The Fathers of The Church A New Translation Volume 127

THE FATHERS
OF THE CHURCH
A NEW TRANSLATION
VOLUME 127
THE FATHERS
OF THE CHURCH
A NEW TRANSLAT ION
ED I TORIAL BOARD
David G. Hunter
University of Kentucky
Editorial Director
Andrew Cain Joseph T. Lienhard, S.J.

University of Colorado Fordham University
Brian Daley, S.J. Rebecca Lyman

University of Notre Dame Church Divinity School of the Pacific
Susan Ashbrook Harvey Wendy Mayer

Brown University Australian Catholic University
William E. Klingshirn Robert D. Sider

The Catholic University of America Dickinson College
Trevor Lipscombe
Director
The Catholic University of America Press
FORMER EDITORIAL DIRECTORS

Ludwig Schopp, Roy J. Deferrari, Bernard M. Peebles,
Hermigild Dressler, O.F.M., Thomas P. Halton
Carole Monica C. Burnett

Staff Editor
ST. CYRIL OF
ALEXANDRIA
FESTAL LETTERS 13–30
Translated by
PHILIP R. AMIDON, S.J.
Creighton University
Edited with notes by

JOHN J. O’KEEFE
Creighton University
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS

Washington, D.C.
Copyright © 2013
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
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requirements of the American National Standards for Information
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Li brary o f Congress Cataloging-in-Public ati on Data

Cyril, Saint, Patriarch of Alexandria, ca. 370–444.
[Correspondence. English. Selections]
Festal letters 1–12 / St. Cyril of Alexandria ; translated by
Philip R. Amidon ; introduction and notes by John J. O’Keefe.
p. cm. — (The Fathers of the church : a new translation ; v. 118)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 978-0-8132-0118-4 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Cyril, Saint,
Patriarch of Alexandria, ca. 370–444—Correspondence.
2. Christian saints—Egypt—Alexandria—Correspondence.
3. Christian life—Early works to 1800. 4. Theology, Doctrinal—
Early works to 1800. I. Title. II. Series.
BR65.C952E5 2008
270.2092—dc22
2008029287
Festal letters 13–30; ISBN 978-0-8132-2184-7
CONTENTS
Abbreviations and Notes to Reader vii

Select Bibliography ix
FES TA L LET T ER S 1 3 – 3 0
Festal Letter Thirteen 3
Festal Letter Fourteen 15
Festal Letter Fifteen 29
Festal Letter Sixteen 43
Festal Letter Seventeen 58
Festal Letter Eighteen 74
Festal Letter Nineteen 88
Festal Letter Twenty 100
Festal Letter Twenty-One 109
Festal Letter Twenty-Two 115
Festal Letter Twenty-Three 126
Festal Letter Twenty-Four 135
Festal Letter Twenty-Five 146
Festal Letter Twenty-Six 154
Festal Letter Twenty-Seven 166
Festal Letter Twenty-Eight 176
Festal Letter Twenty-Nine 187
Festal Letter Thirty 196
A P P END I X A ND I ND I C ES
Appendix: Dates of Easter 209
General Index 211
Index of Holy Scripture 215
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Sources
Amidon, Philip R., SJ, and John J. O’Keefe, ed. and trans. St. Cyril of Alex-
andria: Festal Letters 1–12. Fathers of the Church 118. Washington,
DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009.
Azéma, Yvan, ed. Théodoret de Cyr, Correspondance. 3 vols. SC 40, 98, 111.
Paris: Cerf, 1955–1965.
Burguière, Paul, and Pierre Évieux, eds. Cyrille d’Alexandrie: Contre Julien,
Tome 1, Livres I–II. SC 322. Paris: Cerf, 1985.
Durand, G. M., ed. Cyrille d’Alexandrie: Deux Dialogues Christologiques. SC
97. Paris: Cerf, 1964.
———, ed. Cyrille d’Alexandrie: Dialogues sur la Trinité, Tomes 1–3. SC 231,
237, 246. Paris: Cerf, 1976–1978.
Évieux, Pierre. Cyrille d’Alexandrie: Lettres Festales I–XVII. Sources
chrétiennes, 372, 392, 434. Paris: Cerf, 1991–1998.
McEnerney, John I. St. Cyril of Alexandria: Letters 1–110. The Fathers of
the Church, vols. 76, 77. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of
America Press, 1987.
Migne, J.-P., ed. Patrologia cursus completus. Series Graeca, vols. 68–77.
Pusey, P. E., ed. Sancti Patris Nostri Cyrilli Archiepiscopi Alexandrini. 7 vols.
Oxford, 1868. Reprint. Brussels, 1965.
Socrates. Ecclesiastical History. PG 67.
Sophronius. Laudes in SS. Cyrum et Joannem. PG 87: 3411–13.
Wickham, Lionel R., ed. Cyril of Alexandria: Select Letters. Oxford, 1983.
Secondary Sources
Boulnois, Marie-Odile. Le paradoxe trinitaire chez Cyrille d’Alexandrie:
Herméneutique, analyse philosophique et argumentation théologique. Paris:
Institute d’études Augustiniennes, 1994.
Boyarin, Daniel. Intertextuality and the Study of Midrash. Bloomington, IN:
Indiana University Press, 1994.
———. Dying for God: Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism.
Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999.
Cameron, Averil. Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire: The Development of
Christian Discourse. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.
ix
x BIBLIOGRAPHY
Casiday, A. M. Evagrius Ponticus. London and New York: Routledge, 2006.
Chadwick, Henry. “Eucharist and Christology in the Nestorian Con-
troversy.” JTS N.S. 2 (1951): 145–64.
Clark, Elizabeth. The Origenist Controversy: The Cultural Construction of an
Early Christian Debate. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992.
Dawson, David. Allegorical Readers and Cultural Revision in Ancient Alex-
andria. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
Dysinger, Luke. Psalmody and Prayer in the Writings of Evagrius Ponticus.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Evagrius of Pontus. The Praktikos & Chapters On Prayer. Translated by John
Eudes Bamberger. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Studies, 1981.
Frankfurter, David. Religion in Roman Egypt: Assimilation and Resistance.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998.
Gorday, Peter. Principles of Patristic Exegesis: Romans 9–11 in Origen, John
Chrysostom, and Augustine. New York: Edwin Mellen, 1983.
Guillaumont, Antoine. Aux Origines du Monachisme Chrétien. Spiritualité
Orientale, no. 30. Abbaye de Belle Fontaine, 1979.
Haas, Christopher. Alexandria in Late Antiquity: Topography and Social
Conflict. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press,
1997.
Hardy, E. R. “The Further Education of Cyril of Alexandria (412–444):
Questions and Problems.” Studia Patristica 17, vol. 1 (1982): 116–22.
Harmless, William. St. Augustine and the Catechumenate. Collegeville, MN:
Liturgical Press, 1995.
———. Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasti-
cism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Hirshman, Marc. A Rivalry of Genius: Jewish and Christian Biblical
Interpretation in Late Antiquity. Albany, NY: State University of New York
Press, 1996.
Hurtado, Larry W. One God, One Lord: Early Christian Devotion and Ancient
Jewish Monotheism. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1998.
Jones, A. H. M. The Later Roman Empire. Vol. 2. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 1986.
Jouassard, G. “L’activité littéraire de saint Cyrille d’Alexandrie jusqu’à
428: Essai de chronologie et de synthèse,” in Mélange E. Podechard.
Lyon, 1945.
Kelly, J. N. D. Golden Mouth: The Story of John Chrysostom, Ascetic, Preacher,
Bishop. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995.
Kennedy, G. Greek Rhetoric under Christian Emperors. Princeton: Princeton
Kerrigan, Alexander. St. Cyril of Alexandria: Interpreter of the Old Testament.
Rome, 1952.
Koen, Lars. The Saving Passio: Incarnational and Soteriological Thought in
Cyril of Alexandria’s Commentary on the Gospel according to St. John.
Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 1991.
Liébaert, J. La doctrine christologique de Cyrille d’Alexandrie avant la période
nestorienne. Lille, 1951.
BIBLIOGRAPHY xi
———. “Saint Cyrille d’Alexandrie et la culture antique.” Mélanges de
Science Religieuse 12 (1955): 1–21.
Malina, Bruce. Christian Origins and Cultural Anthropology. Atlanta: John
Knox, 1986.
Malley, W. J. Hellenism and Christianity: The Conflict between Hellenic and
Christian Wisdom in the Contra Galilaeos of Julian the Apostate and the
Contra Julianum of St. Cyril of Alexandria. Rome, 1978.
Mango, Cyril. Byzantium: The Empire of New Rome. New York: Scribner,
1980.
Manoir, Hubert du. Dogme et Spiritualité chez Saint Cyrille d’Alexandrie.
Paris, 1944.
McGuckin, John A. St. Cyril of Alexandria: The Christological Controversy: Its
History, Theology, and Texts. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1994.
———. Cyril of Alexandria: On the Unity of Christ. Crestwood, NY:
St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1995.
McKinion, Steven. Words, Imagery, and the Mystery of Christ: A Reconstruction
of Cyril of Alexandria’s Christology. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2000.
Meunier, Bernard. Le Christ de Cyrille d’Alexandrie: L’humanité, le salut et la
question monophysite. Paris: Beauchesne, 1997.
Neusner, Jacob. Judaism and Christianity in the Age of Constantine: History,
Messiah, Israel, and the Initial Confrontation. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1987.
O’Keefe, John J. “Impassible Suffering? Divine Passion and Fifth-Century
Christology.” Theological Studies 58 (1997): 39–60.
———. “‘A Letter that Killeth’: Toward a Reassessment of Antiochene
Exegesis, or Diodore, Theodore, and Theodoret on the Psalms.”
Journal of Early Christian Studies 8, no. 1 (2000): 83–104.
O’Keefe, John J., and R. R. Reno. Sanctified Vision: An Introduction to Early
Christian Interpretation of the Bible. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press, 2005.
Prestige, G. L. Fathers and Heretics. London: SPCK, 1940.
Quasten, Johannes. Patrology, vol. 3. Westminster, MD: Christian Classics,
1986.
Russell, Norman. Cyril of Alexandria. The Early Church Fathers. New
York: Routledge, 2000.
———. The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2004.
Schäublin, Christoph. Untersuchungen zu Methode und Herkunft der
Antiochenischen Exégèse. Cologne and Bonn: Peter Hanstein, 1974.
Simon, Marcel. Verus Israel. Translated by H. McKeating. Oxford, 1986.
Simonetti, Manlio. Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church: An Historical
Introduction to Patristic Exegesis. Translated by John A. Hughes.
Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1994.
Smith, Jonathan Z. “What A Difference A Difference Makes.” In To See
Ourselves as Others See Us. Edited by Jacob Neusner and Ernest S.
Frerichs. Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1985.
Stark, Rodney. The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996.
xii BIBLIOGRAPHY
Visotzky, Burton. Fathers of the World: Essays in Rabbinic and Patristic
Literatures. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1995.
Vaggione, Richard Paul. Eunomius of Cyzicus and the Nicene Revolution.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Wilken, Robert. John Chrysostom and the Jews: Rhetoric and Reality in the Late
4th Century. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.
———. Judaism and the Early Christian Mind: A Study of Cyril of Alexandria’s
Exegesis and Theology. Reprint of 1971 edition. Eugene, OR: Wipf &
Stock, 2004.
Young, Frances. “The Rhetorical Schools and their Influence on
Patristic Exegesis.” In The Making of Orthodoxy: Essays in Honour of
Henry Chadwick, edited by Rowan Williams. Cambridge: Cambridge
———. Biblical Exegesis and the Formation of Christian Culture. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1997.
———. The Art of Performance: Towards a Theology of Holy Scripture. London:
Darton, Longman and Todd, 1990.
FESTAL LETTERS 13–30
FESTAL LETTER THIRTEEN
A.D. 425
T IS GOOD, or rather opportune, now for us to come

forward with our greeting couched in holy words, and
to announce in advance our holy and all-praiseworthy
feast, saying, “Grace to you and peace from God the Father and
our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver
us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God
and Father; to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”1
For sin mocked those prostrate from of old, and the innate
motion of the flesh warred [against them] tyrannically, since
pleasure, wild and uncontrollable, poured unceasingly into the
souls of all like a river current, always pushing them down to
where they had to choose an earthly way of thinking. And death
perhaps smiled at everyone’s weakness, and, infected with the
contempt befitting the devil and dear to him, cried out with
him, “I will seize the whole world in my hand like a nest, and I
will take it like eggs abandoned; and there is none that shall es-
cape me or gainsay me.”2 But since our situation had sunk and
been shaken to such a degree of wretchedness, the merciful
God, all but distressed by everyone’s misfortune, said through
Isaiah’s voice, “Therefore my people have been taken captive,
and there has been a multitude of corpses, because they do not
know the Lord; and hell has enlarged its soul, and opened its
mouth, so as not to cease.”3
1. Gal 1.3–5.
2. Is 10.14. For a similar image of the devil, see Letter 1.6, Cyril of Alexandria:
Festal Letters 1–12, trans. Philip R. Amidon, SJ, ed. with intro. by John J. O’Keefe,
Fathers of the Church 118 (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of Amer-
ica Press, 2009), 50.
3. Is 5.13–14.
3
4 ST. CYRI L OF ALEXANDRIA
But even if “death has swallowed up when it prevailed, still
God has wiped away every tear from every face; the reproach of
the people he has removed from all the earth.”4 For when we
were delivered to transgression and disobedience, and failed to
live lawfully from love of the flesh, we had Satan and the wicked
gang of demons laughing loudly and reproaching us in their
love of fault-finding. For he is, he truly is, an enemy and avenger,
as is written.5 And indeed we wretches spent our life upon earth
embarrassed at these things and at the accusations of our con-
science, deprived of freedom of speech with God for this reason,
and ill with every sort of wickedness. But when the Creator of all
took pity on those prostrate, who had involved themselves in evil
without stint, he consoled them, speaking through the holy
prophets: “Fear not because you have been put to shame, nor be
confounded because you were reproached.”6 “I, even I, am he
who blots out your transgressions, and I will not remember
them.”7 He sent to us from heaven the only-begotten God the
Word, “born of a woman,”8 and of Abraham’s seed,9 in order
that, being made like his brothers in everything,10 he might put
to death sin in the flesh, and, having filled nature with spiritual
strength through himself and in himself, might refashion it to
what it was of old, might render it impregnable to sin, and might
ready it to become superior to destruction and corruption. Paul
in his wisdom knew this when he wrote us, “For God has done
what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he con-
demned sin in the flesh, in order that the just requirement of
the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the
flesh but according to the Spirit.”11
2. And in fact the Word from God the Father, in indicating to

us the long-desired time of the Incarnation, or rather in speak-
ing as though already arrived in our state, has already cried
aloud, “I who speak am here, as a season of beauty upon the
4. Is 25.8; cf. Rv 21.4. 5. Cf. Ps 8.3.

6. Is 54.4. 7. Is 43.25.
8. Gal 4.4. 9. Cf. Heb 2.16.
10. Cf. Heb 2.17. 11. Rom 8.3–4.
FESTAL LETTER THIRTEEN 5
mountains, as the feet of one preaching glad tidings of peace, as
one preaching good news.”12 “For in many and varied ways God
spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days
he has spoken to us by a Son,”13 through whom we have all
sprouted afresh unto incorruptibility and life. For he has come
to us like “a season of beauty upon the mountains.”14 Now what
does that mean?
The plants on the mountains and in parks, when winter in-
duces condensation in them and prevents the sap from the roots
from coursing upwards abundantly, all but wither and do not
bear fruit, suffering as they do from lack of foliage. But when the
season of beauty shows itself, when, that is, springtime laughs
and warms everything with the sun’s hot rays, then what was shut
opens up, and, with the sap that had been lying deep now hav-
ing its course free to run everywhere, the twigs, quite drunk on
it, throw out the fresh verdure of their leaves and so are crowned
at once with their own fruit. Our Lord Jesus Christ has become
for us, then, “as a season of beauty upon the mountains.” This
too may become clear to us through other passages of sacred
Scripture. In the Song of Songs, for instance, the person of the
bridegroom is introduced crying out to the Church as to a bride,
“Rise up, come, my companion, my fair one, my dove! For be-
hold, the winter is past, the rain is gone, it has departed. The
flowers are seen in the land; the time of pruning has arrived.”15
In addition, he has been “as the feet of one preaching glad
tidings of peace, as one preaching good news.”16 For it happens
sometimes that enormous armies of the most savage barbarians,
yearning to devastate a city or a countryside, use their insatiabil-
ity as a pretext for war. But when their plans come to naught,
then beautiful indeed are the feet of the one who brings the
news of peace17 to those who were in danger. It is in something
of this fashion that one may view our own situation as remedied
12. Is 52.6–7. 13. Heb 1.1–2.

14. The Sources chrétiennes editor (SC 434, 90, n. 1) notes that Cyril fre-
quently refers to the arrival of spring as a metaphor of Christ’s defeat of the
devil.
15. Song 2.10–11. 16. Is 52.7.
17. Cf. Rom 10.15; Is 52.7.
through Christ. Rather, it is quite easy to understand, without
any trouble, that the Father has sent the Son to us from heaven
as Savior and Redeemer.
A boastful tyrant waged war not on a single people or upon
one city or countryside, but, seeking wickedly to subject to him-
self the whole earth, he placed man beneath his own yoke. Alien-
ating him from the love of God, and dissociating him from true
knowledge of God, he soiled him instead with many kinds of sin
and rendered him a thrall of the horde of demons, according
the name of God to the creature rather than to the Creator.18 In
giving their veneration, some to the sun and others to the moon,
they deprived the nature that is sovereign over all of the prerog-
atives that are most fitting to it, and to it alone. Still others, who
offered their worship to earth, water, air, and fire, descended
quickly to such a degree of stupidity that they arrived at the final
measure of evil and presented the honor and glory of divinity
even to insensate pieces of wood.19
The murderous dragon, luxuriating in such deceptions that
we suffered, never ceased to boast, and thought that his content-
ment would be unshakeable. It was of him that the blessed
prophet Jeremiah said, “Woe to him who multiplies to himself
the possessions which are not his! How long? And who heavily
loads his yoke.”20 For he wanted to gather to himself man, who
belongs to God, thus always making more grievous the punish-
ment prepared for him. But God the Word, seated with God the
Father, announced to us in advance the time of salvation when
we were behaving godlessly and dangerously, saying, “The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; to preach
good news to the poor he has sent me, to proclaim release to the
captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to proclaim an ac-
ceptable year of the Lord.”21 Now since the time of the promised
aid had arrived, he set his own self on our behalf to oppose the
devil’s misdeeds; he subdued that murderous tyrant and laid
him beneath the feet of the faithful, saying clearly, “Behold, I
18. Cf. Rom 1.25.
19. Cf. Letter 6.3–4, FOTC 118, 104–8, for a similar discussion.
20. Hab 2.6.
21. Is 61.1–2; Lk 4.18–19.
have let you walk upon snakes and scorpions, and on all the pow-
er of the enemy, and no one will harm you.”22
All of us, then, who have come to love piety toward God, and
yearn to share the splendor of the saints, let us thirst to arrive at
the city above, and let us take this matter to heart. The kings on
earth who constantly punish the barbarians for their attacks, and
keep safe the cities in each region, are richly honored with the
names of “saviors” and “redeemers” and every other sort of title.
And while boasting of their own brave deeds, they subject to
themselves those they have saved, and, placing upon them, as it
were, the yoke of statutes and laws, they lay them under tribute,
making this a sort of acknowledgment of the duty of submission.
Let us, therefore, who have been redeemed through Christ, re-
moved from the error of polytheism, enriched through him by
kinship with God, and gone over to the hope of the saints, de-
vote our own life to him. For as the blessed Paul writes, “One has
died for all, that those who live might live no longer for them-
selves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”23
This has been recorded for us as well in the older Scriptures,
as it were in shadows and figures still.24 For the law is a shadow,
and is pregnant with the shape of truth.
3. God, then, spoke of old to Moses, the teacher of sacred

truths:
If you take the computation of the children of Israel in the surveying
of them, and they shall give everyone a ransom for his soul to the Lord,
then there shall not be a destruction in the visiting of them. And this
is what they shall give you, as many as pass the survey, half a didrachma
which is according to the holy didrachma—twenty obols the didrach-
ma—but the half of the didrachma is the offering to the Lord. Every-
one that passes the survey from twenty years old and upwards shall give
the offering to the Lord. The rich shall not give more, and the poor
shall not give less than the half didrachma in giving the offering to the
Lord, to make atonement for your souls.25
22. Lk 10.19.
23. 2 Cor 5.14–15.
24. Cf. Heb 10.1. For a discussion of Cyril’s approach to biblical interpreta-
tion, see the introduction in FOTC 118, 9–12.
25. Ex 30.12–15.
For the stater or didrachma is a genuine coin, stamped with
the imperial imprint. It was brought to the Lord by those ac-
customed to pay the tribute, not for one person only, but for
two. And tribute-collectors were appointed, according to the
law, who traveled up and down the territory of the Jews, and or-
dered the ransom to be delivered in equal measure by rich and
poor alike, God thus ordaining that the figure should be pre-
served as an accurate manifestation of the truth.26
And in fact once when Christ our Savior had gone to Caper-
naum, the collectors of the didrachma went to Peter and said,
“Your teacher does not pay the didrachma.” But he said, “Yes, he
does.”27 He did not thereby subject the freeman to the law,28 nor
rank the Son with the slaves, but he knew that the Legislator had
come under the law in order to rescue us from the curse of the
law, and, transforming the form of slavery into something better,
had rendered us conformed to himself and made us sons of
God, enveloping us in the spirit of freedom as in some splendid
dignity. “For we did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back
into fear,” as the divinely inspired Paul writes, “but we have re-
ceived the spirit of filial adoption, in which we cry, ‘Abba, Fa-
ther!’”29 When Peter then came bursting into the house, the Sav-
ior asked him, “From whom do the kings of the earth take
tribute or toll? From their sons or from foreigners?”30 When he
answered that it had to be collected of course from foreigners,
Christ said further, “Then the sons are free. In order, however,
not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook, and
take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth,
you will find a stater; take that and give it to them for me and for
yourself.”31 You see, then, that the didrachma was paid for two
persons.
Now in what does the mystery consist? Or where will we find
26. In addition to being centuries of theological development, the fourth
and fifth centuries were also centuries of biblical commentary. Cyril participat-
ed in this tradition vigorously. His many commentaries on the books of the Old
Testament indicate that discovering the enduring truth contained in the older
books was a key interest.
27. Mt 17.24. 28. Cf. Gal 4.4.
29. Rom 8.15. 30. Mt 17.25.
31. Mt 17.26–27.
the beauty of the truth hidden in the shadow that is in the law?
Well, the true stater, the image of the great king, the Son that is,
the imprint and reflection of the Father’s substance,32 gave him-
self for us.33 And he gave his own soul in exchange for the life of
all, not that he might save Israel alone, even though Israel
seemed to be rich in the knowledge of the law, but that he might
rescue as well from the devil’s greed the innumerable flock of
the nations, “who had no hope,”34 as Paul says, and who suffered
from the lack of every good. The divine, heavenly stater was
therefore given for two peoples. “For we have been ransomed
not with perishable things such as silver and gold, but with the
precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or
stain.”35 “We are debtors, therefore, not to the flesh, to live ac-
cording to the flesh,”36 but to Christ, who ransomed and re-
deemed us.
When indeed the merciful God finally took pity on the chil-
dren of Israel, who could not endure the misery of Egyptian
domination and who were unreasonably burdened by the yoke
of slavery, he called them to freedom. He dealt heavy blows to
their adversaries. But when he saw how very unfeeling they [the
adversaries] were, he inflicted upon them the death of their
firstborn. And they, distraught at these overwhelming evils, and
yielding to the enormity of the unexpected calamity, reluctantly
bade the oppressed to leave their land. Once this had been done
and achieved, God sought from those ransomed a fair compen-
sation, as it were. He spoke thusly to Moses, the teacher of sa-
cred truths: “Consecrate to me every firstborn, the first-produced
opening every womb among the children of Israel, both of man
and beast: it is mine.”37 Then the blessed Moses clarified the rea-
son for the law to those from Israel: “And it shall come to pass
when the Lord your God shall bring you into the land of the Ca-
naanites, as he swore to your fathers—and he shall give it to
you—that you will separate everything opening the womb, the
males to the Lord.”38 And later he adds, “If your son should ask
32. Cf. Heb 1.3. 33. Cf. Gal 2.20.

34. Eph 2.12. 35. 1 Pt 1.18–19.
36. Rom 8.12. 37. Ex 13.2.
38. Ex 13.11–12.
you afterwards, ‘What is this?’ you shall say to him, ‘With a strong
hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage. And when Pharaoh hardened his heart, sending us
away, he slew every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the first-
born of man and the firstborn of beast. For this reason I sacrifice
to God everything opening the womb, the males, and every first-
born of my sons I will redeem.’”39
It is to God that we owe ourselves, beloved, God who strikes
down our enemies and rescues us so marvelously from the dev-
il’s tyranny, washing away our past failures in good and gentlest
waters; we must honor our benefactor in return with gifts of
equal value. Come then, let us honor our Savior with the brave
deeds of our works, our right and blameless faith shining forth
as we make this thing a distinguished offering and a truly spiri-
tual sacrifice. For it is written, “Present your bodies as a living
sacrifice, acceptable to God, your spiritual worship.”40
4. While we are at present practicing abstinence from food,

therefore, and applying fasting as a bridle, let us join to this a
manner of behavior that is moderate and sober. For fasting,
alone and by itself, will never suffice for the attainment of virtue;
but when the fragrance of good deeds is, as it were, joined and
united to it, it will be acceptable to God, and replete with all
praise. But someone who is frightened by the accusations of his
conscience may perhaps say: What do you mean? I am already
suffering compunction for my sins, and the filth of my sins is in-
delible. What words can I use in the presence of the universal
Judge? Or what manner of behavior will free us from the curse
that clings to these things? The sentence is hardly to be avoided;
for the Judge knows all and cannot be deceived. Such a person
will hear in reply: the curse that hangs over those who love sin,
the curse that your sharp eyes have already perceived, you right-
ly fear, dear sir. But let Paul release you from the fears connected
to these things when he writes, “And he brought us to life when
we were dead through the transgressions and sins in which we
once walked, following the course of this world, following the
39. Ex 13.14–15.
40. Rom 12.1.
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is even now at work
among those who are disobedient. Among these we all once
lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of the
flesh and our thoughts, and so we were by nature children of
wrath, just like the rest. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the
great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead
through our transgressions, brought us to life together with
Christ.”41 It is just as the Savior himself said, “For God the Father
loved the world so much, that he gave his only-begotten Son, so
that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might
have eternal life.”42
For the Word, being God and from God by nature and by rea-
son of his ineffable generation from the Father, equal in strength
and operation to the One who engendered him, image and re-
flection, and “imprint of his hypostasis,”43 emptied himself,44 de-
scending to human level and not disdaining the nature that had
been so trampled upon, that he might rescue us from sin and,
once he had freed us from that ancient curse45 as God, might
render us superior to death and corruption. It was for that rea-
son that the Only-Begotten became a human being, and the one
who as God is above the law46 was born under the law. He was
called a slave,47 he who rides upon the highest powers them-
selves and who is hymned as Lord Sabaoth by the voice of the
holy Seraphim.48
But because he became a human being, will we fail to recog-
nize the Master? Will we not recognize the Word engendered
from God the Father? Will we not worship Immanuel? Away with
such nonsense! For those who have dared to think such things,
and who deny the Master who purchased them, will hear the
prophet saying, “Walk by the light of your fire, and by the flame
that you have kindled.”49 Wisdom, too, will lament over them,
saying, “Woe to those who forsake straight ways to walk in ways of
darkness.”50 But we will pass by the twisting path to walk in the
one that is straight, following the divinely inspired Scriptures.
41. Eph 2.1–5. 42. Jn 3.16.

43. Heb 1.3. 44. Cf. Phil 2.7.
45. Cf. Gal 3.13. 46. Cf. Gal 4.4.
47. Cf. Phil 2.7. 48. Cf. Is 6.3.
49. Is 50.11. 50. Prv 2.13.
Even though we worship him who became a human being be-
cause of us and for us, we do not worship him as having come to
be in a human being, but as having himself become a human be-
ing by nature. For as blessed John says, and as the very nature of
the reality bears witness, “The Word became flesh and dwelt
among us.” 51
Now we say that the Word became flesh, not that he passed
over into the nature of flesh. For that would be a change, and
alien to the divine dignity. But [what we say is] that he was born
of a woman and became a full human being like us, blended
completely in nature, in that union, I mean, in a way that surpass-
es understanding and expression. For he has been given the title
of “mediator between God and humans,” connecting through
himself those things which for natural reasons were excluded
from all kinship with each other.52
For as God, he was attached to God the Father’s substance,
but he also took hold of us, inasmuch as he became man. But he
cannot cease to be God because of what is human about him.
But it is just in this way that he is God, the divinity which is above
all not yielding the victory to the flesh, but rather carrying what
has been assumed into its own glory. John in his wisdom, accord-
ingly, even though he understood that he had been born of a
woman, did not say that he had come from below or from the
earth, but from above: “For the one who comes from above is
above all,”53 he clearly cried.
Casting away as far as possible, then, the silly, vain tales of the
unbelievers,54 we will recognize our own Master, even if he has
become a human being. For the Jews, those wretched folk, who
did not know the mystery of piety, replied in their ignorance,
when Christ asked them for what reason they persecuted and
raged against him uncontrollably, “It is not for a good work that
we stone you, but for blasphemy, because you who are a human
51. Jn 1.14.
52. Cyril frequently noted that all attempts to describe the drama of the In-
carnation must end with an acknowledgment of the limitations of human nature
to understand these mysteries. See most famously his Second Letter to Nestorius 3.
53. Jn 3.31.
54. Cf. 1 Tm 4.7 and 6.4.
being are making yourself God.” That is not the view that we
55
shall take. For it is not that he was a human being who ascended
to the glory of divinity, but rather, being God by nature, he be-
came a human being. For how otherwise did he empty himself,56
according to the Scriptures? Being God, therefore, he became a
human being, for in no respect was he a human being who was
deified. This is why it is fitting to worship him, even if he is re-
garded as being with flesh. For blessed David sang, “God will
come manifestly; he is our God and will not keep silence.”57 And
the divinely inspired Thomas, when he had touched the mark of
the nails and finally recognized him as God, worshiped him, say-
ing, “My Lord and my God!”58 Now of course the divine is intan-
gible and invisible. But he came to dwell manifestly, since the
Word is not other than his own flesh and the temple from the
Virgin; he is regarded, rather, as one with it, in the union, that is,
by which he is even said to have become flesh.
He it is whom the wretched Jews dishonored, even though he
said clearly, “Those who believe in me have eternal life,”59 and “I
am the light of the world,”60 “I am the resurrection and the
life.”61 But taking no account of such things, and yielding to an-
ger and jealousy, they ended by crucifying him. The Psalmist,
moreover, curses them, caught as they are in their incessant au-
dacities, when he says, “Lord, you will trouble them in your an-
ger, and fire shall devour them. You will destroy their fruit from
the earth, and their seed from the sons of men. For they intend-
ed evils against you; they devised a plan which they will by no
means be able to carry out.”62 For it was not possible for life to be
held fast by the bonds of death. For he was raised from the dead,
having plundered hell and said “to those in bonds, ‘Come out!’
and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’”63 Having made a
way for human nature to return to life, shown himself to the
holy disciples, appointed them spiritual leaders of the world,
and bidden them baptize “in the name of the Father and of the
55. Jn 10.33. 56. Cf. Phil 2.7.

57. Ps 49.2–3 (LXX). 58. Jn 20.28.
59. Jn 6.47. 60. Jn 8.12.
61. Jn 11.25. 62. Ps 20.10–12.
63. Is 49.9.
Son and of the Holy Spirit,”64 he ascended to the Father, as a
kind of first harvest and “firstfruits of those who have fallen
asleep,”65 appearing also to the spirits above, that he might make
heaven accessible to ourselves as well. Indeed, he said to the holy
disciples, “I will go, and I will prepare for you a place; and I will
come back, and I will take you to myself, that where I am, there
you too may be with me.”66
In celebrating the feast for all these reasons, let us purify our-
selves by our efforts as we must, and by mortifying the flesh, or
rather the pleasure that is in and of the flesh, through our absti-
nence, in order that, once pure, we may show ourselves worthy
of the splendor of the saints when we are joined in purity to the
holy God through Christ the Mediator. And in joining to our
fasting the honor that comes from good deeds, let us take pity
on widows, let us have a care for orphans,67 let us break our
bread for the hungry, let us clothe the naked, let us have a care
for those in prison,68 let us bring into our homes the poor who
have no shelter; in a word, let us practice every kind of virtue.
For then it is, then indeed, that we will fast in purity. We begin
holy Lent on the thirteenth of Phamenoth, and the week of the
salvific Paschal feast on the eighteenth of Pharmuthi. We break
the fast on the twenty-third of Pharmuthi,69 late in the evening,
according to the gospel precept. We celebrate the feast on the
next day, the eve of Sunday, the twenty-fourth of the month,
joining thereto the seven weeks of holy Eastertide, according to
the precept of the divine law. For adorned thus with right faith
and good works, we will inherit the kingdom of heaven in Christ
Jesus our Lord,70 through whom and with whom be glory and
power to the Father with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and
for endless ages. Amen.
64. Mt 28.19. 65. 1 Cor 15.20.

66. Jn 14.2–3. 67. Cf. Jas 1.27.
68. Cf. Mt 25.36. 69. April 19, 425.
70. Cf. Mt 25.35.
FESTAL LETTER FOURTEEN
A.D. 426
N TIMES PAST there were sacred words that intoned

the signal for our holy feast; they order us to cry out
concerning it as loudly and clearly as is fitting, when
they say, “Blow the trumpet at the new moon, on the glorious
day of your feast.”1 But now that the shadow of the law has been
removed, and indeed the letter has shifted to where it shows the
realities clearly and more manifestly, let us leave aside as stale
and now useless that which was discovered by those of old as
something in shadow and figures, by which I mean the inarticu-
late sound of the trumpets, and let us bring the gospel message,
in its precision and harmony, to be of service in signaling the
feast. For a new moon has now appeared; that is to say, the new
and fresh time of our Savior’s Resurrection is coming up. “Any-
one who is in Christ is a new creation,”2 as is written, “and the
old has passed away, behold everything has become new.” Ac-
cordingly (for I think we ought to go straight to what is fitting),
“Sanctify a fast,”3 as the prophet says. Now to sanctify is to conse-
crate, and, as it were, to present to the all-ruling God something
of value. Those therefore who are experienced in warfare, and
know how to train others in tactics, run around the ranks of
their own men when the time comes for battle, bid them ex-
pel fear from their minds, and persuade them in every possible
form of speech that it behooves them to show themselves coura-
geous in combat.
Now I, for my part, think that I must once again propose to
those who do not neglect virtue—but who are utterly convinced
1. Ps 81.3. 2. 2 Cor 5.17.

3. Jl 2.15.
15
that the labor bestowed upon it is of the greatest worth—the
message that is apt to stimulate them, as a sort of challenge to
zeal in its regard. “For it is now time to act for the Lord,”4 as is
written. Act how? Quell the passions. Mortify one’s pleasures
and attune the mind to all that is holily admired, using the pano-
ply of the saints, on which Paul himself, that best of persons,
prided himself for us: “I pommel my body and subdue it, lest af-
ter preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”5 For the
effort at asceticism is,6 all agree, something grievous and hard to
bear; but it is rich in fruit for virtue and good conduct, and in
the acquisition of that which is incomparably better through the
minor loss of that which is worse. The blessed Paul makes this
clear when he says, “For even if our outer self is wasting away,
our inner self is being renewed day by day.”7 For since this loath-
some, pleasure-loving flesh rises up against the thoughts of the
spirit, being sick within itself with the law of sin,8 and ever incit-
ing one toward that which, if one inclines to it, requires one to
abandon the glory associated with what is better, let us prefer
what is beneficial and honored by divine judgment to what is
shameful, and so, in sobriety and moderation, let us lull the un-
tameable movement of the flesh; let us, as it were, make friends
of continence and the virtues that border it and are its neigh-
bors, by which I mean courage, justice, and prudence. Thus we
may fix upon our heads a sort of crown of spring flowers, won-
derfully fragrant, skillfully woven to a remarkable beauty; and,
having washed away all filth, we may, once pure, discharge in pu-
rity, along with the fast, the service that best suits the saints. For
thus it is, thus indeed, that we will share in the heavenly feast,
resplendent in bright garments, as it were, the glory that comes
from the virtues; we will not hear those terrible words that the
Savior spoke to one of those who had been called: “Friend, how
did you get in here without a wedding garment?”9
For it is wise to adapt to the occasion. For it is written: “There
4. Ps 119.126. 5. 1 Cor 9.27.
6. For a discussion of Cyril’s approach to the ascetical life, see the introduc-
tion in FOTC 118, 12–16.
7. 2 Cor 4.16. 8. Cf. Rom 7.23.
9. Mt 22.12.
FESTAL LETTER FOURTEEN 17
is a time for every matter,” and all good things have their own
10
time. In addition, it is worthwhile thinking about the following.

If someone of the highest state, distinguished by honors most
glorious, were to bid us come to him to take part in a feast that
he had decided to celebrate for his acquaintances, would not
those invited come to his house splendidly dressed? For they
would behave in a way worthy of the dignity of the one who had
invited them. Could there be any doubt about it? When there-
fore those at a feast cannot get away with failing to dress splen-
didly, then certainly those who disdain the divine invitation must
stand convicted and condemned by the apparent lack of bright-
ness in their mind. For those who are still, as it were, filthy and
smelly, and who lead lives that are incompatible and irreconcil-
able with what the saints strive for, cannot be numbered with
them.
And this even though Christ says clearly concerning the econ-
omy that will come in its time: “Then the just will shine like the
sun in their Father’s kingdom.”11 Away, then, with the unholy de-
filement of worldly things! Let fornication depart with it, and
greed, jealousy, gossip, slander, deceit, and fraud.12 For it is thus
that the atrocious punishment that hangs over the heads of
those given to sin will be destroyed, and with it the accusations
resulting from wickedness. And there will arise, so to speak, the
things in which one might fairly take pride; and we will be with
Christ, the Savior of us all. Possessing a glory free from all blame,
we will have the contentment of reaping the benefit of what we
need when we dwell in the company of the saints.
2. Let us therefore once again welcome the wise John as a sort

of governor and guide to what is best, when he says, “Do not love
the world or what is in the world. Those who love the world do
not have the love of the Father in them. For all that is in the
world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world
is passing away, and so is desire. But those who do God’s will re-
10. Eccl 3.1. 11. Mt 13.43.

12. Cf. 2 Cor 12.20; Rom 1.29–30.
main forever.” You see how the saints have chosen to live with a
13
wise and irreproachable attitude, and how they spring up coura-

geously into a sort of observation post with a view of the realities
of our situation, measuring nicely the distractions of the present
life, and indicating which of them may, with difficulty, be found
useful, and to what degree and for what purpose. “For all that is
in the world,” he says, “is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life.”14
For is it not true that the pleasures and luxury of those who
have fallen into worldly indolence extend to the pleasures of the
table and of the belly? For delicacies of every sort, spices, preten-
tious preparations of savory dishes, and the gourmet table: this is
what they value most of all.
As for “the lust of the eyes,” this, I think, can also find satisfac-
tion in the beauty of bodies and the splendor of matter, and in
those things that usually charm our eyesight with their pleasant-
ness and grace.
Vanity and love of honor: how can I finally describe how far
their wickedness reaches? For God counts among his greatest
enemies those who are imperious and haughty. For “the Lord re-
sists the proud,”15 as is written.
Having rejected these things, and reckoned them of exceed-
ingly little account, and having made the holy choice to value
the honor that goes with better things, let us live according to
the Gospel, making it our noble concern to show that we have,
as it were, even died to the world by refusing to live in a worldly
way. This is what Paul too hints at when he says, “For I through
the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been cru-
cified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives
in me.”16 In remembering, I think, what [Christ] himself says,
“You received without paying; give without pay,”17 he urges us
ourselves to have the same outlook when he says, “Do you not
know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ were bap-
tized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by bap-
tism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the
13. 1 Jn 2.15–17. 14. 1 Jn 2.16.

15. Prv 3.34. 16. Gal 2.19–20.
17. Mt 10.8.
glory of the Spirit, we too might walk in newness of life.” I will
18
therefore say something necessary to your advantage, and once

again I will make use of the words of the saints: “Who among you
are the wise and understanding ones? By their good conduct let
them show their works in the meekness of wisdom.”19
Now it is worth your while to reflect that admirable conduct is
none other than that by which certain folk may be guided aright,
and may choose to live in the best way and to be sincere in their
faith. For to give the appearance of approaching the faith, while
looking elsewhere and hating to plant oneself firmly, is, I must
confess, to reach the last degree of evil. Against those in fact who
have corrupted their mind in this way, who have chosen to think
and act thus, the divine words themselves immediately level their
curse: “Woe to fearful hearts, and faint hands, and the sinner
that goes two ways!”20 For it is truly a paralyzing sickness of mind
to be readily distracted from one’s course and willing to love
what one has decided to hate, a crime that may be charged to a
faint and unnerved spirit. For suppose one were to ask someone
of at least moderate sobriety, to say nothing of someone of im-
mense strength, the following question: “If you had the choice,
dear sir, of being healthy or sick, and you could easily have
whichever you liked, would you choose to be ill, rejecting the
other state, or would you hasten to take the choice which is obvi-
ously better, dismissing the very question as ridiculous?” Is there
any human being so insane as not to cry out how pleasant it is
when the body is healthy? And that the last thing one would
choose is to experience the contrary? It is indeed impossible that
we should say that that person has not judged wisely. For it is un-
safe to disparage as unsound that which intrinsically and obvi-
ously abounds in glory, even if no one chooses to defend it. If,
then, we reckon bodily health as one of the best things, and in-
clude it as among the most desirable, how can it not be absurd
not to appear to have the same attitude toward the soul? Or rath-
er, not to deem it worthy of a zeal that is more useful? For the
degree to which souls are superior to bodies is, I think, the de-
gree to which we should bestow upon them a fuller concern.
18. Rom 6.3–4. 19. Jas 3.13.

20. Sir 2.12.
While ointments, therefore, and food and the sufficient use
of other treatments that are not excessive drive illness from hu-
man bodies, I would say that the health of the soul, and the in-
comparable sobriety of a mind looking to be firm, consist in
bringing the mind to a longing for virtue, in considering sin an
impure corruption, and beyond this in desiring tenaciously to
be vanquished by love for God, and in honoring the Creator of
all with an integral faith. For the divine law itself reveals to us
that those of old had to have this attitude. For the first and admi-
rable commandment is: “You shall love the Lord your God with
your whole soul, and with your whole mind, and with all your
strength.”21 That, I maintain, is to choose to honor the Maker
with an integral faith.
Consider the matter thus: take, for instance, those in atten-
dance upon those in power on earth, and those who are appoint-
ed their guards: does it behoove them to think as they do? And
when they choose to do so, will we consider them worthy of the
highest praise, and pay them the highest marks of honor? Or,
rather, would someone perhaps think it better, and preferable, if
they were to pretend to be loyal by their speech, while being
caught infected with a barbarian outlook and enslaved to the
most shameful evils? I am sure that anyone with good sense would
say that it would and will befit the evil man to perish evilly, “who
says one thing while hiding something else within his thoughts,”
as the Greek poets say.22 For I think that one must preserve com-
pletely irreproachable one’s loyalty toward those in power, while
hating with all one’s heart anything barbarian. If, however, at
least in these parts, one’s good reputation is conspicuous and
worth having, then obviously we will consider it necessary that
those who are united to God and have firmly professed their faith
in him, and that in the presence of many holy witnesses, should
prefer to rely upon him uniquely, crying out in the words of the
Psalm, “My soul holds fast behind you.”23 For it is only thus, and
21. Mk 12.30; cf. Dt 6.5.

22. Homer, Iliad 9.313. According to the editor of the Sources chrétiennes
edition, references to the Iliad are relatively rare in early Christian literature; SC
434, 142, n. 1.
23. Ps 62.8.
not otherwise, that they may be counted among the true worship-
ers.24 For to confess with the tongue that he is the God of every-
thing, while not yet departing once for all from the error of de-
mons, can only be, to judge fairly, nothing else than that of which
I just spoke: to pretend in speech to be loyal, while being barbar-
ian in mind. It might be said that he who is crowned with the
highest glory could justly rebuke them, saying: “O soldier, who
bear my arms, are your sympathies with the barbarians? You like
only to seem to be mine, while belonging to others completely.”
Now God too, I think, might say of those who are not firm in
faith: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far
from me. In vain do they revere me, when the teachings they ob-
serve are human precepts.”25
Now our topic offers the opportunity to speak of something
practical. What I mean is that some of those who are reckoned as
among us have reached such a point of ignominy as to give over
their minds to attending to deceptive spirits and the false and
idle chatter of oracle-mongers.26 The latter imagine that they
know what is beyond heaven and under the earth; but the
wretches do not realize that they fool themselves, and with their
own selves they ruin others as well. For they persuade them to
believe that knowledge of the future is available for those who
want to get it, and, in attributing to the movement of the stars
what is peculiar to the divine excellence alone, they draw away
from sound and right doctrine those who are easily led astray
and prone to be carried off by deception. They in fact gather to-
gether crowds of wretched crones, whispering what they like, as
though they themselves were divine. These return home, having
been stupidly taken in by the falsehoods and bilked of their
money collected with such difficulty. For their whole art consists
in wooing vain and unholy dirty money, and of their drawings
upon the lethal tablet they make a sort of shop of falsehoods.
This is what some of the people of Israel used to do, neglect-
ing piety toward God and not heeding their proper pursuit. But
what does the prophet Ezekiel say? “And the word of the Lord
24. Cf. Jn 4.23.

25. Mt 15.8–9; cf. Is 29.13.
26. See Letter 6 in FOTC 118 for a similar critique of astrology.
came to me, saying: Son of man, prophesy against the prophets
of Israel who prophesy; and you shall speak to the prophets who
prophesy from their heart, and you shall prophesy and say to
them: Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord Adonai.”27
“Because your words are false, and your prophecies are vain,
therefore, behold, I am against you, says the Lord Adonai. And I
will stretch forth my hand against the prophets that see false-
hoods and that utter vanities.”28 And because there were some
horrible women who used to pretend to knowledge of the fu-
ture, God speaks again to the prophet, “And you, son of man, set
your face firmly against the daughters of your people, who
prophesy from their heart; and prophesy against them, and you
will say: Thus says the Lord Adonai: Woe to the [women] who
stitch together cushions on every wrist and make coverings for
every head of every age, to pervert souls! And the souls of my
people have been perverted, and they have preserved souls and
have profaned me before my people for a handful of barley and
a piece of bread, to kill souls that should not have died, and to
preserve souls that should not have lived, when you speak to a
people who listens to vain utterances.”29
For that is the truth. Without ever being inspired by God,
they transmit to others things that are beyond the mind accord-
ing to our customary way of prophecy. When they themselves
have composed replies that seem plausible to each of those who
like to question them, they send them forth from their shops of
deceit. But while they say that they are skilled and wise, and sup-
pose that they are so far advanced in their art and accuracy that
they can effortlessly and unerringly understand the affairs of
others, one finds that they err so badly about their own concerns
that, after they have blundered, they say they would never have
expected to suffer what occurred. Indeed, since it is easy for
those who know things in advance to protect themselves, and
they have the means to escape what they already know will hap-
27. Ezek 13.1–3.

