosophical environment and wrote in a
specific linguistic form. Taking all these parameters into consideration,
Cyril highlights theological integrity, while avoiding the extremes of the
Antiochian schools in terms of Christological dogma.
Many scholars attribute the problem of the Christological formula
concerning the nature of Christ Mia-physis and Dyo physes to the
controversy between the Alexandrian and the Antiochian schools of
theology. While the Alexandrian school adopted the hypostasis union
or the nature union of the Godhead and manhood to assert the oneness
of Jesus Christ, the Antiochian school accepted the indwelling theology,
that is, the Godhead dwells in manhood, as if Jesus Christ were two
persons in one, to avoid confusion between the Godhead and manhood,
and to avoid attributing human weakness to His divinity. The starting point
of the Alexandrian school was John 1:14 And the Word became flesh,
while that of the Antiochian school was Colossians 2:9 For in Him dwells
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. St. Cyril rejects the Antiochian theory
of indwelling, that is, the Godhead of Christ dwelt in His manhood, or the
theory of conjunction or close participation as insufficient to reveal the
real unification, but permits the division of natures of Christ as Nestorius
taught (Malaty 1987:11).

4. THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THROUGH

THESCRIPTURES
Cyril views the study of Scripture as the soul of theology. His aim as
an exegete and theologian is to passionately defend the unity of the
Incarnate Word. Cyril of Alexandria is above all a priest who tirelessly
comments on the Scriptures in the light of the incarnate Logos (Weinandy
& Keating 2003:209-236). His exegesis of the Psalms is characteristic. As
he writes in the Proemium of his Commentary, the text of the Psalms is,
in an extraordinary way, overflowing with narratives concerning Christ
the Saviour of us all (Psalmos PG 69, 717AB). Before the incarnation of
the divine Word, people were unable to exceed the limits of their worldly
desires, because of the difficult path to rid themselves of their sinful
mentality. When the Son of God became sarx (a man with both soul

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and body), without losing his divinity, the road to virtue became smooth
(Psalmos PG 69, 720A; Psalm 1:3).
The Alexandrian father argues that man is able to achieve knowledge of
God partly through the creation,
[f]or the face of the Lord is spiritual contemplation of everything that
has come to be on the earth, while the light of His face is partial
knowledge of these things (Psalmos PG 69, 740C; Psalm 4:6).

Basically, Cyrils theology is the praise of God. He views the glory of

God in the wholeness of creation and, in particular, the creation of man,
the incarnation of the Word of God, and the work of salvation. This praise
is attributed, and has given proportion to all the Persons of the Holy Trinity:
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the expanse shows the work
of his hands (Habacuc PG 71, 881A; Psalm 18, 2 (19, 2); Psalmos PG69,
828C; Thesaurus PG 75, 248BC).
Cyril emphasises that God is one, Father, Son and Holy Spirit: One
deity, in three hypostases. ,
, (2 De recta Fide ad reginas
PG 76, 1405C; Adversus Nestorii blasphemias PG 76, 60B, 172A). One God
exists in three persons. The Father distributes goods to man by means of
the Son, through the grace of the Holy Spirit (De adoratione in spiritu et
veritate PG 68, 413A, 521B; Exod. 20:3; Isaiah IV, 1, PG 70, 873A; Adversus
Nestorii blasphemias PG 76, 172A; Psalmos: PG 69, 1124D).
Cyril stresses unequivocally that God is One by nature and truly (Isaiah
PG 70, 772B). He remarks that the Christian doctrine of God the Father is
not based on the dominant thought of secular Greek philosophers. The
latter considered him to be an impersonal authority, who had created the
world. Cyril emphasises the monarchy of the Trinity, in order to clarify that
the Son and the Holy Spirit come physically (by nature) and in essence
from the Father as the sole principle with no beginning (Thesaurus PG75,
112AB). The Father is called Father, because he engendered the Son by
his own essence (Psalmos PG 69, 1236C; De Ss. Trinitate PG 75, 717A).
On the other hand, the Son is the face (prosopon) of God the Father, but
not identical with the hypostasis of Father, because this would lead to the
heresy of Sabellius. Even when Cyril calls the Son the face of the Father, he
does not adopt Sabellius teaching. He is referring to the revelation of the
incarnate Son in the world. This is confirmed by the words of Christ: He
is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature; he
that hath seen me, hath seen the Father, and the Father and I are One
(Psalmos PG 69, 1140CD; Hebr. 1:3; Jo. 14:9, 10:30).