28. Ezek 13.8–9.
29. Ezek 13.17–19. The editor of the Sources chrétiennes edition notes that
this use of Ezekiel in arguments against astrology is unique to Cyril; SC 434,
146, n. 1.
pen, and how it will occur, why are they not the first to avoid ca-
lamities, convinced as they are that they do well at their art?
Their inventions are, then, vain quackery, as we have proved by
the facts themselves.
But, they say, some of what has been said has turned out true.
Just so, dear sirs: and that is precisely the charge upon which
your censure must rest. Does then a defendant, and someone ac-
cused, make the indictment his defense? It is not because some
of what has been said has turned out to be true that we are being
foolish in pouring out our accusations concerning something
that is not shameful. It is rather the fact that not all of them are
true: that is the clear proof of your disgusting character, and
shows as well how erroneous is your trade, how very foolish your
art, and laughable your science, even though what comes from
God does not prove false. For the divine mind in its purity knows
completely and fully what will be, and if it chooses in advance to
tell it to certain ones, and those then to others, the narrative will
not be false. The inventions of human thought, by contrast, will
have the reputation of conjecture rather than of truth.
Each of these folk seems to me to resemble someone who has
lost his sight to some disease and no longer has the faculty of vi-
sion, and who would do better to remain quiet and yield to the
constraints of his handicap, but who then thinks he can practice
archery, and is quite serious about it. Is this not madness, and a
kind of crime against the art? It is easy to perceive what will hap-
pen to him. He will send forth a hail of arrows, most of which
will be lost and doubtless miss the mark. But there is nothing to
prevent them from heading somehow straight for it, however
difficult this may be. He will then boast of this one shot, and re-
buff the ridicule that results from the others! The man with
healthy vision, however, will not take pride in one successful shot
and think well of himself; far from it. On the contrary, if he had
set out to receive our praise, he would be ashamed of all of the
missed shots, for fear lest his art fail of its beauty.
Let them then choose: they may, on the one hand, acknowl-
edge that they produce what they say from an intelligence that is
blind, and they may claim the applause they can get from that.
For those without sight will not incur much ridicule for their fail-
ure, and their one lucky success will be put down not to skill but
to chance. Or, on the other hand, if they say that they can see,
and insist that they know the truth clearly, they will then find
that their failure is quite inexcusable, and their method of divi-
nation so much mental froth.
There have been holy prophets among us, whose habit was
not to measure the movement of stars, who did not meddle in
the use of the elements and force human nature into what does
not behoove it, and who did not put their trust in worthless
quackery. They rather perceived the future in advance, from the
Holy Spirit’s revelation, and told us of it long before it hap-
pened. Nothing of what they said has failed, but the course of
events proceeds through their due times until they are at hand;
or rather it does so exactly in the footprints of what has been
foretold. For it is God who has spoken. One is therefore able to
hear these men clearly as they spared no words in declaring how
lethal is this deceitful and money-grubbing juggling with astrol-
ogy; for I think for my part that one must be extravagant in in-
venting names for this art.
They say, accordingly, “Thus says the Lord: Do not learn ac-
cording to the ways of the nations, and do not be alarmed at the
signs of the sky, for they are alarmed at them in their faces, for
the laws of the nations are vain.”30 The stars that adorn this sky
with their multifarious positions, and crown it with their harmo-
nious brilliance, have indeed been made for illumination and
for marking times.31 But they submit to the laws of their Maker,
you see, and indicate the changing of seasons to those on earth,
rising and setting each at different times.
We must attend, accordingly, not to the ribaldry of these folk,
but to the voices of those divinely inspired, and we will concede
to God the possession of the glory that is beyond all things; we
will not grant it to the nature of the stars. For is not the posses-
sion in abundance of the knowledge of the future a dignity and
superiority that befits God? Can there be any doubt of it? For
30. Jer 10.2–3.

31. For a discussion of the early Christian thinking about the influence of
the stars, see Alan Scott, Origen and the Life of the Stars: A History of an Idea (Ox-
ford: Oxford University Press, 1994).
just as the bringing of things with ease from non-being into be-
ing will be ascribed to him alone, and to no other being, so also,
I think, will be the knowledge of everything past and present,
and even of the future. But that the devotion to worthless and
false divination does not go unpunished, is what the blessed Mo-
ses declares, or rather the God of all through Moses: “When you
enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not
learn to act according to the abominations of the nations. There
shall not be found in you one who purges his son or his daugh-
ter with fire, one who practices divination, interprets omens,
and performs augury, a sorcerer, enchanter, ventriloquist, ob-
server of prodigies, or necromancer. For everyone who does
these things is an abomination to the Lord, your God.”32 And he
adds, “You shall be perfect before the Lord, your God. For the
nations whom you shall inherit, they shall listen to omens and
divinations. But the Lord your God has not allowed this to you.”33
False divination, then, and attention to omens, are the worst of
crimes.
And what is paradoxical is that God sometimes allows these
folk to say something true, using the event as a sort of test of the
firmness of the faith of his own worshipers. He speaks as follows
through Moses: “If there arises in you a prophet or one who
dreams a dream, and he gives you a sign or wonder, and the sign
or wonder comes to pass which he spoke to you, saying: ‘Let us
go and serve other gods whom you do not know,’ you shall not
listen to the words of that prophet or of the one who dreams
that dream, because the Lord God is testing you, to see if you
love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul.”34 When therefore the beauty of loyalty towards God is
counterfeited, if someone thinks that those engaged in such
filthy lucre are divinely inspired, then even if it happens that
they say something true, we will not yield our attention to their
claptrap. But as for those folk, let them go their own way, “de-
ceivers and deceived,”35 as is written, for such is their choice; we,
however, will follow the sacred words, remembering the one who
writes: “You shall make straight paths for your feet, and order
32. Dt 18.9–12. 33. Dt 18.13–14.

34. Dt 13.1–3. 35. 2 Tm 3.13.
your ways aright.”36 Now the straight and undeviating path is to
head directly toward all that is good, to bid farewell to false divi-
nation, and to know, and that simply, who it is that is naturally
and truly God and Lord. For the law given through Moses pre-
scribed of old that this must be our attitude: “The Lord your
God shall you adore, and him alone shall you serve.”37 “For there
is in us one God, the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through
whom are all things.”38 “For in the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were
made through him, and without him not one thing was made.”39
But now we certainly do not say, since in fact everything was
made through him according to the Scriptures, that he has a
subordinate and instrumental rank, as though implying that the
Father has some need when he creates everything. That would
be froth from an unholy doctrine, and the inventions of the folly
of heretics.40 But since he himself is the wisdom and power of
God the Father,41 it is through him that all things are called into
existence, and, once called, are preserved and maintained in
well-being. “For God did not make death, nor does he delight in
the destruction of the living.”42 For thus is it written: “Nor is the
dominion of Hades upon earth.”43 “For he created all things that
they might exist, and the generative forces of the world are
wholesome”;44 “but by the devil’s envy death entered the world.”45
For human nature slipped when it disregarded the reverence
due to God, and it was delivered to sin. And along with the accu-
sations concerning sin, there entered in, as it were, the necessity
of dying and of submitting to the power of corruption.46 For it at
once heard the words: “Earth you are, and off to earth shall you
go.”47 But the Creator of all, being good by nature, decided to
36. Prv 4.26. 37. Mt 4.10, quoting Dt 6.13.

38. 1 Cor 8.6. 39. Jn 1.1–3.
40. This is a reference to the fourth-century Trinitarian debates. See the in-
troduction in FOTC 118, 26–27.
41. Cf. 1 Cor 1.24. 42. Wis 1.13.
43. Wis 1.14. 44. Wis 1.14.
45. Wis 2.24.
46. Salvation as liberation from corruption is an important idea in Cyril’s
theology. See Letter 5.2, FOTC 118, 85–86.
47. Gn 3.19.
refashion the living being unto incorruption, and, by transform-
ing him unto piety, to restore him completely to the unspoiled
beauty that he had at first.
Thus did the only-begotten Word of God become a human
being; and while he put on the form we have, he retains the fact
of being God as something he cannot lose. For the nature that is
beyond all mind, and is the highest of all, knows no alteration.
He remained therefore what he was, even with the flesh, and,
lowering himself to his providential [self-]emptying, he “dwelt
among human beings,”48 as is written, reforming him who ap-
proached him and justifying him by faith, opening the gate of
the kingdom of heaven, introducing what is beneficial, and
showing the truth. And both by the illumination of the divine
light and by the magnificence of his deeds, he made it clear to
those of good sense that he is God by nature, even if he became
flesh. He said accordingly, “If I do not do the works of my Father,
do not believe me; but if I do them, even if you do not believe
me, believe my works.”49 For the word was what drew [people] to
assent; and the <power>50 of working miracles was quite suffi-
cient to show clearly that he is God by nature.
But those from Israel decided not to think aright. For they
spent a long time insulting the Savior and Redeemer of the uni-
verse by their enormous incredulity, and finally they crucified
him, repaying him evil for good,51 as is written, and executing
the devil’s commands without delay. Did he therefore remain
among the dead, and, having suffered human death with us, was
he caught fast in the snares of adventitious corruption? By no
means. For he was by nature life, and he revived on the third
day, becoming even here a beginning and door and way for the
human race. And when he revived, having plundered hell, he as-
cended to God the Father in the heavens. And he will come in
due time, as we believe, with the holy angels, will sit upon the
throne of his glory, and will repay each according to his works.52
Let us celebrate the feast, therefore, since death has been ban-
48. Bar 3.37. 49. Jn 10.37–38.

50. The noun δύναμις has been inserted in brackets by the Sources chré-
tiennes editor; SC 434, p. 162, ln. 340.
51. Cf. Ps 35.12. 52. Cf. Mt 16.27.
ished, corruption destroyed, sin abolished in advance by faith,
and the kingdom of heaven set before us, such a bright hope
thus awaiting us. But since we are to present ourselves to the
Judge to give an account of our own life, let us give thought to
moderation. Let us practice justice, charity, mutual friendship,
gentleness, temperance, and, in a word, every virtue. Let us care
for widows, let us have pity for orphans,53 let us assist those with
bodily ailments with every possible remedy, let us care for those
in prison.
For it is thus, thus indeed, that we will celebrate the feast in a
pure manner when we have rid ourselves of every stain, and
when we distinguish ourselves by a right faith. We begin Lent on
the fifth of Phamenoth, and the week of the salvific Paschal feast
on the tenth of Pharmuthi, breaking the fast on the fifteenth of
Pharmuthi, late in the evening, according to the gospel precept.
We celebrate the feast on the following day, the eve of Sunday,
the sixteenth of this month.54 We join thereto the seven weeks of
holy Eastertide. For it is thus, thus indeed, that we will enjoy the
holy words, in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom and with
whom be honor, glory, and power to the Father with the Holy
Spirit for all ages. Amen.
53. Cf. Jas 1.27.

54. April 11, 426.
FESTAL LETTER FIFTEEN
A.D. 427
OME ONCE AGAIN, let us exult in the Lord.1 For the

time has now come to hold festival, beloved, to betake
ourselves without delay to the spiritual banquet, and
all but to cry out with the Psalmist’s noble lyre: “Delight in the
Lord, and may he give you all the requests of your heart.”2 We
will carry out what has been commanded, not battening on sa-
vory dishes, nor clouding our minds with cup after cup beyond
measure; but luxuriating rather in sacred and divine words, wid-
ening the eye of our mind unto a sobriety that is still better and
ever superior to that which is ours at present, and proceeding
in some sense to the lofty heights themselves of the vision of
God. For the result will be, with God’s generous assent, that we
will be able to conquer our obstacles and show ourselves supe-
rior to the most revolting passions.3
Now the words that befit perfectly those who keep festival
thus splendidly, are those which encourage us to seek to desire
that admirable way of life, which is in Christ: the divine Singer
will, I think, offer sufficient proof of that when he testifies in say-
ing to us, “Blow the trumpet at the new moon, on the glorious
day of your feast.”4 And as the clearest evidence I will add to this
an ancient oracle. For he says to that holiest man, Moses, “And if
you shall go forth to war in your land against your enemies that
are opposed to you, and you sound the trumpets, you will be
held in remembrance before the Lord, and you will be saved
1. Cf. Ps 95.1.
2. Ps 37.4.
3. For a discussion of Cyril’s approach to the ascetical life, see the introduc-
4. Ps 81.4.
29
from your enemies. And in the days of your gladness, and on
your feasts, and on your new moons, you shall sound the trum-
pets at your holocausts and at the sacrifices of your altars, and
there shall be a remembrance for you before your God. I am the
Lord your God.”5
It is not without purpose that the law has revealed this to us. It
leads one by analogy through figures and riddles to the truth,
and, in providing as a sort of coarse image the things that meet
the sense of sight, it establishes the subtle eye of the mind above
what is sensible. You will understand what I mean if you give the
fullest attention to what we have just said. Those of old, that is,
were engaged in war against blood and flesh. For Moabites and
Midianites,6 and in addition countless other nations of the most
belligerent sort, who bordered the land of the Jews, used to
make frequent incursions by surprise. It was necessary for those
who were concerned for their reputation in battle to keep resist-
ing and repelling them on their own behalf and for their chil-
dren and women. We will reckon, then, that the sound of the
trumpet was not found by those of old to be without benefit for
the waging of war.
So it was for them. But for us whose reputation is based on
faith in Christ, the war is not against blood and flesh, nor does it
entail a demonstration of bodily strength. “For the weapons of
our warfare are not carnal,”7 as Paul says. A sacred and holy war
is now undertaken, rather, against the very ones who were victo-
rious of old, and against every passion that is in us. Let the spiri-
tual trumpet give the signal, then, which means the piercing
proclamation of the holy and divinely inspired Scripture; let it
incite those able and experienced in war to show great strength;
and let it announce that it behooves them to relinquish coward-
ice. God says this clearly through a prophet’s voice: “Proclaim
this among the nations: Sanctify a war, rouse the fighters, ad-
vance and go up, all you men of war; beat your plowshares into
swords, and your sickles into spears. Let the weak say: I am
strong.”8
You see how he says that the battle is holy, and does not allow
5. Nm 10.9–10. 6. Cf. Nm 22.3–4.
7. 2 Cor 10.4. 8. Jl 4.9–10.
FESTAL LETTER FIFTEEN 31
what is inglorious and feeble to be weak, knowing as he does
how indelible are accusations of unmanliness for those upon
whom they are charged. But what does the prophetic message
mean to indicate to us, in urging us so strongly to beat the plow-
shares into swords, and the sickles into spears? Let us consider.
Plowshares and sickles, swords and spears:9 the former would be
the most useful implements for agriculture, while the latter are
precisely those suited for war. Shall we therefore say that the law
removes us from a quiet and industrious life, and bids us choose
in place of it, when it is so worthy of reverence, one which is sav-
age and bellicose? It is repugnant even to entertain the thought.
The charge is ridiculous, I think, and the idea perverse. For
God’s law educates us for all that is admirable, and is the last
thing that would turn us aside to choose to commit a transgres-
sion. Let us therefore consider, if you please, what is meant by
transforming the plowshare into a sword, and the sickle into a
spear.
The law appears to suggest to us, deftly, that the time has
come for those who are justified in Christ10 and sanctified in the
Spirit,11 and who have undertaken the war against passions and
sin, to stop dwelling upon earthly concerns and letting them-
selves be persuaded to dally there, so that they seem slow to take
up the duty to achieve what is better and more fitting. They are
rather to redirect the effort spent on earthly affairs, as it were, to
the achievement of virtue, even if victory is to be had only after a
battle, to tame the passions within themselves, to prefer to ap-
pear superior to indolence, and to arm themselves with the full
spiritual panoply. For thus does Paul in his supreme wisdom
equip for us the best and mightiest fighter when he says, “Stand
therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put
on the breastplate of justice, and having shod your feet with the
gear of the gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of
faith, with which you can quench all the flaming shafts of the
Evil One. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God.”12 The best fighter, then, will
take pride in his duty to equip himself splendidly, and will win
9. Cf. Jl 4.10. 10. Cf. Gal 2.17.

11. Cf. Rom 15.16. 12. Eph 6.14–17.
the honor worthy of a combatant for this, having chosen to think
and act in a way that will show his valor and his complete readi-
ness for the achievement of everything that is excellent. He will
be wise, sensible, and docile and obedient to the divine laws.
2. But who are those that lead a life contrary to what I have
said, and who are thus rejected from the sacred multitude of the
saints? It is once again the God of all who explains it to us in
speaking to Moses, the mediator: “Command the children of Is-
rael, and let them send forth from the camp every leper, and ev-
eryone suffering from nocturnal discharges, and everyone un-
clean from a dead body; whether male or female, send them
forth from the camp; and they shall not defile their camps in
which I dwell with them.”13 You hear how he said that a leper,
and someone suffering from nocturnal discharges, and some-
one unclean from a dead body must be sent from the camp, and
he says that it will be an occasion of pollution for the others as
well, if they are not separated from the fighters as quickly as pos-
sible. Now why ever is that? I at any rate would like to ask this
most reasonable of questions. And what is more, I think that any-
one would be puzzled, and would ponder for what purpose it
was that God made a law that the weak must be subject to pun-
ishment.
Would it not be better for the one who is the promoter of ho-
liness and justice to regard those suffering from unwanted ill-
nesses as deserving of gentleness, and, since they have been suf-
fering miserably, to show mercy equally for their condition, and
to let no one reproach them at all for their sickness? For leprosy,
and the loss of natural seed, and involuntary [menstrual] dis-
charges14 are things that happen to human bodies, and those
suffering from them cannot be blamed for them. One would
13. Nm 5.2–3.
14. The French translator renders καταφοραί as “lethargy,” and expresses
puzzlement about the meaning (SC 434, 180, n. 1). Lampe notes, however, that
elsewhere in Cyril it means “[menstrual] discharge.” If that is his meaning here
as well, it is easy to see why he would have included it as one of the causes of
ritual impurity, especially since the law he quotes mentions females as well as
males. It seems likely that Cyril adds it in order to balance the mention of the
male seminal discharge.
choose rather, even if one were among those most admired for
their wealth, to yield at once all one’s possessions to those who
promised relief. How, then, can the fact of being a victim of such
terrible evils constitute a charge or accusation against the sick?
Morals that are thoroughly wicked, and a will that is infected
with the tendency to rush headlong into what is shameful, and
has chosen to disdain better things, may fairly be punished. But
that which is not thus by nature, and which is not chosen by
those who suffer it, is not, I think, even to be the subject of jocu-
larity, and does not incur the chastisement contained in the law.
Well, then, what can one say in reply? Has the law been unjust
to lepers, or has it pronounced a rigid sentence against the oth-
ers, neglecting to look for what is fitting? By no means; far from
it! For it is written: “The law is holy, and the commandment holy
and just and good.”15 But how can we understand this? If some-
one asks, we shall say: The commandment given through Moses
transmitted to those of old the beauty of truth by means of fig-
ure and shadow, and the meaning of that which was concealed
inside for the mind was represented splendidly by bodily infirmi-
ties. For the letter of the law compares to lepers those who, with
respect to their morals, are changeable and inconstant in their
views, and embroidered with countless evils, while attending
only to themselves. It also speaks of someone with an uncon-
trolled love of the flesh, someone conquered by what is shame-
ful to excess, as one afflicted by nocturnal discharges, as though
suffering precisely from the involuntary disease of nocturnal dis-
charge. It execrates as well those who are unclean from a dead
body, meaning those who choose to grieve and suffer excessively
for the dead.
Retracing our steps, therefore, as it were, and all but guiding
our argument back [to its starting point], following the nature of
what we are considering, and observing the innermost meaning
of what is written, we say the following: If certain folk have cho-
sen to be infected with a variety of vices, they are too weak for
battle, and are in no way fit to show themselves superior to pas-
sions. This is leprosy and the disease associated with it. Nor will
those who are intemperate and yield to inordinate pleasures be
15. Rom 7.12.
enrolled in the ranks of the saints. And in addition, those who la-
ment immoderately the dead who have altogether perished are
rejected. For this is to insult God, [to lament] even though he
has proclaimed clearly through the voice of the saints, “The dead
will rise, and those in the tombs will be raised.”16
Let us be brave, then, in showing ourselves superior to the
passions, as we must; for thus will one be included among those
accustomed to a good reputation. And one who is numbered
among those selected for merit will truly achieve the glory so
deeply desired. Do not be frightened by the effort, even if it
seems arduous to reach the life that is commended, and even if
the path of virtue is rugged and steep as it lies before one, and
labor rears its head before renown. For it is not possible, indeed
it is not, for people to abound in the marks of success when they
make only slight efforts; it is always in proportion to the labors
expended that the results arise and appear.
This is the sort of language the divinely inspired Paul uses to
incite us to desire virtue. For he has enjoined as a model, as he
likes to do, “Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who
for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame.”17 In what way and in what circumstances the Word
endured the cross for us, lowering himself into his [self-]empty-
ing, even though he is God by nature: let us speak of that, lifting
briefly on high our discourse, and bringing it down serviceably
to that which is called the voluntary emptying.
3. There has been begotten from God the Father, ineffably

and beyond understanding,18 the Son who is in him and from
him by nature. Now when we say “has been begotten,” let the
mind get beyond the realm of bodies, and the triviality of what
the imagination suggests in their regard, leaving it far below; let
it consider the Divine as incomparably superior to the nature of
body, and let it be firmly convinced that it has a glory which is in-
16. Is 26.19.
17. Heb 12.2.
18. In the lines that follow, Cyril continues to rehearse the major doctrinal
conclusions of the previous century. The Christological controversy has yet to
begin.
comparable and far above everything created. Without following
in any way the laws that apply to us, therefore, we will admit this:
that for what is begotten, birth is preceded by complete non-
existence, and that the situation of never having been comes be-
fore the passage into being, so to speak. To do that [in this con-
text] would be nonsense, and a clear proof of supreme idiocy.
For if by chance one were speaking of bodies or of what has to
do with us, there would be nothing unreasonable about attribut-
ing to bodies what is proper to them, and whatever happens nat-
urally to things subject to generation and decay. For the way into
existence is, we all agree, preceded by complete non-existence.
They will in addition endure the divisions from the one engen-
dering them, that the offspring may receive its proper endow-
ment.
But when it comes to the substance that is the highest of all,
beyond everything created, how can it be anything but sheer
madness to admit divisions and severances, and to seek a genera-
tion that takes place in time? Away with such nonsense, good fel-
low! Employ the subtlest possible intelligence in our consider-
ations, and you will see the truth. Or know that you are insulting
the divine nature in applying to it what is proper to bodies, and
in lowering the lofty pre-eminence, which is beyond everything
made, to an estimation of it that is more shameful than that
which suits it and which is believed to belong to it.
For since the Father is always Father, and does not pass in
time from begetting potentially to begetting in actuality, the one
through whom he is Father must always exist with him. For “in
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God,”19 accord-
ing to the Scriptures. But of whom “was” is said, when nothing
has been cited previously: where will the course of our thought
stop [in considering this], and what conclusion will we reach, if
our mind chooses to pursue this “was” by some kind of subtle
mental intuition?20 The Word was therefore begotten, and “was
19. Jn 1.1.
20. This language is reminiscent of Cyril’s Second Letter to Succensus, where
he discusses human understanding of the division of the divine and human na-
tures in Christ as a “fine-drawn insight or mental intuition.” For this transla-
tion see Lionel R. Wickham, ed., Cyril of Alexandria: Select Letters (Oxford: Ox-
God.” But he was not begotten according to a body’s nature; that
would mean conceiving of a complete otherness between the be-
gotten and the begetter. We have of necessity used the word “be-
get” from what applies to our circumstances, signifying that the
Only-Begotten of God the Father’s substance has shone forth in
the way of light, and subsists individually, and is regarded as ex-
isting in his own right. But it is quite impossible to express this
matter in speech. For it is not as one separated at all from his
parent’s substance, but as one who himself exists in the Father
and in his own nature displays his begetter, that he is worshiped
and glorified with him. And since he is consubstantial and equal
in glory, he is necessarily equal in operation and in power. And
since the Holy Spirit subsists for us with them in this way, and is
regarded as equally divine and associated with them, the compo-
sition of our belief about the holy Trinity will be correct and ir-
reproachable.
He therefore who is supremely distinguished with the digni-
ties pertaining to God the Father, he through whom everything
was brought into being, “did not count equality with God some-
thing to be grasped,” as is written, “but emptied himself, taking
the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of human beings.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becom-
ing obedient unto death, even death on a cross.”21 For even
though it was in his power to maintain himself in splendor upon
his own pre-eminence, and to enjoy abundantly his equality with
the Father, radiant upon the throne of divinity, he descended
willingly unto our kind, in no way harming his own nature by as-
suming what was inferior, but rather adding what was lacking to
it. For it would not be reasonable, or rather it would be most
dangerous, to think and say that human nature will happen to
get the better of the divine and ineffable nature, and will force it
into its own ugliness and bring it down from its own pre-
eminence. What makes sense, in my view, is to reflect that what
pertains to our state will yield before the nature of divinity, and
ford University Press, 1983), 92.14–16. See also John J. O’Keefe, “Impassible
Suffering? Divine Passion and Fifth-Century Christology,” Theological Studies 58
(1997): 50.
21. Phil 2.6–8.
will take itself off to that which is incomparably superior, van-
quished by the renown of what surpasses it.
For it is completely ridiculous, when one sees among God’s
creatures those not especially beautiful being adorned by the
mixture and juxtaposition of those that are superior, to think
that when God associates himself with human nature, in a man-
ner that he knows, he does not impress upon it something prop-
er to him, but rather suffers some injury to his own nature con-
trary to his dignity. The sun itself, when it casts its rays upon the
very mud and mire, preserves its radiance quite unimpaired.
And the divine, uncontaminated nature, which is above all else
and which is quite incapable of suffering any of the things that
normally cause distress: how could it be harmed by contact with
what is lesser? Will it not rise above the nature that is inferior,
and, by illuminating it with its own good things, transport it to
what is incomparably better?
But now, instead of admiring unreservedly such venerable
things, as they ought, certain folk treat them haughtily and are
infected with a supercilious attitude. They think to defend the
divine glory by condemning the ugliness of the so-perfect econo-
my. For they do not accept the mystery, but laugh heartily, think-
ing the matter quite absurd, and claiming that we have ventured
upon idle chatter. What they do not realize is that sometimes
they place an uncritical trust in their own guides, if in fact they
decide to think or say something, and, importing the words, “It
was he who said it,” then substitute their own thoughts for the di-
vine judgments; they heap upon their own heads that which will
be quite hard to escape. Nor do they attribute to the divine na-
ture that by which people have learned to bestow honors.
They think, however, that a brilliant argument has been pro-
vided them. How is it, they say, that the uncontaminated mind,
free of all quantity and boundary, has made its way into the body
of one human being? Now, I for my part commend them when
they remove the Divine from corporeal quantity; I agree with
this. I do, however, say the following to those who think this way:
We do not in fact say that the nature of the Word has been cir-
cumscribed, even if he is said to dwell in the body of the Virgin
as in a holy temple. On the contrary, he has filled the heavens,
the earth, and that which is beneath as God, without omitting
anything that is. And with this, he was also a human being. But if
you cannot think how or in what way this is, yield to what is above
the mind, grant to what is above reason the silence, which is, as it
were, from necessity. There is much else that you will admit you
do not know:22 Where is it that the earth is fixed? What base does
the sky have? In what manner was the chorus of stars made, and
how does it make its way upward to the height? If, however, one
chose to speak on each matter, one would, I think, need to say a
great deal in composing explanations for you.
They say, however, that it is a shabby thing for the God who is
above all to become as we are. Your accusation, then, is that, be-
ing kindly and good by nature, he showed a concern for us that
was more useful than was fitting. For we may agree that becom-
ing as we are is a shabby thing for him; it is called “emptying.”23
But the account of his clemency toward us will repel the charge.
And to level accusations against what should be admired is quite
unholy. Speak as follows to those fond of asking questions:
Which do you think would be better, and would redound to his
glory: to pay no heed to our situation, and take no account of
man when he has lapsed into all that is inordinate? Or rather the
contrary: to save him, and grant him the care that is fitting? How
could anyone accustomed to viewing matters correctly doubt
that it would be better and more fitting for him who is good by
nature to distribute the good things coming from his own kind-
ness to the beings produced by him? Where, then, is there mat-
ter for accusation? And how is it that certain folk prattle on
about the faultlessness of the economy?
We will, however, leave it to the physicians to discover how to
tame the savagery of their passions; but will we censure God for
not being ignorant of the path to care for us? Will we be so
senseless as to be convinced that he has failed in reasoning
properly, and that human intelligence has seen things in a more
fitting way? Come now, shall we not rid ourselves of this ridicu-
22. This is probably an echo of Jb 38.4–7. A similar appeal to the limits of

human knowledge appears in Gregory of Nazianzus’ Oration 28.22–31 (Second
Theological Oration).
23. Cf. Phil 2.7.
lous insanity? Listen to God, who knows everything, as he clear-
ly says, “For my counsels are not as your counsels, nor are my
ways as your ways; but as the heaven is distant from the earth, so
are my ways distant from your ways, and your thoughts from my
thoughts.”24 For to the extent that he is above our situation by
nature, to that extent is his thought better in every respect. He
does not see by examination the way to each of the things to be
done; he chooses as soon as he thinks, and so accomplishes his
will. “For nothing, nothing at all, fails in God, and he succeeds
in everything,” as is wisely sung by those of old.25 But if it pleases
you and you are eager to learn the reason for the Incarnation, I
will expound it unhesitatingly and briefly.
4. The Creator of all made man imperishable and incorrupt-

ible from the very beginning; he was exempt in this matter by the
laws of his own nature, and hence undisturbed. For that which
comes into existence suffers decay necessarily, and that whose
destiny is to begin to be made proceeds certainly toward having
to cease. But since the Creator wanted him to be thus, he en-
graved in the living thing, in addition to imperishability, knowl-
edge of everything good and indeed an appetite for virtue. Then,
giving him the power to do what he chose, he granted him the
glory befitting beings that are free. For it was necessary, necessary
indeed, that virtue should appear in us as a free choice.
Then, having lapsed into sin through the devil’s trickery, and
neglected the laws given him, he was condemned to death,26 and
joined corruption to his transgressions. But since his Maker de-
cided to refashion the living thing to the manner in which it had
been originally, and to remove it from corruption and sin togeth-
er, he ordained the law given through Moses; <and> he spoke
through the holy prophets.27 But the charges against us remained
overwhelming nonetheless. They accordingly besought him final-
24. Is 55.8–9.
25. According to the Sources chrétiennes editor (SC 434, 197, n. 1), Cyril is
paraphrasing an epigram from Demosthenes.
26. Cf. Gn 2.17.
27. Cf. Heb 1.1. With regard to “<and>”: the Sources chrétiennes editor has
supplied δὲ; see SC 434, p. 198, ln. 16.
ly to come from heaven in person, saying, “Lord, bow your heav-
ens and come down!”28 How, then, was God to become visible29 to
those on earth? With glory unconcealed, hidden by no shadow?
Who could endure such an august and unbearable sight? I even
hear one of the Greek poets, however enmeshed they may be in
the error of polytheism, saying, “It is hard to bear the gods’ ap-
pearing manifest.”30
But you can tell from the following that it appears evident
that to see the glory of the pure nature is beyond the limits of
humanity. He descended in the form of fire on the mountain
called Sinai.31 Then he spoke to the sons of Israel, with the all-
wise Moses mediating. But Israel, unable to bear the sight, be-
sought him with the words, “You speak to us, and let not God
speak to us, lest we die.”32 Since those from Israel had been terri-
fied, then, and had said openly that the need for the mediator
would be most pressing for those being instructed, the Legisla-
tor made his decision, and, presenting Moses’ ministry to those
of old as a kind of figure of the one which was to be through
Christ, he promised that when the time came he would show
him clearly to us. His words: “All that they have said is right; I will
raise up a prophet to them from their brothers, like you. And I
will place my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all
that I command him.”33 For he gave the name of “prophet” to
the Son, the Lord of prophets, placing him within the limits of
humanity due to the ineffability of the economy.
In order, therefore, that he might become as Moses was, a hu-
man being, and mediator between God and our condition,34 he
bore the human body. And he took the seed of Abraham,35 ac-
cording to the Scriptures, so that that which is by nature life36
might drive out the corruption that had fallen upon human
bodies due to the curse, and might transport all things to the
knowledge of God, to continence, courage, perseverance, and to
the decision to do and to think the things that render us fervent
and fill us with divine gifts.
28. Ps 144.5. 29. Cf. Bar 3.38.
30. Homer, Iliad 20.131. 31. Cf. Ex 19.18.
32. Ex 20.19. 33. Dt 18.17–18.
34. Cf. 1 Tm 2.5. 35. Cf. Heb 2.16.
36. Cf. Jn 1.4.
But Israel did not know this economy, even though there were
holy prophets proclaiming clearly the mystery that was there.
One of them said, “Be strong, hands that are slack, and palsied
knees; comfort one another, you who are faint-hearted; be strong,
do not fear.”37 “Behold your God! Behold, the Lord comes with
strength, and his arm with power. He shall tend his flock as a
shepherd, and will gather the lambs.”38 And another of them,
Ezekiel, the best of prophets, says,
Behold, I will distinguish between the strong sheep and the weak
sheep. You would shove with your sides and your shoulders, and thrust
with your horns, and crush what was left. And I will save my sheep, and
they will be fodder no longer; and I will judge between ram and ram,
and I will raise up one shepherd over them, and he will tend them, my
servant David. And he will be a shepherd for him, and I the Lord will
be a God to them, and David a ruler in their midst. I the Lord have
spoken, and I will make with David a covenant of peace, and I will de-
stroy evil beasts from the land.39
Do you hear how Christ, who is from David’s seed according

to the flesh,40 is called David throughout, he who is to be shep-
herd41 of those from Israel in his time? Realize that at that time,
when the prophet said these things, David was no longer among
the living; he had died long before. But just as Scripture custom-
arily calls “Jacob” those from Jacob, and “Israel” those from Isra-
el, so also does it give the name “David” to Christ, who is from
David’s seed according to the flesh.
In their ignorance, then, they crucified him. But even though,
since God cannot be constrained, he could have avoided suffer-
ing, he delivered himself to the hands of his murderers,42 in or-
der that, once raised from the dead, he might give full assur-
ance, and above all to those who had crucified him,43 that as God
he was by nature life. He has descended to our condition, that
he might render us superior to death and already conquerors of
decay.
Since Christ, then, has suffered for us,44 abolished death,45 and
37. Is 35.3–4. 38. Is 40.9–11.

39. Ezek 34.20–25. 40. Cf. Rom 1.3.
41. Cf. Jn 10.11. 42. Cf. Is 50.6.
43. Cf. Acts 2.36. 44. Cf. 1 Pt 4.1.
45. Cf. 2 Tm 1.10.
removed sin with its infamy and pollution, and has been raised,
and ascended into heaven, and will come at any moment—for he
will come down and “will judge the earth46 in justice,”47 as is writ-
ten—let us rub away every stain of sin, let us embrace continence,
let us bear the fruit48 of love for each other49 in patience, and let
us concern ourselves with showing pity for the needy, which is
love for the poor. Let us share the suffering of those in bondage,
those mistreated, since we too are in bodies.50 And above all let us
preserve in ourselves the faith that is right and faultless.51 For it is
then, then indeed, that we shall fast in a pure manner. We begin
holy Lent on the twenty-seventh of Mechir, and the week of the
salvific Paschal feast on the second of Pharmuthi. We break our
fast on the seventh of Pharmuthi, late in the evening, according
to the apostolic tradition. We celebrate the feast on the next day,
the eve of Sunday, the eighth of the month,52 adding thereafter
the seven weeks of holy Eastertide. For thus it is, thus indeed, that
we will once again delight in the divine words, in Christ Jesus our
Lord, through whom and with whom be glory, honor, and power
to the Father with the Holy Spirit for endless ages. Amen.
46. Literally, “the economy.” 47. Ps 10.9 or 96.13.

48. Cf. Lk 8.15. 49. Cf. Eph 4.2.
50. Cf. Heb 13.3. 51. Cf. Jas 1.27.
52. April 3, 427.
FESTAL LETTER SIXTEEN
A.D. 428
Prologue 1
HE TIME AT HAND has gathered us here. We do not
present ourselves with the promise of a diffuse and am-
bitious discourse, for we are of quite modest ability in
this regard; it is rather that we have decided to follow an ances-
tral custom, invented by necessity. You must therefore forgive
us if this discourse does not shine with the elegance of worldly
speech, and cannot boast of rhetorical adornment. For in this
matter I cannot at all boast of a reputation; I would have to say
that it befits rather these teachers who are so wise and good.
1. The law used to give the signal to those of old that they were
to hold the festivals which were still in figures and, as it were, in
shadows. That it was indeed necessary to bestow upon them a fit-
ting care, and that negligence in this matter was not excusable,
but chargeable as an offense, is something that the God of all
makes clear through the words of Zechariah: “And it shall be that
if anyone does not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths, that
soul shall be cut off from its people.”2 For if we ought to rejoice in
things so venerable and so very rightly prescribed, why would one
neglect their observance? If one had the arrogance to treat with
insolence something of outstanding worth and noble renown,
yielding oneself to sloth and divisions, one would find oneself
subject to holy denunciation and well-founded accusation. Pre-
1. This is the first time the word “prologue” (prologos) appears in the letters.
We find it again in Letters 19 and 22. Cyril also uses the word “preface” (protheo-
ria) in Letters 17, 18, 23, 28, and 29.
2. Zec 14.18; Lv 17.4.
43
scribing, then, as it were, a well-worn path, we will make our proc-
lamation, remembering the one who said, “Hear, O priests, and
testify to the house of Israel, says the Lord almighty.”3 And it be-
hooves us too to show the highest degree of eagerness in ridding
ourselves of lack of restraint and treating it as a most shameful
thing, in order to hasten to fulfill what the law commands.
For the God of all indicated of old to the divinely inspired Mo-
ses the time for our holy feast, and how it was to be celebrated by
us holily and faultlessly, representing it in figure, as it were, when
he said, “Speak, and let the children of Israel keep the Passover
in its season, on the fourteenth day of the first month toward eve-
ning; you shall keep it at its proper times according to its law, and
according to its ordinance you shall keep it.”4 We must, in sub-
mission to the sacred rites, send forth a clear and resounding
proclamation, and address those who have been justified in
Christ: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to
the house of the God of Jacob.”5 There we will complete the all-
holy feast, and, filled with the highest joy, we will glorify the Sav-
ior of all with the prophetic words, “Let my soul rejoice in the
Lord, for he has clothed me with the robe of salvation and the
garment of joy.”6
Now it would seem a most shameful thing, at least to me, if
merchants were to be overcome by their pitiful gains and find
their enjoyment in them, deem it most important to concern
themselves with them, and spend most of their time gathering
them with considerable effort; and if farmers were to exult in
their fields when they see them heavy with lovely fruit; while we,
whose gains are far beyond anything earthly, or rather are in-
comparably superior, do not consider them most remarkable
and the source of joy to its fullness! And even though the mer-
chants’ business—even when it goes according to the hopes of
those who labor at it—rouses no admiration among those who
have chosen the best life. And as for farmers who have worked
skillfully: what remains for them is some modest enjoyment, not
in some profit they might have made that allows them to live
without misfortune or to be able to rise at last above the power
3. Am 3.13. 4. Nm 9.2–3.
5. Is 2.3. 6. Is 61.10.
FESTAL LETTER SIXTEEN 45
of death and decay, but in the necessities of life that let them
take care of the needs of the body as they arise. What has been
prepared for the saints, however, is beyond all understanding;
“for their hope is full of immortality,”7 as is written.
What the time is, then, when Easter is to be celebrated, and
how that is to be done, has been explained by us clearly. For he
commanded that it should be held on the fourteenth [day] of
the first month, toward evening, in its due time and according to
its law.8 Now I think that one should be anxious to inquire into
the reasons why the Legislator said that it should take place in
the spring, and in the first month, by distinguishing carefully
and skillfully between each of the things prescribed, and subject-
ing them to the best examination possible. It will not be without
profit to speak with precision about these matters. This, I think,
is what God meant when he spoke through the prophet, “Seek
while seeking, and dwell by me.”9 For it behooves us to try to ex-
amine what is written by using suitable means of inquiry, as far as
possible: that is what sacred Scripture indicates to us in bidding
us avoid, above all, getting away from the correctness of the con-
cepts, when it says, “Dwell by me.” For all correctness is with
God, by him, and from him.
2. The season of spring, then, suits Easter10 the best of all the
others, since it draws on a tablet, as it were, the meaning of
Christ’s achievements by means of the things that occur during it.
For it arises while warming the earth with the pure and gentlest
rays of the sun, and all but saying to winter’s assaults: Give leave
now, give leave at last to mountains and vales to adorn themselves
with thickets of trees with lovely trunks, and to the plains, stripped
bare, to bloom with tender grass new-sprung. Let the meadows
now show off their lilies, let the laughter of the most fragrant
flowers be heard in gardens, let the bee also take off from its
hives and buzz around the fields without being bothered by vio-
lent winds or its flight cut short by dripping rain. For its frail wing
7. Wis 3.4. 8. Cf. Nm 9.3.

9. Is 21.12 (LXX).
10. Literally, pascha. Cyril clearly has both Passover and Christian Easter in
mind.
is unused to labor. Let the flocks now come forth from the folds,
and, yes, let the lambs, bounding around their mothers on ten-
der, newly-formed hooves, dance upon the variegated verdure.
Let the craftsman whose skill it is whet the pruning-hook for the
vines at last.
And even if our discourse lends a voice like ours to the very
seasons, as it were, let no one rebuke us. For we have learned
this too from the sacred Scriptures. Indeed, the divinely inspired
Psalmist says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the fir-
mament proclaims the work of his hands. Day unto day utters
speech, and night unto night proclaims knowledge.”11 The
prophet Isaiah too conceded that the very seas speak excellently
well, and seem all but to give vent to what is strictly speech. For
he spoke as follows: “Be ashamed, O Sidon; the sea has said, yes,
the strength of the seas has said: I have not travailed, nor have I
given birth, nor have I reared youths, nor brought up virgins.”12
Now we certainly do not say that the seasons and the sea partake
of speech. That would be sheer idiocy and nothing else. But in
our eagerness to hunt out what is both graceful and necessary
for the benefit of our listeners, we crown with the use of speech
even those things deprived of speech by nature. Come, then, let
us proceed in just the proper way in adducing the meaning of
the concepts when we show what has been achieved through our
Savior’s visitation by means of the good things of spring. Let us
contemplate the beauty of the divine grace as all but pictured in
what is sensible.
3. Everything was held fast in mist and darkness, and the ma-
ny-headed dragon, Satan, had spread a wintry gloom, as it were,
over the whole earth under heaven. And chilling to death the
mind of each person, he rendered those upon earth willing work-
ers of unholy deeds. But the winter is passing,13 and the ancient
deep and gloomy darkness has been driven off. Pure beams of
light are rising for us, and the Sun of justice,14 Christ, dazzles ev-
erything with intelligible rays,15 and confers another benefit as
11. Ps 19.1–2. 12. Is 23.4.

13. Cf. Song 2.11. 14. Cf. Mal 4.2 (3.20 LXX).
15. Without being explicit, Cyril implies an allegorical and Platonic reading
of the pastoral imagery that follows.
well: he does not let us grow old unto sin any more, but renders
us ardent with the Spirit,16 as the divinely inspired Paul says him-
self.
And in fact we who were in the same state as the tree-trunks,
too feeble to bear fruit and deprived even of blossoms, have re-
vived unto life. Like fertile plains crowned with a variety of ver-
dure, we have been enriched with the gospel proclamations of
the holy apostles; the writings that are images of the truth in
shadows and figures,17 those of Moses, that is; the predictions of
the holy prophets concerning Christ, through which we are well
instructed in grasping the mystery. Let that intelligible and ex-
ceedingly industrious bee fly about this abundantly fertile land
of ours: let the wise and supremely industrious soul, that is, col-
lect in some way that which will answer its need, by which I mean
that which will let it gather in itself, like sweet honey, the knowl-
edge of God which is without falsehood or fault. Into this good
and rich pasturage,18 as the prophet says, let the herds of ratio-
nal beasts come; and let the lambs with their mothers, those,
that is, who are still children, with respect to the desire for virtue
and for spiritual strength, with those of stouter condition, nour-
ish their own mind, and thus strive to arrive “at mature man-
hood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”19 I
would say that the lilies laugh as though in gardens, for those
whose faith is resplendent and who give forth the sweet fra-
grance of Christ’s glory, sprout up in the churches and yield
nothing to the flowers of the sweetest odor.20
And the time for pruning is at hand.21 That one may quite eas-
ily see, in what I have just said, what Christ has accomplished, re-
quires no other witnesses for its proof, I think; the very one who
speaks to the church from the nations suffices. “Rise up, come,
my companion, my fair dove, for behold, the winter is past, the
rain is gone, it has departed; the flowers have appeared in the
land, the time of pruning has arrived.”22
God, then, said that the Passover was to be celebrated “in the
first month.” In the second year, however, of the exodus of the
16. Cf. Rom 12.11. 17. Cf. Heb 8.5.
18. Cf. Ezek 34.14. 19. Eph 4.13.
20. Cf. 2 Cor 2.15. 21. Cf. Song 2.13.
22. Song 2.10–12.
children of Israel.23 But why ever did they not determine the laws
for the festivals at the very outset? Well, it was necessary to intro-
duce a sort of stay or suspension, and to decide upon a delay for
such venerable things. It is obviously worth our while to consider
what the point of the economy was, and to what purpose the
Legislator was looking.
4. The mystery of Christ had, then, to yield in its times to the

prior entrances of the law. For it was necessary for the figures to
appear before the truth, and the exercises to be seen to precede
the contests. The soldier wins approval if he practices the maneu-
vers before the efforts of combat. The one whose business is the
art of the wrestling school wins no fame unless he practices en-
during the suffering involved therein. And for ourselves, is not
the learning of the elementary principles like a beginning and a
door to the instructions leading to wisdom and understanding? I
think, however, that the argument is clear and precise.
The divinely inspired Paul will assist us in the form of exam-
ples; he says that while milk is best suited to those still in infancy,
bulkier food is to be served to those who are more mature.24 To
those of old, therefore, who had not yet arrived at adulthood in
the fullness of Christ,25 and whose way of thinking was still child-
ish,26 milk had to be apportioned before solid food. The elemen-
tary principles had to be established in mind and heart before
the complete teachings, and life in the law to be introduced be-
fore that life which is understood to be in Christ. For the law is an
instructor,27 bringing us, through symbols, into a better and supe-
rior understanding.28 That therefore the delay in the evangelical
decrees was necessary for our benefit is suggested, with great sub-
tlety, by God’s prescription that the Passover be celebrated not in
the first year, as God prescribes, but in the second.29
The following will also support the argument, I think. The
God of all bade the divinely inspired Moses to fashion and dis-
play that ancient tent, prepared not in the way he himself chose,
23. Cf. Nm 9.1–3. 24. Cf. 1 Cor 3.2.

25. Cf. Eph 4.13. 26. Cf. 1 Cor 13.11.
27. Cf. Gal 3.24. 28. 1 Cor 13.12.
29. Cf. Nm 9.1.
but as he had been bidden by God. “See,” he says, “you shall
make it according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”30
And when he at once executed the divine decree, and the work
fashioned was in the most perfect order, God said again, “On the
first day of the first month, on the new moon of the month, you
shall erect the tent.”31 And the sacred Scripture adds to this,
“And it came to pass in the first month, in the second year of
their departure from Egypt, that the tent was erected at the new
moon.”32 Do you hear that it was in the second year, and at the
new moon of the first month, that he pitched the tent? For it was
then, then indeed, that a lamb too was slain, signifying in itself
the truly sacred and faultless sacrifice, Christ that is, who has of-
fered himself in an odor of sweetness to God the Father,33 trans-
forming our condition unto a new age. Now the new moon may
be considered, quite clearly, a figure of the new age. For what is
in Christ is a new creation, and what is ancient has passed away,34
according to the Scriptures.
It is, then, in the first month, and the first day of the month,
that is, on the new moon, that the divinely inspired Moses raises
the holy tent. The shape, however, describes externally the mani-
festation of the tent that is really truer and holy, the Church,
which the Savior himself pitched for us,35 once those ancient
times had passed away in which death prevailed,36 sin aged those
on earth, and the inventor of iniquity threatened to seize by
force the entire earth, saying, “I will take in my hand the whole
earth like a nest, and I will pick it up like eggs abandoned; and
there is none that shall escape me, or contradict me.”37 But his
words were an empty boast, a criminal imposture of his greed for
us. That he failed of his hopes is proved by the realities. For we
have been saved in Christ, as I just said, now that the holy tent
has been shown to us at the fitting times, those in which we are
[being] transformed unto newness of life,38 casting off the old
man39 with his passions and desires.
30. Ex 25.40; Heb 8.5. 31. Ex 40.2.

32. Ex 40.17. 33. Cf. Eph 5.2.
34. Cf. 2 Cor 5.17. 35. Cf. Heb 8.2.
36. Cf. Rom 5.14. 37. Is 10.14.
38. Cf. Rom 6.4. 39. Cf. Col 3.9.
And the very manner in which that ancient tent was prepared
may show quite well the advantage of the time of the law preced-
ing the decrees given through Christ, the time following which it
was logical that that time should appear which is better and ho-
lier, comprising a deeper intimacy with God. Let Paul, then, who
knows the law, having been instructed in it in detail,40 as he him-
self says, describe its shape in the words: “A first tent was pre-
pared, in which were the lamp stand and the table and the show-
bread; it is called ‘Holy.’ After the second curtain there was a
tent called the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar of incense,
and the ark all covered with gold in which there was a golden
urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the
tablets of the covenant.”41 You see that before the second tent,
the one innermost, there was placed the one that was in the first
entrances; it was in that one that the sacred nation was accus-
tomed to make its approaches, in symbolic fashion, and to per-
form the figures of the worship according to the law.42 But the
second was holier than the first. It was, accordingly, named the
Holy of Holies.
What, then, was the reason why the first [tent] is situated be-
fore the second, and the outer one placed as a sort of entrance
for the one innermost? Paul in his supreme wisdom will once
again explain. He puts it as follows: “These things being thus ar-
ranged, the priests go continually into the first tent, performing
the ritual services; but into the second only the high priest goes,
and he but once a year, and not without taking blood which he
offers for himself and for the oversights of the people. By this
the Holy Spirit indicates that the way to the holy things has not
yet been manifested, as long as the first tent is still standing.”43
For the first is, as I said, accessible to many. But the second and
innermost one, the Holy of Holies, is inaccessible. For he alone
could enter once a year who was chief of the sacred orders, and
“not without blood,” as is written. For it was for us that Jesus as
forerunner entered “into the Holy of Holies, having secured an
eternal redemption,”44 not without blood, according to Scrip-
40. Cf. Acts 22.3. 41. Heb 9.2–4.

42. Cf. Heb 9.6. 43. Heb 9.6–8.
44. Heb 9.12.
ture. For he was sacrificed for us, as a faultless victim, an odor
45
of sweetness to God the Father.46 The position therefore in the

first tent of those who then sacrificed was usefully effected, since
the law does not allow the entrance into the Holy of Holies. For
the way to the holy things has not yet, he says, been manifested,
“as long as the first tent is still standing.”47
What has been said suffices, I think, to show clearly the time
at which the Passover might rightly be held. Let us then talk
about those who might fittingly eat it, and how that might be
carried out suitably, drawing from the sacred Scriptures.
5. The great Moses told us, when he composed the revelation

concerning this, that those who ate the pure and sacred lamb
would have to use unleavened bread and bitter herbs,48 and par-
take of the meat while in the following position: “Let your loins
be girt,” he says, “and your sandals on your feet, and your staves
in your hands; and eat it in haste. It is the Passover of the Lord.”49
But what does the position of the diners mean to me? someone
might ask some time, and quite fairly. For the law never says any-
thing in vain, and so one must by all means admire each of the
things it prescribes. Would it not be completely ridiculous and
foolish, if we, in our desire to think rightly, rejected as unseemly
what was vain, and called it disgraceful, rather than choosing to
carry it out; while the highest nature, in regulating our condi-
tion by law for what is better, regarded as necessary what is of no
benefit, and tossed off some vain and foolish words? Stuff and
nonsense! It will not be our view that such is the case; far from it.
What, then, is the reason why those who eat the lamb must fi-
nally gird their loins, have their feet shod, and take up a staff? Is
not the figure evident, and does it not all but cry aloud what the
manner of the economy is? For those who celebrate the all-holy
festival in truth, and are called to participate in Christ’s blessing,
will consider the distractions of this life to be vain, and, rejecting
the choice to live carnally, will set their thoughts on high from
then on,50 will hasten to the city above, and will pass, as it were,
45. Cf. 1 Cor 5.7. 46. Cf. Eph 5.2.

47. Heb 9.8. 48. Cf. Ex 12.8.
49. Ex 12.11. 50. Cf. Col 3.2.
to another life, the one, of course, which befits the saints and is
removed from the earthly one. The law accordingly clearly as-
signs travelers’ garb to those eating, since they are about to de-
part as never before for what is better and transcendent; for I
say, as I just said, that those who celebrate the feast in purity
must distinguish themselves by such a purpose, called as they are
to unity with God in Christ. For it is through him that we have
this access, “and he is himself our peace,”51 as the Scriptures say.
But that sluggishness in these matters is not unpenalized, and
that a lapse into laziness does not go unpunished, is what the
Legislator would indicate when he says about Holy Passover:
“and eat it in haste. It is the Passover of the Lord.”52 For it be-
hooves those who lead a reputable life, pleasing to God, to show
themselves to be above hesitation and resistant to procrastina-
tion. They are to seize their opportunities, as it were, and not al-
low the time to slip by that is suitable to industry. For just as
those who set out to sail the seas cannot neglect a fair wind with-
out cost; nor does it befit husbandmen to stay home when the
season calls them to work; so also, I say, procrastination is igno-
minious for those who are concerned about what is best, and
must bring censure upon them, or rather penalties of every sort,
and be seen as the cause of the offenses proceeding from hesita-
tion and negligence. Let procrastination then be gone, and let
the lapses caused by hesitation be driven far away, for they can in
no way suit those called through faith to the duty of sharing in
Christ’s blessing.
Let them rather eat unleavened bread with bitter herbs on
it,53 for that is what sacred Scripture says. And let us say, as well as
may be, what the deep and ineffable mystery of the prescriptions
of the law is. For the divinely inspired Scripture is accustomed to
liken the different kinds of wickedness to leaven.54 And it takes
the bitter herbs as a representation and example of things that
are grievous: being persecuted, tempted, and sometimes under-
taking hard labor for Christ. For such things embitter the mind,
as it were, and maltreat it with unbearable despondency. If there-
51. Eph 2.14. 52. Ex 12.11.

53. Cf. Ex 12.8. 54. Cf. Lk 12.1; 1 Cor 5.7–8.
fore one happens to come to share in Christ, it says, let one not
leave virtue untried, let one distance oneself from all that de-
files, and show oneself long-suffering. For I for my part say that
those who accomplish well the celebration of the holy Paschal
feast must adorn themselves with the language expressive of the
uncontaminated Deity, and find their enjoyment there. For
while bodies enjoy the foods that suit them, the mind, in my
view, should have as its nourishment the divine word55 and an ac-
count of sacred doctrines that is correct and unexceptionable,
free from cleverness in thought, captious argument, deceit, and
falsehood. Such is the food that is pure and unleavened.
For many there are who often all but deride the correctness
of the divine doctrines, and, making sport of the language of
truth, hasten to introduce instead impious additions containing
wretched ideas, and, in inventing fictions based on worldly de-
ceit, these sorry folk injure the minds of the simple. But Christ
cries out to his disciples, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees
and scribes!”56 For the old wives’ tales produced by their deprav-
ity are not far from Jewish sophistry. We will then abstain from
such food, and we will bring into our minds the pure language
that is from the holy prophets, translating the commandments
given through Moses into the true meaning of the symbols. This
means above all not treating the salvific gospel teaching, the
writing of the apostles, as some do, those whose custom it is to
force the meaning of the texts into an unseemly sense, and not
dragging it impiously away from orthodoxy, but rather betaking
our own selves eagerly in the direction pointed out by the teach-
ings. With this, let us practice patience, not refusing to engage in
harsh labor, since we have chosen to live rightly and to follow
what has been prescribed.
For it is agreed, it really is, that virtue is not simply accessible
to just anyone; its approach is steep and difficult. It is not to be
attained by the pleasure-loving and the negligent, nor by those
entangled in carnal passions or wholly under their sway, driven
without restraint by their impulses toward what is shameful, hav-
ing let out every reef and set every sail, but rather by those distin-
55. Cf. Mt 4.4; Dt 8.3. 56. Mt 16.6.

guished by sobriety, full of boldness for what is good, lovers of
good order who are nourished on virtuousness, who think noth-
ing of labor expended on improvement, and who purchase their
reputation with the efforts they put forth for it. For it would be
impossible for anyone to accomplish anything admirable with-
out acting zealously and choosing to endure the unavoidable
hardship.
6. The law therefore gives us an explanation of necessary mat-

ters, doing it in figures, as it were, with leaven and bitter herbs. If
we refuse to experience these things, putting ourselves far from
the divine road and fleeing from the life that best suits the saints,
we will do ourselves a great wrong. For if Jesus, the pioneer and
perfecter of our life,57 was made perfect through suffering,58 as is
written, how can we avoid living a life that will be ignominious
and held in derision, if we refuse to accept the same circum-
stances and despise the means of attaining high repute? For let
us listen forthwith to Christ crying out to us, “If anyone wants to
come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me.”59 It is, then, necessary for us to follow the footsteps
of Christ, who gave himself for us.60 And for what reason?
Of old the inventor of sin plundered the human race. And
leaving no sort of scheme untried for his villainies, he duped
those on earth, and, dreaming of the glory of divinity, bade them
build him altars and sanctuaries, and ordered them to honor
him with sacrifices of oxen and incense.61 And, leading those de-
ceived wherever he wanted, he persuaded some to venerate the
sun, and others the moon and stars. Not only that, but he pro-
ceeded to even worse crimes than these: he brought about the
consecration of forms of irrational beasts,62 insulting the divine
dignity, in my view, daring to carry off the glory of the substance
that is above all others, and thinking fit in his villainy to liken to
it these most worthless things, and those of no account at all.63
For the beast is always terrible, of boundless audacity. Having led
57. Cf. Heb 12.2. 58. Cf. Heb 2.10.

59. Mt 16.24. 60. Cf. Eph 5.2.
61. Cf. 1 Mc 1.47. 62. Cf. Wis 13.10.
63. Cf. Wis 13.14.
man astray from the true knowledge of God, persuaded him to
have no share in the best counsel and sound reflection, and sub-
jected him by deceit to his yoke, he rendered him at once a lover
of every kind of wickedness, and, having made virtue quite inac-
cessible and unachievable to him, rendered him repulsive and
detestable to God.
But when we had reached this state of wretchedness, the Cre-
ator of all took pity on us at last, and countered the other’s mis-
deeds with men who were able to save us. Through Moses he
called ancient Israel, drawing him forth as a kind of first-fruit of
his divinity, and indeed, fitting him for an orderly life by the best
laws, he kindled his zeal. The other, however, insinuating him-
self nonetheless into the hearts of the simple, kept swaying them
to shameful behavior and unholy decisions. Physicians with the
skill to heal illnesses of the soul would appear providentially at
times. But they were caught dishonoring the holy prophets
themselves in many different ways. God the Father then sent the
Son himself down to us of necessity when we had acted misera-
bly, to bring our condition to an incomparably better state than
of old and to save those on earth, once sin had been removed,
that is, and death, which had sprouted through it,64 been de-
stroyed, root and all, and in addition the devil’s tyranny65 itself
been done away with. Such brilliant, illustrious achievements be-
fitted no created being, but only that nature which surpasses all,
and is well crowned with the highest powers and excellence.
The only-begotten Word of God became a human being,66
therefore, he through whom everything was brought into exis-
tence67 and was preserved, once made. And it will not hurt to
concern ourselves with the question of the manner of the econo-
my, or of the union of the Word with what is carnal from the
earth. For what is beyond mind and reason is always above any
test, and can<not>68 be subjected to scrutiny. But having become
as we are, the only exception being the ability to transgress,69 he
64. Cf. Rom 5.12. 65. Cf. Heb 2.14.

66. Cf. Jn 1.14. 67. Cf. Jn 1.3.
68. “<not>”: The Sources chrétiennes editor has supplied οὐκ; see SC 434,
p. 246, ln. 63.
69. Cf. Heb 4.15.
showed clearly and evidently that he is God by nature by the ex-
travagance of his miracles. For he ordered the dead to return to
life from their tombs70 when they were already stinking with cor-
ruption; he gave sight to those blind from birth;71 he healed
chronic illnesses; he caused astonishment when he rebuked the
sea and the winds;72 and long would be the tale of these things,
were each set out clear to view.
Nonetheless, even though those from Israel should have ad-
mired him exceedingly for this, and, persuaded by the divine
signs themselves, should have proclaimed at last, “You are truly
God’s Son,”73 they were caught dishonoring him in many ways,
and finally they crucified him. Christ lowered himself to this ac-
cording to the economy, in order that, having come with us
among the dead and preached to the spirits in hell,74 he might
return to life on the third day, having abolished the grim, impla-
cable power of death,75 and, having dug up corruption, root and
all, might thus render heaven itself accessible at last to those on
earth.76 For it was as forerunner77 for us that he ascended to the
Father. And he will come in due time in the glory of the one who
begot him, with the holy angels, to render to each according to
his works.78
As those who are to be judged, then, let us keep the faith,79 let
us behave lawfully, let us live rightly, discrediting the ways of vice,
and practicing every kind of virtue: mutual love and love of the
poor. Let us care for orphans, let us visit widows,80 let us take pity
on the tears of the infirm, let us visit those in prison,81 let us
practice chastity of body. For thus it is, in fasting thus, that we
shall celebrate in purity the feast that is holy and perfectly pure.
We begin holy Lent on the sixteenth of Phamenoth, and the
week of the salvific Paschal feast on the twenty-first of Phar-
muthi, breaking the fast on the twenty-sixth of Pharmuthi, late
in the evening, according to the gospel precept, and celebrating
70. Cf. Jn 11.38–44. 71. Cf. Jn 9.1–7.
72. Cf. Mt 8.26–27. 73. Mt 14.33.
74. Cf. 1 Pt 3.19. 75. Cf. Heb 2.14.
76. Cf. Heb 9.24. 77. Cf. Heb 6.20.
78. Cf. Mt 16.27. 79. Cf. 2 Tm 4.7.
80. Cf. Jas 1.27. 81. Cf. Mt 25.43.
the feast on the next day, the eve of Sunday, the twenty-seventh
of the month.82 We add then the seven weeks of holy Eastertide.
For thus it is, thus again, that we shall enjoy the divine words, in
Christ Jesus Our Lord, through whom and with whom be glory
and power to the Father with the Holy Spirit. Amen.
82. April 22, 428.

FESTAL LETTER SEVENTEEN
A.D. 429
Preface
E SHALL read once again what is customary, and spread
for ourselves a table of the language of the Church, re-
garding the occasion as a sort of summons to choose
to distinguish ourselves by right faith, and to embrace the life
that is renowned and faultless.1
1. Those who have practiced leading a noble and exceptional

life, and have been eager to betake themselves to it with generos-
ity, have been above all hesitancy, I think; and, always casting as
far away as possible every obstacle, they have known how to de-
vote the most effective care to accomplishing the projects they
have in hand. And I would say that to that end they need both
the greatest possible concentration of attention, and someone
who can kindle their zeal to the highest pitch, as for instance the
voice of the trainer does for the youth who like to wrestle: he is
ever rousing them to endure the hardship and all but compel-
ling them to yearn for the glory of winning. I myself, then, have
come forward as well, joining with the Psalmists’ lyre to cry out
to those who love the things in which one may well take pride,
“Be of good courage, and let your heart be strengthened, all you
who hope in the Lord.”2 For as the divinely inspired David him-
self says again, “It is time to act for the Lord.”3
1. Although Letter 16 was published in 428, the year of the beginning of the
Christological controversy, it offers no hint of it. This letter, on the other hand,
contains many clear references to the conflict.
2. Ps 31.25.
3. Ps 119.126.
58
FESTAL LETTER SEVENTEEN 59
Now, I think that I should speak to you in the language of ex-
hortation, without being concerned about not being able to do
justice to the topic, or at any rate falling short of the eloquence
of some, since the sensible thought has occurred to me that it is
far better to entertain one’s acquaintances with what one has
available, and make one’s friends at home, than to choose a
harsh life of ill repute out of fear of seeming inferior to the dis-
tinction accorded to others.
I also think that there is another way of facing the contest cou-
rageously: by reflecting on what follows. What I mean is that I will
recall how the all-powerful God speaks to that best of men, Mo-
ses: “Who has given a mouth to human beings? And who has
made the hard of hearing and the deaf? The seeing and the
blind? Is it not I, the Lord God? Now go, and I will open your
mouth.”4 Shadow and figures [constitute] that ancient revela-
tion, even if it was spoken through angels by Moses’ mediation.
But it cannot lack any of the concepts that are above the realm of
sense, if one considers it with shrewd vision, and, having accus-
tomed oneself to disregard the shadows of the letter, contem-
plates the deep, innermost meaning.
The law, then, prescribed that the God of all was to be hon-
ored in many ways; and it added that it was necessary to conse-
crate turtle-doves to him.5 And yet, with all the countless flocks of
birds there are in the world, some of which are the glory of lofty
flight by the law of their nature, while others are also aquatic, size
and shapeliness and beauty they have none. Nature6 paints each
one differently, and by the Maker’s arts amplifies their race by the
rich beauty of their colors. Why ever, one might then ask, did the
law, passing over these and skipping the ones that are the best of
all, crown the turtle-dove with all but the highest honors, having
ordered it to be made a sacred offering to God? What is the mys-
tery, what is the wisdom of the law? The one who is beyond all
4. Ex 4.11–12.
5. Cf. Lv 5.7.
6. It is difficult to know how to translate physis here and in the previous sen-
tence because the English word “nature” connotes a view of the natural world
unknown in antiquity. The meaning is more akin to “reality” than it is to the
modern “nature.”
mind, God that is, accepts the word, as Father of the Word; and
those sparrows who customarily sing sweetly he makes acceptable
and puts them before the others who nonetheless abound in
charm at times. He thereby teaches us in symbols that those who
are better than others and most sacred, among ourselves as well,
are those entrusted with the use of speech, and are able to ad-
monish those who love the fairest precepts. Come, then, let us
charm the Lord’s vineyard7 with the words from sacred Scripture,
not emitting a bare inarticulate sound with clarity, but persuad-
ing you rather to celebrate the feast with the proper arguments,
that things may be as they should, and be done correctly and
faultlessly, as the Legislator wants.
2. The divinely inspired Luke says therefore in his own writ-

ings,
There came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover was
to be sacrificed. He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the
Passover for us, that we may eat it.” They said to him, “Where do you
want us to prepare it?” He said to them, “Behold, when you have en-
tered the city, someone carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him
into the house which he enters, and tell the householder, ‘The teacher
says to you, “Where is the guest room, where I am to eat the Passover
with my disciples?”’ He will show you a large upper room furnished;
there make ready.”8
Do you hear that, in searching carefully with the eyes of divinity

for a place where it would be worthy to lodge, he said that an up-
per room would be shown to the holy apostles, large and fur-
nished, and bade them take as a guide thereto the man laden
with a jar, carrying water to the master of the house? Proceed,
then, with subtlety of thought, as it were, to things yet greater
and intelligible.
And if someone intends to have Christ himself dwelling in his
mind,9 lodging there and keeping festival with him when he is
already richly endowed with the purification that is by water, let
him cleanse the sin from his own soul, and let him rub away the
defilement of the ancient symbols.10 For thus God says through
Isaiah’s voice as well, “Wash yourselves, be clean, remove your in-
7. Cf. Mt 21.33. 8. Lk 22.7–12.

9. Cf. 2 Cor 6.16. 10. Cf. 2 Cor 7.1.
iquities from your souls before my eyes. Cease from your iniqui-
ties, learn to do good, seek judgment, rescue those wronged,
judge for the orphan, obtain justice for the widow, and come, let
us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins be as pur-
ple, I will make them white as snow; and though they be as scar-
let, I will make them white as wool.”11 For I at least say that the
stain coming from wickedness must be crushed out of existence
from our thoughts, as it were, that virtue may then settle there,
renowned and precious as it is and unequaled in worth, to those
of sound mind at least and able to distinguish between what is
unjust by nature and what is not.
For just as it is completely and utterly impossible for things
contrary by nature to coexist together in the same being—“For
what fellowship does light have with darkness?”12 as is written;
and if the one is removed it will surely let in the other—in the
same way, I think, wickedness and virtue, having an adversarial
quality in their works, are as far separated as may be, and so can-
not occupy one and the same mind. And will they not render
those who welcome them unlovely and inconstant, and as
though hobbling on both feet? But the prophet Elijah rebukes
those accustomed to live thus when he says, “How long will you
limp on both hams?”13 The law as well bars us from such customs
and ways, bidding us in symbols to refrain from what is incom-
patible and irreconcilable. It says, “You shall not plow with a calf
and an ass together.”14 And also, “You shall not wear wool and
linen in the same garment.”15 You see how it says everywhere to
hate as unlovely and unholy what cannot be combined, as it
were, or joined gracefully, and it cannot honor the combination
of what is dissimilar. Those who have chosen to lead the best life
must then, as I said, scrub away in advance the stains of vice and
rid themselves of defilement. It will befit one who is thereby re-
splendent to have now the high chamber, and to hold festival as
in an upper story with the glories that come from virtue,16 and to
dwell with Christ, who for our sake became poor though he was
rich, that we might be enriched by his poverty.17
11. Is 1.16–18. 12. 2 Cor 6.14.
13. 1 Kgs 18.21. 14. Dt 22.10.
15. Dt 22.11. 16. Cf. Lk 22.12.
17. Cf. 2 Cor 8.9.
For the Son, being the very image, the impress of God the Fa-
ther, the reflection of his glory,18 begotten from him by nature,
distinguished by equality in every respect, coexistent and co-
eternal, equal in power and activity, equal in renown and shar-
ing the same throne, “did not count equality with God a thing to
be grasped,”19 as is written. For he came into our condition, and
underwent a voluntary emptying;20 and, as John says in his wis-
dom, “he became flesh and dwelt among us.”21 And the one who
before every age and time possesses that birth which is from God
who is also Father, the birth that is beyond all mind and under-
standing: when he became flesh and endured human genera-
tion in the economy—he, the Maker and Artisan of all time, as
though he had been brought to a beginning of existence when
he became as we are—he heard the Father saying, “This day I
have begotten you.”22
Are we then to think of him as having alienated the glory of
existing before everything? By no means. Let us have the wisdom
to reflect that the Father does not place his own Son outside the
natural dignities inherent in him, even when he has come into
the flesh. He still acknowledges him, even if he appears in the
form that we are in.23 For the only-begotten Word of God did not
become a human being in order to cease being God, but rather
in order that, even in assuming flesh, he might preserve the glo-
ry of his own pre-eminence. For thus we have been enriched by
his poverty,24 human nature having been brought in him to a
dignity befitting the divine, and seated in a place beyond all oth-
ers. For even though he is always seated with his own Father as
Word, and exists from him and in him by nature, he heard him
saying once again, even when he was with the flesh, “Sit at my
right hand until I place your enemies as a footstool for your
feet.”25
It is thus that we say, too, that he is worshiped both by our-
selves and by the holy angels: not that we lower him to a bare hu-
18. Cf. Heb 1.3. 19. Phil 2.6.

20. Cf. Phil 2.7. 21. Jn 1.14.
22. Ps 2.7; Lk 3.22; Acts 13.33; Heb 1.5.
23. Cf. Phil 2.7. 24. Cf. 2 Cor 8.9.
25. Ps 110.1; Mt 22.44; Acts 2.34–35; Heb 1.13.
manity—that would be senseless—but we follow sacred Scripture
both in binding into unity with our nature the Word sprung
from God, and interweaving into something that is one that
which is from both, in order that he may not be regarded simply
as a human being who has borne God,26 but rather as God who
has become a human being, and who, in the economic union,
that with his own flesh, has put on the birth from the holy Vir-
gin. The sole Christ and sole Lord27 may be regarded thus and
not otherwise, not as being divided into part human being and
part God after the ineffable interweaving; even if the nature of
those which have come together into a union is regarded as dif-
ferent, he is received and regarded as being only one Son.28
It is as with the most precious stones, where some beams of
light elucidate the depths when they flash upon them, and if
one wished to separate the mixture by thought, one would con-
sider the stone in itself as one thing, and the light swimming
therein as another, even though the subject which is from the
two is regarded as one. 29 But the act of cutting will quite destroy
the principle governing the stone, separating as it does the
things gathered into union, with ugliness resulting. And thus we
say it is with Christ: divinity and humanity have come together
ineffably, in a way that no one can conceive or speak of, into
what is henceforth regarded as one, so that he is regarded at
once as both a human being as we are, and God who is above us.
Thus he is both only-begotten30 and firstborn.31
He was indeed brought forth from the virginal loins, and
while still a baby his thoughts were those of God.32 The blessed
26. This language clearly suggests the anti-Nestorian context of this letter.
See anathema 5, Wickham, 30.
27. Cf. 1 Cor 8.6.
28. Cyril here is careful to emphasize that the union of the divine and the
human nature did not result in the creation of a mixed or hybrid nature. As al-
ways, the point for Cyril is to focus on the united subjectivity of Jesus rather than
on the mechanism by which the divine and the human came to be united. Cyril
makes a similar argument in his letter to John of Antioch (9).
29. This insistence on the unity of the subject of Christ after the union, even
if the natures are different, is central to Cyril’s Christology. In Cyril’s mind,
Nestorius presented a Christ who was not an integrated person.
30. Cf. Jn 1.14. 31. Cf. Col 1.15.
32. Statements like this remind modern readers that despite Cyril’s insistence
Isaiah will testify about him in the words: “For before the child
knows good or evil, he refuses iniquity to choose the good.”33 For
as far as the law of humanity is concerned, the time had not yet
allowed the baby to be able to distinguish the natures of things.
He was also, however, as I said, God in humanity, letting the na-
ture which is as ours proceed by its own laws, while preserving
with this the purity of the divinity. It is thus, and not otherwise,
both that the one born may be regarded as God by nature, and
that the Virgin giving birth may be said to become then mother
not simply of flesh and blood, as are of course the mothers we
have in our [human] condition, but rather of the Lord and God
who has put on the likeness we have.34 For as the divinely inspired
Paul writes, “God sent forth his Son, born from a woman, born
under the law.”35 For we do not at all say that the Word of God de-
scended in a human being born through a woman, as he surely
was in the prophets too; we will rather give our justifiable approv-
al to John’s words, spoken wisely and precisely: “And the Word
became flesh, and dwelt among us.”36
It will be our view that the Word became flesh as having
shared in flesh and blood,37 and that similarly to those who are
in blood and flesh, namely, to us. And if he became as we are,
how could it follow that he disdains human generation? For he
dwelt among us,38 having, as it were, mixed his own nature with
blood and flesh in a divine and ineffable manner. For the gen-
eration from God the Father suffices for this divinity of the
Word, when the divinity is considered alone and by itself. Having
descended economically into the union that is with us, however,
and been interwoven with flesh, that is, with the nature which we
on the real and full humanity of Christ, ancient ideas of kenosis do not generally
include substantial limitations on Christ’s knowledge. Cyril was closer to Apolli-
narian Christology here than he was to many contemporary Christologies that
emphasize Christ’s human limits.
33. Is 7.16.
34. The editor of the Sources chrétiennes edition points out that Cyril does
not use the term theotokos here, and that he tends not to use it much at all be-
fore the confrontation with Nestorius; SC 434, p. 270, n. 2. After 428, however,
the term does appear in these letters: 19.2, 20.3, and 21.4.
35. Gal 4.4. 36. Jn 1.14.
37. Cf. Heb 2.14. 38. Jn 1.14.
have and which is complete according to its own law, then, then
indeed, it will receive as well the generation that we have, with-
out the slightest disgrace and without being impaired in any way
at all in its being what it is. It is not that it is called thence to a be-
ginning of being (for it always was, and is, and will be, and has
an existence older than all time); but rather it wisely allows the
laws of humanity to proceed according to their own principles.
For just as the precious, perfectly pure flesh from the holy Vir-
gin has become the Word’s own, belonging to him who is from
God the Father, so also he has everything suiting the flesh, apart
from sin alone. And what would suit the flesh especially, and in-
deed most of all, is birth from a mother. The Divinity itself,
therefore, in itself, if considered outside the flesh, will have no
mother, quite rightly.
3. With the mystery concerning Christ having been brought

to our attention, there is another way in which it is to be spoken
of, and that extremely subtle. I mean that it will be our opinion,
since we have decided to think rightly and are taking a path
quite free from error, that it was not bare divinity, but rather the
Word from God the Father become a human being and united
to flesh, that the Virgin bore when she was taken to render ser-
vice in conceiving carnally him who was united to flesh. Imman-
uel is then undoubtedly God, and she who bore carnally the
God who has appeared in the flesh for us may be spoken of as
mother of God. And the baby was not as we are, that is not in a
pure and simple likeness to us; he was rather in humanity be-
cause of the flesh, but was divine because he was above us and
from heaven. And in fact the divinely inspired Paul says, “The
first human being is from the earth, of dust; the second human
being is from heaven.”39 And the blessed prophet Isaiah indeed
taught the meaning of the mystery in a kind of prophetic vision.
For he says he saw the Lord God of all himself in the holy Virgin
well nigh bringing about the propagation of the divine infant.
And while the manner of the vision has been represented in hu-
man fashion, it is yet understood otherwise, as befits God. For
the divine is not as we are.
39. 1 Cor 15.47.
He spoke thus:
And the Lord said to me, “Take for yourself a volume of a large new
[book], and write in it, with the stylus of a human being, about making
a rapid plunder of spoils; for it is at hand, and take as witnesses for me
faithful men, Uriah and Zechariah, son of Berechiah.” And he went in
to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son, and the Lord said
to me, “Call his name ‘Despoil Quickly, Plunder Rapidly.’ For before
the child knows how to call his father or mother, he shall take the power
of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria before the king of Assyria.”40
The volume is, then, new and large, for the mystery of Christ
is itself new and admittedly large,41 as the blessed Paul says. It
is, though, written with the stylus of a human being, for the ac-
count of the divinity, if the latter is considered again unclad and
in itself and outside the flesh, has no need whatever of the rea-
son in us, which cannot express what is above the mind, nor
indeed is able to articulate what is beyond all reason. For “the
glory of the Lord conceals speech,”42 as is written. But since the
only-begotten Word of God has become a human being and
dwelt among us,43 what concerns him is written with a stylus like
ours. But come now, come, let us examine that too.
God, when he had bidden the prophet take the volume and
write what is in it with a stylus like ours, went in to the prophet-
ess.44 And why does it say “went in”? Because it represents the law
of intercourse. It also calls the holy Virgin a prophetess, because
she prophesied when she was pregnant with Christ.45 Then it
says, “And she conceived and bore a son,”46 to whom the law also
gave a name, not once more a proper name, as to a human be-
ing, but one derived from his achievements, as to God. For it
says, “Call his name ‘Despoil Quickly, Plunder Rapidly.’”47 For
the divine, transcendent infant, just born, was in swaddling
clothes,48 and still in his mother’s bosom, because human; but
since in addition he was by nature God, an ineffable power plun-
dered Satan’s equipment at once.49 For the magi arrived from
the east, seeking him and saying, “Where is the king of the Jews
40. Is 8.1–4. 41. Cf. Eph 5.32.
42. Prv 25.2. 43. Cf. Jn 1.14.
44. Cf. Is 8.3. 45. Cf. Lk 1.46.
46. Is 8.3. 47. Ibid.
48. Cf. Lk 2.12. 49. Cf. Mt 12.29; Mk 3.27.
who has been born? For we have seen his star in the east and
come to worship him.”50
The generation is therefore divine, even if it was done in a hu-
man way because of the humanity. But Immanuel is God by na-
ture, and the swaddling clothes are his who is held fast in a hu-
man way, while filling heaven and earth and what is beneath in a
divine way with his own pre-eminence, and holding fast every-
thing made by him, that it may be and subsist as it should. And
even if you hear that he advanced in age and wisdom and grace,51
do not think that the Word of God became wise incrementally.
Recall instead what the divinely inspired Paul wrote: “Christ, the
power of God and the wisdom of God.”52 And do not be so stu-
pidly arrogant as to say: We attribute the “advancing in age and
wisdom and grace”53 to the human being.54 That, in my opinion,
is nothing other than dividing in two the one Christ. But as I just
said, the Son, who is before the ages, is said to have been desig-
nated Son of God in the last times of the age,55 appropriating
the generation of his own flesh economically. Thus even though
he is the wisdom of the one who begot him, he is said to advance
in wisdom, utterly perfect as God though he is, having under-
standably taken up into himself what is peculiar to humanity
through a consummate union.
But someone may say: Then how could the nature of a hu-
man being contain the pre-eminence of the ineffable divinity?
And yet I hear the one who is God by nature saying clearly to the
blessed Moses, “No one will see my face and live.”56 If the sight is
unbearable and its brilliance insufferable, how can the union
possibly be explained? My reply would be that the miracle is be-
yond explanation, and the manner of the dispensation, which is
forever, is not to be grasped by our kind of thought. It was none-
theless done wisely, with God rendering his own nature bearable
even for the weakest.
50. Mt 2.2. 51. Cf. Lk 2.52.
52. 1 Cor 1.24. 53. Cf. Lk 2.52.
54. Cyril resisted this standard Antiochene language emphasizing the idea
that the Word took up a human nature. See J. A. McGuckin, St. Cyril of Alexan-
dria: The Christological Controversy: Its History, Theology, and Texts (Leiden and New
York: Brill, 1994), 329, 375.
55. Cf. Rom 1.4. 56. Ex 33.20.
The God of all in fact made this august and truly marvelous
mystery manifest to the all-wise Moses, using a clear and com-
pletely obvious illustration. How the manner of this may be re-
garded is something that the sacred text itself will teach. It runs
as follows:
And Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest
of Midian; and he led the flock toward the desert, and came to Mount
Horeb. An angel of the Lord appeared to him in fire that flamed out
of the bush. And he sees that the bush burns with fire, but the bush was
not being consumed. And Moses said, “I will go up and see this great
sight, why the bush is not being consumed.” But when the Lord saw
that he drew near to see, the Lord called to him out of the bush, say-
ing, “Moses, Moses!” He said, “What is it?” He said, “Do not come near
here; undo the sandal from your feet, for the place in which you are
standing is holy ground.” And he said to him, “I am the God of your
father, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob.”57
He therefore declares that the brilliance is unapproachable, sig-

nifying then to the blessed Moses himself that if one is satisfied
with the education given by the law58 and with the shadows rep-
resented by figures, one will not approach Christ. For the law
brings nothing to perfection.59
But it is also worth wondering at this: fire was seen in the
bush, and it sent forth a voice, saying, “I am the God of Abraham
your father.”60 It was the Lord himself therefore in the form of
fire, seizing the bush and occupying it completely without burn-
ing it at all. Yet what possible explanation could the event have,
when matter so fine and easily combustible pays no attention to
the fire’s ardor? But even more wondrous is the gentleness of
the flame, when one sees how it spares the bush. It was, though,
a figure, as I said, meant as a clear example of the mystery con-
nected with Christ. For just as the fire became bearable to the
shrub, so also does the pre-eminence of the divinity to our na-
ture.
As far, therefore, as we can understand with our mind and rea-
son, divinity and humanity are, understandably, incompatible
with each other when it comes to natural unity. It has taken place,
57. Ex 3.1–6. 58. Cf. Gal 3.24.

59. Cf. Heb 7.19. 60. Ex 3.6.
however, as in Christ at least, and Immanuel is one from both.
But he who separates, presenting us both with a human being
and with another son apart, besides him who is from God by na-
ture, does not understand accurately the depth of the mystery.
For it is not a human being whom we worship and whom we
learned to adore from the saints who initiated us, but God be-
come a human being, as I said, and regarded as one with his own
body: the Word who is from the Father.
It is thus that we say further that Immanuel has been shown to
us as king. For God the Father made the proclamation through
the prophets’ voice, saying about him and about the holy apos-
tles, “Behold, a just king will reign, and rulers will rule with judg-
ment.”61 He himself said indeed through David’s voice, “I have
been appointed king by him on Zion, his holy mountain, pro-
claiming the commandment of the Lord.”62 He in fact issued the
order to submit to the yoke of his reign, adding clearly, “Come to
me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you.”63 But if he is king, and regarded as just a sim-
ple human being as we are, rather than as the only-begotten
Word of God come into union with a nature like ours, then our
condition is in no way better than that of old, even though it is
said to have been renewed unto that which is incomparably supe-
rior precisely through Christ’s reign over us.
4. There is another similar matter that applies to our situa-

tion. What I mean is that the God of all reigned over those from
Israel through holy prophets. The divinely inspired Moses was
anointed beforehand for this, and indeed before the others, and
then after him those who followed. But when the holy Samuel
was administering the government, those from Israel, lapsing
into extraordinary folly and giving no heed to the rule exercised
by God, I do not know how, approached him, saying, “Behold,
you are old, and your sons do not walk in your way. And now ap-
point a king over us to judge us, as it is with the other nations.”64
And the prophet felt quite bitter about this. But the Lord, it
states, said to him, “Listen to the voice of the people, whatever
61. Is 32.1. 62. Ps 2.6–7.

63. Mt 11.28–29. 64. 1 Sm 8.5.
they say to you; for they have not rejected you, <they have reject-
ed me>,65 from reigning over them.”66 And this was how Saul was
proclaimed, about whom the God of all says in the prophets,
“And I gave them a king in my anger, and held in my wrath a
storm of injustice.”67
It cannot therefore be doubted at all that it was in anger that
Saul, a human king, was given to those rejecting the rule exer-
cised by the very God of all. For it is incomparably better to be
eager to be subject rather to God himself. But if Christ is a hu-
man being as we are, rather than the Word who has appeared in
human form—but has been given as a king and has ruled over
those on earth—then who would be so utterly stupid as to think
and say that he too has reigned as though in the anger of God
the Father, and, since we have committed offenses and sins, has
subjected us as well to the yoke of a human being? Who can
doubt that we have been delivered from all sin through faith?
How then can it be that God is still grieved? How is it that he is
still moved with anger to punish those who are sanctified? I for
my part would say both that we have been delivered from sins,
and that the atmosphere in which we live is quite intoxicated
with the benefactions of God’s kindness. It is not, therefore, a
human being who has reigned over us, but rather God who has
appeared in humanity, the Son, who has neither departed from
the glory of his own dignities because of what is human, nor dis-
dained being like us according to the economy.
Besides (I think this must be seen as well), if some of those in
error are accused of exchanging “the glory of the immortal God
for images resembling mortal man,”68 and are under heavy at-
tack for this, we too must stoutly refuse to range Christ purely
and simply in the nature that is ours, but must preserve the
union inseparable, the union, that is, which human nature has
with the Word from God the Father, in order that he may then
be worshiped as God both by ourselves and by the spirits above.
And if it is truly most grievous to adore the creature instead of
65. The Sources chrétiennes editor has included and bracketed the words
ἀλλ᾽ ἢ ἐμὲ ἐξουθενήκασι; see SC 434, p. 286, ln. 13.
66. 1 Sm 8.7.
67. Hos 13.11–12.
68. Rom 1.23.
the Creator, and we have been ordered to adore Christ, let him
69
be regarded as above created nature as God, even if he is regard-

ed as having been created because of what is human. Possessing
in himself this glory, he once addressed those who had decided
to disbelieve, all but accusing them of sluggishness. “If I do not
do my Father’s works, do not believe me. But if I do them, then
even if you do not believe me, believe my works.”70 For there
were, there were indeed, some senseless folk who thought little
of him because of the flesh, rose up against him in their stupidi-
ty, and attacked him like dogs, finding pretexts in their sins and
saying to the one who accused them, “We are not stoning you for
a good work, but for blasphemy, because you, a human being,
are making yourself God.”71 But, bidding farewell to the deprav-
ity of those so minded, let us honor him with long and unceas-
ing acclamations. Since we have acquired a better way of think-
ing than the Pharisees’ senselessness, we will say to him: “For a
good work we are struck with admiration at you, because you
who are God by nature have become a human being.”
And for what reason? It is that since the Word of God is life by
nature, he made a body for himself, a body whose nature it is to
perish, so that once he had undone the power of mortality in it,
he might transform it unto incorruptibility.72 For just as iron,
when it comes into contact with fire at its hottest, changes its col-
or at once to that of the other and is pregnant with the power of
that which conquers it, so also the nature of flesh, once it has re-
ceived the imperishable, life-giving Word of God, has remained
no longer in the state it was in, but has been rendered superior
to corruption from then on.73 And since he is himself the light of
the world, he thus sent the rays of true knowledge of God into
the intellects of all people, calling them in this way to the light;
this he did on the one hand by using faultless teachings and ren-
dering completely wise those who approached him by faith, and
on the other hand by working various wonders, in order that, by
astonishing the onlookers with deeds beyond understanding, no
one might disbelieve that, being God by nature, he had become
69. Cf. Rom 1.25. 70. Jn 10.37–38.

71. Jn 10.33. 72. Cf. 1 Cor 15.53.
73. On the importance of the idea of incorruption in Cyril’s Christology, see
John J. O’Keefe, “The Persistence of Decay: Bodily Disintegration and Cyrillian
a human being, but had remained what he was even when he de-
scended in the form we have according to the economy.
But the Jews did not understand the mystery, even though it
had been announced in advance as fully and completely as pos-
sible through both the law and the holy prophets, and so they
dared to grieve him in many ways. And when they recognized
that he was himself the heir, they expelled and killed him,74 tak-
ing as their accomplice and assistant in this the inventor of sin,
Satan. He thought, understandably, that he had gotten away
with it, since he had seen him suffer. But he, like those who had
carried out the crucifixion, did not realize that he suffered will-
ingly, and that he himself laid down his own soul,75 not forced by
anyone, but willingly, as I said, that he might make proclamation
to the spirits locked up in hell, and open the gates of hell76 to
those below. For as Paul writes us in his wisdom, “It was for this
that Christ died and lived, that he might be Lord of both the
dead and the living.”77 For when he had released those in dark-
ness,78 he trampled upon the power of death79 and revived on
the third day. Then, after showing himself to the holy apostles
and commanding them to make disciples “of all the nations, and
baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit,”80 he ascended into heaven and is at the right
hand of God the Father.81 He will come in due time as judge of
all, in the power and glory befitting God, escorted by angels, and
will sit upon the throne of his glory,82 judging the earth in jus-
tice83 and rendering to each according to his work.84
5. Since, then, we have been bought at a price,85 and we are

not our own,86 let us serve the one who has purchased us as best
Christology,” in In the Shadow of the Incarnation: Essays on Jesus Christ in the Early
Church in Honor of Brian E. Daley, S.J., edited by Peter W. Martens (South Bend,
IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2008).
74. Cf. Mt 21.38–39. 75. Or “life.” Cf. Jn 10.18.
76. Cf. 1 Pt 3.19. 77. Rom 14.9.
78. Cf. Lk 1.79. 79. Cf. Heb 2.14.
80. Mt 28.19. 81. Cf. Acts 2.33.
82. Cf. Mt 19.28. 83. Cf. Acts 17.31.
84. Cf. Mt 16.27. 85. Cf. 1 Cor 6.20.
86. Cf. 1 Cor 6.19.
we may, and let us be found superior to carnal passions. Having
shaken off the defilement of sin and adorned ourselves with all
virtuousness, let us fight the good fight, let us finish the race, let
us keep the faith:87 lightening the labors of those in need, con-
soling orphans, aiding widows,88 easing the sufferings of those
with bodily injuries, visiting those in prison,89 and showing good-
ness and mutual affection to all.90 For then it is, then indeed,
that we will fast in purity. We begin holy Lent on the first of
Phamenoth, and the week of the salvific Paschal feast on the
sixth of Pharmuthi. We break the fast on the eleventh of Phar-
muthi, late on Saturday evening, according to the gospel pre-
cept. We celebrate the feast on the following day, the eve of Sun-
day, the twelfth of the same month, adding thereafter the seven
weeks of holy Eastertide.91 For thus we will inherit the kingdom
of heaven,92 in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom and with
whom be glory and power with the Holy Spirit for all ages.
Amen.
87. Cf. 2 Tm 4.7. 88. Cf. Jas 1.27.
89. Cf. Mt 25.43. 90. Cf. Eph 4.32.
91. April 7, 429. 92. Cf. 1 Cor 6.9.
FESTAL LETTER EIGHTEEN
A.D. 430
Preface
E HAVE gathered here once again to treat of a topic that
is both well-known and popular. It requires, though, I
think, language that is lavish, and eloquence of speech,
so that even that which is beyond speech may be examined with
care. Even though I am far from equal to this, however, I come
to you once again to tell you of what may be discovered by good-
ness in thought. But it befits my audience to be forbearing. For
the business at hand is not some exhibition of eloquence, but an
instruction that is both necessary and suited to the time of our
holy feast.
1. The time for our holy feast shines forth again. And it is nec-
essary for us to remember the words of God, who reigns over all:
“‘Listen, priests, and bear witness to the house of Jacob,’ says the
Lord God almighty.”1 We will bear witness, then, that the time is
at hand in which it behooves us to adorn ourselves splendidly
with the virtues that suit holy people, and to abound in the glo-
ries of the evangelical way of life. We must also, I think, venerate
those who instruct us in the fairest things. For that prophet
speaks truly who says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who
bring the news of good things!”2 This of course by no means re-
fers to those good things that are temporary and subject to de-
cay, nor to those which our earthly bodies enjoy, but rather to
those which are the achievement of our Savior’s grace, and
which render those who receive them thrice blessed, and make
1. Hos 5.1.
2. Is 52.7; Na 1.15.
74
FESTAL LETTER EIGHTEEN 75
them appear superior to passions of both soul and body. For “a
good name is more desirable than much wealth,”3 as Solomon
says. For the virtuous, then, there is no time when it does not be-
hoove them to appear as such. And if in fact the occasion arises
of having to make efforts willingly on behalf of virtue, it is precise-
ly then that, stiffening their resolve against all hesitancy, and has-
tening at top speed in the direction of everything that is held in
admiration, they consider their efforts to be sheer enjoyment,
battening as they do on the expectation of the good things to
come, which cheers them. For when husbandmen are hardy and
industrious, and the season reminds them that they have to till
the earth, and sow the seed as well, then, even though great and
lengthy labor is entailed in getting a generous crop from the
land, they make nothing of the matter, and quite wisely. The hus-
bandman puts the yoke on the ox, but what he sees is the field
ripe with grain. He casts the seed into the soil, but exults in the
reapers, and with the eyes of hope already marvels at the crop
falling to the iron, and imagines his threshing-floor full. Or some-
one with a bent for sea-faring, and a merchant by trade, who sees
the sea laughing in the spring breezes, does not brook delay: he
ventures to set sail, even though he realizes that at times he will
have to brave the waves and the ferocity of the winds. But he does
not fear this at all, on account of the gains involved and the
profit.
Now I think it most shameful that while they want to prove su-
perior to all the labor entailed in corruptible, earthly business,
we whose gains are divine and beyond understanding do not
consider the time before our holy feast to be sheer enjoyment; it
separates us from food and drink that is superfluous, but fills us
with spiritual gifts. Since, then, the season invites us to courage,
let no one shrink back, but go readily rather to whatever God
has chosen. And I think that I must repeat what we find Jeremi-
ah saying: “Take up arms and spears! Draw near to battle! Har-
ness the horses! Mount, you horsemen, and stand ready in your
helmets! Spears forward! On with your breastplates!”4 For we
must be wont to resist the pleasures that lead to wickedness, and
3. Prv 22.1.
4. Jer 46.3–4.
do so quite vigorously, and to battle against the passions once we
have strapped on the armor of the Spirit.5 For as the divinely in-
spired Paul writes, “The desires of the flesh are against the Spir-
it, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh; for these are
opposed to each other.”6 When the flesh has the upper hand,
however, the one who is defeated lives in shame and wantonness,
more repulsive than any kind of filth; but when it is conquered
and yields to the spirit, the victors’ crowns are bright and attrac-
tive. For they will be at once beyond reproach, far from wicked-
ness, and distinguished by the prestige resulting from virtue.
Now we must, I think, bend every effort to keep clear of what
is injurious, and despise what is wicked, while striving for what is
held in admiration. For I do not think that anyone at all would
deny that bodily fitness is highly desirable.7 If we fall prey to
some illness, we are eager to summon immediately someone
who knows how to get rid of it, and to resist the attacks of the dis-
ease with the skill that comes from his art. And bidding farewell
to culinary delights, we block up the sources of the illness, so to
speak, avoiding satiety itself and stopping our pain with our mea-
ger fare. Such is our diligence when it comes to the flesh! But if
what is incomparably better is seen to be ill, the soul that is, and
the method of curing it is sought, and it cannot be otherwise
than through continence: how can we possibly not welcome fast-
ing joyfully, if indeed we are in our right minds, and regard good
health as better than illness? Let us therefore cleanse ourselves
of every stain of flesh and spirit, as is written,8 recalling what God
says through the prophet: “You will be holy, because I am holy,”9
and the words of one of the holy disciples: “Beloved, I beseech
you as aliens and sojourners to abstain from the passions of the
flesh that wage war against your soul.”10 People are admired,
then, and thought worthy of all praise, when they choose to suf-
fer even death, if necessary, risking themselves without hesita-
tion for their children and wives. And if those who customarily
5. Cf. Eph 6.11.
6. Gal 5.17.
7. For a discussion of ascetical references in these letters, see the introduc-
8. Cf. 2 Cor 7.1. 9. Lv 11.45.
10. 1 Pt 2.11.
pillage countrysides or cities should come ravaging the farms and
cut off the sources of livelihood, remaining inactive will contrib-
ute nothing to the renown of those afflicted; it is better to fight
against evil, and to be seen to prefer to fall courageously, than to
live miserably.
Since, then, our situation is such (and I do not think that any-
one would find fault with what has been said), then striving on
behalf of the soul for its benefit can only be something neces-
sary, since it is all but pillaged by the flesh; and we will strive on
its behalf by our labors, overthrowing the concerns of the flesh
in order to require it to be subject to the will of the Spirit.11 We
will thus walk straight toward what is fitting, taking the path to
everything that is of most renown, in possessing ourselves of the
hope of eternal life. For all of us are aliens and sojourners in this
world;12 and short indeed is the time of the life with the body,
but long and unending that which follows. It behooves us, there-
fore, while staying clear of the temporary things of the present,
and firmly rejecting involvement with carnal pleasures as an ig-
nominious profanation, to thirst for what is to come, and to con-
sider beyond all reckoning and wonder what God has made
ready for the saints. “For eye has not seen, and ear has not heard,
nor has it entered the human heart, what God has prepared for
those who love him.”13 Let us then explain, as well as we can, the
method by which those who have loved him have acquired their
reputation, using the topic as a sort of incitement to your enthu-
siasm for what is good.
2. The divinely inspired David, therefore, even though he

governed the kingdom and had subject to him a countless multi-
tude accustomed to distinguishing itself in battle, and so would
order his military force to stand to arms and receive the attacks
of the foes if ever any of the nations bordering on the Jews took
the road to war, he would also, fortifying himself with assistance
from above along with that from elsewhere, offer extended
prayers and beseech the Lord of Powers to take his part, grant
victory to him, and render him superior to his enemies’ perver-
11. Cf. Gal 5.16. 12. Cf. Eph 2.19.