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Cyril of Alexandria speaks for God

Cyril characterises the Son of God as Light of the Fathers Light,

because the Father and the light that has been engendered by him,
the Son, are inseparable. This is used to demonstrate the homoousion
that exists between the Father and the Son, so that the latter is called
the radiance (apaugasma) of the Father (Psalmos PG 69, 921A; Psalm
35:10). Radiance (apaugasma) is a term first used in the Wisdom of
Solomon: For she is the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted
mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness (Wisdom of
Solomom7:26), and later by the Apostle Paul: His Son is the radiance
of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by
the word of his power, when he had by himself made purification for our
sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebr. 1:3) and
Athanasius of Alexandria:
And the origination of mankind is brought home to us from things
that are parallel; but, since no one knows the Son but the Father,
and no one knows the Father but the Son, and he to whomsoever
the Son will reveal Him (Matthew 11:27), therefore the sacred writers
to whom the Son has revealed Him, have given us a certain image
from things visible, saying, Who is the brightness of His glory, and
the Expression of His Person (Hebr. 1:3) (De Decretis 11:3).

Cyril states unequivocally that this derives from the radiance of the
divine sun, God the Father. In the same way that the brightness of
the sensible sun does not come after it, but rather the light occurs
simultaneously with the sun, so also with the Son, who is the radiance
(apaugasma) (Johannes 1:27) of the intelligible Sun, God the Father. The
Son is, therefore, eternal, without beginning, just like God the Father, and
consubstantial with the Father as homoousion. Only the Son knows the
Father and the Father knows him (Psalmos PG 69, 1221A; Hebr. 1:3). The
Word, who is God naturally and truly: ,
, (Adversus Nestorii blasphemias
PG76, 121A, 201C; De Ss. Trinitate 3 PG 75, 828A; Jo. 10: 35-36), through
His incarnation, constructs the bridge by which the Creator approaches
his creatures:
(Lk. 1:78)
, ,

, b,
(Apologeticus
contra Theodoretum pro XII Capitibus PG 76, 461AB).

In other words, the incarnate Son is the means whereby the Father
relates to Creation (Psalmos PG 69, 877D). It is stressed that the word

10

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apaugasma is mentioned only once in the New Testament, in the Epistle

to the Hebrews 1:3, to which Cyril refers in this statement. In the Epistle
to the Hebrews, the Son is the apaugasma of the glory, the reflection of
the glory of God. Therefore, in the New Testament, the only time the word
apaugasma is mentioned, it has the meaning of reflection, a meaning
that is assigned in the passive sense. However, Cyril uses the same word
in his commentary to mean radiance and effulgence of light, and links it
with the Son Being Light of light. This meaning reflects the active sense
of the word.
Cyril of Alexandria emphasises that the Only-begotten Word of God
the Father, (Adversus Nestorii blasphemias PG 76, 129B; De incarnatione
unigeniti PG 75, 1209A), because He is God (Psalmos PG 69, 1225B) is
the creator of the earth, the sky and all that is in them (De incarnatione
unigeniti PG 75, 1197D, 1245BC; Isaiah PG 70, 853C; Thesaurus PG 75,
485D, 488A, 492C; Col. 1:16). His creative capacity has not been learnt;
rather he has it essentially and physically through being consubstantial
with the Father. St. Johns saying All things were made by him; and
without him was not any thing made that was made testifies to Gods
creative attributes. Being omnipotent, He can penetrate deep into the
being of man, and knows even the innermost thoughts of His creatures
and provides for them (Thesaurus PG 75, 261A).
The God-man (Theanthropos) is powerful and is able to save both the
righteous and the sinners (Psalmos PG 69, 901B). When the sinners repent,
they try to put their repentance into practice. The Incarnate Word did
not approach man in order to punish him; the Father sent his Son into the
world, not in order to judge the world, but to save the world through him
(Psalmos PG 69, 1081AB; Jo. 3:17). He was full of love for his creation
and unsparingly offered redemption and salvation of the human race. He
taught the will of His Father and declared that the standard for the worlds
judgement will be the Gospel and his proclamation of salvation (Isaiah
PG70, 592B).
The patriarch of Alexandria notes that the Incarnate Word (Ad
religiosissimum Imperatorem Theodosium PG 76, 1168A) intersects with,
and simultaneously unifies history. He claims the new (Kainos) man in
his substance to be one with his own flesh. The immutability of the
Incarnate Words divine nature declares that God is not subject to any
alteration or change, because his nature is full, infinite and perfect. He is
the life, who was born of God Fathers life, having his own hypostasis (Ad
religiosissimum Imperatorem Theodosium PG 76, 1168A). His existence is
not at the same time (omochronos) as the creation of his human nature,
because he is the creator of the ages (Ad religiosissimum Imperatorem

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Cyril of Alexandria speaks for God