13. Is 64.4; 1 Cor 2.9.
sity. And he did not fail of his hopes, as you may hear from his
words: “But I, when they troubled me, put on sackcloth, and
humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer shall return to my
bosom.”14 You hear that he fasted and donned sackcloth; that is,
he resembled a sojourner, downcast and in tears, not living in
luxury and merriment nor battening on delicacies, but bur-
dened with the labor of abstinence. And what was the fruit?
What benefit did he chance to derive therefrom? We have just
heard him say, “My prayer shall return to my bosom.”15 For those
who give gifts to others, and demonstrate the generosity they
have, place them in their bosom, showing that their hands are
too small. And the God of all, when he gladdens people with the
wealth of his favors, acts in the same way as those others, placing
them as it were into their bosom, and besting the expectations
of those who entreat him by the amplitude of his gifts. David
therefore fasted, and what makes him worthy of the highest
praise, or rather the object of astonishment, is that, excellent
and wise as he was, he who boasted of having the crown of the
realm and luxury and wealth in abundance, spent time in
mourning and abstinence, that he might win the benevolence
from on high. He defeated his enemies accordingly, and won his
battles; he was illustrious, the object of emulation to all.
And if one wants in addition to look at those three youths,
Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael,16 one will find how advanta-
geous continence is in every way. They were born of Jewish stock,
and when the Persian leaders captured Jerusalem, and took
them off into captivity with the others, their destiny, and as it
were special lot, was to be in the halls of the king. And since the
Persians were always fond of ostentation, any of their captives
who were of choice quality, and superior to the others in comeli-
ness of body and of course in maturity, were groomed for their
king. What is more, the greatest abundance of meats was made
available to them, that they might always be sleek, and, by show-
ing great charm in their expressions to onlookers, might make a
not inconsiderable contribution to the king’s renown. What
then did the noble lads do in response to this? They scorned the
14. Ps 35.13. 15. Ibid.

16. Dn 1.1–20.
self-indulgent table, and, disdaining the exquisite dishes, em-
braced fasting as the mother and nourisher of their entire deco-
rum, considering the effort it entailed to be their delight. What
was the result? They were admired by their enemies. They were
victorious when plotted against and were superior to those who
were illustrious among the others, since they had the God of all
as their benevolent overseer. They defeated fire, and, placed be-
yond the power of its flames, danced with the supernal powers,
and became the teachers of those under heaven, persuading all
of creation, as it were, to crown the Creator with the expressions
of praise befitting him.
If, therefore, one chooses to imitate the beauty of the virtu-
ousness of the saints, one will certainly attain to gifts equal to
theirs. For one will conquer one’s adversaries effortlessly and
easily defeat one’s enemies in their perversity, and even if those
pleasures that entice one to what is shameful should assail the
mind like fire or flames, one will prove more powerful than even
they, with God’s strength. For an angel entered the fiery furnace
with Hananiah and his companions, tamed the flames, and un-
expectedly persuaded the fire to yield to the human bodies.17
And when Christ has come into our mind and heart through the
Holy Spirit, he will certainly lull the savage flames of perverse de-
sire, and, rendering us illustrious over the demons’ schemes,
make us citizens of heaven, and widen the path of every virtue
for us. For sacred Scripture everywhere makes clear that we will
find that the recompense of fasting, and the fruit of good ef-
forts, is that God will prosper our journey. For thus it is written
in Esdras: “And there I began a fast for the young men before
the Lord our God, to seek from him a prosperous journey, both
for us and for our children with us, and the cattle. For I was
ashamed to ask the king for foot soldiers and horsemen, and an
escort, for safety against our adversaries. For we had said to the
king, ‘The power of the Lord will be with us, with us who seek
him, to support us in all ways.’ And again we besought our Lord
concerning this, and found him very merciful.”18 You see that he
says that they fasted for a prosperous journey, supernal favor,
17. Dn 3.8–30.
18. 1 Esdras 8.50–53.
and the invincible assistance of the one who is able to save, and
that they found very merciful the God who accomplishes every-
thing with ease and apportions good things liberally to those
who ask him. He will then rescue us too when we fast, will snatch
us from every evil, and will render accessible every manner of
virtuousness. For he will easily make smooth what seems diffi-
cult, and will render the rough way level and ready.19
3. But prayer, I say, must be practiced with fasting. For the vir-
tues are neighbors, and are most usefully joined. But when one
of them is lacking, the other, I think, is of little benefit, and virtu-
ousness goes lame. For it is when we fast that we will pray in pu-
rity.20 For the power of supplication to God is immense; we will
realize this once again from the divinely inspired Scripture itself.
For Israel was living in the desert. And when Amalek (a barbar-
ian nation), inflamed with the unholy envy with which it was
stricken, armed itself for war, the divinely inspired Moses gave
the following order to Joshua: “Choose for yourself powerful
men, and go out and set them in battle array against Amalek to-
morrow.”21 And the youths were armed, and a large and mighty
multitude of those who knew warfare squared off against the en-
emy ranks. But the divinely inspired Moses himself, standing by
on a hill, was engaged in prayer to God. And what benefit was
derived therefrom for those in battle may be known from what is
written: “And it came to pass,” it says, “that when Moses lifted his
hands, Israel prevailed; but when he lowered his hands, Amalek
prevailed.”22 Notice, therefore, how Moses’ hands were better
than weapons and cavalry; for as long as he stretched them forth
in prayer, Israel was invincible to attack, while if he lowered
them, Amalek prevailed. The divinely inspired Paul writes to us
about what happened to those of old as follows: “These things
happened to them in figure, but they were written down for our
instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come.”23 And
this, I think, suffices to show the benefit of prayer.
But it will not hurt if we take up another narrative as well, one
19. Cf. Is 42.16. 20. Cf. Mt 6.16–18.

21. Ex 17.9. 22. Ex 17.11.
23. 1 Cor 10.11.
that contains a meaning close to what has been said. It hap-
pened once that the Jews became so confused that they thought
they had to worship stones and wood. And neglecting him who
is the one God by nature, they each worshiped as they chose.
And for that reason they roused the Master against them and
were handed over to some of the neighboring nations, and
served their foes, their land having been captured by them.
Then at last, suffering greatly from their exceeding calamities,
and rejecting utterly their unholy decision, and unlearning their
shameful ways, they sought mercy through repentance and ap-
proached the blessed prophet Samuel. He told them at once,
“‘Gather every man of Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray for you to
the Lord.’ And the people gathered to Mizpah, and they drew
water, and poured it out upon the earth before the Lord, and
they fasted on that day, and they said, ‘We have sinned against
the Lord.’ And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Miz-
pah.”24 And further:
And the foreign overlords came up against Israel, and the children of
Israel heard, and they were in fear before the foreigners. The children
of Israel said to Samuel, “Cease not to cry out for us to the Lord your
God, and he will save us from the hand of the foreigners.” And Samuel
took a sucking lamb, and offered it up as a holocaust with all the peo-
ple to the Lord, and Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord
listened to him. And Samuel was offering the holocaust, and the for-
eigners drew near to war against Israel. And the Lord thundered with a
mighty voice on that day upon the foreigners, and they were troubled,
and fell before Israel.25
That fasting, then, when accompanied by prayer, is not un-

profitable, and is held in admiration by those of sound mind, is
clearly shown both by what has already been said, and also, and
not least of all, by the narrative we have just recounted. For those
who had conquered Israel of old came up expecting to capture
immediately and effortlessly those who might wish to oppose
them. But it was they who were defeated and fell, not because
they encountered a multitude tried in war and skilled in battle,
nor an infantry with its weapons, nor ranks of cavalry, but an ir-
resistible opposition supplied by God. For heaven thundered
24. 1 Sm 7.5–6. 25. 1 Sm 7.7–14.

upon them with terrible violence, and those who once were of
haughty demeanor were crushed by fear and turned to flight.
The others were superior to their conquerors through fasting
and prayer.
4. Come then, if you will, let us busy ourselves for a time with
the question of the way in which they sacrificed. For what we will
find are those who are saved and victorious in Christ, and even if
what was done was in figures and riddles, it shows eloquently
enough the power of the mystery of Christ. It says, then, “The
people gathered to Mizpah, and they drew water, and poured it
out upon the earth before the Lord.”26 Now what is this about?
someone might reasonably ask. Or how can this function as a sac-
rifice? What is it that they did that was pleasing to God? For the
law given through Moses commanded cattle to be sacrificed, and
turtle-doves and doves to be consecrated to God,27 but nowhere
does it order, as a manner of sacrifice, water to be poured upon
the earth. What was it, then, that those of ancient times did, and
with them the prophet, even though he possessed within himself
a marvelously comprehensive knowledge of the sacred and di-
vine revelations? Our answer is that being a prophet, and having
his mind filled with the Holy Spirit, he doubtless knew the great
and august mystery of the Incarnation of the Only-Begotten. And
he reasoned that even the very figure of the truth could save
those in danger, depicting upon himself, as it were, the signifi-
cance of the salvation given through Christ. How therefore the
truth was effected as though in shadows, let us explain as best we
may. The only-begotten Word of God, being life by nature, de-
scended therefore to a voluntary emptying, and became as we
are, a human being,28 not, that is, by undergoing a change from
his own nature into the flesh that is from earth—for God’s nature
is fixed firmly upon its own bounty—but because he put on our
earthly body which has the rational soul.29 This is what the proph-
26. 1 Sm 7.6. 27. Cf. Lv 1.14; 5.7.

28. Cf. Phil 2.6–7.
29. There is little polemical content in this letter. The theological language
in this section is standard in Cyril and appears to be almost formulaic in these
letters.
et Samuel portrayed as in water to those of old when he poured
water on the earth. For water is a symbol of life, and the earth of
flesh. But the Word became flesh,30 as John says who speaks of
God, and the life-giving divinity and the humanity from earth
have joined together in unity in a way that is ineffable and incon-
ceivable. And thus it is that we understand Immanuel henceforth
to be one from both: he neither departs from the bounds of di-
vinity through the assumption of flesh, nor was loath to become
as we are, due to his inherent kindness and the supremely wise
economy that comes from this reality. For since he was going to
undergo the death that was for the life of all—this of course be-
ing the death that is of the flesh—so that, when raised from the
dead, he might as life and God trample upon the power of
death,31 he made his own the body subject to death, meaning the
human body or the flesh; this was in order that through it he
might do away with corruption, ancient and redoubtable as it
was, and thus restore human nature to life.
For he was raised, not achieving the resurrection for his own
nature, in which he is regarded as God, as indeed he is, but in
order that we might have this reality in him abundantly. For this
reason he has been called “the first-fruits of those who have fall-
en asleep”32 and “the firstborn from the dead.”33 And when the
divinely inspired Samuel showed this very thing to those of old
in offering the prayers for Israel, he not only fulfilled for them
the figure of the Incarnation in shadow and riddle, as it were, by
pouring out the water on the earth; he immediately added the
rest: the slaughter done on behalf of the whole world. For it says,
“Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it up as a holocaust
with all the people to the Lord, and Samuel cried to the Lord for
Israel, and the Lord listened to him.”34 You hear how he sacri-
ficed the lamb as an image and figure of the true God, the one
whom the blessed John, too, all but pointed to with his hand
when he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin
of the world.”35 For Christ is the spotless sacrificial victim by
whose precious blood we have been saved and sanctified.
30. Jn 1.14. 31. Cf. Heb 2.14.

32. 1 Cor 15.20. 33. Col 1.18; Rv 1.5.
34. 1 Sm 7.9. 35. Jn 1.29.
Thus God the Father bade the mystery concerning him to be
prefigured for us through all-wise Moses as well. For Israel was in
slavery to the Egyptians. But they were pitiless, infected by a cru-
el harshness. Then they made their life miserable, as is written,
with mud and brick-making, burdening them with painful la-
bor.36 But when God took pity on them in their wretchedness
and then decided to rescue them from the arrogance of their
rulers, he bade the all-wise Moses tell them that mercy had been
granted them, and that they would at once make their way to the
land promised their fathers once they had shaken off the un-
bearable burden of slavery. But since it was likely that they would
slip from the hope of better things to come at last, and would
then not listen to what Moses said, the God of all ordered him to
work miracles. For a miracle always somehow draws one to be-
lief, and has the power to cause even the mind in complete de-
spair to revive unto the hope for good things. And when he bade
[him] show two signs, he added, “And if they will not believe you
nor listen to the voice of the first sign, they will believe you be-
cause of the voice of the second sign. And it shall come to pass
that if they do not believe you for these two signs, nor listen to
your voice, you will take from the water of the river and pour it
upon the dry land, and the water that you take from the river
will be blood upon the dry land.”37
5. For the nature of God the Father and of the Son is likened
to a spring; and the Father is sometimes a river and water, and
sometimes so is the Son, or the Holy Spirit. For God the Father
says of himself through Jeremiah, “Heaven is amazed at this, and
shudders deeply, says the Lord, for my people have committed
two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and
have dug themselves broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”38
The Son furthermore says of himself through the prophets’
voice, “Behold, I bend down to them as a river of peace, and as a
torrent drenching them with the glory of the gentiles.”39 Again,
the divinely inspired David speaks of himself to the Father in the
36. Cf. Ex 1.14. 37. Ex 4.9.

38. Jer 2.12–13. 39. Is 66.12.
heavens, striking the spiritual lyre for us as he says, “How you
have multiplied your mercy, O God! So the children of men will
hope in the shelter of your wings. They will be intoxicated with
the richness of your house, and you will give them to drink of
the torrent of your delight, for with you is the spring of life.”40
Our Lord Jesus Christ furthermore gave the name of “water” to
the life-giving Spirit who pours forth through him from the Fa-
ther, when he was conversing with the woman in Samaria. He
said, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you,
‘Give me to drink,’ you might ask him, and he would give you liv-
ing water.”41 And further, “Everyone who drinks from this water
will thirst again; but whoever drinks from the water that I will
give him will never thirst again.”42 The Son therefore is the life-
giving water as from the spring or river of God the Father. He
engenders all things, and “in him we live and move and are.”43
And God acquaints us again with this by showing it through fig-
ures, as it were, and so to speak from examples that are still low-
ly, speaking thus to the all-holy Moses: “And you will take water
from the river, and you will pour it upon the earth.”44 For the Fa-
ther’s nature is, as I said, quite aptly likened to a river, and the
Son, begotten naturally from him, to water. Now this water from
the river has been mixed with the earth. For “the Word became
flesh”45 in the union of the economy. And that, once become a
human being, he was certainly and indubitably to die for us in
the flesh as well, is what is indicated in the words “and the water
that you take from the river will be blood upon the dry land.”46
But the blood in this passage signifies nothing else to us but
death. For as long as the Word was not flesh, he had not become
blood. For the living and life-giving nature is quite beyond
death. But when he became as we are, then, then indeed, he
made his own the death of his own flesh, and is said to die for us
himself, and with his own blood to acquire the earth under heav-
en; it is always his, for he is himself the Creator of everything,
but it had shown itself restive, through being overly inclined to
40. Ps 36.7–9. 41. Jn 4.10.

42. Jn 4.14. 43. Acts 17.28.
44. Ex 4.9. 45. Jn 1.14.
46. Ex 4.9.
sin, choosing to worship the creature, and venerating the ele-
ments of the world.47
So it was with the pagans. But the Jews, having little regard for
the decree given through Moses, turned to doctrines that were
human commandments, and, as the divinely inspired David says,
“They have all turned aside, they have together become useless,
there was no one who did good, not even one.”48 For this reason
the only-begotten Word of God appeared with flesh, “and con-
sorted with human beings,”49 as is written, and announced to Is-
rael, and indeed before the others, the things that concern salva-
tion and life. As the blessed John says, however, “He came to his
own home, and his own people did not receive him.”50 For they
did not at all accept the Savior of all; they never stopped insult-
ing him, practicing every kind of wickedness in their cruelty.
Their insanity reached such a degree that they nailed to a cross
the Author of life, and thought they could conquer by death the
one who is greater than death. For he came back to life on the
third day, having emptied hell,51 and, having opened the gate of
death to the spirits below and become way, gate, and first-fruits
for human nature unto incorruptibility,52 he ascended to God
the Father in heaven,53 and is enthroned with him, and with him
rules all things. He will come in due time “that he may judge the
earth in justice,”54 as is written. Since, then, as Paul says in his su-
preme wisdom, “we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to
what one has done in the body,”55 let us fast in purity, rejecting
every manner of sin, and dismissing every kind of impurity from
our thoughts. Let us in addition be good, mutually affectionate,
and merciful; let us take pity on orphans, defend widows,56 help
in treating the infirm, suffer with those in prison,57 and in a word
be eager to practice every kind of virtuousness. For thus it is,
thus indeed, that, in distinguishing ourselves by an illustrious
life, dear to God, we will celebrate the feast in purity.
47. Cf. Rom 1.25. 48. Ps 14.1–2.
49. Bar 3.37. 50. Jn 1.11.
51. Cf. 1 Pt 3.19. 52. Cf. 1 Cor 15.20–21.
53. Cf. Acts 2.33. 54. Ps 9.8.
55. 2 Cor 5.10. 56. Cf. Jas 1.27.
57. Cf. Mt 25.43.
We begin holy Lent on the twenty-third of Mechir, and the
week of the salvific Paschal feast on the twenty-eighth of Phame-
noth. We break the fast on the third of Pharmuthi, late in the eve-
ning according to the gospel precept. We celebrate the feast on
the next day, the eve of Sunday, the fourth of Pharmuthi, adding
thereafter the seven weeks of holy Eastertide.58 For thus will we
inherit the kingdom of heaven, in Christ Jesus our Lord, through
whom and with whom be glory and power to the Father with the
Holy Spirit for all ages. Amen.
58. March 30, 430.

FESTAL LETTER NINETEEN
A.D. 431
Prologue
T IS TO a slender supper that I see so many and mighty
banqueters gathered; and I fear I may fail to satisfy you.
But I admire your desire to learn, and commend your
love of oratory, even if it is not delivered brilliantly. And since you
have been invited here, please, please be tolerant if the speech is
not all that you might have hoped for.
1. It is time for us once again to say to you what was sung to

those of old by the Psalmist’s lyre: “All you nations, clap your
hands; shout to God with a voice of exultation”;1 let us, that is,
sing victory songs to Christ. For he has conquered the world for
us, as he himself certainly says, and “he triumphed over the prin-
cipalities, powers, dominions, and the world rulers of this dark-
ness, the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”2
He thus withdrew everyone from their perversity, and removed
them from their ancient guilt, “nailing the bond that stood
against us to the cross,”3 in order that, in our joy at this very
thing, we might say, “Where, O death, is your sting? Where is
your victory, hell? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin
is the law.”4 But through Christ we have been removed even
from the punishment in the law. The divinely inspired Paul will
testify to this when he writes, “For sin will have no dominion
over you, since you are not under the law but under grace.”5 And
John in his wisdom writes, “For the law was given through Moses;
1. Ps 47.2. 2. Eph 6.12. Cf. Col 2.15.

3. Col 2.14. 4. 1 Cor 15.55–56.
5. Rom 6.14.
88
FESTAL LETTER NINETEEN 89
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” For one man died
6
for all, acquiring by his own blood the earth under heaven, “so
that those who live may live no longer for themselves, but for
him who for their sake died and was raised.”7 We will live for him
in being eager above all to think and act in a way pleasing to
him, and in choosing to follow the gospel precepts.
Now every time is fitting and opportune for those whose con-
cern is excellence, in my opinion, aiming as they do at fulfilling
the salvific commandment; but that is especially true of the pres-
ent time, which all but cries out through the prophet’s voice,
“Send forth the sickles, for the vintage has come; go in, treaders,
for the press is full, the vats overflow.”8 For I, for my part, say that
all of those who have an intelligent and accurate understanding
of the way we should behave, and who know how to investigate
how they may achieve what will be of most benefit to themselves
and to others as well, must seize their opportunities with great
zeal. What do I mean? Winter’s gloom has dispersed, the season
of spring is arising, and the richest fields are shaggy with grain,
countless rows of which wave in close ranks above the earth; and
then it is, then indeed, that no one who knows how to harvest
must remain idle any longer. And since the time at hand brings
to the industrious whatever they want to obtain, let idleness de-
part and sleepless endurance be esteemed above all else. For it is
thus, and not otherwise, that the highest praise as well will be
given them abundantly.
Since, therefore, “Christ your Passover has been sacrificed,”9
as Paul testifies to us too in his supreme wisdom, “let us cleanse
ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, and make
holiness perfect in the fear of God,”10 lest, taking hold of the sa-
cred mysteries with unwashed hands and dishonoring his divine
sacrament in our carelessness, we draw upon our own heads the
punishment befitting the impious. For the divinely inspired Paul
in fact writes something of the sort to those accustomed to be-
have in this way: “That is why many of us are weak and ill, and
quite a few are asleep. For if we judged ourselves, we would not
6. Jn 1.17. 7. 2 Cor 5.15.

8. Jl 4.13. 9. 1 Cor 5.7.
10. 2 Cor 7.1.
be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the
Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.”11 Collect-
ing therefore from the sacred writings the things that serve our
purpose, let us explain the manner in which we may celebrate
the feast in holiness and perfect purity, and so come then to the
spiritual participation in Christ, the Savior of us all.
2. Those of Israel’s blood sacrificed the lamb in Egypt as Mo-

ses instructed them. They were in fact bidden to eat unleavened
bread with it, and bitter herbs as well. For thus it is written: “Un-
leavened bread with bitter herbs shall you eat for seven days.”12
Tell me, then, shall we ourselves preside over what is in figures
and shadows?13 Then whatever is Paul about when, supremely
wise as he is and truly versed in the law, he says, “We know that
the law is spiritual”?14 Who can doubt that he is plain-spoken and,
having Christ in him as he does, would not speak falsely? How
then can we fulfill that ancient law, Christ saying clearly, “Do not
think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have
not come to abolish but to fulfill them. For I tell you, not an iota,
not a dot, will pass from the law until all takes place. Heaven and
earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away”?15 The true
Lamb who takes away the sin of the world has therefore been sac-
rificed for us as well who have been called through faith to holi-
ness. We will make our spiritual, all-beautiful, and truly sacred
meal from it, a meal described as being of unleavened bread, ac-
cording to the law, but understood in a spiritual sense. For leaven
is always used by the divinely inspired writings as a figure of wick-
edness and sin. Our Lord Jesus Christ for that matter bade his
holy disciples beware, saying, “Beware of the leaven of the scribes
and Pharisees.”16 Paul, too, in his supreme wisdom writes as fol-
lows to remove those sanctified as far as possible from the leaven
and impurity that infect mind and heart: “Cleanse out the old
leaven that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened.”17
11. 1 Cor 11.30–32. 12. Ex 12.8.

13. For a discussion of Cyril’s use of non-literal interpretation, see the intro-
duction in FOTC 118, 9–12.
14. Rom 7.14. 15. Mt 5.17–18; Lk 21.33.
16. Mt 16.6. 17. 1 Cor 5.7.
It is therefore not unprofitable, but rather necessary, since it is
of the greatest concern to us to come to share spiritually in Christ,
the Savior of us all, that we keep our mind unsullied, rub away
stains, avoid sin, and, in short, depart from whatever it is that usu-
ally causes defilement. For thus it is that we will succeed in mak-
ing our approach, one which is in participation, blameless and
quite irreprehensible. But let one eat bitter herbs too; let one,
that is, make one’s way through bitter labors, and value highly
the perseverance entailed therein. For it is most absurd for those
who love piety to think and suppose that they may abound in vir-
tue otherwise, and be able to boast of the highest glories, except
by first contending and making a splendid show of courage. For
the way that leads up to it is rough and forbidding, and not acces-
sible to the many; it is easily trodden only by those who take it on
the run, fearing nothing, stripped for labor, and resistant to fa-
tigue. And Christ himself urges us to this when he says, “Enter by
the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad the way that leads
to destruction, and many there are who enter by it. But narrow is
the gate and strait the way that leads to life, and few there are
who find it.”18 For it suits not just anyone to choose and then to
achieve deeds that are illustrious and exceptional, but only, as I
said, those who are outstanding and are able to overcome nobly
the pleasure that beckons to what is shameful. But that the path
leading to sin is wide and wondrously smooth, one may observe
with no difficulty at all, if one wants, from the realities them-
selves. For the human mind is quite easily carried away and most
readily diverted when impelled by pleasure. And it is borne19 with
the greatest ease toward delicacies, and displays how it suffers
from lack of self-control in bodily appetites. And I think that one
who has perhaps suffered in this way will have to confirm what I
say. For the nature of the flesh often forces even one who is un-
willing, incites him with its fearful goads to indulge his innate
pleasures, all but seizes him if he is reluctant, and bears him off
to involuntary inclinations. But the Lord God of all builds him up
with the law, and grants him the weapon of continence. For the
prophet spoke truly who said of God, the Savior of us all, “For
18. Mt 7.13–14. 19. Correcting Ἴεται to Ἵεται.

he has given a law as a help.”20 And consider for me that most
holy man Paul, learned in the law, as he turns his attention to a
careful examination of these things, and deftly probes the te-
merity of the movements that are innate and in us, but shows
with it the law offering us sufficient assistance. For this is what
he says: “I know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold
under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do
what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do
not want, I agree that the law is good. So then it is no longer I
that do it, but sin which dwells within me.”21
What are you saying, blessed Paul? You, carnal and sold under
sin, do not understand your own actions? You do what you hate?
Does not each of us proceed to each thing to be done with the
free inclinations of the mind, and choose what is preferred with-
out hindrance, and has not each of us allotted to ourselves the
reins of our own will? Yes, he says, but I know that pleasure some-
times bewitches even the reputable mind, lowering it easily to
what is improper. I also know that it suffers injury involuntarily.
For it does not by any means do what it wants. It yields rather to
the attacks of the passions,22 and, overcome by their superiority,
gives way even when unwilling, and one who has suffered this
may well say, “So then it is no longer I that do it, but sin which
dwells within me.”23 You see that he blames the passions that are
innate and in us, admits defeat, indicts avarice, and fears the op-
position will be overwhelming? The divinely inspired Paul will
himself once again confirm that what I say is true, continuing on
and adding the following to what he has said: “For I know that
nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will
what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want,
but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not
want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close
at hand.”24
You see, then, how evil rises up to attack savagely each person’s
20. Is 8.20 (LXX). 21. Rom 7.14–17.

22. For a discussion of the influence of the ascetical movement on these let-
ters, see the introduction in FOTC 118, 12–16.
23. Rom 7.17. 24. Rom 7.18–21.
soul, lowers the mind that is in us, even against its will, to what
this evil wants, and turns its freedom to its own inclinations, as it
were. So that what is done appears no longer to be ours, but to
belong perhaps to that very evil alone. But the Creator has not ig-
nored us, nor indeed, by leaving human nature quite unassisted,
has he handed it over to be plundered freely by the pleasures
tending to evil. For the law punishes the propensities thereto,
and even if passion behaves excessively, it [the law] resists wisely
and frightens it [passion] into a better course, displaying the
beauty of continence and causing it to exult in the glories of vir-
tue. Having fixed our thoughts, therefore, beyond profane and
utterly loathsome pleasure, and made little account of food and
drink, “let us make holiness perfect in the fear of God,”25 as is
written; “let us put to death what is earthly in us: fornication, im-
purity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness.”26 For thus does
Paul write us in his supreme wisdom. For the nature of the body
has admittedly been afflicted with the proclivity to desire; yet we
do not see the Creator of all unconcerned about our situation,
but rather determined to accord it the most salubrious attention.
He in fact gave his only-begotten Son, in order that, having
become a human being like us and taken a body from holy Mary,
the Mother of God,27 he might put to death sin in the flesh. For
he at once freed the body, which had become the Word’s own,
from the passions that afflict us, removed the goad of the move-
ments toward wickedness, and transformed it, as it were, unto a
purity ineffable and befitting God, once sin was put to death in it
and pleasure shaken down to its very foundations, so to speak.
For just as it [Christ’s body] was superior to death, because it be-
came the flesh of that life which is such by nature, in the same
way, I think, it trod upon the power of sin. For it belonged to the
One who did not know sin. The divinely inspired Paul declared
that these words are true when he wrote to us, “For God has
done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending
his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he con-
demned sin in the flesh, in order that the just requirement of
25. 2 Cor 7.1. 26. Col 3.5.

27. Theotokos. See note 34 in Letter 17, p. 64.
the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the
flesh but according to the Spirit.”28
But one might, I think, ask: What is this “what the law could
not do”? What it means is that while the law calls one to conti-
nence, the nature of the flesh carries one off to the contrary, al-
ways urging one toward the most loathsome appetites. But the
God of all condemned sin in the flesh when he sent his own Son,
not unclad and bodiless, nor dazzling in the fearsome, unap-
proachable light of his own divine glory, but lowering himself
into our condition29 according to the economy, and tolerable [to
our eyes] because of his similar body. For he was killed, as I said,
so that we ourselves, as sanctified, might seem to have gotten out
of the flesh and to abound in the divine Spirit. Paul in his su-
preme wisdom writes again as follows: “But you are not in the
flesh, you are in the Spirit, if, that is, the Spirit of God dwells in
you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not be-
long to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead be-
cause of sin, the spirit is life because of justice.”30
3. But since it behooves those fond of the renown from on

high, and those who have chosen to live in a way pleasing God
above all, to be seen to act in accordance with piety, we will of
necessity add to the glory of continence the other modes of vir-
tuousness: mutual love, mutual affection, and the readiness to
act compassionately toward those in the grip of unbearable pov-
erty. For Christ said somewhere, “Be merciful, because your
heavenly Father is merciful.”31 And the law given through Moses
commands, “You will surely open your bowels to your brother
who is in need among you.”32 For love of the poor is something
special. But if one considers it of little account, if any, and says
that it is worthless, one will be wholly commending cruelty and
inhumanity, and claiming that there is no need for compassion
for those in extreme misery. Now is that not a bestial idea, hate-
ful to God, and repellent to that nature that loves mercy? No
one would doubt it. For it is written, “Those who close their ears
28. Rom 8.3–4. 29. Cf. Phil 2.7.

30. Rom 8.9–10. 31. Lk 6.36.
32. Dt 15.11.
so as not to listen to the infirm will themselves call out and find
no one to listen.”33 And one must in any event remember the life
that will be ours after this. Be ready; for the life of each person
will surely and inevitably reach its end. As sacred Scripture says
somewhere, however, “We have brought nothing into the world,
nor can we take anything out.”34 One will go one’s way carrying
no earthly goods, but deprived of them all, as it were, even the
body. But those who practice virtue have spiritual wealth, and
the light of the love of the poor as companion. For they will
boast before the divine tribunal, or rather Christ himself will
praise them, saying, “Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the
world. For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty,
and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you welcomed
me; naked, and you clothed me; sick, and you cared for me; in
prison, and you came to me. For amen I say to you,” he says, “in-
asmuch as you did it for one of these least ones, you did it for
me.”35 Do you see that the nature that is merciful and most gen-
tle says36 that the compassion shown to the poor has been of-
fered to it? But I have no doubt that people will find praisewor-
thy37 the notion that care should be shown to those in poverty
and difficulties, and assistance given to the needy as far as possi-
ble. But they will waver and go over to the opposite opinion,
heartless as it is, reflecting and speaking for instance as follows:
If I give what I have to others, I will do an injustice to my own
children. What are they to possess? I am not well off. But, dear
sir, I would reply, you are far from thinking as you should. You
really ought to have reflected wisely that, while you consider af-
fection shown to your children while you are alive to be of the
greatest worth, you do not remove yourself from what you own,
nor do you deprive yourself completely of what contributes to
relaxation and enjoyment. It would therefore be the business of
the mind that is truly of the best sort, to have a concern for the
future life, and to choose to act accordingly. It is not inoppor-
tune to imitate the forethought of sailors, who, when they cross
33. Cf. Jer 5.21. 34. 1 Tm 6.7.

35. Mt 25.34–36, 40. 36. Correcting φύσιν to φησίν.
37. Reading ἐπαινέσει instead of ἐπακούσῃ.
the sea, which is so wide, do not forget about food or other pro-
visions that pertain to the voyage; on the contrary, they stash
away in advance stores that are sometimes more than what is
necessary. Since, therefore, each of us is going to depart from
the things that are ours, we must plan for our spiritual provisions
in advance. You will do your own child no injustice by taking pity
on those in need. You will not grieve your heir by saving yourself
from punishment and fire. “For we all offend in many things;
but by alms and faithful dealings, sins are purged away,”38 as is
written.
4. Gladdening us with such teachings, the only-begotten Word

of God became a human being.39 For before the times of the visi-
tation, we went on in the world wrapped in spiritual mist, with
neither the knowledge of piety nor any other of the supernal
goods in our mind and heart. We did not see the way of justice,
nor even recognize the very one who is God by nature and in
truth, but in our error we even worshiped creatures,40 deprived as
we were of the intelligence befitting even human beings. But
when such was our state, the Creator took pity. He saw Satan
laughing heartily at everyone, easily seizing those on earth, with
no one to help them, subjecting them to his own yoke, and cast-
ing them down effortlessly into every sort of depravity. He then
established a law through Moses. It was not possible, however, to
escape from the snares of sin by the law; it was not possible to
wash away the defilement of the transgressions. For the law ex-
hibited the sin, and was established by God as a sort of proof of
the weakness afflicting us all; blessed Paul in his wisdom will
come forward as a witness for us when he says, “For we know that
whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so
that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be
held accountable to God. For no human being will be justified in
his sight by works of the law, since through the law comes knowl-
edge of sin.”41 And further, “Law came in to increase evil.”42
What are you saying, O blessed Paul? Tell me, are you bring-
38. Cf. Prv 15.27, Tb 12.9, and Jas 3.2.

39. Cf. Jn 1.14. 40. Cf. Rom 1.25.
41. Rom 3.19–20. 42. Cf. Rom 5.20.
ing a charge against the law given through Moses? Are you say-
ing that it was for this reason that it slipped in: that it might in-
crease evil? It would then be a teacher of wickedness, if evil
increased through it. But this is not what the Spirit-bearer says.
For he goes on, “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By
no means! Yet I would not have known sin if it had not been for
the law. I would not have known what it is to covet43 if the law
had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’”44 The law, therefore, is by no
means a teacher of sin. But it is, as I said, a proof of the weakness
of those under the law, and an indicator of that which is of a
harmful nature. For just as one would not blame the sunlight
when it shows one holes in the ground, or objects littering road-
junctions, and saves those hurrying along from a fall, so also no
one with good sense, I think, would accuse the divine law of pro-
ducing sin in us, but will rather admire it for declaring clearly
what it is that benefits us. But it was introduced, he says, “that ev-
ery mouth might be stopped, and the whole world be held ac-
countable to God.”45 For since no one fulfilled the law due to
overwhelming weakness and the enormous propensity to trans-
gression, the whole world was held accountable to God, who all
but drove those on earth to the point of needing finally to thirst
for the grace that comes through faith in Christ. For we are just
“not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue
of his great mercy,”46 as is written. And Paul in his supreme wis-
dom confirms this doctrine as well when he writes, “But now the
righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law,
although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righ-
teousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who be-
lieve. For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift,
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”47
In order, therefore, that he might render us free from punish-
ment and penalty, and from his denunciation, the One who is
above all creation became a human being truly as we are: the
Word from God the Father.48 He remained what he was: the Free
43. Correcting ἁμαρτίαν to ἐπιθυμίαν. 44. Rom 7.7.

45. Rom 3.19. 46. Ti 3.5.
47. Rom 3.21–24. 48. Cf. Jn 1.1.
One among slaves, the Legislator under the law, the Maker of
the ages with us in a birth both carnal and effected in time. For
he took of Abraham’s seed,49 and shared in blood and flesh, he
who in his own nature is incorporeal,50 so that, having been
called our brother, he might render us sharers in his own glory,51
and having sanctified us by his own Spirit,52 he might call us fi-
nally brothers and sisters who are free. For thus he says some-
where to the holy apostles: “You are my friends; I no longer call
you slaves.”53
The Jews, accordingly, forgetting all these things and denying
the Savior and Redeemer of all, handed him over to Pilate and
urged that he be crucified. But he, being God by nature and all-
powerful, willingly inserted his own body into death’s snares,
that he might draw us out when he had broken them. For he
came back to life on the third day, having made his proclama-
tion to the spirits in hell,54 and said “to those in bonds, ‘Come
forth!’ and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’”55 Then, hav-
ing shown himself clearly to the holy apostles, and having said
openly, “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded
you,”56 he ascended to the Father in heaven. He exults upon the
throne of his own divinity, and will come in due time in the Fa-
ther’s glory with the holy angels to judge the earth in justice.57
Since, then, we are to render our accounts, and to present
ourselves before his bench, let us purify our own lives through
complete virtuousness, let us keep our faith unwavering, pitying
the poor, assisting widows,58 showing mercy to those in prison,59
having compassion for those in labors and difficulties, practicing
mutual affection, love for God and our brothers and sisters, and
chastising our carnal passions. For thus it is, thus indeed, that we
will keep festival in purity, beginning holy Lent on the third of
Phamenoth, and the week of the salvific Paschal feast on the
49. Cf. Rom 9.7. 50. Correcting σώματος to ἀσώματος.
51. Cf. Rom 8.17. 52. Cf. 1 Pt 1.2.
53. Jn 15.15. 54. 1 Pt 3.19.
55. Is 49.9. 56. Mt 28.19–20.
57. Cf. Ps 96.13. 58. Cf. Jas 1.27.
59. Cf. Mt 25.43.
eighteenth of Pharmuthi. We break our fast on the twenty-third
of the month, the eve of Saturday, as usual, celebrating the feast
on the following day, the eve of Sunday, the twenty-fourth of
Pharmuthi,60 adding thereto the seven weeks of holy Eastertide.
For thus it is that, nourished on the words of truth, we will be
benefited by them in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom and
with whom be glory and power to the Father with the Holy Spirit
for all ages. Amen.
60. April 19, 431.

FESTAL LETTER TWENTY
A.D. 432
HE GOD OF ALL, in many and varied ways showing

forth the truth to us in advance through the shadow of
the law, and depicting beforehand through the ancient
commandment, as on a tablet skillfully made, the supremely
pure beauty of the gospel way of life, said to holy Moses, “Make
for yourself two trumpets of beaten work; you will make them
of silver, and they will be to you for calling the assembly, and for
removing the camps.”1 The trumpets, then, are of beaten work,
the fact signifying to us that the meaning of our Savior’s myster-
ies is not limited by and measured within the shadow and riddle
in the law; it rather advances little by little toward what is better
and truer. For what is beaten always moves forward in some way.
And they are silver, because the doctrine concerning him has
been resplendent, of the utmost purity, and indeed free of ev-
ery stain, and is presently such in the churches.
But sacred Scripture explains further who it is that used the
trumpets. It says, “And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall sound
the trumpets, and it shall be a perpetual ordinance for you
throughout your generations.”2 For it well befits the sacred and
chosen race, crowned with the honors of the divine ministry, to
speak of Christ’s mystery, and always to indicate to the peoples
subject to it the means by which they may become worthy of citi-
zenship in heaven: by taking leave of what is earthly, moving to a
way of life that is pious and distinguished, fighting courageously
against the enemies of truth, squaring off boldly against the en-
emies of Christ’s glory, and celebrating his feasts purely and
1. Nm 10.2.
2. Nm 10.8.
100
FESTAL LETTER TWENTY 101
faultlessly, “not with the old leaven,” as is written, “but with the
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”3 This is what the Mas-
ter of all announced to us himself when he said, “If you go forth
to war in your land against your enemies that are opposed to
you, you will sound the trumpets, and you will be remembered
before the Lord, and you will be saved from your enemies. And
in the days of your gladness, and on your feasts, and on your new
moons, you will sound the trumpets at your holocausts, and at
the sacrifices of your peace-offerings. And it will be a remem-
brance for you before your God. I am the Lord your God.”4
For the weapons of the saints are not carnal, but are empow-
ered by God, and the manner of their armament is not in visible
and perceptible things, but in the power of the Spirit, and of jus-
tice, and holiness, and in correctness and accuracy of doctrines.
For they had to have the breastplate of justice and the helmet of
salvation, and for that matter the weapon of good will, and the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.5 For this indeed
will frighten all enemies, and do so quite easily. This will display
those who lift their horn on high, and speak unjustly against
God, as miserable, abject, and senseless folk, or rather as people
with tongues crowded with every impiety, so that it may be said
of them, “The poison of asps is under their lips, those whose
mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”6 Let us therefore use
against them the trumpets, that is, the sacred and faultless proc-
lamations of the truth. But by all means, if we offer the spiritual
sacrifices to God, the Savior of all, let us sing the songs of victory
to him who became as we are for our sake, who descended even
unto the form of a slave. For the Word from God the Father, be-
ing God by nature, “became flesh,”7 not having cast away what
he was—far from it!—but rather having assumed what he was
not, that he might transform us too unto that life that is better
and more renowned. For “being rich, he became poor for our
sake, that we might become rich by his poverty.”8 Indeed, the
Savior of all, the only-begotten Word of God the Father, eminent
in his complete equality in every respect with him, of equal
3. 1 Cor 5.8. 4. Nm 10.9–10.
5. Cf. Eph 6.14–17. 6. Rom 3.13–14; cf. Ps 140.3.
7. Jn 1.14. 8. 2 Cor 8.9.
throne and majesty with him, did not refuse to go to the extreme
of emptying himself for us in the economy.
But the inventors of unholy doctrines, “the enemies of the
cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is the bel-
ly,”9 considering him of small account, and having a low opinion
of him, cast down the glory of the mystery, so as to make it seem
ill-fashioned, as far, at least, as they are able.10 The wretches all
but ridicule God’s wisdom, as though they were able to set about
thinking up something better, and acting like a mouth speaking
haughtily,11 like the son of iniquity, whose forerunners they are
confident they are. For they condemn the birth of the Only-
Begotten in the flesh; they say that it was not truly God that the
holy Virgin bore in the flesh, even though the holy evangelist
cries, “The Word became flesh.”12 They claim rather that the
Word of the Father dwells in a human being, so that the Savior
may be found to be a God-bearing human being ranked among
the prophets, or perhaps not even possessing anything more
than we do in his condition. For the God of all dwells in our own
selves as well, as the wise John testifies when he writes, “In this we
know that he is in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.”13
What is it then that Christ is regarded as having more abundant-
ly than do others, if he himself was a human being carrying the
God of all dwelling within, and not in very deed and truth the
Son of God the Father, and true God even with the flesh? For he
underwent the birth in the flesh, and remained God when he
became as we are. But the heterodox cannot bear to think so.
Spitting out the explanation of the mystery as though it were
something stale, and drawing upon their own heads a bitter and
inescapable punishment, they assign to Christ the name of son
as though by way of participation and grace, and ignorantly sep-
arate it off into a human being apart, dividing off the very Word
of God, and barely manage to assign to him a mere conjunc-
tion,14 as they please, as though it were in equality of dignity.
9. Phil 3.19.
10. The following Christological observations reflect the conflict with Nesto-
rius that erupted in 428. For a discussion of the Christology of these letters, see
the introduction in FOTC 118, 26–31, and Letter 17.
11. Cf. Rv 13.5. 12. Jn 1.14.
13. 1 Jn 4.13.
14. Greek: συνάφεια (as opposed to ἕνωσις, union).
But this is not the view that we have been taught to hold, nor
will we pay attention to their stupidities and ruin our own minds.
For there is, there truly is, as the blessed Paul says, “one God the
Father, from whom are all things, and we through him.”15 But
this knowledge is not in everyone. Let those therefore who have
a faulty belief in Christ, and lack an exact and true knowledge,
listen to the following words: “Walk in the light of your fire, and
in the flame which you have kindled.”16 For we ourselves will
walk the straight and unswerving way of faith, and we will travel
the royal road, turning off neither to the right nor to the left.
For we confess that the Word, being God, became flesh, a hu-
man being, that is, having taken a body lacking neither soul nor
mind, but one with both soul and mind,17 in order that, having
become like18 his brothers and sisters in everything, apart from
sin alone,19 he might offer himself for us to the Father as a spiri-
tual fragrance, and, having died as one man for all, might ac-
quire everyone for himself, and through himself for God the Fa-
ther. For as the divinely inspired Paul writes, “It was for this
purpose that Christ died and lived, that he might be lord of both
the dead and the living.”20 And if he is Lord of the earth under
heaven, having died to the flesh but given life as God to his own
temple, then it is understandable that he will not be regarded as
a bare human being honored by a conjunction with God, which
is only in the order of dignity, but as true God, even if he became
flesh, having all creation under his feet. For he is seated with
God the Father, even with the flesh. “Every knee bends to him,
and every tongue acknowledges that the Lord Jesus Christ is in
the glory of God the Father.”21 And the doctrine of the truth in
this matter, and the tradition of the correct and faultless faith,
take this path.
In giving heed to deceitful spirits, though, and to men with
seared minds,22 as Paul says in his supreme wisdom, some sense-
15. 1 Cor 8.6. 16. Is 50.11.

17. Cyril was always careful in his later Christological statements to insist
that Christ has a human mind, to avoid the possibility of charges that he was an
Apollinarian.
18. Reading ὁμοιωθείς instead of ἑνωθείς.
19. Heb 4.15. 20. Rom 14.9.
21. Phil 2.10. 22. Cf. 1 Tm 4.1–2.
less folk have made shipwreck of their faith,23 and have brought
up the weapons of impiety against those accustomed to think
rightly, hatching a variety of plots and bending the bow of malig-
nity. As the blessed Psalmist says, however, “The arrows of chil-
dren have become their wounds, and their tongues have been
weakened upon them.”24 For the holy multitude of the reverend
priests25 of God in every place did not remain silent, but, gath-
ered together all in one chorus, and taking up the shield of
faith, as is written, “having shod their feet with the equipment of
the gospel of peace,”26 of Christ that is, and stretching forth “the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,”27 plundered the
ranks of the unholy, crying out in the words of the Psalm, “The
Lord’s enemies have lied to him, and their time will be forev-
er!”28
2. Something like this, we say, happened in past times as well,

when Moses was still instructing the Israel of the flesh. They had
left Egypt, having thrown off the tyrants’ cruel yoke, but when
they were dwelling in the desert they did not escape the envy of
others, nor did they accomplish their journey to the land prom-
ised them without labor and fatigue. It is written that “Amalek
came and fought with Israel in Raphidim. And Moses said to
Joshua, ‘Choose for yourself mighty men, and go forth and set
them in array against Amalek tomorrow. And behold, I stand on
the top of the hill, with the rod of God in my hand.’ And Joshua
did as Moses had told him, and going forth he set his men in ar-
ray against Amalek.”29 And when Joshua had come to grips with
him and conquered him together with his chosen ones, the
Lord, it says, said to Moses, “‘Write this for a memorial in a book,
and speak it into the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the
memory of Amalek from under heaven.’”30
These things, however, are in shadows and figures, for the law
is a shadow. But in the circumstances in which we find ourselves,
one may be astonished to look upon the beauty of the truth un-
23. Cf. 1 Tm 1.19. 24. Ps 63.8–9 (LXX).

25. Reading ἱερέων instead of ὀρέων. 26. Eph 6.15.
27. Eph 6.17. 28. Ps 80.16.
29. Ex 17.8–10. 30. Ex 17.14.
clad and free from shadows. That accursed Amalek has armed
himself once again against the true Israel, the Amalek who fights
against the Savior’s renown, and tries to overthrow the power of
the mystery concerning him. But Our Lord Jesus Christ, having
gathered the chosen ones from all Israel, has met him in battle
and conquered. And he will utterly “blot out the memory of
Amalek from under heaven.”31 For he fights him with hand con-
cealed, and defends those who have believed in him, having es-
tablished the splendid, genuine knowledge of the mysteries of
his own self in the hearts of all.
3. Let us therefore celebrate, since the enemy has been dis-

abled, Satan removed, and the church purified, and no one any
longer says that Immanuel is not truly God; everyone acknowl-
edges rather his glory, and with untiring lips ascribes to him the
praises of glory. For it is written, “Let all the earth adore you and
sing to your name.”32 For he has rendered Satan powerless when
in his supreme arrogance he boasted, “I will take the whole earth
in my hand like a nest, and pick it up like abandoned eggs, and
there is no one who will escape me or gainsay me.”33 And he de-
stroyed the very power of death with him, sin being abolished.
For we have been justified not from works of the law through the
commandment of old, but through faith in him34 and through
that benevolence which is above law. “For the letter kills, but the
spirit gives life.”35 And Moses’ [law] has been called the ministry
of condemnation,36 and quite rightly so. For no one is justified
by God through the law. The grace that comes through Christ,
though, has been held to be the ministry of justice. For the only-
begotten Word of God lowered himself to his voluntary empty-
ing, and lived together with those on earth as a human being,
having undergone birth in the flesh through the holy Virgin, the
Mother of God,37 so that he might transform for the better those
who believed in him by means of the instructions that are above
the law, and, having shown them the path of the gospel way of
31. Ibid. 32. Ps 66.4.

33. Is 10.14. 34. Cf. Rom 3.28.
35. 2 Cor 3.6. 36. Cf. 2 Cor 3.9.
37. Theotokos. See note 34 in Letter 17, p. 64.
life, rendered them genuine worshipers. For “God,” he says, “is
spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and
truth.”38
Now I maintain that those who are true worshipers, and who
genuinely practice that adoration which is in spirit and truth,
must rid themselves of all defilement, of soul and of body, that
is, and must try to accomplish, with all zeal, that through which
they may be freed from all guilt. For it befits them to be holy
both in body and in spirit. Let us therefore mortify the plea-
sures, and let us not have a mind that yields to carnal passions,
but one that entertains what is of the spirit, knows how to pro-
nounce unsound every kind of impurity, is inclined toward every
good thing, and hastens to put as far as possible from itself the
sin that readily besets us. For the pleasures of the body enchant
the human mind, and brashly plunder the hearts of some, all
but attacking them fiercely like an enemy force.
But those whose armor is the fear of God all but laugh at the
attacks of such passions, saying, “The Lord is my help, and I will
not fear what flesh may do to me.”39 The all-wise Paul brings
them to this point of view, and indeed to the enjoyment of spiri-
tual strength, when he cries, “Put to death what is earthly in you:
fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire.”40 And this is achieved
through efforts that one might think must be admired, and
might well praise above all else. Thus the divinely inspired Paul
says again somewhere, “I pommel my body and subdue it, lest af-
ter preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”41 In our
joy, therefore, at cultivating every virtue, let us welcome the truly
all-pure, holy fast, the nourisher of all good order, the mother of
sanctification, and the provider of the benevolence from above.
When we afflict42 our body with abstinence, virtuousness must
follow. For thus will we be perfect and entire, lacking nothing.
For the honor that comes from good works seems always some-
how to follow the efforts at bodily training. This is what will
crown the champion in piety with God’s approval; this is what
will supply the prize of supernal renown to those who endure
38. Jn 4.24. 39. Heb 13.6.
40. Col 3.5. 41. 1 Cor 9.27.
42. Reading κατατήκοντες instead of κατήκοντες.
courageously. “While we have time, therefore, let us do good to
all.”43
4. It was to teach us this that the Only-Begotten appeared in a

form like ours. But Israel did not recognize the Savior and Re-
deemer of all, even though the law displayed in advance the mys-
tery regarding him in shadows and figures, and the holy proph-
ets too shouted it aloud in many different ways. Let, therefore,
those infected by ignorance of him hear the words: “Hear, O
heaven, and hearken, O earth, for the Lord has spoken: chil-
dren I have begotten and reared, but they have spurned me.
The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master’s crib. But Israel
does not know me, and the people has not recognized me.”44
For they persecuted him with their accusations, saying, “It is not
for a good work that we stone you, but for blasphemy; for you, a
human being, make yourself God.”45 But let it be said about
them, with perfect fairness, “Woe to the sinful nation, a people
full of sin, an evil seed, lawless children! You have forsaken the
Lord, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.”46 For even though
they should have acknowledged that he is God, and the Lord of
all, and indeed, recognizing from his wondrous deeds his un-
speakable, divine power, should have said, in the words of the
prophet, “Behold, we will be yours, for you are the Lord, our
God,”47 they did nothing of the sort, but waxed bitterly arrogant.
Sometimes they were ridiculous enough in their zeal to rail at
him, “Samaritan drunkard!”48 and went so far as to call him a
bastard; at other times they drove him with stones from the bor-
ders of Judaea, and finally they crucified him. They shook their
heads at him, and even said, “You who would destroy the temple
and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of
God, come down from the cross!”49 They did their best to kill the
Author of life. But it was not possible for him to be held by
death, as the divinely inspired Peter says. For, having descended
into the lowest recesses of hell and “preached to the spirits”50
43. Gal 6.10. 44. Is 1.2–4.

45. Jn 10.33. 46. Is 1.4.
47. Cf. Jer 3.22. 48. Mt 11.19.
49. Mt 27.40. 50. 1 Pt 3.19.
there, he “brought out the prisoners in might,” as blessed David
says.51 And he came back to life on the third day, having given
life as God to his own temple, and having become the “first-fruits
of those who have fallen asleep,”52 and the “firstborn from the
dead,”53 that he might render human nature superior to death
and decay,54 and might transform it unto life enduring. And hav-
ing shown himself to the holy apostles, he ascended to God the
Father in the heavens,55 and sat at the right hand of the throne
of majesty in the heights, thenceforth to wait in expectation “un-
til his enemies are placed beneath his feet.”56 He will come in
due time from heaven in the glory of his Father with the holy an-
gels to judge the living and the dead.57
Knowing this, therefore, let us “purify ourselves of every de-
filement of flesh and spirit.”58 Let us accomplish our sanctifica-
tion in the fear of God, cultivating every sort of piety, preserving
a faith in him that is correct and sincere, reviving widows, con-
soling orphans,59 caring for the poor with our resources as far as
we may, condoling with the suffering as those who are in bodies
ourselves, and remembering prisoners as their fellow prison-
ers.60 For thus it is, thus indeed, that we will fast in purity, begin-
ning holy Lent on the twenty-seventh of Mechir, and the week of
the salvific Paschal feast on the second of Pharmuthi. We break
the fast on the seventh of Pharmuthi, late in the evening accord-
ing to the apostolic traditions. We celebrate the feast on the fol-
lowing day, the eve of Sunday, the eighth of Pharmuthi,61 adding
thereafter the seven weeks of holy Eastertide. For thus it is, thus
indeed, that we will be esteemed, and we will commit our souls
to the God who is over all, in Christ Jesus our Lord, through
whom and with whom be the glory and power to the Father, with
the Holy Spirit, now and forever, and to endless ages. Amen.
51. Cf. Ps 67.7. 52. 1 Cor 15.20.

53. Col 1.18. 54. See Letter 17, note 73, pp. 71–72.
55. Cf. Acts 1.6–9. 56. Cf. Ps 110.1; 1 Cor 15.25.
57. Cf. 1 Pt 4.5. 58. 2 Cor 7.1.
59. Cf. Jas 1.27. 60. Cf. Mt 25.43.
61. April 3, 432.
FESTAL LETTER TWENTY-ONE
A.D. 433
T WOULD have been my great joy, brothers and sisters,

in announcing our holy festival once again, to offer you
the customary discourse, omitting nothing that would
make for your spiritual benefit and confirm your correct and un-
wavering faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ. For thus I would have
reaped the profit from my own zeal, and you would not have
been deprived of what can benefit you. But since not all human
plans run as smoothly as hoped, nor are their results always and
completely as expected, come, let us do our best to speak of what
is urgent, as far at least as the severity of the illness that even yet
weighs upon us allows.1 For its attacks upon us have brought us
so low that we cry out in the words that the holy disciples spoke
to the Savior when they were in danger, “Lord, save us! We are
perishing!”2
I know, then, that being of eminent intelligence, you have
made your own the wise and sensible doctrine of our holy fathers
and best of teachers, holding fast in your memories their exhor-
tations, so that there is nothing we need supply; as the blessed au-
thor of Proverbs says, “Everything is manifest to those that under-
stand,3 and right to those that find knowledge.”4 I speak with
confidence, therefore, as to those who are knowledgeable.
1. This is probably a reference to the illness Cyril experienced late in 432,

while in the middle of negotiations with the delegates of John of Antioch in the
aftermath of Ephesus. See McGuckin, St. Cyril of Alexandria: The Christological
Controversy, 112–13.
2. Mt 8.25.
3. Correcting ποιοῦσι to συνιοῦσι after Prv 8.9.
4. Prv 8.9.
109
2. Behold, therefore, the renowned and salvific season of the
holy feast is even now at hand, when, having cast off the intoler-
able burden of our own sins, we have willingly submitted to the
salvific yoke of God the Word who has come down from heaven;
no longer laboring and burdened, we are instructed by the gen-
tle discourse of Immanuel, with its ability to save. Rejoicing with
one another in the churches, therefore, let us lift up songs of
thanksgiving through our common, sacred, united assembly, in
Christ the Savior, who has redeemed us all from the stain rubbed
into us from of old through the transgression of him who was
first formed; let us cry aloud the words spoken wisely of old:
“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having be-
come a curse for us.”5 For through the devil’s greed we fell from
paradise and its delights, having drawn upon ourselves our Mak-
er’s just wrath and heard those frightful, unbearable words:
“Earth you are, and into earth shall you go”;6 and thus we ap-
peared as prey to the devil’s tyranny, not daring for an instant to
lift our eyes on high, wretches that we were.
What way to salvation was left, then, to those who longed for
it? What means of gaining forgiveness could be found for those
who had transgressed the Master’s commandment? Only God’s
kindness: the compassion and mercy of the power so unspeak-
able and indescribable. He sent us, therefore, his own Son as
Savior and Redeemer, the Son who alone is able to rescue hu-
man nature from the devil’s power. Such great goodness and
kindness did the only-begotten Word of God the Father show to-
ward us, that he who is equal in majesty and glory with the One
who begot him, and co-eternal with him, he who is the Creator
and Fashioner of heaven, earth, the angels, and human beings,
“did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emp-
tied himself,7 taking the form of a slave,”8 and took on our like-
ness, in order that, once he had saved everyone through himself,
he might present them to God the Father pure from stain and
defilement, having become like his brothers and sisters in every-
thing, except only for sin.9 He thus suffers hunger and fasts in
5. Gal 3.13. 6. Gn 3.19.

7. Reading αὑτὸν instead of αὑτὸς. 8. Phil 2.6–7.
9. Heb 4.15.
FESTAL LETTER TWENTY-ONE 111
due time, that he may appear as an example of the sinless life
and the source of salvation. Among us ourselves as well, there-
fore, let fasting precede the holy festival: “not with the old leav-
en, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread
of sincerity and truth.”10
For when we keep ourselves free of fault and stain, and with
perfect purity practice the way of life pleasing to God, we will fit-
tingly hear the words addressed to honest slaves: “Well done,
good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I
will set you over much; enter into the joy of your Lord.”11 For the
fruit of the fasting will not be without benefit to those who hope
in him, nor will they ever hear those words of cursing that suit
the Jews: “‘This is not the fast I have chosen,’ says the Lord.”12
For he accuses them, with complete justice, through the words
of Isaiah, and says, “You fast, and you strike the lowly man with
your fists. Why do you fast to me?”13 What is needed, accordingly,
is that life which is all-good, and in which fasting is accompanied
by luminous and unblemished beauty, the splendid provision of
incorruption, the lovable pledge of the kingdom of heaven, the
solid, invincible bulwark of eternal life. It behooves us, then, “to
cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, and
to make holiness perfect in the fear of God.”14 For thus we will
present ourselves confident and unshaken at Christ’s judgment-
seat, clad in white robes and crying out unhesitatingly, “Behold,
we will be yours, for you are the Lord, our God!”15
3. What the Jewish horde16 did not want to acknowledge, it

heard of old17 from God speaking through Isaiah: “Woe, sinful
nation, people full of sins, evil spawn, lawless children! You have
forsaken the Lord, and provoked the Holy One of Israel! Why
should you be smitten any more as you add to your iniquities?”18
10. 1 Cor 5.8. 11. Mt 25.23.

12. Is 58.5. 13. Is 58.4.
14. 2 Cor 7.1. 15. Reference uncertain.
16. For a discussion of Cyril’s attitude toward the Jews, see the introduction
in FOTC 118, 16–26.
17. Reading πάλαι instead of πάλιν.
18. Is 1.4–5.
For they were not astonished at the deeds accomplished by the
Savior himself, nor did they marvel at the divine signs that he
worked by his own power; quite the contrary, they insulted him
with the words, “It is in Beelzebul, prince of demons, that he ex-
pels demons.”19 O God-hating madness, and unspeakable impi-
ety! They have not known, they have not understood, they pass
through in darkness and wander, from the least to the greatest
of them.20 If you do not understand what is written about him,
nor think about the information given by the holy disciples, why
do you boast of being a guardian of the precepts of the law?
When did you see fulfilled what was spoken of in advance, of
old? “Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of
the deaf shall hear. Then shall the lame man leap as a deer, and
the tongue of the stammerers shall speak plainly.”21 Will you not
go on forever hoping for Immanuel to come, and expecting
what you have seen accomplished? Do none of the deeds per-
formed astonish you completely, so that you prefer to hide what
has been made known to everyone? Do you shut your eyes, and
keep your ears closed to Christ’s miracles? You have, then, a rec-
ompense worthy of your transgressions. For no longer are the
tokens of piety among you, neither city, nor festal sacrifice; but
you roam about, scattered around the earth everywhere. Listen
to one of those who have chosen to think rightly uttering the re-
proach made by Baruch: “Why is it, Israel, that you are in the
land of your enemies? You have grown old in a foreign land, you
are defiled with the dead, you have been reckoned with those in
hell. You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom.”22
You will have, then, no defense against the charges. All
straightforward speech deserts you as you contrive23 to deal clev-
erly with the truth itself. You will accordingly hear what is fitting
from the future judge of all: “Walk by the light of your fire, and
by the flame which you have kindled.”24 You have given over to
the cross the Lord of glory and Creator of all; you thought that
life could be overpowered by death; you did not know nor un-
19. Mt 12.24. 20. Cf. Is 44.18.

21. Is 35.5–6. 22. Bar 3.10–12.
23. Reading μηχανωμένῳ instead of μηχανώμενος.
24. Is 50.11.
FESTAL LETTER TWENTY-ONE 113
derstand that it was incorruption itself that was being worked
out for human nature. In fact, our Lord Jesus Christ himself,
having descended into hell,25 looted it, and with sovereign proc-
lamation ordered those in fetters, “‘Come out!’ and those in
darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’”26 He came back to life on the third
day, and, after ascending from the dead, rejoicing in his achieve-
ment, he said to his own disciples, “Go and make disciples of all
the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”27
4. Having gained such teachers, accordingly, let us decide to

obey and submit to them; having learned the truth from them,
and having the sacred Scriptures to perfect our teaching and in-
struction, let us cry out to our Savior and Redeemer in the words
of blessed Moses: “Who is like to you among the gods, O Lord?
Who is like to you who are glorified among the holy ones?”28
And further: “Which God is like you, removing iniquities and
passing over injustices?”29 Let no one who is in error30 persuade
you to depart from the right faith. Let us go by the royal road,
turning aside neither to the right nor to the left.31 Let us keep
the right faith simple and unadulterated, recognizing it not as
an occasion of sectarian disputation, but as the faith of true pi-
ety. Let us acknowledge as consubstantial the Trinity of Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. For this is what the divine Scriptures have
transmitted to us from above. Let us acknowledge the Lord who
became a human being and was born for us through the blessed
Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.32 Let us say to him, as is written,
“My Lord and my God.”33 When we adorn our life in this way,
and have rubbed off the stain of old sins by a way of life that is
right and religious, then when we are pure and spotless, and
completely faultless, let us show a fatherly tenderness to or-
phans, and a compassion befitting holy people to widows.34 Let
25. Cf. 1 Pt 3.19. 26. Is 49.9.

27. Mt 28.19. 28. Ex 15.11.
29. Mi 7.18.
30. Reading πλάνης instead of πλάνος.
31. Cf. Nm 20.17. 32. Theotokos. See Letter 17, note 34.
33. Jn 20.28. 34. Cf. Jas 1.27.
us, in short, love our neighbor, and, dismissing all wrongdoing
from our own soul, let us bring the homeless poor into our
home. This is so that, when we have treated what God has given
for our maintenance as belonging in common to the poor, and
we have clothed the naked,35 and, in a word, we have girt our-
selves with complete obsequiousness to God, we may gain the
enjoyment of the good things awaited.
We begin holy Lent on the twenty-seventh of Mechir, and the
week of the salvific Paschal feast on the twenty-fourth of Phame-
noth. We break the fast on the twenty-ninth of Phamenoth, late
in the evening according to the gospel precept, celebrating the
feast on the following day, the eve of Sunday, the thirtieth of the
month.36 We add thereto the seven weeks of holy Eastertide.
Thus will we inherit the kingdom of heaven in Christ Jesus our
Lord, through whom and with whom be glory and power to the
Father for endless ages. Amen.
35. Cf. Mt 25.36.

36. March 26, 433.
FESTAL LETTER TWENTY-TWO
A.D. 434
Prologue
HIS SHORT message or letter is not conceived as a dis-
play of ostentation in discourse; it is something to which
we have once again been called by a custom from of
old. It would indeed be fitting for the proclamation of our holy
feast to shine out in advance of its arrival as never before. Those
therefore who are truly eloquent and trained in the art of speech
may enjoy the applause of their listeners if they display this skill
with words. We meanwhile will babble some explanations of the
divinely inspired Scripture to you as well as we may.
1. Those who are distinguished by the honor of the divine

priesthood, and selected especially from the others, have re-
ceived an appointment from the law to govern peoples, and
have also been charged with the duty of proclaiming what is nec-
essary for their benefit. One of the holy prophets said accord-
ingly, “‘Listen, priests, and bear witness to the house of Jacob,’
says the Lord almighty.”1 Now the house of Jacob would by no
means at all be those of Abraham’s blood, but would be those
justified through faith in Christ,2 as the all-wise Paul writes, “Not
all of those from Israel are [of] Israel, nor are they all children
because they are Abraham’s seed, but it is the children of the
promise who are reckoned as seed.”3 What, then, do the divine
and sacred words signify? What do they persuade us to cry out,
now that the season once again shines forth upon us when the
holy and all-pure festival is celebrated, the one that is in honor
1. Hos 5.1. 2. Cf. Rom 5.1.
3. Rom 9.6.
115
of Christ, the Savior of us all? “Sanctify a fast, proclaim a ser-
vice.”4 To choose to exert oneself, then, and to engage vigorous-
ly in the brave deeds that make for piety, is, I would say, one of
the most profitable of things. For the thing has a glorious fruit,
and, as the prophet says, “A man who labors, labors for himself,
and drives his own ruin away.”5 What could be of equal value to
that, for those at least who are sensible? Nothing at all, obviously.
The Savior himself confirms this when he says, “What will it prof-
it one to gain the whole world, but to suffer the loss of one’s
soul? Or what will one give in return for one’s soul?”6
Now those who have decided to exert themselves, and who are
accustomed to value above all else the joy they find in the efforts
made to acquire virtue, need, I think, both a steady mind, and a
heart that is firm, one that distinguishes itself in patience and
that aims to hasten toward what is beneficial. One can see the
sort of thing applying to us that happens with those whose busi-
ness is breaking in horses. If they are to appear properly tamed, it
is not enough simply that they accept the bit; it is always quite
necessary as well, I think, that they learn to step gracefully and be
most skillful and swift of foot. It will be, then, a necessary and
beneficial thing for us too, if, in addition to the duty of deciding
to exert ourselves, it is noticed7 that what pertains to this is the
wisdom to know the way that leads to each of the things to be
done, or otherwise. For we have used the all-pure fast very like a
bit, checking the propensity of the mind toward what is worse,
and chastening the irrational movement of the flesh. For self-
indulgence in bodies is a sort of root and origin of pleasures
sharp and wild, and resists fiercely the desires for what is good,
moving as it does with licentious impulse toward what is shameful.
But the labors of abstinence rise up vigorously to oppose
the attacks of the passions innate within us, and turn the flesh
around quite firmly toward docility when it bucks away toward
the wrongdoing natural to it. Thus far does fasting assist those
devoted to it. Those, however, who are eager to act skillfully in
approaching the question of what is or is not to be done will
doubtless succeed in arriving at all that is good; for splendid and
4. Jl 1.14. 5. Prv 16.26 (LXX).
6. Mt 16.26.
7. Correcting ἐνορῶ τὸ ὑπάρχον to ἐνορῷτο ὑπάρχον.
FESTAL LETTER TWENTY-TWO 117
admirable are the achievements of a shrewd mind. The all-wise
Paul testifies to this when he writes to Timothy, “Train yourself
in piety; for while bodily training,” meaning that which is by way
of fasting and labors, “is of some value, piety is of value in every
way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life
to come.”8 Some of those of olden times fasted, but they would
practice a bare abstinence quite unconnected with the brave
deeds belonging to the rest of virtue.9 Then when their affairs
did not turn out as they had intended, and God did not grant
their requests but rendered fruitless their fast, they grumbled,
saying, “Why have we fasted, and you have not seen? We have af-
flicted our souls, and you have not known it.”10 What does God
reply? “In the days of your fasts you do as you please, and all
those that are under you you wound. You fast for quarrels and
strife, and strike the lowly with your fists. Why do you fast for
me?”11 Notice, then, that what does not at all suit those who fast
is holding to their own wills, those, I mean, which tend to vice;
what does suit them is in effect bidding them farewell, passing
over to what is better, and, as it were, tightly embracing the im-
pulses to virtue, singing as they do, “My heart is ready, God, my
heart is ready.”12
2. Since, therefore, it is the Paschal feast of the Lord, and the

season of the salvation and life of us all is dawning, let us glad-
den the only-begotten Word of God with spiritual adornment,
the Word who for us has become like us,13 a human being, that
is, according to the economy, that we might be above ourselves,
and beyond the limits of humanity,14 being called God’s chil-
dren,15 and having as our brother him who is above all creation.16
8. 1 Tm 4.7, 8.
9. For a discussion of the influence of ancient ascetical traditions on these
letters, see the introduction in FOTC 118, 12–16.
10. Is 58.3. 11. Is 58.3–4.
12. Ps 57.7. 13. Cf. Heb 4.15.
14. Cyril, like most of the Greek fathers, tended to understand salvation as a
transformation into a new form of human existence characterized by “incorrup-
tion,” rather than as a juridical settlement.
15. Cf. 1 Jn 3.1.
16. Cyril refers here to the Nicene doctrine of the full divinity of the Son
who has become flesh in the person of Christ.
Come, let us, that is, offer him spiritual sacrifices in thanksgiv-
ing. For the Israel of old worshiped by slaying sheep, and offered
sacrifices of blood. But it heard God saying clearly, “Who has re-
quired these things at your hands?”17 And the divinely inspired
David says as well, “Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood
of goats?”18 For the divine is all-sufficient, and gives life to every-
thing, and needs none of these things at all.
We do, however, say that he seeks the giving of gifts from us as
something owed, above all when the season calls us to the feast.
For he spoke thus through the all-wise Moses: “Command the
children of Israel, and you will say to them, ‘Observe the offer-
ing to me of my gifts, my presents, and my fruit-offerings in my
feasts.’”19 It is necessary, then, to look at what kind of thing the
oblation is, and how it is to be performed by us. For he rejects as
ineffective and profitless the quality of the worship that is in
shadows. Listen to him speaking to those from Israel: “I did not
speak to your fathers about holocausts and sacrifices on the day
when I brought them out of Egypt.”20 And Paul writes, “A former
commandment is set aside because of its weakness and useless-
ness, for the law made nothing perfect.”21 And God had cried
out before then through one of the holy prophets,
Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will establish a new
covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not like
the covenant that I made with their fathers when I took them by the
hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not remain
in my covenant, and I paid no heed to them, says the Lord. This is the
covenant that I will make with them: in those days, says the Lord, I will
put my laws into their minds, and I will write them upon their hearts;
and they shall not teach every one his neighbor and his brother, saying,
“Know the Lord,” for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest
of them, for I will be merciful toward their sins, and their wrongdoing
I will remember no more. And I will be their God, and they will be my
people.22
The first [covenant] is, then, obsolete, for it brought nothing

to perfection;23 henceforth the new [covenant] of the Gospel
17. Is 1.12. 18. Ps 50.13.

19. Nm 28.1–2. 20. Jer 7.22.
21. Heb 7.18. 22. Jer 31.31–34.
23. Cf. Heb 8.13.
has been introduced. Christ, however, said, “Do not think that I
have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to
abolish but to fulfill them. For I tell you that not an iota, not a
dot, will pass from the law until everything takes place. Heaven
and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”24
Since, therefore, as we have already said, the shadow of the wor-
ship according to the law is unacceptable to God, and the doc-
trines that come through Christ have been introduced, along
with the new covenant promised of old in advance, and since
Christ himself, furthermore, affirms that he has come to fulfill
prophets and law, I consider it necessary and wise to inquire
about the fulfillment of the law of old in the new covenant.
Those of Israel’s stock, then, used to offer to the all-pure God
the sacrifices according to the law, a calf perhaps, or a sheep. But
it was unwanted and unpleasing, as I said. For he had no need of
meat or blood, and he never delights in savory smoke. In what
way, then, will we bring to completion the sacrifices in the law? It
will be, I think, by adopting the right attitude: that what was giv-
en through Moses was figures, and images of spiritual sacrific-
es,25 giving shape in various ways to what is spiritual. It was a calf
that was the sacrificial victim for those of old. But see in it with
me some one, any one, of the faithful who consecrates himself to
God in an odor of sweetness. For it is written, “Present your bod-
ies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your
spiritual worship.”26 See how he calls the consecration of man
spiritual worship, contrasting it with the sacrifices in the law. For
what was performed was no spiritual worship; it was the sacrifices
of cattle, sacrifices containing the beauty of truth in shadow and
figures. We may, then, observe what manner of intelligible con-
secration it is that is performed by us in the Spirit, and observe it
quite easily, by scrutinizing the depths of the sacred Scriptures,
and by stirring up the outward aspect of the figures, as it were,
and thus27 by seeing, in a manner of speaking, the bare, un-
clothed truth that is dearest to God.
24. Mt 5.17, 18.

25. Reading θυμάτων instead of θαυμάτων.
26. Rom 12.1.
27. Reading οὕτω τε instead of οὔτε.
3. It is, then, written at the beginning of Leviticus:
If one of you offers gifts to the Lord, you will offer your gifts from the
herd and the cattle, and from the sheep. If his gift is a holocaust, an
unblemished male from the cattle, you will bring it to the door of the
tent of witness, you will offer it as acceptable before the Lord, and you
will place your hand upon the head of the victim, to make atonement
for it as itself acceptable. And they will slay the calf before the Lord,
and the sons of Aaron, the priests, will bring the blood, and they will
pour the blood round about on the altar, which is at the doors of the
tent of witness, and having flayed the holocaust, they will dismember it.
And the sons of Aaron, the priests, will place it on the altar, and they
will pile wood upon the fire, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, will
pile the dismembered parts, and the head, and the fat, upon the wood
on the fire that is upon the altar. But the entrails and the feet they will
wash in water, and the victim is a sacrifice, an odor of sweetness to the
Lord.28
The sacrificial victim is, then, as I said, a calf. But what it is

that the figure expresses we will explain as best we can. It is that
we approach God in strength of mind, vanquishing all worldly
pleasure. Now the calf is a powerful animal. And they say that it
is to be male. For what is feminine and easily crushed does not
befit the character and manners of the saints; the mind of those
who love virtue is always superior to weakness and to being
swayed to what is shameful. It is to them that sacred Scripture
speaks, and with full justice, when it exhorts them to spiritual
fortitude: “Have courage, and let your heart be strengthened, all
you who hope in the Lord.”29
Now the victim, having been brought to the very doors of the
holy tent, was slain before the Lord, as is written. For when we
too come to the holy tent, to the Church, that is, then it is, then
indeed, that we are granted watchful care from on high; and
that the gift is worthy of acceptance is what blessed David con-
firms when he says, “Look at me and have mercy on me.”30 For
he crowns with the highest honors whoever it is at whom he
chooses to look. For to those of Israel’s stock who definitely shun
any concern about anything that is good, who are anxious to
show that they have no worry that they offend him, and who in
28. Lv 1.2–9. 29. Ps 31.24.

30. Ps 86.16.
their wickedness give no heed to reverence for the law, the fol-
lowing words come: “When you stretch out your hands to me,”
he says, “I will turn my eyes from you.”31
But he delights in those who love him, and attends to those
who approach him through faith in Christ. For it is written, “The
eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his ears are open to their
prayer.”32 The calf therefore was slain, and the blood poured
upon the altar. But this very thing is done, I think, with respect
to ourselves as well, in an intelligible and spiritual way, I mean.
For by ceasing from our depraved endeavors, and putting “to
death what is earthly in us: fornication, impurity, passion, and
evil desire,”33 we die to the world, and pass over to a holy and
faultless life; and this is something worthy of all praise in the
view of the God who loves virtue. The prophet David sings ac-
cordingly, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his
holy ones.”34 The all-wise Paul, having undergone this glorious
and admirable kind of dying, writes as follows: “Through the law
I died to the law, that I might live for God. I have been crucified
with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but the Christ in me who
lives.”35 He wrote to others too, or rather to our own selves, as
follows: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized
into Christ were baptized into his death? We were buried there-
fore with him through baptism into his death, so that as Christ
was raised from the dead through the Father’s glory, we too
might walk in newness of life.”36
The calf’s death, therefore, indicates the situation of having
died to the world, while the pouring of the blood on the altar
signifies the consecration of a holy soul, and suggests the sweet
odor of a holy life, pleasing to God; for in the divinely inspired
Scripture, blood is a figure of the soul or of life. It says, for in-
stance, in Deuteronomy, “Take great care not to eat blood, for its
blood is soul. The soul will not be eaten with the meat. Do not
eat it; pour it out like water upon the ground.”37 It says, however,
that “having flayed the holocaust, they will dismember it.” Paul,
31. Is 1.15. 32. Ps 34.15.

33. Col 3.5. 34. Ps 116.15.
35. Gal 2.19. 36. Rom 6.3, 4.
37. Dt 12.23–24.
learned as he was in the law, understood this quite well when he
wrote, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than
any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and body,
and of the thoughts of the heart, and before him no creature is
hidden. But all are open and laid bare to his eyes.”38 For the re-
moval of the hide suggests nudity. For nothing that is in us is hid-
den at all, nor can anything escape the notice of the divine mind
in its purity; it reaches even unto “joints and marrow,”39 which is,
I think, the cutting up of the animal from limb to limb. For I
hear it clearly spoken: “Who is it that hides counsel from me,
and holds back words in his heart, but thinks to hide them from
me?”40 And elsewhere: “I am a God who is near, and not a God
afar off; will anything be hidden from me?”41 For he fills every-
thing, and is not absent from anything.
He ordered in addition that the calf’s innards and feet must
be washed. And the Savior himself clarifies this when he says,
“Blessed are the pure of heart, for they are the ones who will see
God.”42 But the feet are figures of the journey in works, as it
were, and of the path directed toward virtue, so to speak. For it is
written, “Make paths direct for your feet, and straighten your
ways.”43 For such feet are quite clean, and lead as well to the duty
of executing with the greatest zeal the commandments of the
Lord.
He then, in order to set those on earth upon paths so sacred,
emptied himself,44 and this even though he is God by nature, be-
gotten ineffably from God the Father; this he did that he might
fill human nature with supernal goods; he humbled himself,
that he might grant us to be lifted on high; he was born of a
woman in the flesh,45 that we might be enriched in the rebirth
through the Spirit unto newness of life through him. He receives
from us a mother on earth, and has given us the Father in heav-
en. In short, what is ours has become his in the economic appro-
priation, in order that we too, in what is peculiarly his, might as-
cend with him and through him, gaining that thing by the
kindness that is from him. He said, accordingly, “I am going to
38. Heb 4.12. 39. Ibid.
40. Jb 42.3. 41. Jer 23.23–24.
42. Mt 5.8. 43. Cf. Prv 4.12.
44. Cf. Phil 2.7. 45. Cf. Gal 4.4.
my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.” For we 46
have been named sons of God, having the Only-Begotten as first-

born and brother in the flesh. “The Lord is God, and has ap-
peared to us,” therefore, that he might “justify the circumcised
on the ground of their faith, and the uncircumcised through
their faith.”47
4. For the law given through Moses was imposed,48 not on ev-
eryone on earth, but only on those from Israel, and the family
from Abraham was called God’s chosen portion. For it is written:
“When the Most High divided the nations, when he separated
the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of the nations accord-
ing to the number of God’s angels, and the Lord’s people be-
came his portion, Israel the allotment of his inheritance.”49 As
the divinely inspired evangelist John says about the Son, howev-
er, “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him,”50 and
this even though the Scriptures given through Moses announced
in advance the mystery concerning him with the greatest insis-
tence, as did the holy prophets as well. But since they saw the
only-begotten Son of God when he became an incarnate human
being, they have been proven by the facts themselves to be ill-
disposed, contemptuous, and completely senseless. For they
sprang at him almost like dogs, barking at him, “Why is it that
you, a human being, make yourself God?”51
Now then, you who are so ready to rush off toward every ab-
surdity: search the divinely inspired Scripture, busy yourself with
the words of the holy prophets, weigh what Moses wrote, the way
in which, according to what he proclaimed, the only-begotten
Word of God would shine forth upon the earth. For if it were as
one incorporeal and intangible, and, as God, beyond what we
could see, you might perhaps have made your disbelief specious
when you approached with the words, “Why is it that you, a hu-
man being, make yourself God?”52 But since through the voice
of the holy prophets he announces in advance the mystery of the
Incarnation as venerable and profound, why do you not rather
46. Jn 20.17. 47. Ps 117.27 (LXX); Rom 3.29.
48. Reading Ἐπετέθειτο instead of Ἐπέθειτο.
49. Dt 32.8. 50. Jn 1.11.
51. Jn 10.33. 52. Ibid.
hasten straight in the direction that suits, and, steered toward
the recognition of truth by the proper trains of thought, see
from the very deeds performed,53 or from the wonders accom-
plished, that he is God by nature, who has appeared from God
the Father, even if he became flesh for us in the economy? See
him, that is, vanquishing the very fetters of death, and injecting
life into those already dead and decayed. See Satan, once terri-
ble and invincible, fallen prone, for he lies beneath the feet of
the saints. You will see him superior to every disease and infirmi-
ty, giving orders to the elements of the world in a Godlike man-
ner, stifling the force of the wild winds, stilling the sea, rebuking
the waves,54 and effortlessly performing wonders of every sort.
Be amazed at the multitude of believers beyond count, and be-
hold thus accomplished what was sung by David: “All the nations
that you have made will come and worship before you, Lord.”55
Now it would be declared to those of the stock of Israel them-
selves that, once Christ shone forth, the worship that is accord-
ing to the law, that which is, as it were, in shadows and figures,
would lose its meaning, as God confirms by the voice of the
saints when he once says, “For the children of Israel will abide
many days without a king, without a ruler, without sacrifice, with-
out an altar, without a priesthood, and without revelations.”56
And again, conversing with the multitude of believers, he says,
“And it will come to pass when you multiply upon the land, says
the Lord, in those days they will no longer say: ‘the Ark of the
Covenant of the Holy One of Israel.’ It will not come to mind,
nor will it be visited, nor will it be named, nor will it be done any
more.”57
Now it would have been completely reasonable for Israel,
when it understood this, to honor Immanuel with its faith. But
their behavior was completely opposite. Their opposition knew
no bounds as they were marched off by their unholy temper to-
ward every absurdity, and, their hearts scorched by the flames of
envy, dared to slander Jesus when he worked miracles, shooting
him down with the arrows58 of jealousy. The enormity of their
53. Correcting δεομένων to δρωμένων.
54. Cf. Mt 8.18, 23–27; Mk 4.35–41; Lk 8.22–25.
55. Ps 86.9. 56. Hos 3.4.
57. Jer 3.16. 58. Correcting μέλεσι to βέλεσι.
madness reached the point where they even sought to kill the
Author of life. And kill him they did, but he came back to life,
and became “the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep,”59
and “the firstborn of the dead,”60 that we too, having shaken off
corruption and escaped the power of death, might say in the
words of the prophet, “Death, where is your penalty? Hell, where
is your sting?”61 Having rendered death powerless, therefore, he
ascended to God the Father in heaven; and he will come thus in
due time in the glory befitting God, and will sit as judge. For he
will render to each according to his work.62 As those, therefore,
who are to render an account of our own lives, let us hasten to
lay claim to the glories of virtuousness, and let each of us adorn
his own life with every virtue. Let us observe bodily chastity;63 let
us cease from every wicked, loathsome pleasure; let us be seen to
be above dissension between brothers; let us restrain the impuls-
es to anger; and may it be far from us to swear by God, and, as
the all-wise Paul says, “Let your speech always be gracious, sea-
soned with salt, that it may please your listeners.”64 Let us show
ourselves kind and compassionate toward the needy. Let us do
good to orphans, let us support widows,65 let us visit prisoners.66
Let us remember the infirm, since we ourselves are in bodies.
Let our loyalty to Christ, the Savior of all, be firm and unshaken.
For thus it is, thus indeed, that we will celebrate the holy, all-
pure feast. We begin holy Lent on the ninth of Phamenoth, and
the week of the salvific Paschal feast on the fourteenth of Phar-
muthi. We break the fast on the nineteenth of Pharmuthi, late in
the evening, according to the gospel tradition. We celebrate the
feast on the next day, the eve of Sunday, the twentieth of Phar-
muthi,67 adding thereto the seven weeks of holy Eastertide. For
thus it is, thus indeed, that we will have words in which to luxuri-
ate in Christ Jesus Our Lord, through whom and with whom be
glory, honor, and power to the Father with the Holy Spirit, now
and always, and for all ages. Amen.
59. 1 Cor 15.20. 60. Col 1.18.

61. Hos 13.14; 1 Cor 15.55. 62. Cf. 2 Cor 5.10.
63. Reading ἁγνείαν instead of εὐγένειαν.
64. Col 4.6. 65. Cf. Jas 1.27.
66. Cf. Mt 25.43. 67. April 15, 434.
FESTAL LETTER TWENTY-THREE
A.D. 435
Preface
HIS SHORT discourse, prepared by us once again, does
not have any claim to distinction in language, that not
being our purpose; it does, however, have the power to
confer a necessary benefit on its audience, and guide it to the
paths of well-being. It has been composed for no other reason
than that. Let not the niceness of its diction or composition be
put to any scrutiny, therefore, but let the writer’s purpose be
commended.
1. The blessed prophet David, striking the harmonious and

melodious lyre of the Spirit, announced in advance the good
news of the holy and all-pure feast of our Savior in the words,
“Come, let us exult in the Lord.”1 And it seems to be that he
used the word “come” wisely and skillfully. For he, as it were,
calls those who are distant to come near, those who are depart-
ing from God, so to speak, in those aspects of their disposition,
at least, in which it may happen that some people distance them-
selves from familiarity with God. What those aspects are we must
investigate. One of them, and the first, is choosing to worship
the creature instead of the Creator,2 and to venerate the ele-
ments of the world. One may add unbelief to that, and for that
matter wrong belief. One of these may be ascribed to those of
the stock of Israel, and the other to the vain verbosity of the her-
esies. And we will add to these the common illness of everyone
on earth, which is sin.
1. Ps 95.1.
2. Rom 1.25.
126
FESTAL LETTER TWENTY-THREE 127
With a sacred, clarion proclamation, then, he bids those
named to cease from what is shameful and choose to pass over
to what is better: the pagans, fleeing with all speed from the
darkness of the diabolical perversity inhabiting their minds, to
hasten to the pure light of truth and acknowledge as God him
who is truly and naturally the Creator and Lord of all; the Jews,
by however tardy and grudging a recognition of the one an-
nounced in so many different ways through the law and proph-
ets, to declare with the holy apostles, “You are the Christ, the
Son of the living God”;3 those caught in the snares of the unholy
heresies to abandon the tortuous arguments, so cunningly pro-
posed by those who delight in malice, and, racing straight to the
truth, to embrace the true doctrine that is free from error and
elaboration; those sunk in the pits of sin to extricate themselves
from the deadly trap and scrub away the Jewish defilement4 in-
fecting their minds, since God justifies the impious by mercy
and kindness, through faith in Christ, that is. This is what the all-
wise Paul taught to those who believed in him when he wrote, “Is
God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of gentiles also?
Yes, of gentiles also, since God is one; and he will justify the cir-
cumcised on the ground of their faith and the uncircumcised
through their faith.”5
Since, therefore, “praise befits the upright,”6 as is written, let
us free our souls from every stain and “come, let us exult in the
Lord.”7 Now those who want to do this faultlessly must consider
how and in what way one may exult in the Lord without failing
of one’s purpose. For one who yields to carnal pleasures, and re-
fuses no form of depravity, but is determined to prefer above all
else that behavior which is most detestable and irreligious, de-
lighting as well in the distractions of the present life and the en-
joyment of wealth, having never related exultation and joy to the
Lord instead of to temporary pleasures, will not be a religious
disciple, nor included in the choir of the saints. For it is written,
3. Mt 16.16.
4. For a discussion of Cyril’s anti-Jewish rhetoric, see the introduction in
FOTC 118, 16–26.
5. Rom 3.29–30. 6. Ps 33.1.
7. Ps 95.1.
“Praise is not seemly in the mouth of the sinner.”8 But one who is
eager to glory in the courage displayed in continence, and to
rise above all passion, as far as possible for human nature at
least, may fairly claim as most fitting to him the office of offering
praise [to God]. The all-wise Paul assists us too in this when he
writes,
Now this I say and affirm in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as
the gentiles do, in the futility of their minds, their understanding dark-
ened, alienated from the life of Christ through the ignorance that is in
them, through the blindness of their hearts. They have become callous
and have given themselves up to licentiousness, greedy to practice ev-
ery kind of impurity. That is not the way you learned Christ, if, that is,
you heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus:
that you must put off the old self, which belongs to your former man-
ner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, be renewed in the
spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created according to God
in true justice and holiness.9
Who, then, is the old self? The one that “is corrupt through
deceitful lusts.” And the new one is the one who is transformed
unto the newness of the life in Christ, the mind in that one now
renewed and reveling in the bright beams of the true vision of
God, and enjoying finally such health that it runs so quickly that
it no longer falls prey to depraved propensities, but thirsts for,
and chooses to be filled with, that alone by which it can find it-
self within all that is marvelous.
2. For the law was given through Moses to those of Israel’s

stock. But it was in shadows and figures,10 those of that time11 not
being able yet to approach the perfect good, or the knowledge
of the good that is perfect. They had need rather of elementary
instruction, so that, by meditating on the truth that was still in
figures, as it were, they might know rightly the end of the law,
which is Christ. “For the end of the law and the prophets is
Christ,”12 as is written. How, or in what way? In that the law given
8. Sir 15.9. 9. Eph 4.17–24.

10. Cyril frequently referred to the Old Testament as a shadow and figure of
the New. See the introduction in FOTC 118, 9–12.
11. Correcting τὸ τηνικάδε to τοῦ τηνικάδε.
12. Rom 10.4.
through Moses supports the gospel teachings, if it is understood
by us spiritually. For it leads one to Christ’s mystery. He himself is
witness to this when he says, “If you believed Moses, you would
believe me. For he wrote about me.”13 What, then, did Moses
write? That Christ would come to assist not only those of the
stock of Israel, but also those everywhere on earth under heav-
en, and every nation. For everyone belongs to God, inasmuch as
he is Creator and Lord of all. He therefore ordered the lamb to
be slain as a figure of him, but by the side of the altar facing
north.14 But for what reason? someone might fairly ask. What is
the deep riddle of the sacrifice that is wrapped in such dark
shadows of obscurity? This is how we will answer that person.
The land of the Jews, dear sir, is southernmost. Further north,
above the sea, is that of the nations, they say. The lamb, there-
fore, was sacrificed by the former; but he does not consider the
land of the nations [to be] contemptible. For he has turned to it,
according to what is sung in the Psalms: “His eyes look upon the
nations; let not them who provoke [him] be exalted in them-
selves. Bless our God, you nations.”15 For Israel offended and
provoked [him] not a little; but that the nations were to be re-
ceived into friendship with God through faith, when [Israel]
had been rejected, may be seen without difficulty, if one chooses
to scrutinize the words of the holy prophets. For it is written:
“Rejoice and be glad, daughter Zion, for behold, I come, and I
will dwell in your midst, says the Lord, and many nations will flee
for refuge to the Lord on that day, and they will be a people for
him, and I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the
Lord almighty has sent me to you.”16 And who is it that is sent, if
not certainly Christ, who recreates the two peoples as one new
human being, “breaking down the dividing wall of separation,
abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, and
preaching peace to those far off and those near,”17 to gentiles
and Jews, that is? He said accordingly, “I have other sheep as
well, which are not from this fold; and I must lead them, and
there will be one flock, one shepherd.”18
13. Jn 5.46. 14. Cf. Lv 1.10–11.

15. Ps 65.7–8. 16. Zec 2.10–11.
17. Eph 2.14–17. 18. Jn 10.16.
But I will try to prove from the divinely inspired Scriptures,
as far as I can, and by means of what one might call one simple
image of the fact, that those from Israel who were more learned
in the law and intelligent recognized and honored the only-
begotten Word of God when he became a human being and in-
carnate, while the others, swept away by their vain audacity, paid
the penalty suiting them when they grieved the Savior and Re-
deemer of all by their disbelief; while the gentiles who were ac-
cepted were themselves to be called by faith. Let me note first
that Scripture often calls Our Lord Jesus Christ “David,” be-
cause he was born from his seed according to the flesh.
3. It is written, therefore, in the second Book of Kings,

And all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron, and said to him,
“Behold, we are your bones and your flesh. Yesterday and the day be-
fore, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led Israel in and out.
And the Lord said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel. You will
be leader over Israel.’” And all the elders of Israel came to the king in
Hebron. And the king made a covenant with them in Hebron before
the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.19
You see how they acknowledge openly that they are his bones
and flesh. For those who have come to faith in Christ are not ig-
norant of the manner of the economy with the flesh. No, they
acknowledge that, being God by nature, he became a human be-
ing. For thus it was that they were his bones and flesh: because of
their kinship in humanity. And they add that, even when Saul
was king, he was the one leading and carrying Israel. For even
before becoming a human being he was vested with power over
all things in virtue of his essence, as God, weighing human af-
fairs and preserving in being by his ineffable commands those
firmly yoked to his decrees. And they firmly believe that it was by
God the Father’s good pleasure and will that he ruled over Isra-
el, as they say, “You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will
be their leader.”20 Thus says the divinely inspired Peter, “You are
the Christ, the Son of the living God.”21 Nathanael likewise, to
whom Christ himself offered that sincere, genuine testimony,
19. 2 Sm 5.1–3. 20. 2 Sm 5.2.

21. Mt 16.16.
says, “You are the Son of God, you are the king of Israel.” He 22
himself says somewhere through the Psalmist’s lyre, “I have been

made king by him (by God the Father, obviously) on Zion, his
holy mountain, declaring the ordinance of the Lord.”23
Governance, however, was not something new to him; for
since he is God by nature, enthroned with the One who begot
him, he has all creation under his feet. But he is said to have
been appointed king because he consented to set the yoke of his
own rule from then on upon those then situated outside and un-
der another. For Satan in his greed had seized those upon earth.
But having professed the faith, they receive a covenant from him
in Hebron. But what is “in Hebron”? The word means “union.”24
In Christ everything has become one, and what is above has
been joined to what is below, and what is below to what is above.
Those of Israel’s stock, and those who formerly worshiped idols,
have met together in unity and concord through faith.
We will learn as well, however, from the very passage that fol-
lows, that some of those from Israel who were haughtily stub-
born perished evilly in their malice, as we read,
And David and his men went off to Jerusalem against the Jebusite that
inhabited the land. And David was told, “You shall not enter here,
for the lame and the blind have arisen, saying, ‘David shall not enter
here.’” And David took the stronghold of Zion, which is the city of Da-
vid. And David said that day, “Let everyone who strikes a Jebusite use a
dagger against the lame, the blind, and those who hate David’s soul.”
That is why they will say, “The blind and the lame shall not enter the
house of the Lord.”25
Observe, then, observe the multitude of those who rise up

against him. Now we remember Christ saying about the scribes
and Pharisees, “Let them be; they are blind guides of the blind.”26
[He speaks] of them as well through David, “Sons not my own
22. Jn 1.49. 23. Cf. Ps 2.6.

24. Cyril did not know Hebrew, but in this case he is offering a plausible
etymological reading of the root Hebrew verb habar, which can mean “unite”
or “join.” Cyril probably got this from Origen’s Homilies on Joshua 18.3: “He-
bron means ‘union’ or ‘marriage’”; Origen: Homilies on Joshua, trans. Barbara J.
Bruce, ed. Cynthia White, FOTC 105 (Washington, DC: The Catholic University
of America Press, 2002), 166.
25. 2 Sm 5.6–8. 26. Mt 15.14.
have lied to me, sons not my own have grown old and hobbled
away from the paths.”27 For those who did not know how to walk
straight, nor even brought the intelligible and divine light into
their minds and hearts, did not make Christ welcome, but fell by
the dagger, that is, by the sword. For they have been consumed by
war, their land going up in flames together with their temple of
renown. But that the multitude of the gentiles came rushing in28
and was accepted when those from Israel offended him, and that
it claimed Christ as Lord and King, is shown once again by what is
written. For it says, “Hiram, the king of Tyre, sent messengers to
David, and cedar wood, and carpenters, and stone-masons, and
they built a house for David.”29 For Hiram was a foreigner, and
not from the multitude of the Jews. He was, rather, an idolater,
from the herd of those in error. And yet he built a house for Da-
vid. For the church of Christ has risen not in one place or region,
but over all the earth, those, as it were, building it being those
who once worshiped30 the creature, and were wrapped in the dev-
il’s darkness, but who later believed and have been enlightened,
and have held Christ, of David’s seed according to the flesh, in
boundless admiration.
Not only that, but consider the following. The house of David
was built by Hiram, the foreigner. But it was the divinely inspired
David who brought the ark up into it when it was with others,
staying outside. “And he went,” it says, “and brought up the ark
of God from the house of Obededom into the city of David with
gladness.”31 Now the ark containing the law given through Mo-
ses may be said to signify those under law and shadow. Once they
were blind and lame, but when, after welcoming the faith, they
worship him, then they too with us will be brought into David’s
house, Christ’s that is. They will take the straight road to every
virtue, and with sure and firm stride, as it were, they will charge
down the path of the piety leading to him, the divinely inspired
Paul calling out to them, “Lift your drooping hands, therefore,
27. Ps 17.45–46 (LXX).