Theodosium PG 76, 1168A; Psalmos PG 69, 724A). For this reason, Paul
states that Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday, and today, and forever
(Ad Hebraeos PG 74, 997CD, 1000A; Hebr. 13, 8). Therefore, Christ is
immutable and unalterable in the centuries that have passed yesterday,
in the present today, and in the age to come, forever. This explains
the words of Jesus: Before Abraham was, I am (Ad religiosissimum
Imperatorem Theodosium PG 76, 1196B; Jo. 8:58). Even though it seemed
that he spoke to his contemporaries as a man, he did not do so according
to his age as the Incarnate Word, but according to his existence as God.
The latter is eternal and beyond time:
,
. .
,
(Contra Julianum PG 76, 932CD).

The Son presents the enhypostatic picture of the Father to the world;
he reveals divine truths in a way that the human mind is able to capture
and interpret. As a man, he does not bear the eternal glory which he has as
God. For this reason, prior to his passion and self-sacrifice on the cross,
he asks the Father to glorify him as a man with the glory which he has had
since the beginning of the world:
the Only-Begotten Word of God being Lord of glory would not (as
though lacking glory) have sought it from the Father. Hear therefore
from us too: If you say that the Only-Begotten Son who is from God
by nature is not he who here asks glory from the Father, who was it
who said, Glorify me with the glory which I had with you before the
world was? (Adversus Nestorii blasphemias PG 76, 216B; Jo.17:4-5;
Psalmos PG 69, 724B).

The divine truth, the divine presence reveals himself, and demonstrates
that he is different from any human presence or truth (De recta fide ad
reginas PG 76, 1205B). Therefore, the uncreated truth, God, acts and
presents Himself to man. This is the process which Cyril calls apocalypse,
illumination, light, and teaching (dadouchia). The Holy Spirit makes
the Triune God known in man. At the same time, the Spirit is consubstantial
and equal to the other two Persons of the Holy Trinity. Therefore, the
Holy Spirit knows the authentic divine truth and reveals it completely to
the people who live in Christ. Both rational and non-rational creation
participates in the actions of the third person of the Holy Trinity, and is
thus enlightened and sanctified continuously through its course in time
(Psalmos PG 69, 1209B; Psalm 83:5-7).

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The Father is revealed as God in the Old Testament. He is the creator of

a variety of wonderful things. He made his presence known to those who
did not belong to the Jewish race, such as the Egyptians, and emphasised
that he is the only one God by nature and truth. At the same time, with
the help of the Holy Spirit, He shows to the Israelites and their neighbours
that the true God is Spirit. Thus, they must as true pilgrims worship the
Father in spirit and truth (Psalmos PG 69, 1192C).
God rages against those who despise and ignore His will. He is often
present in the history of Jewish people to punish the chosen people with
hardships, calamities and wars, to make them reconsider their choice of
the wrong path to make them reasonable. This is why the blessed David
says:
whose mouth must be held with bit and bridle, lest they come near
you. Many sorrows shall befall the wicked: but mercy shall surround
him who trusts in the Lord about (Isaiah PG 70, 281AB; Psalm 31
(32): 9-10). God grants rejoicing and gladness to those who seek
justice and fight for peace (Psalmos PG 69, 912A).

In the Old Testament, man follows in Gods footsteps. God the Father
pays to each man what he is entitled to (Glaphyra PG 69, 373B):
with a nod, He can humiliate the high and elevate the lowly, wither
the fresh plant and make the dry plant green again.

In addition, through the prophets, God proclaims hidden and future

things, which only He knows (Isaiah PG 70, 188A). The Father enables man
to come to Him by means of the Words Incarnation with spiritual sacrifice,
deservedly earning a place in the divine mind (De adoratione in spiritu et
veritate PG 68, 1032B, 1024AB; Act. 4:12). Thus, because of Christ, people
will be able to be worthy of both the memory and the knowledge of the
Triune God. With the Incarnation of the Word, God the Father revealed his
glory and his will in the face of Christ. For this reason, Cyril observes,
we know the Father through him [Christ], who revealed to us his [the
Fathers] good will, which is that which is perfect and acceptable,
according to the Scriptures (De adoratione in Spiritu et Veritate PG
68, 741CD).