28. Reading εἰσπέπαικε instead of εἰ παίπεκε.
29. 2 Sm 5.11.
30. Reading λελατρευκότων instead of λατρευόντων.
31. 2 Sm 6.12.
and straighten your weak knees, and make straight paths for
your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but
rather be healed.”32
For all of these reasons, then, as I said at the outset, “Come,
let us exult in the Lord,”33 celebrating the festival in his honor,
that is. But tell me then, someone might ask me some time, how
is it that this is thought or spoken of as a feast, when he suffered
crucifixion and death in the flesh? This, dear sir, is how we shall
answer. If indeed he had remained among the dead after letting
his own body consort with death, no one should celebrate. But if
it is true that, even though he did not have to suffer unless he
chose to suffer, nor to fall into the hands of those who plotted
against him, he yet “by God’s grace tasted death for everyone,”34
as the sacred minister of his mysteries says, so that he might
trample death when raised from the dead, and might win incor-
ruptibility for human nature in this way, having become “the
firstborn of the dead”35 and “the first-fruits of those who have fall-
en asleep,”36 then this can only be the source of all good cheer
for us. We who were caught in the snares of death because of the
sin that held sway over us, hope for eternal life because of the
firstborn from the dead, who is from us according to the flesh.
The Jews, then, crucified him, he for his part, as I said, allow-
ing his own flesh to taste death according to the economy; but
he came back to life, all but bidding farewell to the very bonds of
death, and saying to those imprisoned, “Come out!”37 and to
those in darkness, “Show yourselves!”38 Then, having shown him-
self to the holy apostles, and having told them they had to make
disciples of those over all the earth, to initiate all the nations, “to
baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit, and to keep all that was commanded,”39 and to40
be zealous in practicing scrupulously the approved way of life,
he ascended to God the Father in heaven while the holy angels
glorified him and the multitude above acclaimed him. And he
32. Heb 12.12–13. 33. Ps 95.1.

34. Heb 2.9. 35. Col 1.18.
36. 1 Cor 15.20. 37. Cf. Jn 11.43.
38. Is 49.9. 39. Mt 28.19.
40. Reading εὖ τε instead of οὔτε.
will come in due time in the Father’s glory, as he says himself, to
render to each according to his works.41 “For he will judge the
earth in justice.”42
4. Since, therefore, the Judge and Master and universal King

of all is to come, “let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement
of flesh and spirit. Let us make holiness perfect in the fear of
God,”43 let us live virtuously, and with our zeal for good works let
us adorn our own souls, looking after widows, having compas-
sion on orphans,44 supporting those in need, offering all the as-
sistance we can to those suffering from bodily infirmity, looking
after those in prison,45 and keeping our faith in him solid, firm,
and completely unshaken. We begin holy Lent on the twenty-
fourth of Mechir, and the week of the salvific Paschal feast on
the twenty-ninth of Phamenoth. We break the fast on the fourth
of Pharmuthi,46 late in the evening, according to the gospel tra-
dition. We celebrate the feast on the following day, the eve of
Sunday, the fifth of Pharmuthi,47 adding thereto the seven weeks
of holy Eastertide. For thus it is, thus indeed, that we will luxuri-
ate in the divine words in Christ Jesus Our Lord, through whom
and with whom be honor, glory, and power to the Father with
the Holy Spirit, now and always, and for endless ages. Amen.
41. Cf. Ps 62.12. 42. Ps 9.8.

43. 2 Cor 7.1. 44. Cf. Jas 1.27.
45. Cf. Mt 25.43.
46. Correcting φαμενωθί to φαρμουθί.
47. March 31, 435.
FESTAL LETTER TWENTY-FOUR
A.D. 436
WILL ONCE again use the words of blessed Paul, and

say, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Re-
joice. Let all people know your forbearance.”1 For the
time of our Savior’s feast is arising for us. Come then, let us once
again issue a challenge for this occasion, as it were, to those es-
pecially who value the most outstanding deeds of bravery, say-
ing, “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day
of salvation.”2 The divinely inspired David mentions it when he
says, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us exult and
rejoice in it.”3 Now the day that is keenly desired and longed
for,4 and the acceptable time, is none other, say those who are
Spirit-bearing, than the manifestation of the glory of Christ, the
Savior of us all. Because of it, all those upon earth may rightly
and fittingly be filled with the joy that is above all others. For
through it we have obtained that through which it was possible
for human nature to pass over to what [was] in the beginning,
and to be transformed in a way, through a holy way of life, unto
the one who is beyond all understanding, that it might rejoice
and be glad when it possesses in itself abundantly the divine fea-
tures through sanctification. Christ himself foretold through a
prophet that his own advent would be the source for us of such
good things when he said, “Rejoice and be glad, daughter Zion,
for behold, I come, and I will dwell in your midst, says the Lord,
and many nations shall flee for refuge to the Lord on that day,
and they shall be his people, and they shall dwell in your midst,
1. Phil 4.5. 2. 2 Cor 6.2.

3. Ps 118.24.
4. The meaning of εὐέραστον is uncertain.
135
and you will know that the Lord almighty has sent me to you.”5
For since the Only-Begotten became a human being and was
born in our likeness (for it is thus that we speak of him as hav-
ing been sent by God the Father), we have to give ourselves over
to leaping for joy. Let me explain the matter briefly.
2. There were for us countless reasons for weeping. For the

winter of all wickedness and sin was an unbearable presence to
those upon the whole earth, pressing fiercely and vehemently
upon them, and raising up the death that had been brought in
through the transgression committed in Adam as an invincible
tyrant over those on earth. Sin in its many forms was a weapon
and spear for him, and a redoubtable, impenetrable armor. For
through it, [death] reigned over those on earth. Accordingly, as
the prophet Isaiah says, “Hell widened its soul, and opened its
mouth without ceasing.”6 For all of these reasons it is quite obvi-
ous that pleasure and joy had left us, and that there had sprung
up in its place, as it were, the need to mourn, with an inescap-
able disaster looming over us that all but bedewed everyone’s
cheeks with the tears from their eyes. As the prophet Isaiah says,
however, “Death has prevailed and devoured, but God has re-
moved every tear from faces; the reproach of the people he has
taken away from all the earth.”7 For sin has been undone and its
lethal sting weakened. The evil that grew up from it has, as it
were, been destroyed at its very root, which is death. Rejoicing
was therefore not only not unfitting for us now, in a way, but suit-
able and logical. The giver and promoter of all our prosperity
says, accordingly, “Rejoice and be glad, daughter Zion.”8
It would be necessary, however, with the time of the feast so
near, to wipe away first the filth from those who have fallen, and
to scrub off the stains of soul and body. Having first welcomed
fasting as the nurturer and solicitor of all that adorns us, accord-
ingly, as is quite understandable, “let us run with perseverance
the race that is set before us,”9 as is written, decorating our minds
with the glories of piety and returning to a completely pure and
5. Zec 2.14–15 (LXX). 6. Is 5.14.

7. Is 25.8. 8. Zec 2.14 (LXX).
9. Heb 12.1.
FESTAL LETTER TWENTY-FOUR 137
faultless life. For we remember what God, the Savior of all, said:
“You will be holy, because I am holy.”10 Let us therefore be sancti-
fied through a holy way of living and a life in full accordance with
the law, wearing the splendor of virtue as a kind of garment most
fair, befitting those at a feast, and thus appearing at last with con-
fidence in the sight of the one who furnishes the festival for us.
For “the eyes of the Lord are upon the just,” it says, “and his ears
unto their prayer.”11 When therefore he sees [us] resplendent, he
will preserve our happiness unshaken; but if he does not see us
thus disposed, he will not let us share in his munificence. This is
what the parable in the Gospels clearly teaches. It says that some-
one furnished a wedding for his son, with quite a few invited. The
groom entered after them to see those reclining. And when he
noticed, mingling with those elegantly garbed, someone filthy,
who did not have a robe befitting those celebrating the feast, he
rebuked him with the words, “Friend, how did you get in here
without a wedding garment?”12 And he punished him in the se-
verest manner.
But someone may ask: How, then, did he get in at all when he
was so filthy? Those wearing robes in any way unbefitting the fes-
tival should never have been allowed in from the outset. Our an-
swer is that the Savior calls everyone through faith; and he wants
them to come to share in his supernal munificence, and every-
one enters indiscriminately. For the grace that is through faith is
upon us all. But those who add to faith the unblemished splen-
dor that comes from good works, and who don the brightness of
virtue as a kind of robe, will dine with the groom and partake of
the holy and spiritual feast. But those who have added nothing
to faith, but have remained in the filth of wickedness and retain
the stain of their former guilt, so hard to wash out, will be finally
and unconditionally dismissed from the sacred wedding. They
will lament their negligence, for they had burst in without a wed-
ding garment.
The fast is, accordingly, most beneficial, for it rubs away dirt,
cleanses what is filthy, and with a little work removes us from eter-
nal punishment. For it mortifies pleasure, checks the impetus of
10. Lv 11.45. 11. Ps 34.15–16.

12. Mt 22.12–13.
the desires for the shameful indulgence of the flesh, brings it
into orderly behavior as though with rein and bit, produces lov-
ers of every kind of virtuousness, and tames the law of sin in the
members of the flesh as though it were a raging savage beast; in a
word, it produces those who are concerned for everything that is
good, and, by brightening the atmosphere of the mind, introduc-
es the beloved light of the true vision of God, through which
alone one may gain the correct and unobtainable knowledge of
the sacred doctrines. It is something life-giving and beneficial,
and certainly worth getting, if indeed the entrance into eternal
life is desirable to us, and reckoned as worth more than all else.
3. That the preference to be firmly established in faith in

Christ is the source of the life that is forever, is what he himself
affirms when he speaks to God the Father in heaven: “And this is
eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom you have sent.”13 Faith, however, among those at
least who are virtuous and have a heart that loves God, is some-
thing simple and true, and in no way perverse. It does not put
up with very much in the way of inquiry or tests, for anything like
inquisitiveness about that which has been received by faith does
not go unpunished.
But this does not seem right to those who are, above all, in-
quisitive, and who know nothing of the truth, but like to boast of
the unsound arguments they discover.14 “Their paths are crooked,
and their courses winding,”15 as is written. “For they lead away
whomever they may to ruin and destruction, diverting them from
the straight way.”16 As the divinely inspired apostle writes, there-
fore, “Out with the evildoers, out with the dogs!”17—those who
bark at the doctrines of truth, “speaking what is from their heart,”
as is written, “and not from the mouth of the Lord.”18 For no one
will denounce Christ, the Savior of us all, and rashly oppose his
glory, dragging it down into unseemliness, as it were, who has not
13. Jn 17.3.
14. The text needs emendation; εὑρὴ may perhaps be corrected to εὑρήματι
or εὑρήμασι(ν) if it was meant to complement ἐπαυχεῖν, but this is not certain.
15. Prv 2.15. 16. Cf. 1 Tm 6.9.
17. Cf. Phil 3.2. 18. Jer 23.16.
first borne in himself the inventor and father of falsehood, the
devil. For as the all-wise Paul writes, “No one says, ‘Cursed be Je-
sus!’ who is not in Beelzebul.”19 Those, therefore, who try to think
and say this are to be rejected, those wretches who have brought
upon themselves first, before others, an inescapable punishment.
“Transgressing against the brothers as well, and wounding their
weak conscience, they sin against Christ,”20 and have weighed
down their collar heavily,21 as the prophet Jeremiah says.22
Those, however, whose minds and hearts abound in the intel-
ligible and divine light will not be caught in their deceptions.
They will in addition know23 the virtue that suits each of the
things to be done, and the way that is admirable. For one must, I
think, proceed here circumspectly,24 and prefer to reject un-
touched whatever in these things is wicked and forbidden, and
contrary to sacred laws; but to regard as worthy of all zeal, and
hasten to achieve with all vigor, whatever contributes to a dis-
tinctly admirable way of life. For it is written, “Woe to those who
do the Lord’s work carelessly!”25 For just as armor that is resplen-
dent26 does not suffice to demonstrate the courage of those who
wish for renown in battle, nor does the mere appearance of the
ability to win, but they need as well the distinction resulting from
their deeds; in the same way, I think, one will fail to achieve the
beauty of virtue if one continues to be negligent and lack con-
cern. What is needed, in my view, is to embrace the efforts to at-
tain piety with all one’s strength and enthusiasm. Those who do
so will be worthy of all praise, and will win that glory which is
truly exceptional, their reputation secure with God and men.
This is what Moses laid down for those of old through riddles
and shadow, and Christ appeared in order to make manifest, be-
ing himself the truth. But since it was possible to find clearly nei-
ther what was to be done, because of the shadow of the world,
19. 1 Cor 12.3.

20. 1 Cor 8.12.
21. The meaning of στοιβαρῶς is uncertain.
22. Cf. Is 47.6.
23. Correcting Εἴσεται to Εἴσονται.
24. Correcting παρεσκεμμένως to περισκεμμένως.
25. Jer 48.10.
26. Reading παντευχίᾳ rather than πανευτυχίᾳ.
nor cleansing from transgressions—for the law has justified no
one, but condemns transgressors rather than releasing them
from the charges against them—God the Father provided for
the salvation and life of us all. For knowing how we are made,
and how easily the mind inherent in us is led to what is unlawful,
he has given us the justification in faith in Christ which removes
us from the former charges against us, cancels the condemna-
tion of those already fallen, and transports them rather into the
newness of life unfamiliar to those of old; for “in Christ every-
thing is new, and the former things have passed away,”27 as Paul
says. The only-begotten Word of God, being God and Lord, has
appeared to us, then. Appeared in what way? By lowering him-
self unto a voluntary emptying, and appearing unexpectedly as a
human being on earth. For “he took of Abraham’s seed, and be-
came like his brothers and sisters in everything,”28 apart from sin
alone. For it was not possible for the divine and inviolate nature,
which is beyond all comprehension, and above reason and won-
der, to be caught in the snares of sin. “For he is the true light,
and the darkness did not grasp him.”29
But since he was seen to be a human being like us, in order
that he not be regarded as only that by those who did not clearly
understand the mystery concerning him, but that he be recog-
nized30 as the God of all together with that, he showed himself to
us as connatural and consubstantial with the Father through the
greatest possible number of miracles. He said, accordingly, “If I
do not do my Father’s works, do not believe me. But if I do them,
then even if you do not believe me, believe my works.”31 For he
accomplished what surpasses reason by his mere will and plea-
sure, “upholding all things by the word of power”32 of the one
who begot him, and escorted by the holy angels. For after the
devil’s temptation, “angels came and ministered to him.”33 And
there were times when he rebuked creation; he said to the sea,
for instance, “Peace! Be still!”34 And he ordered the raging winds
to be calm, when all the disciples as well crowned him with fit-
27. 2 Cor 5.17. 28. Heb 2.16–17.
29. Jn 1.10.
30. Correcting γνωρίζεται to γνωρίζηται.
31. Jn 10.37. 32. Heb 1.3.
33. Mt 4.11. 34. Mk 4.39.
ting acclamations, saying, “You are truly God’s Son!” For it was 35
easy to see from the miracles, as I said, that he is truly God, and
Son of the one who is God by nature.
Somehow, though, those from Israel, even though they had
been educated through the law, and had read the writings of the
holy prophets, were so addled that they did not know him; they
rose up in bitter opposition to him, and slandered him wickedly
with all that from which they might reasonably have been ex-
pected to derive considerable benefit, and to detect without dif-
ficulty the supernatural, boundless superiority of the power with-
in him, as from the splendor of his deeds. But they went astray,
falling into ungovernable savagery, as it were, and, kindled to
uncontrollable anger in their stupidity, the wretches sprang at
him, sometimes asking, “Why do you, a human being, make
yourself God?” and sometimes slinging stones at him, and, final-
ly, crucifying him, even though the law says clearly, “You shall not
kill the innocent and the just.”36
And for which crimes did they kill Jesus? They could not say.
For37 “he committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips,”38 as
is written. In refuting them as they babbled on, therefore, and
seeking to calm them as they broke into furious anger, he said,
“Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you
not believe me?”39 For he was not convicted by them of any
wrongdoing at all, but the wretches condemned him to be put to
death all the same when they were roused for no reason, as you
may learn from what follows. For they brought him to Pilate and
urged that he be crucified. Then when he said, “What has he
done wrong?”40 they charged Christ with the truth, although
they did not interpret41 correctly the nature of the reality. For
they said, “He made himself God’s Son.”42 The defender of the
truth, however, will resist their loathsomeness and say, He did
not make himself God’s Son; he is such in truth. For that reality
is believed by us to belong to him not as something external, nor
as something acquired or received by adoption, but as that
35. Mt 14.33. 36. Ex 23.7.
37. Reading οὐ γὰρ. 38. 1 Pt 2.22; cf. Is 53.9.
39. Jn 8.46. 40. Mt 27.23.
41. Reading ἑρμηνεύοντες instead of ἑρμηνεύοντος.
42. Jn 19.7.
which he is by nature. For we ourselves are God’s sons by adop-
tion, in comparison to the one who is Son by nature, begotten
from him. For if in fact there is no Son who is truly such, then
upon whom are we, who are such by adoption, modeled? Whose
features do we bear? Is there any possibility of imitation unless
we say that the truth subsists? But they knew nothing whatever of
the august and salvific proclamation of the Incarnation, nor did
they understand what Moses said, nor for that matter the predic-
tions about him made by the holy prophets through the Holy
Spirit. For he was not a human being who made himself God’s
Son; the converse is true: being by nature and in truth Son of
the God who is over all, he became a human being, in order
that, by giving his own blood in exchange for the life of all, he
might rescue all from both death and sin.
4. You have the matter portrayed in the law as on a tablet.

Search in what Moses wrote, take away the shadow, enter for a lit-
tle into what is innermost within the veil. Do not stay in the first
tent, which stands where it does. Test the words of blessed Paul.
What did he say to us about these things? “A tent was prepared,
the first one, which is called ‘holy.’ But behind the second cur-
tain stood a tent called the Holy of Holies.”43 He says, however,
that “into the first tent go the priests when they perform the rites.
But into the second, only the high priest, and not without blood,
which he offers for himself and for the errors of the people. By
this the Holy Spirit shows that the way into the sanctuary has not
yet appeared44 as long as the first tent is still standing.”45 The first
tent, then, while standing, may signify the power of the rites in
the law, rites which do not bring people into the Holy of Holies,
nor send them within the veil. For to us alone has Christ opened
this holy entrance, so deeply desired.
But since we have been brought all the way in, and the veil of
the understanding of all of us has been removed, let us at last
seek what has been hidden with eyes that are sharp and utterly
pure, and, having rent the shadow of the law, as it were, let us see
the truth. As I said, then, those from Israel, due to their over-
43. Heb 9.2–3.

44. Reading πεφανερῶσθαι instead of πεφανῶσθαι.
45. Heb 9.6–8.
whelming stupidity, thought that they could make life, Christ that
is, to be overpowered by death itself. But they failed of their pur-
pose, their attempt in vain, their efforts for naught; as the proph-
et David says, “They devise a stratagem which they cannot exe-
cute.”46 For the Savior and Lord of all, acting most skillfully—since
he himself is wisdom entire47—made the devil’s malicious ar-
rangements into an occasion for salvation and life throughout
the earth. For he had his very own flesh taste death, as is written,
in order that, once he had shown that it was superior even to
death through the resurrection from the dead, he might make
available to those on earth the possibility of overcoming both
death and decay.48 For he himself became “the first-fruits of those
who have fallen asleep,”49 and “the firstborn from50 the dead,”51
in order that we too, having followed in his footsteps, might be
raised with the first-fruits, and might follow the firstborn, all of
us, who are called through him to kinship with him. For “to all
who received him,” it says, “he gave the power to become chil-
dren of God.”52
For the fact that in Christ’s death we have become superior to
decay is something that contentious Israel may learn from Mo-
ses’ own writings. For they sacrificed the lamb in Egypt. Then,
having devoured its meat and smeared the entrances or door-
posts of the houses with the blood as well, they did not perish
with the Egyptians. Now if there is nothing of what is mystical
about this, if it is not a true account of the mystery concerning
Christ, an account having its meaning written in shadows still,
then why is it that the lamb, when slain, no longer saves anyone,
shaming the destroyer with its own blood? For the power of di-
vine mysteries will in no way be exhausted. As the all-wise Paul
writes, “The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.”53 It is
therefore clear to all that in Christ, and in him alone, we have
gained indestructibility. For he is life, and is life-giving; that con-
sequently which in its own nature is corruptible may itself come
to enjoy immunity from suffering, and that quite easily, by being
enriched with the garment of incorruptibility, Christ. “For all of
46. Ps 20.12 (LXX). 47. Cf. 1 Cor 1.24.

48. Cf. Heb 2.9. 49. 1 Cor 15.20.
50. Reading ἐκ. 51. Col 1.18.
52. Jn 1.12. 53. Rom 11.29.
you who have been baptized into Christ,” it says, “have put on
Christ.”54 It would be most fitting for each of those baptized to
say, in the words of the prophet, “Let my soul exult in the Lord.
For he has clothed me in the robe of salvation, and the garment
of joy.”55 For having put on, as I said, the garment of joy, which is
Christ, we escape the clutches of death.
You have the mystery portrayed in the shadows of the law. For
what was given through Moses were figures, and images of reali-
ties, containing somehow dimly yet the beauty of the truth. When
those from Israel were dwelling in the desert, therefore, God gave
them as bread the mystical manna. They gathered what sufficed
for the day, as the divine law also bade. For what was kept over,
and what was gathered that was superfluous and beyond what was
needed, spoiled, and their labor was in vain, and was perhaps an
occasion of punishment. Some of them did indeed keep it until
the next day, as is written; “and Moses was irritated with them,”56
it says, since they had spurned the divine ordinances.
That what is naturally corruptible may, however, come to be
beyond corruption, as I said, and above the bounds of its own
nature, if God wants, is something of which Moses has assured
us. For thus it is written in Exodus, “And Moses said to Aaron,
‘Take a golden jar, and put into it a full homer of manna. And
you shall set it before God for your generations.’ And Aaron set
it aside before the testimony, to be kept.”57 For sacred Scripture
always somehow takes gold as a symbol of the divine and invio-
late nature, because of its pre-eminence among materials of its
kind. When Christ, then, embraces us, as of course the golden
jar does the manna, then we will remain imperishable, with God
gazing upon us and, as it were, setting his eye upon all that has
to do with us. For having been removed from his presence
through the transgression in Adam, and placed out of his sight,
as it were, we sank into corruption. For thus it is written through
David, “When you have turned away your face, they shall be dis-
turbed, and to their dust they shall return.”58
But since we have been granted mercy and providential care
by him, gaining that together with the other things in Christ, we
54. Gal 3.27. 55. Is 61.10.

56. Ex 16.20. 57. Ex 16.33–34.
58. Ps 104.29.
will be transformed unto life enduring, and we are under the
eyes of the Father of all, and will remain to be kept, so that each
of us may say in exultation, “O death, where is your victory? Hell,
where is your sting?”59 For the dead will rise, as the prophet says:
“And those in the tombs shall be raised. For the dew from you is
healing for them.”60 Since then we are to walk unto life endur-
ing, and return to what was in the beginning, let us show our-
selves worthy to be with Christ. For it is written, “You will be holy,
for I am holy.”61 And as his disciple says, “If we invoke as Father
him who judges impartially according to each person’s deeds, let
us conduct ourselves with fear during the time of our sojourn,”62
knowing well that the things in this life are petty, wither quickly,
are quite easily lost, and hurry past like shadows, while those
which are from God are firm and well established, remaining
forever with those who have gotten them. While the opportunity
presents itself, then, let us rub away the defilements of flesh and
soul. Let us set ourselves to behave virtuously, let us take on an
attitude of compassion. Let us be distressed at the misery of the
needy. Let us show sympathy to those in trouble, let us be com-
passionate to orphans, let us support widows,63 let us share the
tears of those in trouble, let us show mercy to those in prison,64
and let us share the suffering of those in infirmity, reviving them
with every possible form of care, and, in a word, practicing every
form of virtue. For thus it is, thus indeed, that we will fast purely,
beginning holy Lent on the thirteenth of Phamenoth, and the
week of the salvific Paschal feast on the eighteenth of Phar-
muthi. We break the fast on the twenty-third of Pharmuthi, late
in the evening, according to the gospel precept. We celebrate
the feast on the next day, the eve of Sunday, the twenty-fourth of
Pharmuthi,65 adding thereafter the seven weeks of holy Easter-
tide, in order that, by following the right way of life, we may lux-
uriate in the holy words in Christ Jesus Our Lord, through whom
and with whom be honor and glory to the Father with the Holy
Spirit for all ages. Amen.
59. 1 Cor 15.55. Cf. Hos 13.14. 60. Cf. Is 26.19.
61. Lv 11.45. 62. 1 Pt 1.17.
63. Cf. Jas 1.27. 64. Cf. Mt 25.43.
65. April 19, 436.
FESTAL LETTER TWENTY-FIVE
A.D. 437
OME ONCE again, since the season urges us, to fulfill

what is laid down in the divine ordinances; let us take
up the sacred trumpet, as it were, and shout out the
words, “Exult, you just, in the Lord!”1 For the only-begotten
Word of God proclaims to us a spiritual feast: the power of the
economy according to the flesh. He is in no way inferior to the
pre-eminence of the one who begot him, but is equal in glory
and power, as consubstantial with him. Having appeared from
him naturally, conspicuous for his indistinguishable identity—
for “he is the stamp of his substance and the reflection of his
glory,”2 according to the testimony of the sacred Scriptures—he
lowered himself to our condition.3 He did not lose the dignities
naturally his, but assumed flesh and blood, in order that we in
turn might become sharers in the divine nature, gaining spiri-
tually by being joined to him. For we are joined to him through
faith, sanctification, and the virtuous deeds that make for piety.
This is feast and festival, and the source of the good things that
lead to what is above all else. The very Savior and Lord of all, ac-
cordingly, suggests the significance of his Advent through a sort
of example when he says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a king
who gave a marriage feast for his son, and sent his servants to
call those who were invited, saying, ‘Behold, I have made ready
my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and everything
is ready; come to the marriage feast.’”4 He has us compare what
is distinctive of the spiritual to a wedding on the corporal level.
For it is written, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.”5
1. Ps 33.1. 2. Cf. Wis 7.26; Heb 1.3.
3. Cf. Phil 2.8. 4. Mt 22.2–3.
5. 1 Cor 6.17.
146
FESTAL LETTER TWENTY-FIVE 147
Since, therefore, God the Father gathers us together for the
spiritual banquet, and sets before us a most bounteous dinner of
the divine teachings—for we have heard him say, “My oxen and
my fatlings are killed”6—come, let us take up the robe befitting
those at the feast, put on the crown of virtue in its many forms,
woven, as it were, of the flowers of spring, and, with him as our
chorus leader in whose honor we keep festival, let us sing, “Come,
let us exult in the Lord; let us shout aloud to God our Savior!”7
There are those who exult in the world, fattening their flesh on
an extravagance of foods. They indulge themselves in other ways
as well, yielding to unbridled impulses that lead to every form of
immorality. But self-indulgence ends in punishment, bringing
with it finally a cruel and inescapable penalty for love of the flesh.
For “those who sow in the flesh will reap corruption from the
flesh.”8
The divinely inspired prophet Amos as well is moved by love to
shed a tear for those who are accustomed to live in this way; he
says, “They sleep on beds of ivory, live wantonly on their couches,
eat kids from the flocks and sucking calves out of the herds, and
clap to the sound of music as though thinking it something abid-
ing, rather than fleeting. They drink strained wine and anoint
themselves with the best ointment, and have suffered nothing at
Joseph’s calamity. For this reason they will now be captives when
the rule of the powerful begins.”9 Do you see how a life without
value ends? He says that they will be captives, those who think
that the fleeting, transitory things of the present life are fixed
and abiding, and who value a life that is at odds with the sacred
laws.
But we who are in Christ are led away from such shameful en-
deavors and vain distractions by the words of his disciple: “Chil-
dren, do not love the world or what is in the world.”10 It is written
further: “Do you not know that friendship with the world is en-
mity with God? Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes
himself an enemy of God.”11 Leaving behind worldly desires,
then, distancing ourselves as far as possible from every concern,
6. Mt. 22.4. 7. Ps 95.1.

8. Gal 6.8. 9. Am 6.4–7.
10. 1 Jn 2.15. 11. Jas 4.4.
and opposing ourselves to profane love of the flesh, we will be
holy disciples, and, keeping the all-pure festival for Christ, we
will hear the words: “Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”12
The works of the saints are, then, trustworthy, and beyond all
speech and wonder. For the all-wise Paul writes further: “Eye has
not seen, and ear has not heard, nor has it occurred to the hu-
man heart, what God has prepared for those who love him.”13
But we who might enjoy the gifts from God abundantly, once
we have chosen the life that is uncontaminated with that which
is worse, refuse to act generously and provoke the divine and un-
defiled mind to anger. Now the Divine is by nature free from an-
ger. But it does not put up with those with unrestrained inclina-
tions toward doing what is wicked. That is what, in its regard, we
call “anger,” using language appropriate to our own selves. For it
would be impossible otherwise to signify to certain folk that
which is above us, that which is within the divine, ineffable na-
ture. When, therefore, he sees us inclined to indolence, sunk
into the swamp of profligacy, and quite indifferent to the need
to be educated by his laws and to hasten to perform every fair
and good deed, he then at last imitates those who are the best fa-
thers, and raises the whip. For it would have been easy for some
folk to have been presumptuous enough even to suppose that
he was not in fact good, if he did not check their indolence by
suitable measures, and frighten into better courses those whose
purpose it was to depart from what was most beneficial to them,
to follow the unbridled propensities of their minds right onto
the rocks, as it were, and to leap senselessly into the pit of perdi-
tion. We will find the most holy Paul writing along these lines: “If
you are disciplined, God is treating you as sons. For what son is
there whom his father does not discipline?” And he adds, “Be-
sides this, we have carnal fathers to discipline us, and we respect-
ed them. Shall we not all the more be subject to the Father of
spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as they
pleased, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his
holiness. All discipline at the time seems painful rather than
12. Mt 25.34.
13. Is 64.4; 1 Cor 2.9.
pleasant. But later it bears the peaceful fruit of justice to those
who have been trained by it.”14
God, then, disciplines out of love. But even here one may be
utterly astonished at the surpassing clemency that is in him. For
even though he could without hindrance inflict punishment
proportionate to our faults, he somehow tempers his measures
to the weakness of those who transgress; he disturbs rather than
really punishes. So that we may show that what we say is not false,
however, let us present as evidence the things that came upon
those of old in their times. Let us relate what happened to them.
For holy Scripture says somewhere, “These things happened to
them symbolically. But they were written for our instruction,
upon whom the end of the ages has come.”15
2. The God of all, therefore, gave to those from Israel through

Moses the law16 which served as a guide to all that is praiseworthy
and was able to crown with the glory of justice those who were ut-
terly determined to carry it out as they should. But they failed of
its purpose, and, having rejected their instructor, brought upon
themselves the charge of disobedience. And God charged them
with law-breaking, speaking as follows through Hosea the proph-
et, “Hear the word of the Lord, children of Israel, for the Lord
has a dispute with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no
truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. Jealousy,17
rather, falsehood, murder, theft, and adultery abound in the
land, and blood is mixed with blood. For this reason the land will
mourn with all of those who dwell in it.”18 And he says further
through Micah, “They fell to pondering troubles, and working
evils upon their beds, and with the day they carried them out. It
was because they did not raise their hands to God. And they cov-
eted fields, plundered orphans, lorded it over houses, and plun-
dered a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.”19 And
another prophet cried out, “Woe to them who join house to
house, and add field20 to field, that they may take away something
14. Heb 7.7–11. 15. 1 Cor 10.11.

16. Reading νόμον instead of νόμου.
17. Reading φθόνος instead of φόνος.
18. Hos 4.1–3. 19. Mi 2.1–2.
20. Reading ἀγρόν instead of ἀγρούς.
of their neighbor’s! Will you dwell alone upon the land? For
these things have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.”21
For those whose greed is uncontrollable, who are always ea-
ger to add to their property not what is theirs but what is their
neighbors’, are perhaps striving to be the only inhabitants in the
land, without putting up with neighbors. This is what some of
those of old did, paying no attention to the divine laws. But the
Law-giver and Judge was so kindly that he called to repentance,
through Jeremiah, those who had caused grief, saying, “Turn to
me, house of Israel, says the Lord, and I will not harden my face
against you, for I am merciful, says the Lord, and I will not be an-
gry22 with you forever. Nevertheless, know your iniquity, that you
have sinned against the Lord your God.”23
But since, as the facts themselves reveal, they were deeply in-
fected with contumacy, soiled with ineradicable impurity, and
quite given over to wickedness, he finally loosed upon them the
brunt of his anger. He hardly did so immoderately, however; he
tempered his wrath with mercy. For he said, “And I will give you
dullness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your
places, and you have not returned to me, says the Lord. And I
have withheld from you the rain three months before the har-
vest, and I will rain upon one city, and on another city I will not
rain. One part will be rained upon. And the part on which I will
not rain will be dried up, and two and three cities will be gath-
ered together to one city to drink water, and they will not be sat-
isfied. And not even so have you returned to me, says the Lord. I
struck you with burning and with blight. You multiplied your
gardens, your vineyards, and your fig groves, and the caterpillar
devoured your olive-groves; and not even so have you returned
to me, says the Lord.”24
Notice how he did not hurl fire from on high upon those who
had sinned. Rather, he disturbed them by reducing their neces-
sities of life. He did so as a kind of warning to give up their law-
less ways and embrace what was better. And that those to whom
these things happened were being punished for their transgres-
sions is what the God of all shows when he says, “Because you
21. Is 5.8–9. 22. Reading μηνιῶ instead of μηνίων.

23. Jer 3.12–13. 24. Am 4.6–9.
have ignored me, says the Lord, your ways and your pursuits
have done this to you.”25
Thus it was for them. Now let us consider what concerns our
own selves, if you please. For sometimes the rains fail, even
though it is the season when they should be abundant, and grief
follows the disappearance of the river-waters; in vain are the
plowman’s labors. The fields bear no crops, the ripe fruit perish-
es, and bodily illnesses appear that are severe and incurable.
Thence arise the sounds of grieving, lamentation, and wailing,
and cities and villages lose much of their population. Come,
therefore, let us follow the example of those physicians who are
most skilled, and consider diligently what may be the reason for
such misfortune.
3. It has, as a sort of evil root, sin in its many forms. It is from

there that our hardships spring, and no one who has reached a
sound understanding of our situation from a study of what hap-
pened to those of old, would assign any other origin to those
things that are naturally vexatious. Let certain people explain
how it is that, when we have a Master who is good and abound-
ing in generosity, we do not find ourselves enjoying great and
lasting prosperity. What is it that prevents this, makes us part
company with what we most enjoy, exposes us to grief, and forc-
es26 us into familiarity with what is so repulsive? Well, it is clear to
everyone, I think, that we suffer from a shortage of what we most
desire, and this when it is not just at one time that we offend,
and have neglected27 the sacred precepts. For he is incompara-
bly gentle and kind to the human race, as can easily be seen even
from this. For he extends his hand to rescue those who have fall-
en. But he bids them betake themselves to what is better when
he says, “Seek what is good, and not what is evil, that you may
live, and thus the Lord God will be with you.”28 And to those who
choose to do this he promises an abundant supply of good
things when he says, “And it will happen in that day, says the
25. Jer 4.17–18.

26. Correcting ἀναγκάζειν to ἀναγκάζον.
27. Correcting καταρᾳθυμήσαντες to καταρραθυμήσαντες.
28. Am 5.14.
Lord, that I will listen to the heaven, and the heaven will listen to
the earth, and the earth will listen to the grain, the wine, and the
oil.”29 And he says further through another prophet, “‘Try me in
this,’ says the Lord almighty, ‘and see if I do not open for you
the torrents of heaven, and pour out upon you my blessing, until
you are satisfied,’”30 until, that is, you are filled and have enough.
Therefore, “come, let us adore and fall down before him,” as
the divinely inspired Psalmist says, “and let us weep before the
Lord who made us.”31 Let us ask from him the oil of kindness.
Let us move our hearts to where they want to do what is good,
for negligence is quite inexcusable. For the Son himself has ap-
peared to us from heaven, and we have received as our instruc-
tor him who illuminates the heavens and brightens the very pow-
ers above. For the only-begotten Word of God, being God by
nature, and having appeared from God, partook of blood and
flesh, and became a human being in the economy, that he might
render us wise in every virtue, well-versed in the best endeavors,
and well established in the true knowledge of God.
For since the divine nature is completely invisible and un-
seen, possessing a glory that is unapproachable (for “he dwells
in light inaccessible,” as Paul says),32 he put on our flesh and
consorted with human beings,33 fitting himself to the dimen-
sions of humanity while remaining what he was, and initiated
the sacred revelations among those of Israel’s stock, for theirs
were the promises. But when they became hard and intractable,
and, quite refractory, ended by crucifying him, he abandoned
them and bestowed himself upon the multitudes of the gentiles.
For it was not impossible for him not to undergo suffering. But
since he promised us the resurrection of the dead, he made suf-
fering bearable, in order that, having trodden upon death and
risen from the dead, he might become “the first-fruits of those
who have fallen asleep,”34 and we might firmly believe that he
will destroy corruption and drive off death’s attack upon our
bodies, since, being God, he is by nature Life and the Giver of
life.
29. Hos 2.21–22. 30. Mal 3.10.
31. Ps 95.6. 32. 1 Tm 6.16.
33. Cf. Bar 3.37. 34. 1 Cor 15.20.
And in order that he might also render the upward path ac-
cessible and easy to travel for us, he ascended to God the Father
in the heavens, with the flesh united to him that had been en-
dowed with a soul intellectually. And he is in the Father’s glory,
having all creation under his feet,35 beyond everything that is
made, his lordship something that is natural. And having an un-
shakeable kingship, he will come in due time “in the Father’s
glory with the holy angels, to render to each according to his
deeds,”36 as is written. Since, then, we are to render our account
to the Judge, let us purify ourselves of every stain of flesh and
spirit. Let us practice every form of virtuousness. Let us love jus-
tice, charity, continence, mutual affection, and love for the poor.
Let us have compassion for orphans, wipe away the widow’s
tear,37 and visit those in prison.38 Let us support the infirm with
our thoughtfulness, and, in a word, let us be eager to practice ev-
ery form of virtue. For thus it is, thus indeed, that we will be
pleasing to Christ, the Savior of us all.
We begin holy Lent on the fifth of Phamenoth, and the week
of the salvific Paschal feast on the tenth of Pharmuthi, breaking
our fast on the fifteenth of that month, late on the eve of Satur-
day, according to the gospel tradition. We celebrate the feast on
the next day, the eve of Sunday, the sixteenth of Pharmuthi,39
adding thereafter the seven weeks of holy Eastertide, so that we
may be granted the companionship of the saints when we have
passed this season correctly and piously, in Christ Jesus our Lord,
through whom and with whom be glory to God the Father with
the Holy Spirit for all ages. Amen. “Greet one another with a
holy kiss. The brothers and sisters with me greet you.”40
35. Cf. 1 Cor 15.27. 36. Mt 16.27.

37. Cf. Jas 1.27. 38. Cf. Mt 25.43.
39. April 11, 437.
40. The first sentence is from several places in Paul (Rom 16.16; 2 Cor 13.12);
the second sentence, Phil 4.21.
FESTAL LETTER TWENTY-SIX
A.D. 438
SHALL ONCE again use the words of the all-wise Paul,

and say to those justified in faith and sanctified in the
Spirit, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.
May your forbearance be known to everyone.”1 It is a time for
perseverance and patience, a time for exceptional deeds of
courage and for spiritual bravery. For the time of our holy feast
is once again upon us, preceded of course by the holy and all-
pure fast, that by leading a life that is approved and of good re-
pute, and scouring away the stains of sin through good works,
we may present ourselves to Christ holy and blameless, all but
crying out, “It is good for me to cleave to God!”2
Now I think that anyone who understands what the Gospel
means by living well, and who longs for the gifts prepared for
the saints, must progress toward them when fully roused by de-
sires not to be gainsaid, casting from their minds as far as possi-
ble all ineffectual and profitless reluctance, and having bidden
farewell, as it were, to senseless idleness. For those inclined to
laziness cannot attain those things that are excellent or possess
that which comes from God. For virtue likes exertion, and, hav-
ing been allotted a path leading to itself that is rough and steep,
renders it smooth and easy to those who have chosen to suffer,
drawing and calling to itself that breed which is most naturally
inclined to be highly esteemed, while repelling, as it were, those
who are lazy and unaggressive. For it loves the elect, as I said.
Such is the way the prophet speaks: “Straight are the ways of the
Lord, and the just will walk in them, but the impious will weaken
in them.”3
1. Phil 4.4–5. 2. Ps 73.28.
3. Hos 14.9.
154
FESTAL LETTER TWENTY-SIX 155
As the divinely inspired Paul writes, therefore, “Finally, be
strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the
whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the
devil’s wiles. For we are not contending against blood and flesh,
but against the principalities, against the powers, against the
world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces
of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take the whole armor of
God, that you may be able to withstand on the evil day, and, hav-
ing done all, to stand.”4 For5 just as those who live in a city next to
and bordering on barbarian territory, if they are used to warfare
and well versed in battle strategy, worry very little about their in-
cursions, but if they cannot accept the need to exert themselves
and bravely resist those bent on plunder, they will fall a ready
prey to them; so also it is with those who are practiced in the law
of life. Their enemies are near; and there are relentless hordes of
them. But those who are firm in mind, and have strapped on as a
kind of armor their piety for Christ and marched forth to meet
them, will prove superior to their perversity. Having kept their
hearts sound and unwounded, they will strike up songs of thanks-
giving to Christ, saying, “In you will we push down our enemies,
and in your name will we bring to naught those that rise up
against us.”6
With Christ therefore supporting those who love him, and
rousing to a holy courage those who are determined to follow
the gospel precepts, let us vanquish the flesh, and let us cleanse
ourselves of every stain. Let us remember what sacred Scripture
says: “But fornication and all impurity or covetousness must not
even be named among you, as befits saints. Let there be no filth-
iness, nor silly talk, nor levity, which are not fitting; let there
rather be thanksgiving. Be sure of this: that no fornicator, or im-
pure person, or one that is covetous (that is, an idolater), has
any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”7 And fur-
ther: “So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the
flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you live according to
4. Eph 6.10–13.
5. The meaning of this sentence is clear, but the first clause needs repair; we
suggest correcting ἡ βαρβάρων χώρα to οἱ βαρβάρων χώρᾳ and translating.
6. Ps 44.5.
7. Eph 5.3–5.
the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the
deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit
of God are sons of God.”8 For we are being numbered among
God’s children, having brought into our minds the beauty of
that way of life which is in Christ, and being quite transformed
by our efforts to achieve piety in his regard.
When, therefore, the marks of the uncontaminated nature
shine forth for us, and we have been numbered among God’s
children and been enriched with that brotherhood that is with
Christ, the supreme King of all, consecrating our own life to
him, let us remain cheerful. For thus we will be real banqueters,
with him as the presider at our festival. And if it is most fitting
for those keeping festival to be splendidly attired, then it is not
unsuitable, in my opinion, to be adorned with the glories of the
virtues. On the contrary, it most befits those wanting to enter the
Holy of Holies, where Christ “has gone as a forerunner on our
behalf,”9 as the divinely inspired Paul says.
Now the Holy of Holies is, we say, the modes of mystical per-
fection. Into them no one may enter, or draw near to God, in
disposition and sanctification that is, who has not first thorough-
ly washed away all the filth coming from sin and carnal desires.
Now since the revelations given to those of old in figures through
the all-wise Moses were written “for our instruction,”10 and are
images of spiritual realities that are most profitable, let us pres-
ent to our listeners what is written in Exodus as evidence and
clear proof of what we have just said. It runs as follows: “And the
Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Make for yourself a brazen laver,
and a brazen base for it, for washing. And you will put it between
the tent of witness and the altar. And you will pour water into it.
And Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and their feet with
water when they go into the tent of witness, lest they die. And it
will be for them a perpetual statute, for him and for his genera-
tions after him.’”11
2. Notice how the divine law commands those who want to

enter the Holy of Holies to wash first. And those who fail to do
8. Rom 8.12–14. 9. Heb 6.20.

10. Cf. 1 Cor 10.11. 11. Ex 30.17–21.
so it threatens with capital punishment. For it is not possible, by
no means is it possible, for us to draw near to God with un-
washed feet, or we will always harm ourselves utterly when we
suffer the supreme penalty. “For what fellowship has light with
darkness,” as is written. “Or what has a believer in common with
an unbeliever? What accord has Christ with Belial?”12 The purifi-
cation, therefore, that we ought to undergo: is it to be regarded
as bodily rather than spiritual? But how could there be any
doubt that it is spiritual, when God says clearly through Jeremi-
ah, “Wash your heart clean of evil, that you may be saved, Jerusa-
lem.”13
And countless are the varieties of acts of wickedness: sorcery,
sensuality, avarice, slander, perjury, and deceit. But what most
provokes the God of all to anger is the habit of filling one’s
thoughts with what is unlawful in being easily swayed and per-
verse, and of diverting the mind to what is discreditable, and the
decision some people make to follow spirits of error while giving
no admission to the accurate, genuine faith. For there are those,
there are indeed, who twist the meaning of the truth to their
own private views, and accumulate a heap of specious ideas de-
rived from the common herd. To them we must say, “How long
will you attack a man, and all of you kill?”14 And I will add to
what I have said that some who have received the name of Chris-
tian are no longer in essence and truth what they are said to be,
but love the ways of apostasy and have gone over to the decep-
tions of the demons. Perhaps they think that even he15 who
knows what is hidden does not notice them. We will also say to
them, “Understand now, you senseless ones among the people;
and you fools, come to your senses at last! He that planted the
ear, does he not hear? Or he that fashioned the eye, does he not
perceive?”16 Nothing may escape the notice of the one who has
implanted in our own selves as well the very power to hear, to say
nothing of seeing.
12. 2 Cor 6.14–15. 13. Jer 4.14.

14. Ps 62.3.
15. Here there is something missing; the Latin translation supplies “. . . who
knows what is hidden does not notice them,” and we have included it.
16. Ps 93.8–9.
For sacred Scripture makes it clear that failing to be devoted
to God exclusively, and having an intellect that is lame and inef-
fectual, and this even after one has faith, so that one thinks and
says that there are other gods after the one who is so by nature
and in truth, is to bring upon oneself ruin and destruction, and
the deepest anger from, I say, the God who judges justly. For it
was from the law given through Moses that Israel learned piety
toward God. For listen to it said clearly, “The Lord your God is
one Lord.”17 And, “You shall not make for yourself an image, or
a likeness of anything whatever that is in the heaven above or in
the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth.”18 But they,
although they should have taken the ordinances with the utmost
seriousness, made no attempt to behave sincerely; spurning what
was naturally of the greatest benefit, they brought punishment
down upon their own heads. For they went over to the unholy
business of setting a border around the ineffable, supernatural
glory of the God who governs all things, and, fashioning images,
they set them up in their hearths, as though they were able to es-
cape the notice of the all-seeing God.
What resulted for them, however, was unbearable punish-
ment. This is what the divinely inspired prophet Ezekiel says:
And he brought me to the porch of the court, and I looked and saw
one hole in the wall, and he said to me, “Son of man,”19 “dig in the
wall.” And I dug in the wall and behold, one door. And he said to me,
“Go in and see the evil iniquities that these folk are practicing here to-
day.” And I went in and looked, and saw every likeness of reptiles, and
vain abominations of beasts. And I saw all the idols of Israel portrayed
upon it round about. And there were seven men from the elders of
the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan was standing in
their midst before them. And each held his censer in his hand, and the
smoke of the incense went up. And he said to me, “Have you seen, son
of man? Is it a small matter to the house of Israel to practice the iniqui-
ties which they have practiced here? Because they have filled the land
with iniquity, and have turned to provoking me to anger, I will deal
with them in wrath; my eye will not spare, nor will I have any mercy.”20
17. Dt 6.4. 18. Dt 5.8.

19. Something seems to be missing here: ὤρυξον seems to be an amalgama-
tion of ὄρυξον and ὤρυξα.The Latin translation supplies “dig in the wall,” and
we have added it.
20. Ezek 8.7–11, 17–18.
For it could not be that those who were so inconstant in out-
look, so wantonly wicked and rebellious, would not be wholly and
completely subjected to the very worst of punishments. For they
perished, a prey to the swords of their foes. And they were en-
slaved to their enemies, every possible calamity befalling them.
When, therefore, some people waver and disdain the ways of
practicing genuine love for God in their attachment to the wor-
ship of idols, then God himself allows countries and cities to be
swept by the attacks of their foes, and to experience all that is
grievous. One must certainly, then, worship him, keeping one’s
faith unshaken and one’s mind firmly fixed upon his honor and
glory. Of those otherwise disposed the prophet Isaiah will say tru-
ly, “This people honors me with its lips, but their heart is far from
me.”21 And they will hear Christ saying, “Woe to you, for you are
like whitened sepulchers, which outwardly seem beautiful to peo-
ple, but within are full of the bones of the dead and all unclean-
ness.”22 For if one chooses to live well, the tendency to adorn one-
self with that elegance that is simply and only external, while
considering love for God of quite little importance, will hardly
suffice for obtaining what is essential to true honor. On the con-
trary, one must embrace with the most ardent zeal the determina-
tion to possess true piety and faith unshaken. It is through this, I
think, that one may abound in the grace of the supernal benevo-
lence. For the divine nature in its love of virtue rejoices in those
so disposed.
But if, in following the unbridled propensities of the mind to-
ward what is unlawful, we proceed to outrage his supreme glory
by ascribing it to those who are not gods, “saying to wood, ‘It is
you who are my father,’ and to stone, ‘It is you who begot me,’”23
and worshiping the elements of the world, and this after receiv-
ing the name of Christians, then there is no one of those once
initiated among us who would doubt that we will draw down
upon ourselves wholly and absolutely a harsh and inescapable
punishment. It is to us that the sacred words are spoken: “It is a
fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”24 Even the
laws in vogue among us punish those trained to be soldiers if
21. Is 29.13. 22. Mt 23.27.