Cyril invokes as irrefutable the evidence of Christs words: ... everything

that I heard from my Father, I proclaimed to you (De adoratione in Spiritu
et Veritate PG 68, 741CD; Jo. 16:15). Christ, therefore, is the port and route
through which the Father reveals Himself to the people and, by means of
Christ, rational beings can attain God (Thesaurus PG 75, 485BC, 560CD,
561A; De SS. Trinitate PG 75, 812BC, 1021B; Joannes PG 73, 556C-7A;

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Psalmos PG 69, 840A). With his mission, Christ indicates to people the
root from which He is springing, and he adds to the Fathers revelation of
himself (De SS. Trinitate PG 75,812B).
It should be mentioned that, in the Psalms, one encounters knowledge
of the divine Word and the Holy Spirit. These are not referred to as separate
hypostases, but as Gods attributes. The reason for this is that the world of
the Old Testament perceived God not in the sense of Christian monotheism,
but in the sense of enotheismos: God in one substance/hypostasis.
In general, the Scriptures show the presence of the Triune God and
speak for the unity of Christ. The Scriptures uphold the ideas of union
in every text, when they refer to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The only
begotten Son and Word of God is presented in the New Testament. Cyril
uses the phrases of Paul to speak for God through the Bible:
All things were made through Him, and without Him was nothing
made, Since then the Divine Paul declares that all things were
made through Jesus Christ, and the Divine Evangelist confirms the
force of the sentence and preaches that He was God the Maker
of all things, speaking truly, and the Angels voice too points out
that Jesus Christ was truly born of the Holy Virgin (De Incarnatione
Unigeniti PG 75, 1309BC).

5. CONCLUSIONS
Cyril of Alexandria was greatly interested in the interpretation of the Bible.
Saint Cyril wrote the various commentaries of the books of the Bible with
the intention of defending the faith against the false opinions ()
of other teachers () (Farag 2007:71). Cyril emphasises
that the Scriptures reveal God. As interpreter of the Scriptures, Cyril does
not deal with the text as text, but as the source that anyone can see,
the epiphany of the Triune God. Through the Bible, Christians are taught
that the Father is the eternal source of the Godhead, from Whom the Son
is begotten eternally and from Whom the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally.
It is obvious that Cyril uses the interpretation of the Bible as the only way
for speaking for the Triune God, enfleshed Word and Holy Spirit. Cyrils
interpretation of both the Old and the New Testaments follows the method
of the Apostle Paul. According to the Apostle of Nations, the interpretation
of the Old Testament should become in the light of Christ; therefore, Cyril
expands his exegetical imagination by showing how other passages of
the Bible can be read in that way. In his interpretation, Cyril used a middle
road for the way of exegesis of the Antiochian and Alexandrian schools.
The Alexandrian fathers interpretation taught that the Bible becomes a

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general area of interrelated words, all speaking about the same theological
subject, the one God revealed in Christ, whose work was proven by the
Holy Spirit in the Church. Cyril believed that it was his task as interpreter to
lead any faithful to penetrate the meaning of the text beyond the words, to
highlight a word here, an image there, to find Christ unexpectedly, and to
perceive the splendour of divinity.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Artemi, E.

2012. Isidores of Pelusium teaching for the Triune God and its relation to the
triadological teaching of Cyril of Alexandria. Athens.
2013. The mystery of the incarnation into dialogues de incarnatione Unigenitii
and Quod unus sit Christus of St. Cyril of Alexandria. Publ. 24grammata,
Athens.

Beazley, J.M.

2009. Cyril of Alexandrias interpretation of Matthew and Lukes quotation

of Hosea: a study on patristic exegesis of inter-textual occurrences. Marc
Cortezand James De Young Guided Research Project, 20 March 2009.

Burghardt, W.J.

1957. The image of God in Man according to Cyril of Alexandria. Washington:

Catholic University of America Press.

Dratsellas, C.

1967. The soteriology of St. Cyril of Alexandria. Edinburgh.

1968. Questions on the soteriological teaching of the Greek fathers. Theology
39:210.

Farag, L.M.

2007. St. Cyril of Alexandria. A New Testament exegete. His commentary on the
Gospel of John. Gorgias Press.

Keating, D.A.

2004. The appropriation of divine life in Cyril of Alexandria. New York: Oxford
University Press.

Lubac, de H.

1959. Exegese Mdivale. Paris.

Malaty, Fr.

1987. The terms physis and hypostasis in the early Church. Alexandria.

Weinandy, Th.G. & Keating, D.A.

2003. The theology of St. Cyril of Alexandria, a critical appreciation. NewYork:

T. & T. Clark.

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Wilken, R.L.

1971. Judaism and the early Christian mind. A study of Cyril of Alexandrias
exegesis and theology. New Haven: Yale University Press.
2004. Cyril of Alexandria. In: C. Kannengiesser (ed.), Handbook of patristic
exegesis, VolumeTwo. (Boston, M.A., Brill), pp?

Keywords Trefwoorde
Cyril of Alexandria

Cyril van Aleksandri

Holy Bible

Heilige Skrif

Interpretation Interpretasie

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