23. Jer 2.27. 24. Heb 10.31.
they neglect the loyalty owed to those in power and side with the
barbarians. And if they throw away their shields, they will cer-
tainly throw away their lives with them. The word we have just
heard, therefore, tells us that if we are divided in mind, and pre-
fer to be shaken down from what is better and true to what is
shameful and loathsome, we are inviting war; and they add that
this brings about the loss of our other good things as well. For
God does not send down rain, so that people can neither till nor
engage in the work of husbandry, and cities together with coun-
try districts wither away from hunger and thirst.
Now observe with me once again how Israel suffered in this
way. It was a time when Ahab was king of the tribes that were in
Samaria. Completely neglecting reverence and love for God, he
sacrificed to idols. And since the multitude subject to him con-
sisted of commoners easily led astray, it contemned him who by
nature and in truth is the one God, and they were at once infect-
ed with the same madness as was their ruler, even though they
had the law that had been established and were being thorough-
ly educated, through Moses’ commandment, about what was
chiefly advantageous to them. But since, as the divinely inspired
David says, “They all went aside, together they became useless,”25
the prophet Elijah, coming into their midst, shared the indigna-
tion of the all-ruling God at the contempt shown him. He threat-
ened famine and infertility, and a dearth of the blessing from
above. He said, “As the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, lives, in
whose presence I stand, there shall not be dews and rain these
years, except through the word of my mouth.”26 And when he
had said this, those in the fields could not till, nor could hus-
bandry yield anything, nor could grass be seen covering the
earth in season (for he who gives the necessities of life did not
rain upon the earth). No, the mountains thirsted, and the plains,
once27 flourishing and fruitful, all but mourned their barren-
ness. And what was the result? The attacks of famine became so
severe28 that some of those in Samaria were reduced to the point
25. Ps 14.3.
26. 1 Kgs 17.1.
27. Reading πρίν instead of πρός.
28. Reading κατατρέχοντος instead of κατατρέχοντες.
where women laid hold even of their own children, completely
disregarding the laws of nature, and spurned the rules govern-
ing affection. The prophet Jeremiah, accordingly, distressed at
those so afflicted, says, “The hands of tenderhearted women
have seized their children.”29
How then did the whole business end? How did they rid
themselves of this fearful and inexorable punishment? Those
who deceive Israel were removed from its midst, the prophet Eli-
jah sentencing them to death. And when the truth shone forth
once again, and those who had lapsed into the worship of de-
mons acknowledged the one who by nature is God, then the
merciful God once again gave them the good things of his boun-
ty, and food in abundance.
3. One must, therefore, as I have just been saying, reject what

is shameful and adhere to what is of honest worth, beautify one-
self with the adornments in which one may take pride, apply
oneself with full sincerity to living the life that excels in its sub-
jection to the law, and preserve in addition a sincerity in faith
and firm love of the God who is beyond all. “He did not spare his
own Son,” as the all-wise Paul wrote, “but gave him up for us all,
that he might also give us all things with him.”30 For the one who
is beyond all thought, the one through whom all things were
brought into being, the Word who sprang from the very sub-
stance of God the Father, “did not count equality with God a
thing to be grasped,” as is written, but underwent his voluntary
emptying, “and took the form of a slave.”31 And for what reason?
The blessed Paul testifies to this when he says, “Since, therefore,
the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise par-
took of the same; that through death he might destroy the one
who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all
those who through the fear of death were subject to slavery
throughout life. For surely it is not with angels that he is con-
cerned, but with Abraham’s seed. Hence he had to be made like
his brothers and sisters in every way, that he might become a
merciful and faithful high priest in God’s service, to make expia-
29. Lam 4.10. 30. Rom 8.32.
31. Phil 2.6–7.
tion for the sins of the people.”32 For the Creator of all created
everything in incorruption, as is written, “and the productions of
the world are healthful.”33 And “hell had no realm upon earth”;34
“but by the devil’s envy death entered the world.”35
But it was necessary that God’s plan of old for us not be de-
feated by the envy of the twisted serpent, prince of evil, but be
revealed as mightier than his perversity. For this reason the only-
begotten Word of God, being life by nature and himself giving
life to all things, lowered himself, as I said, into our situation,
and put on our flesh, that he might become the flesh of life and
might finally blunt the sting of the perversity of the devil, who
had devised sin as the mother of death for those on earth. The
only-begotten Word of God, accordingly, achieved two things at
once when he became a human being. He drove off from hu-
man bodies the death which he himself had not made but which
had supervened because of sin. And he also became a merciful
high priest for us all.
But how is this? someone may ask. Being God, was he not
merciful even before becoming as we are? But how could the
one who by essence is the offspring of the highest nature not be
regarded, understandably, as good by nature, or rather as the
good in himself? Surely he did not proceed from not being good
by nature to a transformation in which he became such? But
surely someone who maintained this view would merit ridicule.
No, he became a merciful high priest36 for us in the following
way. The law that was declared through angels to those from Is-
rael prescribed punishment, immediate punishment, for those
lapsing into transgressions. The all-wise Paul witnesses to this
when he writes, “Someone who has violated the law of Moses
dies without mercy at the testimony of two or three witnesses.”37
Those, then, who exercised the priesthood according to the law
were quite unconcerned about showing mercy to any of those
whose negligence in behavior came to light.
But Christ became a merciful high priest. For he did not de-
32. Heb 2.14–17.

33. Correcting σωτήριον to σωτήριοι, after Wis 1.14.
34. Wis 1.14. 35. Wis 2.24.
36. Cf. Heb 2.17. 37. Heb 10.28.
mand that those on earth be punished for their sins; no, he jus-
38
tified everyone by grace and mercy, and in addition rendered

them spiritual worshipers, presenting us with the clear and evi-
dent truth: the true manner of living well. That, at least, is quite
well indicated through what is declared in the Gospels; and it
was not by censuring Moses’ commandments or by overthrowing
the ancient precepts that he showed the truth; no, what he did
was to remove the shadow of the letter of the law and change fig-
ures into that adoration and worship which is in spirit39 and in
truth.40 He accordingly said clearly, “Do not think that I have
come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to
abolish but to fulfill them. For I tell you, not an iota, not a dot,
will pass from the law until all comes to pass.”41 For to bring the
figures into the truth is not to abolish them but to complete
them, if in fact it is true that when painters paint a variety of col-
ors over their first outlines, they do not destroy them, but bring
them rather into clearer view.42 That is the sort of thing Christ
has done in refining the crudeness of the figures unto the truth.
But Israel did not understand the mystery, even though the
law and the prophets foretold it in many ways, and Christ him-
self, the Savior of us all, offered convincing evidence, through
his countless miracles, to lead people to realize that, although
he appeared as a human being for us in the economy, he is
nonetheless, even as such, that which he was, and that is God.
He accordingly accomplished things beyond the measure of hu-
man capabilities, and engaged in mighty works divine in charac-
ter, raising the dead from their tombs when they were already
stinking and decayed,43 sending light into the blind as Creator,44
rebuking impure spirits with authority,45 and freeing lepers from
38. Reading ἐξῄτησεν instead of ἐζήτησε.

39. Reading πνεύματι instead of Πατρί.
40. Cf. Jn 4.23–24. This was a favorite text of Cyril and aided his thinking
about the integration of the Old and New Testaments. See the introduction in
FOTC 118, p. 20.
41. Mt 5.17–18.
42. It is difficult to translate σκιαῖς in a way that brings out the dual meaning
of “shadow” as well as “outline,” which is what Cyril had in mind here.
43. Cf. Jn 11.39. 44. Cf. Jn 9.1–12.
45. Cf. Lk 9.42.
their disease with a command.46 And he accomplished other
things, too, which exalt him beyond all speech and wonder. He
said accordingly, “If I do not do my Father’s works, do not be-
lieve me. But if I do them, then even if you do not believe me,
believe my works.”47
But Israel was so stubborn and unyielding, arrogant, head-
strong, and completely intractable, that even though they should
have believed him unhesitatingly, they remained haughty in spir-
it, reviled him, subjected him to unceasing insults, and finally
crucified him. He could, then, have chosen not to suffer and to
escape from the snares of the Jews effortlessly. For how could
God be caught and overcome by human force? But since suffer-
ing was the undoing of death and decay (for the body of life
could not be conquered by death), he willingly allowed the au-
dacity of the Jews to prevail for a little, so that by coming to grips
with death and rising from the dead, he might become a way
and a door for human nature, that it in turn might at least have
the possibility of overcoming it [death]. For he came back to life
and ascended to the Father, the first-fruit of a humanity renewed
unto incorruption.48 Having presented himself on our behalf, as
it were, he is seated with the one who begot him. And he will
come in due time in the Father’s glory, that he may judge the
earth. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to
what he has done in the body.”49
4. As people, therefore, who are to present ourselves in due

time to the universal judge, let us adorn our souls with every
good work, let us renounce sensuality and corporal defilement,
let us adopt an attitude of compassion, let us assist those in need,
let us take pity on orphans, let us support widows,50 let us visit
the sick and those in prison and in need.51 Let us practice even-
temperedness, showing patience, mildness, and gentleness,
and, in short, every kind of virtue. For thus will we celebrate
the holy and all-pure feast, beginning holy Lent on the twenti-
46. Cf. Lk 17.11–19. 47. Jn 10.37–38.

48. Cf. 1 Cor 15.42. 49. 2 Cor 5.10.
50. Cf. Jas 1.27. 51. Cf. Mt 25.43.
eth of Mechir, and the week of the salvific Paschal feast on the
twenty-fifth of Phamenoth. We cease fasting on the thirtieth of
Phamenoth, late on the eve of Saturday, according to the gospel
tradition. We celebrate the feast on the next day, the eve of Sun-
day, the first of Pharmuthi,52 adding thereafter the seven weeks of
holy Eastertide, in order that, considering the time of relaxation
to be like an image of the repose enjoyed by the saints in heav-
en, we may be granted their company in Christ Jesus our Lord,
through whom and with whom be glory to God the Father with
the Holy Spirit for all ages. Amen.
52. March 27, 438.
FESTAL LETTER TWENTY-SEVEN
A.D. 439
NCE AGAIN the bright company of the saints gathers us

to the customary banquet and the all-pure feast, and
bids1 us send up songs of thanksgiving to Christ, the
Savior of all, saying, “The Lord has reigned, let the earth ex-
ult.”2 For through the all-wise Moses Israel was of old liberated
from servitude in Egypt. The other nations from east to west,
and everywhere else, being subject to the unholy tyrant, Satan,
and held under the yoke of sin, which they could not shake off,
were filled with the deepest misery. But now Christ has come to
reign over the earth under heaven, crying out to those who be-
lieve in him, “Take my yoke upon you!”3 And so, having been
freed from the loathsomeness of the wicked rebel demon, and
having fled from the cruel ranks of the demons,4 they all but cry
out to each other in their eagerness, “Let us break their fetters
and cast from us their yoke!”5 Filled to the brim with joy, they
bestow upon the author of their salvation and the promoter of
their entire weal the acclamations befitting him, saying, in the
words of the divinely inspired David, “Sing to the Lord a new
song, for the Lord has done marvels; his right hand has saved
him, and his holy arm.”6
Now they call the Son the right hand and the arm of God
the Father. For through him he brought everything into exis-
tence, and he is the strength of everything, since he is in fact the
Lord of powers as well. This great and admirable arm of God the
Father, beyond all thought and understanding, saved for him,
1. Reading ἐπιτάττει instead of ἐπιτάττειν.
2. Ps 97.1. 3. Mt 11.29.
4. Reading δαιμονίων instead of δαιμόνων.
5. Ps 2.3. 6. Ps 96.1.
166
FESTAL LETTER TWENTY-SEVEN 167
namely, the people upon earth. For through him we have been
reconciled, and he himself has presented us to God the Father.
He accordingly said clearly, “No one comes to the Father ex-
cept through me.”7 As those, therefore, who are joined together
through him and in him, and have become sharers in the di-
vine nature,8 been called the people of God, and received the
splendid dignity of adoption, let us recall what one of the holy
apostles wrote: “If you invoke as Father him who judges each
one impartially according to his deeds, conduct yourselves with
fear throughout the time of your exile. You know that you were
freed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with
perishable things such as silver and gold, but with the precious
blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”9
We must therefore bend the neck of our understanding to the
will of this reality, and hasten to follow his salvific precepts, do-
ing so with the greatest alacrity, “cleansing ourselves from every
stain of flesh and spirit, and making holiness perfect in the fear
of God.”10
2. Every season is, then, suited for the virtuous, for the pur-
pose at least of undertaking the duty of entering upon the holy
and blameless path of justice, and bearing straight for those en-
deavors which are the best, racing toward them with all sails
spread, as it were. But what is most of all fitting, at least for the
present time, is, I think, to decorate oneself with the propensi-
ties for this, if in fact it is necessary, once we have been adorned11
as far as may be, and made splendid with the glories of virtue, to
push within the sacred curtains and to appear thus to the all-
pure God. To miss this occasion, and the things that come from
it, is not without penalty for those who do so, in my view at least.
For who would praise a husbandman if, when his business is till-
ing, and the season affords him the opportunity to do so, he is
seen taking his ease and preferring a leisure that is unproductive
and without recompense? Or who would not find sailors com-
pletely blameworthy if, after paying no heed to the winds when
7. Jn 14.6. 8. Cf. 2 Pt 1.4.

9. 1 Pt 1.17–19. 10. 2 Cor 7.1.
11. Reading δι[ακ]εκοσμημένους instead of διεσμιγμένους.
they are fair, and then missing their chance when it is now too
late for navigation, they decide with complete lack of sense to
seek that of which their stupidity has deprived them?
Therefore, as the all-wise Paul writes, “While we have the op-
portunity, let us do good to all.”12 For laziness is dangerous, and
one would not miss the truth by deciding that it is the thing that
completely and absolutely brings ruin in its train. For it is writ-
ten: “Woe to those who do the Lord’s work carelessly.”13 Now if a
penalty is incurred even when work is done, if it is not carried
out diligently, what kind of punishment will be suffered by those
who simply refuse to do it at all? Come then, as one of the Sav-
ior’s disciples said accordingly, “Having girt up the loins of your
minds, in sobriety set your hopes fully upon the grace that is
coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, not being con-
formed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who
called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct. For it is
written, ‘You will be holy, for I am holy.’”14
For just as those who are closest in the confidence of earthly
rulers, and held in the greatest trust, are those who are the bold-
est and most experienced in battle, and who have achieved the
greatest renown in warfare, so also those who will be called
friends of the all-pure God, and close to the way he is disposed
to them, are not those who are held fast by carnal impurities, or
involved in the distractions of this present life, but those who dis-
tinguish themselves by the splendor of their virtues. What, then,
could possibly be better than this, for those at least who are sen-
sible? Someone may say: earthly wealth. But this is insecure, by
no means firmly established; it slips away quite readily. It comes
tumbling down at times, and someone who was the object of
envy yesterday or the day before may be observed reduced to the
most abject misery.
Let us say, though, that it is securely established. Very well; but
in what way does it contribute to the salvation of the soul for
those who possess it? Is it not the occasion for drunken carousals
and profligate displays of exquisitely laden tables, which often
harm the very stomachs of the gastronomes? But someone may
12. Gal 6.10. 13. Jer 48.10.

14. 1 Pt 1.13–16; Lv 11.45.
say: Are you then chastising elegance in dress and the honors
that go with wealth? And if there are those who have quantities
stored up of valuable things of the kind that are praised to the
skies, will you criticize that too, and say that it is nothing? I would
reply that the divinely inspired John says enough when he cries,
“Do not love the world, nor what is in the world. For all that is in
the world is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the
pride of life.”15 Observe now the supreme philosophical skill
with which this sharer in the Holy Spirit limits the enjoyment of
what is earthly to three things. For the lusts of the flesh are sur-
feits of the stomach, and the seasonings of delicacies, and the
impurity that then always somehow follows. And the pleasures
and delights of the eyes are the variegated spectacle of clothing,
and the lovely color and brightness of the materials, which
wealth loves. But the pride of life is the name he gives to the pre-
eminence in dignities, and exaltation16 in honor and glory.
3. Come, then, now that we have measured the length of life,

and are fixing the eye of our mind on the end to which each per-
son comes, let us examine where it is that the rich find them-
selves at the last. One of the saints has said, “Naked I came forth
from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall go back.”17 Another
writes, “We have brought nothing into the world, and we can take
nothing out.”18 When the time of life is so contracted and short,
and one cannot possess riches when it is over, is it not obviously
better to apply ourselves to sacred endeavors, and to have wealth
that cannot be lost accumulated in heaven, “where neither moth
nor rust consumes, nor do thieves break in and steal,”19 as the
Savior20 says?
Come then, let us adduce another short passage from the gos-
pel writings that will not be without benefit to our listeners.
Christ says somewhere,
The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he said to him-
self, “What shall I do? I will pull down my barns and build larger ones,
15. 1 Jn 2.15–16.
16. Reading ἠρμένον instead of εἰρημένον.
17. Jb 1.21. 18. 1 Tm 6.7.
19. Mt 6.20.
20. Reading Σωτῆρος instead of Κυρίου.
and I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have goods stored up for many
years; eat, drink, be merry.’” But God said to him, “You fool! This night
they will require your soul of you; and the things you have prepared,
whose will they be?”21
What an incredible thing! Hemmed in by his riches, he is

weighed down ever more by his concern for so many things.
“What shall I do?” he asks. On his wealth he bestows the sort of
language suitable to poverty. Where shall I pile the good things I
have? The rich man abounds in possessions. Fields thick with
crops have rejoiced him, those who reap them are past count-
ing, and perhaps he also has a vineyard laden with grapes that
fills his vats to the brim with wine. So then, my dear rich friend,
you have everything in abundance.
Except for life. Who will get what you have made ready? You
would have done better22 “to do judgment and right justice,”23 as
the prophet says. Now right justice is, in our view, compassion
for one’s brothers and sisters, love, mutual affection, the mercy
that triumphs over the unending fire. For the God of all honors
the merciful, and accords all reverence to those who bear the
marks of his gentleness in their own souls. For he says, “Be mer-
ciful, as your heavenly Father is merciful.”24 For just as a father
who loves his child rejoices in the one he has begotten when he
sees his own form shining forth beautifully in his offspring, and
is sometimes incited for that reason to an even deeper love, so
also our God, when in his love of virtue he sees a soul that has re-
ceived the form of the goodness inherent in him, makes sure
that that is not without profit to it. He crowns it with hope and
grace, and, removing it from all stain, raises it to the company of
the saints. For he says, “Alms and fair dealing cleanse away
sins.”25
Let our mind therefore be merciful, tender, and gracious,
lest, having been harsh toward our brothers and sisters, we hear
God saying from that most fearsome tribunal, “You wicked ser-
vant! Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I
had mercy on you?”26 And let us acquire in addition the other
21. Lk 12.16–20. 22. Reading ἦν σε.

23. Cf. Jer 33.15. 24. Lk 6.36.
25. Tb 12.9. 26. Mt 18.32–33.
virtues: justice, continence, mildness, humility, patience, and
even-temperedness. For just as those practiced in painting on
tablets embellish their work with a variety of colors to express a
clarity of beauty in it, so also whoever is an artist in piety will by
all means please the eyes of the godhead by being adorned not
with one virtue but with as many as possible. For he [God] sees
into the mind and heart, and searches out the beauty of the
brave deeds in souls.27
4. These things of which we have now spoken to you we have

drawn as from the divine wellsprings and evangelical revelations,
through which we have been expertly guided toward every one
of those brave deeds that are the best of all, even though former-
ly we had completely sunk into the mire of wickedness and been
dominated by the attacks of the passions. For there was among
us “no one who did good, no one at all, but all had gone out of
the way; together they had become good for nothing,”28 as the
Psalmist says.
Those in so wretched a state were shown mercy by the Cre-
ator, who brought all things into existence, and did not make
the earth in vain, as the prophet says, but that it might be inhab-
ited. Now the all-wise Paul explains just how he showed mercy
when he says, “In many and varied ways God spoke of old to our
fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to
us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through
whom also he fashioned the ages. He is the reflection of the glo-
ry and the stamp of his substance, upholding all things by the
word of his power. When he had made purification of our sins,
he sat down at the right hand of the throne of the majesty on
high, having become as far superior to the angels as the name
he has obtained is more excellent than theirs.”29
For the Word who has shone forth in a way that is ineffable
and beyond understanding from God the Father’s substance,
the Word who is the image, the reflection of his glory, the co-
eternal Son who is enthroned with him and distinguished by
equality and similarity with him in every respect, became flesh, a
27. Cf. Heb 4.12. 28. Ps 14.1–3; cf. Rom 3.12.

29. Heb 1.1–4.
complete human being that is. He did not surrender what he
was (that would have been impossible, since his being by nature
immutable and unalterable is intrinsic to him), but rather he as-
sumed flesh and blood and took the form of a slave as his own,30
he who by nature and in truth is free, since he had sprung from
the substance that is above all others and in which dwells sover-
eign might over all things (for the things that have been brought
from non-being into subsistent existence are inferior to their
Maker’s glory). He became a human being; he did not come
into a human being or join to himself a human being, as some
have rashly claimed;31 and in this he remained nonetheless32 in
the pre-eminence of his own divinity. He dwelt all the same with
those on earth, as one of us,33 for it was impossible for anyone to
encounter the naked, untempered glory of the divinity. As he
says, “No one will see my face and live.”34 For if no one can take
in the brightness of the sun’s rays with the eyes of the body
(since the power of the sense of sight is thwarted and overcome
by the overwhelming assault of the light), how would it be possi-
ble to bear it if the Son came to us in the naked glory of his di-
vinity?
Thoroughly cloaking, therefore, in a way known to himself,
the unapproachable light of the brightness that is in him, and
adopting the likeness that is ours, he shared our poverty, in or-
der that, by subjecting himself to his own laws, he might per-
suade us to hasten straight to every sort of virtue, and might join
to himself in holiness those who had washed away the filth of
their former faults by the grace that comes from him. The legis-
lation he gave was, accordingly, not as were the laws given by Mo-
ses formerly, which were in figures and shadows. Having rather
fashioned those toward greater clarity, and brought over to the
truth what had been declared in riddle to those of old, he called
people to the grace that is through faith, and Israel indeed be-
fore the others. They should have accepted the benefit of the
30. Cf. Phil 2.7.
31. This Christological expression is consistent with Cyril’s mature position.
Compare the First Letter of Succensus 5–6, in Wickham, 75.
32. Reading οὐδέν instead of οὐδείς.
33. Bar 3.37.
34. Ex 33.20. Omitting ἰδεῖν.
messages brought by him, decided to follow him, seized the
chance to share in the gifts coming from him, and by their faith
honored him who for our sake became as we are, but the wretch-
es did none of this; they sprang at him like wild beasts, directing
at him from their addled minds language vile and senseless.
They said, “It is not for a good work that we stone you, but for
blasphemy; because you, a human being, make yourself God.”35
Senseless Pharisee, were you not persuaded when one of the
holy prophets said, “Behold, the Virgin will conceive and bear a
son, and they will call his name Immanuel”? That means “God
with us.”36 For he came to be with us when he appeared as we
are. Do you not know what the divinely inspired David cried,
“The God of gods, the Lord, has spoken, and called the earth
from the rising of the sun unto its setting. Out of Zion comes the
excellence of his beauty. God will come openly, our God, and
will not keep silence”?37
How, then, could it be possible for God to be seen openly by
those on earth, when he is not visible? He was, nonetheless, seen
with the flesh when he shone forth in divine fashion, even
though he is true God (since he is beyond all things), and, hav-
ing been born in the last times of the age, he did not come to be
in a human being, as I said, nor for that matter did he join a hu-
man being to himself, as some folk like to babble. No, he really
became a human being in a way unexpected and beyond under-
standing, and came to be in the form of a slave; the one who fills
everything lowered himself unto an emptying; the one who is
the highest of all, unto our lowliness; the one who is above every
Principality and Dominion, and all Thrones and Powers, and ev-
ery name that can be named,38 into the limits of humanity. Do
not therefore say accusingly, “Why is it that you, a human being,
make yourself God?”39 On the contrary, accept the extraordinary
miracle, and with the highest acclamations applaud the econo-
my, so skillfully devised, saying, “How is it then that you who by
nature are God became a human being while remaining God?”
For it was possible then to find the prophet Habakkuk shar-
35. Jn 10.33. 36. Mt 1.23; cf. Is 7.14.
37. Ps 50.1–3. 38. Cf. Eph 1.21.
39. Jn 10.33.
ing what he had to say on the occasion of this miracle, and in-
deed crying out, “Lord, I heard the report of you and was afraid.
I considered your deeds and was amazed.”40 Know, therefore,
that even if you see a human being in poverty like yours, for your
sake, he is nonetheless God even so, begotten from the Father
divinely and from the holy Virgin according to the flesh, in a
strange and unexpected way.41 For even his birth according to
the flesh had to be seen as novel. While he was calling people to
salvation, therefore, some of the unbelievers hurled stones, cen-
sure, and abuse at him. In addition to this, as though giving
quite free rein to their arrogance and audacious acts against
him, and proceeding to the ultimate wickedness, they “crucified
the Lord of glory.”42 It was the leaders of the Jewish gang who set
the snare. For they thought that by removing the heir from their
midst they themselves would still govern the assembly. But they
erred, and what happened to them was the converse of what
they had expected. For those evil folk perished evilly, having
done no harm to the one crucified. He came back to life not
long after, having bidden farewell to the bonds of death, opened
the gates of hell to the spirits below,43 and refashioned the na-
ture of man in himself, the first of all, unto incorruptibility and
life enduring.
For just as he died in Adam, the punishment in his case
spreading to the whole race that is from him, so also we have
lived in Christ. For since he is a second root of humanity, and a
second Adam, he will transmit his own life to all human beings.
And just as there was in Adam the nature on which was inflicted
the curse and the penalty of death, so also there is again in
Christ the human nature blessed by God the Father and through
him rendered superior to death. He suffered willingly in his own
flesh, accordingly, and has remained impassible in his own na-
ture.44 But his, we say, is the suffering. For it was his own body
that has suffered, that he might release us from suffering. For
40. Hab 3.2.
41. Cf. the Second Letter to Nestorius 2, in Wickham, 5.
42. 1 Cor 2.8.
43. Cf. 1 Pt 3.19.
44. Cf. the Second Letter to Succensus 2, in Wickham, 87.
“by his bruise we have been healed,” as is written. And having
45
trodden upon death’s power, won life for the world, destroyed
the power of sin, and overthrown the prince of this age and the
evil powers in him, he ascended to God the Father in the heav-
ens and is resplendent upon the highest throne, having re-
turned to that innate glory that attends him always, and he will
come in due time to judge the living and dead, for “he will ren-
der to each according to his works.”46
5. Since, then, we are to stand in due time before the divine

bench, where there will be an exacting scrutiny of each person’s
life, “let us cleanse ourselves of every defilement of flesh and
spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God,”47 adding to
this mercy towards the needy, love for the brothers and sisters,
and, in a word, everything suitable to be the boast of saints. We
begin holy Lent on the tenth of Phamenoth, and the week of the
holy and salvific Paschal feast on the fifteenth of Pharmuthi. We
break the fast on the twentieth of Pharmuthi, late in the eve-
ning, according to the gospel tradition. We celebrate the feast
on the next day, the eve of Sunday, the twenty-first of Phar-
muthi,48 adding thereafter the seven weeks of holy Eastertide, in
order that, in considering this season itself to be a kind of image
of the repose of the saints in heaven, we may be granted their
company, in Christ Jesus Our Lord, through whom and with
whom be glory to God the Father with the Holy Spirit, now and
always and for all ages. Amen.
45. Is 53.5. 46. Mt 16.27.

47. 2 Cor 7.1. 48. April 16, 439.
FESTAL LETTER TWENTY-EIGHT
A.D. 440
Preface
UR TOPIC is proper morals; it concerns the conduct be-
fitting those who are devoted to good order and who
are concerned to live a life of excellence. But the au-
thor’s purpose is not to seek praise, but to benefit those who are
gathered.
1. The blessed prophets, who transmitted to us the messages

of God from on high, speak as follows somewhere: “How beauti-
ful are the feet of those who bring good news!”1 For it is not un-
pleasant to tell people that they are to come into immediate pos-
session of what they are hoping to receive, when that is something
to their good.2 For when it is already present and visible, it will fill
us with good cheer, but when delayed, it grieves those who long
for it. And since that is how you view the matter, and you prefer
the participation in spiritual goods to everything else, come, let
us announce to you in addition that our holy and all-pure festival
is soon to shine forth, hurrying to overtake our speech. It will
come, then, it will come, and it will not be long. And there arises
for us, as a kind of harbinger of the holiness befitting it, the sea-
son of fasting, which all but cries aloud in the words of one of the
holy apostles, “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his
good life let him show his works!”3 For what we must do, once we
have washed away the filth of all wickedness, risen above shame-
ful pleasure, and left behind that life which is condemned by the
1. Is 52.7; cf. Na 1.15; Rom 10.15.

2. παρέσονται is probably to be corrected to πάρεσται.
3. Jas 3.13.
176
FESTAL LETTER TWENTY-EIGHT 177
laws, is to persevere in laying claim to every virtue, and, in distin-
guishing ourselves by the splendor of our excellence of life, pres-
ent ourselves in purity to the God who is over all.
He spoke to us accordingly through the all-wise Moses: “Three
times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your
God, in the place which the Lord your God shall choose: on the
Feast of Unleavened Bread, and on the Feast of Weeks, and on
the Feast of Booths.”4 One would not, then, treat lightly the favor
of being watched over from on high, but would rather regard it
as of the highest value, if one were sound of mind. For what could
be of equal worth to being watched over by God? The divinely in-
spired David sings, accordingly, “Look upon me and take pity on
me!”5 For being pitied must always follow those accorded the fa-
vor of being watched over.
If we in fact examine the reasons for each of the feasts, we
shall gather a store of ideas not without benefit for our own souls.
The reason for the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the redemption
of those of the stock of Israel, when, having sacrificed the lamb as
a figure of Christ in the first month of the Hebrew calendar, eat-
ing unleavened bread with it, they cast aside the yoke of the Egyp-
tian perversity, and, throwing off the bitter, intolerable burden of
their unaccustomed servitude, they left behind their labors in
earth and bricks, and, fleeing from the tyrant’s cruelty, hastened
to worship God in freedom of heart. The festival of Weeks is held
at the harvest of wheat and other crops, with which the husband-
men rejoice to fill the threshing-floor, gathering the yield of the
fields and enjoying a most generous recompense for their labors
at the plow. The third feast, that having to do with tents, the Feast
of Booths, was celebrated with joy at the conclusion of all the la-
bors, as though an abundance of every crop had already been
heaped up in store. As though they had finished all the labor im-
pending upon those engaged in agriculture, they would take
palm-branches, and the fruit of a lovely tree, and thickly-leaved
tree branches, those of the chaste-tree and the willow, and then,
weaving tents, would dwell in them for seven whole days in relax-
ation and luxury.
4. Dt 16.16.
5. Ps 86.16.
Such are the accounts of each feast. But since the shadow of
the law has departed, and what was revealed in figure to those of
old has passed over into the truth (for in Christ all is new),6 come,
let us contemplate something spiritual with the eyes of the mind,
and let us show how the feasts are arranged most excellently, as
we have just mentioned. But the account will everywhere follow
the things that happened in figures, representing the truth from
them as far as may be.
2. Pharaoh was, then, a figure of the devil’s perversity. For he

tormented those of the stock of Israel with labor in mud and
bricks, and, laying upon them the inescapable yoke of slavery,
did not let them sacrifice to the God who is over all. But the in-
ventor of sin, Satan, that frightful, haughty robber of the su-
preme glory, who spews forth arrogant words as though from a
savage mind (for he dared to say, “I will be like the Most High”),7
placed the yoke of his perversity upon those over the whole
earth, and ordered them to worship himself,8 and bade them be-
come absorbed in unrewarding, unprofitable distractions, a sort
of mud and brick-making: the pursuits that have to do with this
flesh. For he knew that concern for the things upon earth always
ends unfailingly in ruin and destruction.
But upon the world shone Christ, through whom and in
whom is complete redemption, the true Lamb who takes away
the sin of the world. We have accordingly been rescued through
his sacrifice from the tyranny of the former prince, and we keep
festival for the universal King and God of all, having washed
away the filth of the ancient deceit as though it were some mu-
cus in the eyes of the mind. But since, as I said, we have all been
redeemed in Christ, “we have sown ourselves for justice, we have
reaped the fruit of life,”9 as the prophet says; we devote our-
selves henceforth to fruitful endeavor. We have valued that labor
which has a recompense, applying ourselves to accomplish that
through which one may win the approval of God and men.
6. Cf. 2 Cor 5.17. 7. Is 14.14.

8. Correcting αὐτῷ to αὑτῷ. 9. Hos 10.12.
3. This, we say, is the Feast of Weeks, and of the wheat harvest.
And when we finally arrive at this degree of splendor, endowed
with an abundance of every virtue, amass a wealth of fair fruit for
our souls, and lock it away in store, as it were (for it is written,
“You shall eat the fruit of your toil”),10 then it is, then indeed,
that we will lodge in the tents above, receive from God the de-
lights in paradise, and ascend to that ancient and truly desirable
weal, living the life that is without toil and quite separate from
all labor. Its figure is the third feast, that with tents, when they
would take the branches of palms and of the other trees, the fig-
ure representing, I think, the delights in paradise.
I shall therefore return to what I said at the outset: God said
that three times a year every male had to appear before him. Is it
not, then, worth our while to examine the reason for this divine
and sacred precept? The God who is over all is the Creator of all
things, and at his command both the female and the male gen-
ders have been brought into existence. How is it then that he has
forbidden the female gender to appear before him, while grant-
ing the male gender such a splendid and distinguished favor?
Our reply is that the power of the commandment in the law con-
ducts us through shadow and figures to the power of the truth.
The things, accordingly, that are clearly visible receive images of
what is intelligible, and thus introduce us to subtle and refined11
considerations. What I mean is that the female race is always in
some way weak both in mind and body,12 while the male race is
well regarded in both, and looked upon as superior. That race,
then, is honored as masculine which excels in spiritual courage
and wisdom of thought,13 and it indeed appears in God’s sight,
and is granted the watchful care that he exercises. For it is writ-
ten, “The eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his ears to their
petition.”14
Whatever God considers of account, however, is considered
worthless by the devil and his angels, and will not be spared the
10. Ps 128.2.
11. Correcting ἀπεξεμμέναις to ἀπεξεσμέναις.
12. See Festal Letter 10, n. 60, FOTC 118, 185.
13. Correcting ἐζοφωμένῃ to ἐσοφωμένῃ.
14. Ps 34.15.
experience of their cruelty. For he attacks every holy person, and
leaps savagely at those who possess spiritual courage. But his at-
tempts fail, and all that his innate perversity can devise falls wide
of the mark. But that he finds what is spiritually masculine high-
ly offensive, and that its good repute grieves him deeply, is made
clear to us from what the all-wise Moses writes. Pharaoh in his
madness, that is, plotted against those of the stock of Israel. But
when their numbers increased finally beyond all count, he was
stung by this, and quite badly. Summoning the midwives of the
Hebrews, it says, he gave them this order: “Throw into the river
every male baby born to the Hebrews, but keep every female
baby alive.”15
Now if we again place the mask of Pharaoh upon that power
which fights God and is opposed to him, on Satan that is, we can
say that the race that is strong, and intelligent to boot, is hated
by him and most hostile to him. For it will not bear his yoke16
nor bend its neck to his unholy plans. It rises in opposition and
battles vigorously, possessing as it does the spiritual armor and
ever adorning its own life with its efforts to achieve virtue. What
is female, by contrast, is soft, as I said, unwise and feeble, and un-
used to war, with hands that are slack; it cannot shoot or strap on
the weapons of justice. This he likes and welcomes, and is wholly
taken with it; for, as I said, he honors the unmanly race that
avoids fighting. As the divinely inspired Psalmist says, therefore,
“Take courage, and let your heart be strengthened, all you that
hope in the Lord.”17 And in what way we may achieve this is
shown by Christ’s disciple when he says, “Having girt up the loins
of your mind, in sobriety set your hopes fully upon the grace
that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedi-
ent children, do not be conformed to the passions of your for-
mer ignorance; but as he who called you is holy, be holy your-
selves in all your conduct; for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I
am holy.’”18 For it is not possible for those who are soiled and
defiled to approach the all-pure God. For “what fellowship has
light with darkness?”19 as is written.
15. Ex 1.16. 16. Reading ζυγῶν instead of ζυγόν.

17. Ps 31.24. 18. 1 Pt 1.13–16; Lv 11.45.
19. 2 Cor 6.14.
4. You have Moses, the teacher of sacred truths, as an image
of this reality. While he was herding flocks of sheep on Mount
Horeb, a blazing fire appeared to him unexpectedly in a bram-
ble-bush, and while the flame devoured the bush, it did it no
harm at all (for it was nowhere burned), thus causing a great
and extraordinary marvel. Moses approached, then, wondering
what the curious spectacle could be. For God was sitting in the
bramble-bush in the form of fire. Then, says sacred Scripture,
the Lord called the man from the bramble-bush, saying, “Moses,
Moses, do not come near here; loose the shoe from your feet,
for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”20
Now someone might, I think, reply to this: What kind of de-
filement may it be thought to be if one has one’s feet shod? How
is it that Moses is unclean because of sandals and hides? What
can we say in reply? There is no pollution that can come to the
human soul from shoes. But since Moses was in Egypt, and the
natives thought that one might not carelessly enter the precincts
of the idols while wearing shoes, which are from animals, and
that is a defilement, and that was the only restriction they had,
the God of all showed himself in this way implacable21 to those
not yet purified, making use of the Egyptian custom, as it were,
and thus calling the holy Moses to a spiritual purification with
the words, “Loose the shoe from your feet, for the place where
you are standing is holy ground.”22 For in this way those who
worship the all-pure23 God must, I say, abandon dead works and
thus,24 once freed from those concerns which lead to corruption
and pollution, draw near to him, in the sense of spiritual famil-
iarity. Dead works may be listed25 as acts of carnal sensuality, ca-
rousals and drunkenness, a life devoid of all religion, attempts at
shameful gain, acts of robbery and avarice, outbursts of temper
and what results from this, slander and contempt, and, in short,
the things through which one loses eternal life, caught in the
20. Ex 3.5.
21. The word is ἀπροφάσιστον. The context tempts one to correct this to
ἀπρόσιτον, “unapproachable,” but that would be the lectio facilior.
22. Ex 3.5.
23. Reading πανάγνῳ instead of παναγίῳ.
24. Correcting ὄυτε τε to οὕτω τε.
25. Reading νεκρὰ ἐννοηθεῖεν instead of νεκρῶν θεῖεν.
snares of sin and liable to accusations of a great variety of wick-
edness.
Christ’s disciple leads us away from such illnesses when he
says, “Do not love the world or what is in the world. For all that is
in the world is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and
the pride of life. And the world is passing away, and the lust for
it. But the one who does the will of God remains forever.”26 The
all-wise Paul writes as well to those determined to lead the way of
life that is honored, “But fornication and all impurity must not
even be named among you, as befits saints, but rather thanksgiv-
ing.”27 The way to this sort of purified and exceptional life was
prefigured of old by Moses’ law as well, which describes Imman-
uel for us in advance through shadow and figures: describes,
that is, the pure, salvific light of the revelations given through
him.
But now the truth has shone forth in its purity. He, that is, who
is above all creation has become as we are, that he might make
the divine light flash upon us, and, having taught us how to make
straight toward every virtue, might render us God’s sons. For he
lowered himself, as I said, unto what is ours, that we might gain
what is his, since we have been enriched in a certain way by his
poverty.28 For if he had not shared our poverty, lowering himself
into our condition,29 neither would we have had his wealth, gain-
ing through him and from him that sonship which properly be-
fits him, and him alone.
Israel, however, was witless.30 It did not recognize the Redeem-
er present with the flesh, even with the all-wise Moses prefigur-
ing that very mystery in so many ways. Christ accordingly charged
them with overwhelming stupidity and disbelief when he said,
“If you believed Moses, you would believe me. For it was of me
that he wrote.”31 Having therefore insulted with their disobedi-
ence the law that was their guide, they have remained in dark-
26. 1 Jn 2.15–17. 27. Eph 5.3.

28. Cf. 2 Cor 8.9. 29. Cf. Phil 2.8.
30. The strong anti-Jewish language that follows is quite common in the ear-
ly letters. For a discussion of Cyril’s relationship to the Jews, see the introduc-
31. Jn 5.46.
ness, completely deprived of the divine light. And this was what
had been said of them by the prophets. While they were awaiting
light, darkness fell upon them. Having expected brightness, it
was in pitch darkness that they walked.32
But we will find the Lord crying out to them again and again,
saying, “I am the light of the world; those who follow me will not
walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”33 And again,
“I have come as light into the world.”34 And that he might render
their ignorance inexcusable, even though he appeared a human
being as we are, he gave everywhere a godlike, supernatural
demonstration of the power in him. Is there anything he may be
seen accomplishing that is not beyond both reason and wonder?
He said to them, accordingly, “If I do not do my Father’s works,
do not believe me. But if I do them, then even if you do not be-
lieve me, believe my works.”35 For the divine is by nature invisi-
ble. For it is written, “No one has ever seen God.”36 But he is
known by us, as far at least as that is attainable, from his mighty
works, his unspeakable power, and his supreme pre-eminence.
Creation proclaims him as well; David sings accordingly, “The
heavens tell of God’s glory, and the firmament declares the work
of his hands.”37 Not only that, but the all-wise Paul writes about
him, “Since the creation of the world, what is invisible about
him, his eternal power and divinity, has been clearly perceived,
known by his works.”38
From his mighty, godlike power, therefore, which transcends
all discourse, it is possible in a way to receive knowledge con-
cerning his ineffable divinity. But God the Word, the Creator of
all, appeared to the world with the flesh; and this not in order to
destroy the existing earth and show us another, new one at pres-
ent, nor indeed to fashion other heavens after doing away with
the ones that are now, nor to execute something novel and un-
expected about the orb of the sun, nor to make something new
about the visible creation. No, it was that he might fashion us
anew unto incorruptibility when we were lying beneath the dev-
32. Cf. Am 5.20. 33. Jn 8.12.

34. Jn 12.46. 35. Jn 10.37–38.
36. Jn 1.18. 37. Ps 19.1.
38. Rom 1.20.
il’s feet and were borne down through sin into decay, that he
might render us holy and blameless once he had removed us
from all defilement according to the commands of his clemency,
and that he might set us upon the paths of that life that is fault-
less.
But39 since he was a human being as we are, visible according
to the economy (for as the prophet says, “He appeared on earth
and consorted with human beings”),40 for this reason, in order
to make it clear to us that he is God as well as truly Son of God
the Father, he performed his works, showing himself to be con-
natural and equal in operation to his own Parent, and through
the equal and indistinguishable pre-eminence and power he dis-
played, causing astonishment among those at least who recog-
nized his advent. Senseless Israel, however, was nonetheless stub-
born and wholly inclined to disbelief; chattering endlessly up
and down the length of the written law and alleging the com-
mandment given through Moses, they resisted the revelations
given through Christ, saying, “We are Moses’ disciples; as for this
man, we do not know where he is from.”41 And they kept insult-
ing him in other ways, nor was there anything ridiculous that
they did not say. Giving full rein to their perversity, as it were,
and going beyond all limits, they hastened to encompass with
death the Author of life, the Redeemer from heaven, the one
who justifies the impious by faith and renews unto incorruptibil-
ity those caught in death’s snares. Kicking against the goad42 and
bringing fire and punishment upon their own heads, they gath-
ered irreligious councils, together with their leaders, to formu-
late impossible plans. They spoke accordingly as follows, inciting
themselves to violence and blazing with a now-unquenchable
envy at the very things that ought to have provoked astonish-
ment at the wonder-worker: “What are we to do? For this man
works many signs. If we let him go on thus, the Romans will
come and destroy both our nation and our country.”43
And when44 the one who was foremost in their priesthood
39. This sentence does not hang together grammatically, and needs repair
at several points. We offer a possible translation, following the Latin.
40. Bar 3.37. 41. Jn 9.28–29.
42. Cf. Acts 26.14. 43. Jn 11.47–48.
44. Reading Ὅτε instead of Ὅτι.
drew as though from the depths of his mind that thought that
was lethal to them, and said, “You know nothing, nor does it oc-
cur to you that it behooves you that one man die for the people,
and that the whole nation not perish,”45 their counsels ran
thence to an unholy end. Those wretches arrested Jesus and de-
livered him to Pilate, making up some untruths, and urged that
he be crucified. And that is what happened, Satan acting as their
captain in this and bringing them down into the pit of destruc-
tion. But Christ endured it, and willingly submitted even to de-
scending to the death of the flesh for our sake in the economy.
For he knew, he knew indeed, the good that was to come from
the suffering. For he has not remained among the dead; he
came back to life, having bidden farewell to the bonds of death
and emptied hell. For “he said to those in bonds, ‘Come out!’
And to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’”46 And in his own
nature he became the way to incorruptibility. For it was renewed
in him, and we have sprouted afresh unto life. The blessed Paul
confirms this when he says, “Just as in Adam all die, so also in
Christ all will be brought to life.”47 Having abolished death’s
power, accordingly, he ascended to God the Father in heaven.
And he will come in due time to render to each according to his
deeds.48
Since, then, as the all-wise Paul says, “we must all appear be-
fore his bench, that each may receive good or evil, according to
what he has done in the body,”49 let us gird up the loins of our
minds, let us act courageously in doing good deeds, let us morti-
fy the pleasures of the flesh, and rid ourselves of the stains of all
immorality. Let us take pity on orphans, let us support widows,50
let us assist those in need, let us show compassion toward those
in extreme misery, let us visit prisoners;51 in sum, let us display
every kind of virtue. For thus we will fast in purity, beginning
holy Lent on the first of Phamenoth, and the week of the salvific
Paschal feast on the sixth of Pharmuthi. We break the fast on the
eleventh of Pharmuthi, late on the eve of Saturday, according to
the gospel precept. We celebrate the feast on the following day,
45. Jn 11.50. 46. Is 49.9.
47. 1 Cor 15.22. 48. Cf. Mt 16.27.
49. 2 Cor 5.10. 50. Jas 1.27.
51. Cf. Mt 25.43.
the eve of Sunday, the twelfth of Pharmuthi,52 adding thereafter
the seven weeks of the holy Eastertide for which we so deeply
long, so that, by making even this time of relaxation a kind of
image of that of the saints in heaven, we may be granted their
company, in Christ Jesus Our Lord, through whom and with
whom be glory to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, now and for
all ages. Amen.
52. April 7, 440.

FESTAL LETTER TWENTY-NINE
A.D. 441
Preface
HIS DISCOURSE has once again been composed by us
not with the purpose of attracting praise and applause,
but with a view to producing something of benefit to
the souls of those listening. Do not heap severe criticism upon
a failure to achieve the finest eloquence, but listen with an indul-
gent ear. For the feast that is prepared is not one that comes from
the pomp of the orators, but from the vegetables of the Church,
as it were.1
1. Behold, the time of our holy feast arises once again, filling
the souls of those who love virtue with all gladness, removing
from our midst the reluctance to engage in good endeavors, and
rousing us to undertake all that is held in admiration: those
things which accord with the sacred laws, which have results that
meet with the approval of God above, and which make for high
renown for those who decide to achieve them. As the divinely in-
spired Psalmist says, therefore, “It is time to act for the Lord,”2 in
making, that is, that holy and all-pure feast which we are accus-
tomed to celebrate for Christ, the Savior of us all. For as the all-
wise Paul writes, “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed,” “the
true Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.”3
It is, then, always somehow customary for those keeping festi-
val to dress well, to decorate their robes, and to free their cloth-
1. Reading οἷον instead of οἷς. Cyril’s reference to vegetables here may al-
lude whimsically to Lenten dietary restrictions.
2. Ps 119.126.
3. 1 Cor 5.7. Cf. Jn 1.29.
187
ing from all soil. Some might well say that it somehow suits this
occasion. But I would think that we should by no means concern
ourselves with the beautification that comes only from external
ornamentation, but rather bend every effort at eliminating the
defilements in the soul. For this presents us to Christ pure and
well cleansed, distinguished by the grace that comes from him,
adorned with him richly as with a garment befitting the saints.
For thus writes the all-wise Paul: “Put on the Lord Jesus, and
make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its lust.”4 When we are
thus prepared, there is nothing unreasonable about wanting to
be near the all-good God. For “you will be holy,” it says, “because
I am holy.”5
Let us, therefore, keep festival, as the divinely inspired Paul
says, “not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and
evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”6 That
means with a faith that is right and exact, added to which, of
course, is the splendor of deeds. For if these things are present
in you, they will secure a share in the way that leads straight to
one’s allotted portion, and will raise to the inheritance of the
saints those who are the best imitators of their excellence of life.
Come, then, let us reflect on when and how Moses, or rather
God acting through him, bade the law concerning the Paschal
feast to be observed: it is the first month for the Hebrews, the
one upon which the springtime smiles, when the vegetation in
copses and gardens is crowned with new foliage that has just ap-
peared, and promises a yield of fruit, the entire plain is green
with grass, the arable land is shaggy with crops, the most fragrant
flowers are adorned with all sorts of colors, and tender lambs
bound around7 their mothers, bleating sweetly and daintily.
How, then, can it be anything but completely ridiculous to see
the whole earth in bloom, while that chosen, godly animal upon
earth, man that is, remains spiritually sterile, bearing the un-
shakeable depression of sin? As sacred Scripture says, then, “let
us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let
us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,”8 not dis-
4. Rom 13.14. 5. Lv 11.45.
6. 1 Cor 5.8.
7. Reading περισκαίρουσιν instead of περισκέρουσιν.
8. Heb 12.1.
FESTAL LETTER TWENTY-NINE 189
tressed at the efforts entailed, but eager for the prizes there-
from. For it is not possible, indeed it is not, to attain anything
good and admirable while preferring to remain idle. For when
one has shackled one’s mind with laziness, how can one become
worthy of reverence, or be crowned with praise for the achieve-
ment of all that is best? Listen to the author of Proverbs: “How
long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you wake from
sleep? You sleep a little, you slumber a little, you fold your arms
on your chest a little. Then poverty happens upon you as an evil
guide.”9 And he has another way of inciting us to the desire for
virtue, by taking as an example those tiny animals that are of so
little account: “Go to the ant, you sluggard,” he says. “Emulate its
ways, and become wiser than it. For though it has no10 husband-
ry, is not under a master, and has no one to force it, it prepares
for itself food in the summer, and lays by abundant store in har-
vest. Or go to the bee and learn how industrious it is and how
respected its work is. It is wholly desired and held in honor.”11
The labors for the sake of piety are, therefore, worth taking
on for those concerned with acting manfully. Laziness, by con-
trast, is an abomination to be rejected, at least when it comes to
those brave deeds that are of the best. For it will always and infal-
libly befall those accustomed to indolence that they come to lack
all that is good. The decision to endure hardship for the sake of
virtue, on the other hand, has its reward, and will by no means
go without its recompense from on high. That this is true may
easily be seen from what happens with us. How can the husband-
man, that is, gather an abundant harvest if he folds his hands,
refuses to till, and neglects all work with the spade? If such is his
disposition, will not the fields be destitute of crops, the garden
plants bare of ripened fruit, and the rows of vines idle and with-
out grapes, as though they were paintings in still-life with noth-
ing to them except the bare sight? Or consider merchants: when
will they ever find themselves abounding in the profits so dear to
them if they persistently shrink from sailing and encountering
waves, rather than putting love of gain before all labor and fear?
Let me also mention those who bend every effort to win respect
9. Prv 6.9–11. 10. Reading μή instead of μέν.

11. Prv 6.6–8.
in wrestling schools. The divinely inspired Paul mentioned them
as well when he said, “They exercise self-control in everything,
that they may receive a perishable wreath.”12
If, then, even with our own affairs, there is none that ever
reaches the desired outcome without application and work, how
may anyone attain the heights of virtue who does not esteem the
necessity of enduring suffering, and is not eager to be borne
straight to all that is good as though by the invincible propensi-
ties of his mind? Impressing thus the intelligible and lovable
beauty of the life of the saints upon our own souls, and portray-
ing it there spiritually, we will make our petitions to God, saying,
“Lord, in your will supply strength to my beauty.”13
Now the counsel and all-effective will of God the Father is the
Son. The divinely inspired David sings to him, accordingly, “In
your counsel you have guided me.”14 For we have been guided in
Christ toward every sort of virtue. And do not be surprised if we
say that the Son has been named the counsel of God the Father,
since we will find the Father himself honored with such a title.
For “counsel” means “wisdom.” The prophet Isaiah, then, has
written about Christ, the Savior of us all, that “a child has been
born to us, and a son has been given to us, whose government is
upon his shoulder, and his name is called the messenger of great
counsel.”15 For he announced to us what concerned his own Par-
ent, and showed clearly the supernatural beauty of the substance
that is above all others,16 portraying him in his own nature. For
he is an image, “reflection and stamp of his being.”17 He said ac-
cordingly, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”18 “I and
the Father are one.”19
He is indeed completely one, in the identity, I say, of sub-
stance. How is it, then, that he has been called “child?” For, be-
ing equal in rank with his begetter, and enjoying identically all of
the divine dignities whatsoever, he became a human being, low-
ering himself in an emptying and submitting to birth20 from a
12. 1 Cor 9.25. 13. Ps 29.8 (LXX).
14. Ps 73.24. 15. Is 9.6.
16. Reading πασῶν instead of παντός.
17. Heb 1.3. 18. Jn 14.9.
19. Jn 10.30.
20. Reading ἀπότεξιν instead of ἀπόταξιν.
woman, like us. The Spirit-bearer, however, says that he “has
21
been given” to us.22 For it was not for himself that “he emptied
himself,”23 and put on the poverty of our state; it was that we
might abound in what is his, and, having washed away sin with its
ignominy and profanation, might gain through him purification
through faith. For as the Son himself says, “God loved the world
so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, that everyone who
believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life.”24
Faith is, accordingly, something truly salvific. It justifies the
impious, and, rendering them free of all guilt, joins them to
Christ. It crowns with the splendor of sonship those who cleave
to him wholeheartedly, and this through sanctification and jus-
tice, the latter not being that which is according to the law, but
that which is holy and evangelical. He said to the holy apostles,
accordingly, “Amen I say to you, if your justice does not surpass
that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom
of the God of heaven.”25 And the all-wise Paul writes, “Now it is
evident that no one is justified before God by the law.”26 And fur-
ther, “We ourselves, who are Jews by birth and not gentile sin-
ners, yet who know that a human being is not justified by works
of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have be-
lieved in Christ, that we might be justified in him.”27
2. Here you might ask: if the law was of no use at all, and if
their abode among the ancient letters was no help at all toward
achieving purification for those caught in sin, then why ever was
it given in the first place? To this we reply that the law given in
writing was ministered by angels, with Moses mediating. It was
an image of the truth and a sort of representation of piety lead-
ing toward it through figure and shadow.28 The most holy Paul
writes, then, “So that the law was our instructor until Christ
came.”29 And this, too, originated from the wisdom above, a
21. Paul. 22. Cf. Rom 5.5.
23. Phil 2.8. 24. Jn 3.16.
25. Mt 5.20. 26. Gal 3.11.
27. Gal 2.15–16.
28. For a discussion of Cyril’s exegetical methods, see the introduction in
FOTC 118, 9–12.
29. Gal 3.24.
demonstration of skillfulness befitting the divine. For just as
those eager to achieve renown in coppersmithery exercise them-
selves at it thoroughly, and do not work with the material re-
quired for it during their first attempts, but practice the art us-
ing wax, forming with it the shapes of the vessels; just so, we
would say, was Israel educated by the figures of truth so as to pro-
ceed little by little toward the fully good. This was the power of
the way of life in Christ, the one, I mean, that was proclaimed by
the revelations in the Gospels.
There is also another way of responding, not without merit,
for those who wish to speak as they should, to the question of
why the grace that comes through faith was not given at the out-
set to those over the whole earth, and why the commandment
given through Moses had to precede it and start first. Sin reigned
over us, and controlled everyone on earth. For a cruel tyrant
pressed us, plunging us into the mire of carnal sensuality, and
with easy power conducting the will of each person to every kind
of wickedness. And there was no way to be freed from the yoke
of his arrogance. What those upon earth needed, what they
needed indeed, was then the immeasurably great, incomparable
kindness from above, which is from God and which justifies the
impious30 while placing them beyond punishment and penalty.
Those whose stain of wickedness had become ineradicably ab-
sorbed needed the grace that comes from faith in Christ to shine
forth. For it was impossible otherwise to escape both the snares
of sin and the cruelty of the devil’s tyranny.
In order that the extent of the grace and generosity offered
through Christ might be realized,31 a law was first introduced
that in no way justified anyone, but rather convicted the weak-
ness of those32 at the time. It was, then, a conviction of sin,
pronouncing a curse upon those who sinned. For it is written,
“Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all the things writ-
ten in the book of this law, and do them.”33 The most holy Paul
will once again confirm that what I say is quite true. He writes,
30. Reading ἀσεβῆ instead of εὐσεβῆ.

31. Reading ἀγνοῆται instead of ἀγνοῆτε.
32. Reading τῶν instead of τόν.
33. Gal 3.10; cf. Dt 27.26.
“The law was established because of transgressions.” And fur-
34
ther, “Law came in to increase the trespass.”35 With those under

the law being weak, and always transgressing, the trespass was
excessive. With the law accordingly convicting the weakness of
those under it, what those on earth needed was he who justifies
in faith, and not from works of the law. This was Christ, about
whom it is written, “Yet a little while, yet a little while more and
the coming one shall come and shall not tarry. And if he shrinks
back, my soul has no pleasure in him.36 But the just one shall live
by my faith.37 For the God of all has not desired sacrifice and of-
fering. And in burnt offerings and sin offerings he has taken no
pleasure,”38 since, as Christ himself said, “God is spirit, and those
who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”39
3. This is what he kept teaching in synagogues, adding the

miracles to what he said, and those things that befit that nature
alone which is above all, he accomplished with the greatest ease,
or rather with his all-powerful will. For he had only to decide to
do them. But those from Israel despised him in the barren hard-
ness of their minds. They opposed the revelations he offered,
giving little if any weight to his miracles, and in their unbridled
fury giving vent to the most abusive language. Him who called
them to life and who made the knowledge of virtue flash forth
upon all, they called a Samaritan,40 a glutton, a drunkard,41 a bas-
tard, and a carpenter’s son.42 And for what reason? Because they
did not want to have straight paths in life. Bound tightly by the
chains of their own passions, accordingly, stained ineradicably by
their sensuality, and conquered by unholy dirty money, they did
not accept those words which might have led them off in the di-
rection of proper behavior. They are, then, clearly convicted, as
Christ, the Savior of us all, says: “Everyone who does evil hates
the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should
be convicted.”43
34. Gal 3.19. 35. Rom 5.20.

36. Heb 10.37–38. 37. Cf. Rom 1.17; Hab 2.4.
38. Heb 10.5–6. Cf. Ps 40.6. 39. Jn 4.24.
40. Jn 8.48. 41. Mt 11.19.
42. Mt 13.55. 43. Jn 3.20.
What, then, did they do who did not endure to admit the di-
vine light into their minds? They reviled the one who called
them to life, as I said, they stoned the messenger of truth, and
finally they crucified him, making up falsehoods and subjecting
him who is free of all sin to criticism44 and accusation. Some of
them told Pilate and Caiaphas, “We have seen this man stirring
up the crowds, and forbidding tribute to be paid to Caesar.”45
Others said, “He has blasphemed against the divine temple.”46
But our Lord Jesus Christ has undergone47 death in the flesh
willingly, in order that by treading upon it, and being raised
from the dead, he may be recognized48 as life and life-giver, and
as God thereby. For he did not remain among the dead like one
of those in our condition; he came back to life, making the new
path of resurrection from the dead for human nature. Paul testi-
fies to this when he writes, “For just as in Adam all die, so also in
Christ all will be brought to life.”49 Our Lord Jesus Christ has ac-
cordingly become for us the root, the way, and the occasion of
hope for incorruption. For death reigned from Adam until Mo-
ses. But it fell from its tyranny over us, and lost its power in
Christ. For we are born no longer for death, as though from cor-
ruptible seed, but unto the hope of life, taking Christ as our
leader. The divinely inspired Paul writes, then, to those who be-
lieved in him, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with
Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will
appear with him in glory.”50
For he will come, he will come in due time in the glory of his
Father, and will descend once again from heaven with the holy
angels, “that he may judge the earth in justice,”51 as is written.
Since, then, we are to stand before the divine bench, and render
an account of our own life,52 let us conduct ourselves holily, and
practice every form of virtuousness, cleansing ourselves of every
stain of flesh and spirit,53 being satisfied with what we have, and
44. Reading μῶμον instead of νόμον.
45. Cf. Lk 23.2.
46. Cf. Mt 26.61; Mk 14.58.
47. Reading ὑπομεμένηκεν instead of ἀπομεμένηκεν.
48. Reading γνωρίζηται instead of γνωρίζεται.
49. 1 Cor 15.22. 50. Col 3.3–4.
51. Ps 9.9. 52. Cf. 2 Cor 5.10.
53. Cf. 2 Cor 7.1.
otherwise considering an annoyance whatever is superfluous.
Let us share the suffering of those in misery, assist those who la-
bor, remember those in fetters as sharing their bonds,54 consol-
ing those who are infirm, showing compassion for the tears of
the orphan and widow,55 helping those in poverty as far as possi-
ble, and, in a word, practicing every good deed. For then we will
celebrate a holy and all-pure feast, beginning holy Lent on the
sixteenth of Mechir, and the week of the holy, salvific Paschal
feast on the twenty-first of Phamenoth. We break the fast on the
twenty-sixth of Phamenoth, late on the eve of Saturday, accord-
ing to the gospel proclamations. We keep the feast on the next
day, the eve of Sunday, the twenty-seventh of Phamenoth,56 add-
ing thereto the seven weeks of holy Eastertide, so that, by danc-
ing the time of relaxation away with the saints in heaven as they
leap and rejoice, we may be granted their company in Christ Je-
sus our Lord. To him be the glory and the power with the Father
and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and for all ages. Amen.
54. Cf. Mt 25.43. 55. Cf. Jas 1.27.

56. March 23, 441.
FESTAL LETTER THIRTY
A.D. 444
HOSE WHOSE sacred ministry is the august and divine

proclamation, the one, that is, which comes through
Christ, the Savior of us all, are ordered by the Holy Spir-
it through the Psalmist’s lyre to “blow the trumpet at the new
moon, on the glorious day of our feast. For it is an ordinance
for Israel, and a statute for the God of Jacob.”1 By “new moon”
he means2 in this place the new and, as it were, just-blossomed
time of the Advent of our Savior, in which “all that is old has
passed away, and all has become new,”3 as the divinely inspired
Paul says, and which is a kind of beginning of a new age. We
must therefore blow the trumpet at this time, which means say-
ing to people everywhere in words that resound most clearly and
piercingly, “The Lord is God, and he has shone upon us; hold
a festival in the coverings unto the horns of the altar.”4 What is
meant by the words “hold the festival in the coverings” I will try
to explain as best I may.
The tent of old was set up in the desert. But it had a double
arrangement; one part was the first, which had the altar for the
worship that was according to the law. In it those who still hon-
ored God through shadow and figures were bidden to sacrifice
cattle and slaughter sheep, with smoke. The second, which ad-
joined5 the first and was further within, separated from it by a
curtain, was called6 the Holy of Holies. Here the propitiatory7
was a figure of Christ, the Cherubim covering it in the posture
1. Ps 81.3. 2. Reading φησιν instead of φασιν.

3. 2 Cor 5.17. 4. Ps 117.27 (LXX).
5. Correcting προσευχῆς to προσεχής.
6. Correcting αὐτῷ to αὐτῇ.
7. Reading ἱλαστήριον instead of θυσιαστήριον.
196
FESTAL LETTER THIRTY 197
of divine service, their attitude that of those in God’s presence.
There was located there a golden altar as well, on which the fine-
ly compounded ointment was burned, which was so skillfully
concocted of such a variety of spices.8
But as the all-wise Paul writes, “These preparations having thus
been made, the priests go continually into the first tent, perform-
ing their ritual service; but into the second only the high priest
goes, and he but once a year, and not without blood which he of-
fers for himself and for the errors of the people. By this the Holy
Spirit indicates that the way into the sanctuary is not yet opened
as long as the first tent is still standing, which is symbolic for the
present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered which
cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper.”9
As long, then, as the form of worship in accordance with the
law given through Moses held sway, the things that are subject to
figures had their position in the first tent. For it was not permit-
ted10 to those wanting to do so to rush into the holy, innermost
tent. Only the one who was chief among the priests went in,
once a year, and “not without blood,” as is written.
But since, as Paul writes from his expert knowledge of the law
and of the sacred writings on which he was nurtured, “Christ,
having appeared as a high priest of the good things that are to
come, entered once for all, through the greater and more per-
fect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation,11 into
the Holy of Holies, not with the blood of goats and calves but
with his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption,”12 let
us, too, declining to take a position in the first tent, follow Christ,
enter into the Holy of Holies, and “hold the festival in the cover-
ings,”13 where the propitiatory is as a figure of Christ, the Cheru-
bim covering it with their wings. Let us offer God not sacrifices
that are bloody, but that fine, composite sacrifice which is the
sweet fragrance coming from virtues, the spiritual and unbloody
worship.
It seems to me also that I should quote you the words, “Let us
8. Cf. Ex 30.34–38. 9. Heb 9.6–9.

10. Reading ἐξῆν instead of ἐξῆς.
11. Reading κτίσεως instead of πίστεως.
12. Heb 9.11–12. 13. Cf. Ps 117.27 (LXX).
cleanse ourselves of every defilement of flesh and spirit. Let us
make holiness perfect in the fear of God.”14 For it is not possible
for those who do not want to act wickedly, no, it is not, to go into
the Holy of Holies with unwashed feet, as it were. That is what
the God of all showed us when he said to Moses, the sacred
teacher, “Make a bronze laver, and a bronze base for it, for wash-
ing, and you will put it between the tent of witness and the altar.
And you will pour water into it, and Aaron and his sons will wash
their hands and feet with water from it when they go into the
tent of witness; they will wash with water and will not die.”15
2. Now these things are replete with the beauties of truth in

figurative form, while it is Christ, who is truth, that frees us from
all defilement. How or in what way this is, he will teach us in the
words of Isaiah: “Wash yourselves and become clean, remove
your iniquities from your souls before my eyes. Cease from your
iniquities, learn to do good, seek judgment, rescue those who
are wronged, judge the orphan, and do justice for the widow.
Come now, let us speak together, says the Lord. Though your
sins be like crimson, I will make them white as snow; and though
they be like scarlet, I will make them white as wool.”16
The divinely inspired Psalmist also mentions this so radiant,
amiable grace when he says to Christ, the Savior of all, “You will
sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be cleansed; you will wash
me, and I will become whiter than snow.”17 [This grace], then,
makes [one] white through holy baptism, stopping the mouth of
sin and melting away every defilement that is in us in an intelli-
gible and spiritual way. The divinely inspired John speaks as fol-
lows, accordingly, when addressing the Jewish . . .18 “I baptize you
with water for repentance, but after me is coming one mightier
than I; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”19 For
when the activity and power of the Holy Spirit comes into us and
finds a soul rankly overgrown, then indeed it falls upon it like
fire and devours what is like useless matter, consuming the pollu-
tion of sin.
14. 2 Cor 7.1. 15. Ex 30.18–21.
16. Is 1.16–18. 17. Ps 51.7.
18. The text is corrupt here.
19. Mt 3.11; Mk 1.8; Lk 3.16; Jn 1.26.
Now it is faith in Christ that is found to be the approach to
this reality and a sort of road leading to this so splendid and de-
sirable grace. The divinely inspired David, accordingly, all but
points with his finger in showing it to us when he says, “This is
the Lord’s gate, the just will enter through it.”20 For the law given
through Moses was revealed to those of the stock of Israel
through the ministry of angels. But it was a conviction of sin and
demonstration of transgression, quite useless21 as a means of jus-
tifying anyone. The all-wise Paul writes, accordingly, “Now it is
evident that no one is justified before God by the law. For the
law brings wrath.”22 For it immediately set out the punishments
corresponding to each person’s lapses.
The law being weak, therefore, and unable to rub away pollu-
tion or free anyone from guilt, the God of all gave the grace that
comes through faith, and justification in Christ, to those23 every-
where on earth. The divinely inspired Paul again confirms this
when he writes, “For through the law comes knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart
from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it,
the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all
who believe. For there is no distinction; since all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace
as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”24 It is
the special glory, befitting uniquely and particularly the nature
that is regarded as beyond all that is generated, to be sinless in
everything and, completely unshakeable, to be able in no re-
spect to fail in doing what is right. But we ourselves do not come
up to this; we fall short, as Paul in his supreme wisdom says; it is
not unusual for us to be caught in the snares of sin and through
our tendencies to wickedness to descend to further depravity. As
holy Scripture says, however, “For where sin increased, grace
abounded all the more.”25 One may indeed observe how thirsty
for this grace those people were who did not know the mystery
20. Ps 118.20.
21. Reading ἀνόνητος instead of ἀνόητος.
22. Cf. Gal 3.10; Rom 4.15.
23. Reading δικαίωσιν τοῖς instead of δικαίως ἐστὶ τήν.
24. Rom 3.20–24.
25. Rom 5.20.
of the Incarnation of the Only-Begotten. Paul accordingly writes
from his supreme knowledge of the law, “We ourselves, who are
Jews by birth and not gentile sinners, yet who know that a hu-
man being is not justified by works of the law but through faith
in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we
may be justified in him.”26
3. And do not suppose that God decreed the law of old as suf-
ficing to render some people free of the guilt coming from
weakness, and that when he failed of his purpose, it was as
though he pondered further and then thought up the way that
is through faith in Christ. This was not the way of it, not by far.
Realize rather that even before he had so much as fashioned the
first human being from earth, knowing as he did what was to be,
and the perversity of the devil’s cunning, and perceiving in ad-
vance the way to render us assistance, the mystery of Christ that
is, he established the law through Moses as a conviction of sin
and accuser of the weakness that afflicts everyone, and wisely
showed the commandment that condemns before the grace that
justifies, that the grace might evoke even greater wonder. For it
is where there is cause for grief that that which gladdens appears
most vividly.
Now we can easily see that the mystery of Christ is something
ancient, when sacred Scripture speaks to us again in this way. I
mean that blessed Paul speaks again somewhere as follows:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heav-
enly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of
the world, that we might be holy and blameless before him in
love, having destined us to be his adoptive sons through Jesus
Christ.”27 You see, then, the ways we have been blessed, even be-
fore the foundation of the world, and have been destined to be
sons in Christ Jesus. Indeed, salvific baptism itself was prefigured
to those of old, and to us after them, through the very ark. For
the just man Noah was saved in it through faith, even though the
whole earth had been condemned by God’s own decree. For he
26. Gal 2.16.
27. Eph 1.3–5.
loosed the flood upon all. It is written of him, accordingly, “By
faith Noah, being warned by God before events not yet seen,
took heed and constructed an ark for the saving of his house-
hold; by this he condemned the world and became an heir of
the righteousness which comes by faith.”28
And that this happened as a figure of holy baptism is con-
firmed by the divinely inspired Peter when he says concerning
Christ, the Savior of us all, “Christ also died for sins once for all,
the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to
God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.
In which he went and preached to the fathers29 in prison, who
formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of
Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is,
eight souls, were saved through water. Baptism, which corre-
sponds to this, now saves us, not as a removal of fleshly defile-
ment but as a pledge to God of a clear conscience.”30
Now what does this mean: “a pledge to God from a clear con-
science”? It is a confession of faith in Christ, which it is our cus-
tom to make in the presence of many witnesses as well, and not
just those human ones dignified by the honor of the divine min-
istry, but also the rational powers who minister to God, zealous
to achieve what is for his glory. And those who pronounce the
profession of faith unwaveringly must, I claim, avoid being shak-
en from it in any way. For it is written, “My beloved brothers and
sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work31
of the Lord.”32
4. For it happens sometimes that men reared in the company

of ignorance buffet certain people around, even some of those
who have already become believers, giving their neighbor foul
perversion to drink, as is written,33 and as though “from the wick-
ed treasure of their hearts”34 spewing out their wickedness and
belching forth the poison of the devil’s perversity. They dispar-
28. Heb 11.7.

29. Πατράσι instead of πνεύμασιν as in the received text.
30. 1 Pt 3.18–22. 31. Reading ἔργῳ instead of οἴκῳ.
32. 1 Cor 15.58. 33. Cf. Hab 2.15.
34. Cf. Mt 12.35.
age that substance and glory which are beyond everything, and
do all in their power to bring down from his supernal throne the
Word engendered from God the Father, numbering among
creatures the Creator and Artificer of everything: whom all of
his works venerate35 trembling, gloriously crowned as he is with
the dignities of his true36 and natural divinity. “For every knee
bends37 to him, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and
every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father.”38
There are, in addition to these, some who divide him who is
indivisible, the one Christ, and who pervert the splendid beauty
of the truth, even though the divinely inspired Paul has written
to us clearly and distinctly, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.”39
But if there were two lords, then there would certainly have to
be two faiths and as many baptisms. Let us give those who think
so short shrift as pests and plagues, and, pulling40 our foot from
the snare, let us say in the word of the Psalm, “Blessed be the
Lord, who did not give us as prey to their teeth. The snare has
been broken, and we have been rescued.”41 For we have been re-
deemed in the death of Christ, “who gave himself for our sins,”
according to the Scriptures, “to deliver us from the present evil
age, according to the will of God the Father.”42
For since, as we said, it was impossible to wash away the defile-
ment of wickedness or of sin by means of the form of worship
that is according to the law and which has nothing besides fig-
ures and shadows, the very Word who is from God the Father,
having become a human being on our account and for us, while
remaining what he was, God that is, gave his own body to death,
that he might ransom us from death and decay by his own blood.
He spoke, accordingly, to God the Father in the heavens through
the voice of David, saying, “Sacrifice and offering you did not
35. Correcting σείεται to σέβεται.

36. Reading ἀληθοῦς instead of ἀληθείας.
37. Reading κάμπτει instead of συνάπτει.
38. Phil 2.10.
39. Eph 4.5.
40. Reading ἱέντες instead of ἰόντες.
41. Ps 124.6–7.
42. Gal 1.4.
want, in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no
pleasure, but a body you have prepared for me. Then I said, ‘Be-
hold, I have come. In the roll of the book it is written about me,
I have chosen to do your will, O God.’”43
Observe, therefore, observe how he says clearly, “A body you
have prepared for me.” For he was and is incorporeal as God.
How is it, then, O Jew, that you have not known the economy that
is so ineffable and august? How is it that you have not accepted
the incorporeal One who became incarnate for you? the one
above all creation who descends in the economy unto the dimen-
sions of humanity? the one who enriches those in heaven and
who bears your poverty? the Lord of all who took the form of a
slave?
But you may reply: he appeared to be a human being like us.
How is it, then, that you have forgotten the writings of Moses?
For he spoke somewhere to you about him: “A prophet like me
the Lord your God will raise up for you from your brothers, ac-
cording to all that you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb;
him you will hear.”44 The passage indicated that he was to be as a
human being and as of the holy prophets. The divinely inspired
Isaiah says, accordingly, “Behold, the virgin will conceive in the
womb, and will bear a son, and they will call his name Immanu-
el,” which means, “God With Us.”45 And Immanuel’s birth was
surprising, for he came forth from a Virgin never married. You
say, nonetheless, in accordance with the laws of humanity, that
he appeared as a human being from a woman, as far at least as
his body and appearance went. And yet you saw in addition to
this that he had a glory completely befitting the divine, made
splendid with the highest honors, fulfilling the Father’s works.
For the power to bring the dead to life when they are already
foul with the stench of putrefaction, to send light into those de-
prived of eyesight, to render the lame sound of foot, and to free
lepers of their disease with a touch and a word of command,
dwells solely in that substance which is above all others.
Tell me, then: did you want the Word of God, the Creator and
Artificer of the universe, to shine upon those on earth in his un-
43. Ps 40.6–8. 44. Dt 18.15–16.

45. Is 7.14.
clothed divinity? Who, then, could bear a sight so unspeakably
frightening? Do you not see that the bodily eye cannot46 gaze
steadily at the glare of the sun’s47 rays? How, then, could it look
at that light which is unapproachable48 and beyond all wonder?
He therefore sojourned among us as a human being, making it
possible for all to bear his presence, so that, being as one of
those who are as we are, and going about together and living
with us, he might show us the way to a pious manner of life in or-
der to rescue us from the snares of pagan superstition,49 and so
that he might institute the true and spiritual worship.
But that abominable, malicious, wicked beast, Satan, did not
remain quiet; having subjected the whole earth to himself by his
deception and greed, and having drowned it in the mires of sin,
he saw himself ejected from the domination he had over us, and,
unexpectedly expelled from the power he had exercised over
those he had seized long ago, he thought that here was just an-
other human being like one of the prophets of old, and nothing
else. He had in fact brought about their deaths, having incited
the Jews against them in their perversity. He once again, accord-
ingly, injected them with the poison of his perversion. They, for
their part, scorning their own salvation, sprang at him boldly,
and, in the savagery and murderous hatred that filled them,
went so far as to crucify him.
Now did they lay hold of someone who was unwilling, some-
one who did not know that he would suffer? On the contrary; he
saw in advance his suffering, and the audacity of the Jews in their
hostility to God, and accordingly he spoke at one time through
the holy prophets, “They gave me also gall for my food, and in
my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”50 And again, “They di-
vided my garments among them, and cast lots for my raiment.”51
And he says through Isaiah, “I gave my back to scourges, and my
cheeks to blows, and I did not turn my face away from the shame
of spitting.”52
46. Reading ἔχει instead of ἔχειν.
47. Reading ἡλιακῆς instead of Κυριακῆς.
48. Correcting πρόσβλητον to ἀπρόσβλητον.
49. Reading δεισιδαιμονίας instead of δυσειδαιμονίας.
50. Ps 69.21. 51. Ps 22.18.
52. Is 50.6.
He was not, then, unaware that he would suffer. Able as he
was to avoid the snares, therefore, he gave his own body willingly
to death for a short time, so that, once raised from the dead, he
might destroy the power of death, that he might undo the devil’s
envy, through which death entered human nature, and that he
might refashion us unto incorruptibility and everlasting life.
“For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be brought
to life.”53 He was raised on the third day, accordingly, having
plundered hell, and after his return to heaven is seated with his
own Father. And he will come in due time to judge the living
and the dead.
5. Since, then, we are to stand our trial before the judge, let
us, once we have cast hesitation aside, hastened away from all
sin, and all but bade farewell to the distractions of the present
life, practice justice, continence, charity, and love of the poor;
let us visit those54 in prison;55 let us care for those suffering from
bodily illnesses; let us assist orphans; let us commiserate with the
tears of widows;56 and let us love one another fervently. For if we
conduct ourselves in this way, we will celebrate the holy and all-
pure festival, beginning holy Lent on the sixth of Phamenoth,
and the week of the august and salvific Paschal feast on the elev-
enth of Pharmuthi. We break our fast on the sixteenth of Phar-
muthi, late on the eve of Saturday, according to the gospel pre-
cept. We celebrate the feast on the following day, the eve of
Sunday, the seventeenth of Pharmuthi,57 adding thereto the sev-
en weeks of holy Eastertide, so that, in considering the time of
relaxation58 to be a sort of image of the repose of the saints in
heaven, we may be granted their company in Christ Jesus our
Lord. Through him and with him be glory to the Father with the
Holy Spirit, now and always, and for endless ages. Amen.
53. 1 Cor 15.22. 54. Reading τούς instead of τοῖς.
55. Mt 25.43. 56. Jas 1.27.
57. April 12, 444.
58. Reading ἀνέσεως instead of ἀναστάσεως.
APPENDIX
INDICES
APPENDIX
The Dates of Easter Announced by
Cyril’s Festal Letters 1
Festal Letter Alexandrian Date Equivalent Other Churches
(19 pharmouthi) April 14, 412

I (1) 26 phamenoth March 22, 414
II (2) 16 pharmouthi April 11, 415
IV (3)2 7 pharmouthi April 2, 416
V (4) 27 pharmouthi April 22, 417 March 25 in
some Western
churches
VI (5) 12 pharmouthi April 7, 418
VII (6) 4 pharmouthi March 30, 419
VIII (7) 23 pharmouthi April 18, 420
IX (8) 8 pharmouthi April 3, 421 April 10
Elsewhere
X (9) 30 phamenoth March 26, 422
XI (10) 20 pharmouthi April 15, 423
XII (11) 11 pharmouthi April 6, 424 March 23 in
Africa(Roman)
1. The following chart is taken from Évieux, 92–93. It shows the dates of Eas-
ter for the whole of Cyril’s episcopate and illustrates some of the confusion sur-
rounding the dating of Easter that continued to exist even in the fifth century.
2. Although the twenty-nine letters run in uninterrupted sequence from
414–442, a scribal error has resulted in the omission of a letter three in the
manuscript tradition.
209
210 APPENDIX
Festal Letter Alexandrian Date Equivalent Other Churches
XIII (12) 24 pharmouthi April 19, 425 March 22 in

some Western
churches
XIV (13) 16 pharmouthi April 11, 426
XV (14) 8 pharmouthi April 3, 427
XVI (15) 27 pharmouthi April 22, 428
XVII (16) 12 pharmouthi April 7, 429
XVIII (17) 4 pharmouthi March 30, 430
XIX (18) 24 pharmouthi April 19, 431
XX (19) 8 pharmouthi April 3, 432
XXI (20) 30 phamenoth March 26, 433
XXII (21) 20 pharmouthi April 15, 434
XXIII (22) 5 pharmouthi March 31, 435
XXIV (23) 24 pharmouthi April 19, 436
XXV (24) 16 pharmouthi April 11, 437
XXVI (25) 1 pharmouthi March 27, 438
XXVII (26) 21 pharmouthi April 16, 439
XXVIII (27) 12 pharmouthi April 7, 440
XXIX (28) 27 phamenoth March 23, 441 March 30 in
some Western
churches
XXX (29) 17 pharmouthi April 12, 442
(28 pharmouthi) April 28, 444 March 26 in
some Western
churches
GENERAL INDEX
Abraham, 4, 40, 68, 98, 115, 123, creation, 15, 49, 63n28, 79, 97, 103,
140, 161 117, 131, 140, 153, 182–83, 197,
Adam, 123, 136, 144, 174, 185, 194, 203
205 Creator, 4, 6, 20, 26, 39, 55, 71, 79,
angels, 27, 56, 59, 62, 68, 72, 79, 98, 85, 93, 96, 110, 112, 126, 127,
108, 110, 123, 133, 140, 153, 161, 129, 162–63, 171, 179, 183, 202–3
162, 171, 179, 191, 194, 199 cross, 34, 36, 54, 86, 88, 95,102, 107,
ascetic, asceticism, 16, 29n3, 76n7, 112
92n22, 117n9 crucified, crucifixion, 18, 27, 41, 56,
astrology, 21n26, 22n29, 24 72, 98, 107, 121, 133, 141, 164,
174, 185, 194
barbarian, 5, 7, 20–21, 80, 155, 160
demons, 4, 6, 21, 79, 112, 157, 161,
Christ, 3, 5–9, 11–12, 14, 15, 17–18, 166
26, 28, 29–31, 35n20, 40–42, devil, 3, 5n14, 6, 9–10, 26–27, 39, 55,
44–54, 56–57, 60–61, 63–73, 79, 110, 132, 139–40, 143, 155, 161–
82–83, 85–87, 88–91, 93–95, 97, 62, 178–79, 192, 200–201, 205. See
99, 100, 102–5, 108, 109–14, also Satan
115–17, 119, 121, 124–45, 127– doctrine, 21, 26, 53, 86, 97, 100–103,
32, 134, 135, 138–45, 147–48, 109, 117n16, 119, 127, 138
153, 154–57, 159, 162–65, 166–
69, 172, 174–75, 177–78, 180, Easter, dating of, 14, 28, 42, 45, 56–
182, 184–86, 187–88, 190–95, 57, 73, 87, 98–99, 108, 114, 125,
196–202, 205; as a human being, 134, 145, 153, 165, 175, 185–86,
11, 27, 55, 63, 64, 67, 69, 70, 71, 195, 205
82; mediator between God and economy, 17, 37–38, 40–41, 42n46,
humans, 12, 14, 40 48, 51, 55–56, 62–64, 67, 70, 72,
Christology, 36n20, 63n29, 64n32, 83, 85, 94, 102, 117, 122, 124,
71n73, 102n10 130, 133, 146, 152, 163, 173, 184–
Church as bride, 5 85, 203
consubstantial, 36, 113, 140, 146 Egypt, Egyptian, 9–10, 49, 84, 90,
corruptible, corruption, 4, 11, 19–20, 104, 118, 143, 166
26–28, 39–40, 56, 71, 75, 83, 125, Ephesus, 109n1
143–44, 147, 152, 181, 194 Esdras, 79
covenant, 41, 50, 118–19, 124, 130– Evil One. See Satan, devil
31 exodus, 47, 144, 156
211
212 GENERAL INDEX
famine, 160 Immanuel, 11, 65, 67, 69, 83, 105,
fast, fasting, 10, 13–16, 20, 27–28, 110, 112, 124, 173, 182, 203
42, 46, 56, 67, 73, 76, 78–82, 86, impassibility of God, 174
87, 99, 106, 108, 109–11, 114, Incarnation, 4, 12n52, 39, 71–72,
116–17, 125, 134, 136–37, 145, 82–83, 123, 142, 200
153, 154, 165, 168, 175–76, 185, incorruption, incorruptible, 4–5, 27,
195, 205 71, 86, 111, 113, 117n14, 133,
Father. See God the Father 143, 162, 164, 174, 183–85, 205
figures, 7–8, 15, 30, 33, 40, 43–44,
47–51, 54, 59, 68, 80, 82–85, 90, Jerusalem, 78, 131, 157
104, 107, 119–22, 124, 128–29, Jew, Jewish, 8, 12–13, 30, 53, 66, 72,
144, 156, 163, 172, 177–79, 182, 77–78, 81, 86, 98, 111, 127, 129,
191–92, 196–97, 200–202 132–33, 164, 174, 182n30, 191,
free choice, 39 198, 200, 203–4
judgment, 16, 37, 61, 69, 86, 111,
gentiles, 84, 127–30, 132, 152, 191, 164, 170, 198
200
God the Father, 3–4, 6, 8, 9, 11–14, kenosis, 63n32
17, 26–28, 34–36, 42, 49, 51, 55–
57, 60, 62, 64–65, 69–72, 84–87, Law, law, 4, 7–9, 11, 14–16, 18, 20,
94–95, 97–99, 101–3, 108, 110, 24, 26, 30–33, 35, 39, 43–45, 48,
113–14, 121–25, 130–31, 133–34, 50–55, 59, 61, 64–66, 68, 72, 82,
136, 138, 140, 145, 147–48, 153, 88, 90, 91–94, 96–98, 100, 104–5,
161, 164–66, 167, 170–71, 174– 107, 110–12, 115, 118–19, 121–
75, 183–86, 190, 194–95, 200, 24, 127–30, 132, 137–42, 144,
202–3, 205 147–50, 155–63, 172, 177–79,
grace, 18, 46, 67, 74, 88–89, 97, 102, 182, 184, 187–88, 191–93, 196–
105, 133, 137, 159, 163, 168, 170, 97, 199–200, 202–3
172, 180, 188, 192, 198–200 Lent, 14, 28, 42, 56, 73, 87, 98, 108,
Greeks, 20, 40, 117n14 114, 125, 134, 145, 153, 164, 175,
185, 187n1, 195, 205
Holy Spirit, 4, 6, 14, 19, 24, 28, 31,
36, 42, 47, 50, 57, 72–73, 76–77, marriage, 131n24
79, 82, 84–85, 87, 94, 97–99, 101– Mary, Mother of God, 13, 37, 64–66,
2, 104, 108, 113, 119, 122, 125– 64n34, 93, 102, 105, 113, 173,
26, 128, 133, 134–35, 142, 145, 174, 203
153–54, 156, 165, 169, 175, 186, Moses, 7, 9, 25–26, 29, 32–33, 39–40,
195–98, 205 44, 47, 48–49, 51, 53, 55, 59, 67–
human nature, 12n52, 13, 24, 26, 69, 80, 82, 84–86, 88, 90, 94, 96–
35n20, 36–37, 62, 63n28, 64, 97, 100, 104–5, 113, 118–19, 123,
67n54, 70, 83, 86, 93, 108, 110, 128–29, 132, 139, 142–44, 149,
113, 122, 128, 133, 135, 164, 174, 156, 158, 160, 162–63, 166, 172,
194, 205 177, 180–92, 184, 188, 191–92,
hypostasis, 11 194, 197–200, 203
idolatry, idols, 131–32, 155, 158–60, Origen, 24n31, 131n24

181
GENERAL INDEX 213
pagan, 86, 127, 204 Satan, 4, 31, 46, 54, 66, 72, 96, 105,
passions, 11, 16, 29–31, 33–34, 124, 131, 166, 178, 180, 185, 204.
35n20, 38, 49, 53, 73, 75–76, 92– See also devil
93, 98, 116, 121, 128, 168, 171, Scripture, 5, 7, 11, 13, 26, 30, 35,
180, 193 40, 41, 45, 46, 49, 51–52, 60, 63,
Passover, 44, 45n10, 47, 48, 51, 52, 79, 80, 95, 100, 113, 115, 119–21,
60, 89, 187 123, 130, 144, 146, 149, 155, 158,
Paul, 4, 7–10, 16, 18, 30, 31, 34, 47– 181, 188, 199–200, 202
48, 50, 64–67, 72, 76, 80, 86, 88– sin, 3–4, 6, 10–11, 16–17, 20, 26, 28,
90, 92–94, 96–97, 103, 106, 115, 31, 39, 42, 47, 49, 54–55, 60–61,
117–18, 121, 125, 127–28, 132, 65, 70–73, 81, 83, 86, 88, 90–94,
135, 139–40, 142–43, 148, 152– 96–97, 103, 105–7, 110–11, 113,
53, 154–56, 161–62, 168, 171, 118, 126, 127–28, 133, 136, 138–
182–83, 185, 187–88, 190–92, 42, 150–51, 154, 156, 162–63,
194, 196–97, 199–200, 202 166, 170–71, 175, 178, 182, 184,
pleasures, dangers of, 3, 14, 16, 18, 187–88, 191–94, 198–205
33, 53, 75, 77, 79, 91–93, 106, slave, slavery, 8–9, 11, 36, 84, 98, 101,
116, 120, 125, 127, 130, 137, 176, 110–11, 159, 161, 172–73, 178,
185 203
polytheism, 7, 40 Spirit. See Holy Spirit
poor, care for, 6, 8, 14, 42, 56, 61,
94–95, 98, 101, 108, 114, 153, 205 theotokos. See Mary
priesthood, 115, 124, 162, 184 Trinity, 36, 113
prophets, 4–6, 11, 15, 21–22, 24–25,
30–31, 39–41, 44–47, 53, 55, 61, unity, 52, 63, 83, 131
64–66, 69–70, 72, 74, 76, 81–82,
84, 89–91, 97, 102, 107, 115–16, Virgin, the. See Mary
118–19, 121, 123, 125, 126–29, virtue, virtuousness, 10, 14–16, 20,
135–36, 139, 141–45, 147, 149, 28, 31, 34, 39, 47, 53–56, 61,
152, 154, 158–61, 163, 170–71, 73, 74–76, 79–80, 86, 91, 93–95,
173, 176, 183–84, 190, 199, 203–4 97–98, 106, 116–17, 120–22, 125,
130, 132, 137–39, 145, 147, 152–
resurrection, 13, 15, 83, 143, 152, 54, 156, 159, 164, 167–68, 170–
194 72, 177, 179–80, 182, 185, 187,
189–90, 193–94, 197
saints, 7, 14–19, 32, 34, 45, 52, 54,
69, 77, 79, 101, 120, 124, 127, Word, Word of God, 4, 6, 11–13, 26,
148, 153, 154–55, 165–66, 169– 27, 34, 35, 37, 55, 60, 62–67, 69–
70, 175, 182, 186, 188, 190, 195 71, 82–83, 85–86, 93, 96, 97, 101–
salvation, 6, 26n46, 31, 44, 82, 86, 3, 105, 110, 117, 123, 130, 140,
101, 110–11, 117, 135, 140, 143, 146, 152, 161–62, 171, 183, 202–3
144, 166, 168, 174, 204
INDEX OF HOL Y SCRIPTURE
Old Testament
Genesis Leviticus 18.15–16: 203
2.17: 39 1.2–9: 120 18.17–18: 40
3.19: 26, 110 1.10–11: 129 22.10: 61
1.14: 82 22.11: 61
Exodus 5.7: 59, 82 27.26: 192
1.14: 84 11.45: 137, 145, 168, 180, 32.8: 123
1.16: 180 188
3.1–6: 68 17.4: 43 1 Samuel
3.5: 181 21.8: 76 7.5–6: 81
3.6: 68 7.6: 82
4.9: 84, 85 Numbers 7.7–14: 81
4.11–12: 59 5.2–3: 32 7.9: 83
12.8: 52, 90 9.1: 48 8.5: 69
12.11: 51, 52 9.1–3: 48 8.7: 70
13.2: 9 9.2–3: 44
13.11–12: 9 9.3: 45 2 Samuel
13.14–15: 10 10.2: 100 5.1–3: 130
15.11: 113 10.8: 100 5.2: 130
16.20: 144 10.9–10: 30, 101 5.6–8: 131
16.33–34: 144 20.17: 113 5.11: 132
17.8–10: 104 22.3–4: 30 6.12: 132
17.9: 80 28.1–2: 118
17.11: 80 1 Kings
17.14: 104, 105 Deuteronomy 17.1: 160
19.18: 40 5.8: 158 18.21: 61
20.19: 40 6.4: 158
23.7: 141 6.5: 20 Tobit
25.40: 49 6.13: 26 12.9: 96, 170
30.12–15: 7 8.3: 53
30.17–21: 156 12.23–24: 121 1 Maccabees
30.18–21: 198 13.1–3: 25 1.47: 54
30.34–38: 197 15.11: 94
33.20: 67, 172 16.16: 177 Job
40.2: 49 18.9–12: 25 1.21: 169
40.17: 49 18.13–14: 25 42.3: 122
215
216 INDEX OF HOLY SCRIPTURE
Psalms 80.16: 104 Wisdom
2.3: 166 81.3: 15, 196 1.13: 26
2.6: 131 81.4: 29 1.14: 26, 162
2.6–7: 69 86.9: 124 2.24: 26, 162
2.7: 62 86.16: 120, 177 3.4: 45
8.3: 4 93.8–9: 157 7.26: 146
9.8: 86, 134 95.1: 29, 126, 127, 133, 13.10: 54
9.9: 194 147 13.14: 54
10.9: 42 95.6: 152
14.1–2: 86 96.1: 166 Sirach
14.1–3: 171 96.13: 42, 98 2.12: 19
14.3: 160 97.1: 166 15.9: 128
17.45–46 (LXX): 132 104.29: 144
19.1: 183 110.1: 62, 108 Isaiah
19.1–2: 46 116.15: 121 1.2–4: 107
20.10–12: 13 117.27 (LXX): 123, 196, 1.4: 107
20.12 (LXX): 143 197 1.4–5: 111
22.18: 204 118.20: 199 1.12: 118
29.8 (LXX): 190 118.24: 135 1.15: 121
31.24: 120, 180 119.126: 16, 58, 187 1.16–18: 61, 198
31.25: 58 124.6–7: 202 2.3: 44
33.1: 127, 146 128.2: 179 5.8–9: 150
34.15: 121, 179 140.3: 101 5.13–14: 3
34.15–16: 137 144.5: 40 5.14: 136
35.12: 27 6.3: 11
35.13: 78 Proverbs 7.14: 173, 203
36.7–9: 85 2.13: 11 7.16: 64
37.4: 29 2.15: 138 8.1–4: 66
40.6: 193 3.34: 18 8.3: 66
40.6–8: 203 4.12: 122 8.20 (LXX): 92
44.5: 155 4.26: 26 9.6: 190
47.2: 88 6.6–8: 189 10.14: 3, 49, 105
49.2–3 (LXX): 13 6.9–11: 189 14.14: 178
50.1–3: 173 8.9: 109 21.12 (LXX): 45
50.13: 118 15.27: 96 23.4: 46
51.7: 198 16.26 (LXX): 116 25.8: 4, 136
57.7: 117 22.1: 75 26.19: 34, 145
62.3: 157 25.2: 66 29.13: 21, 159
62.8: 20 32.1: 69
62.12: 134 Ecclesiastes 35.3–4: 41
63.8–9 (LXX): 104 3.1: 17 35.5–6: 112
65.7–8: 129 40.9–11: 41
66.4: 105 Song of Songs 42.16: 80
67.7: 108 2.10–11: 5 43.25: 4
69.21: 204 2.10–12: 47 44.18: 112
73.24: 190 2.11: 46 47.6: 139
73.28: 154 2.13: 47 49.9: 13, 98, 113, 133, 185
INDEX OF HOLY SCRIPTURE 217
50.6: 41, 204 Lamentations 4.9–10: 30
50.11: 11, 112 4.10: 161 4.10: 31
52.6–7: 5 4.13: 89
52.7: 5, 74, 176 Baruch
53.5: 175 3.10–12: 112 Amos
53.9: 141 3.37: 27, 86, 152, 172, 3.13: 44
54.4: 4 184 4.6–9: 150
55.8–9: 39 3.38: 40 5.14: 151
58.3: 117 5.20: 183
58.3–4: 117 Ezekiel 6.4–7: 147
58.4: 111 8.7–11: 158
58.5: 111 8.17–18: 158 Micah
61.1–2: 6 13.1–3: 22 2.1–2: 149
61.10: 44, 144 13.8–9: 22 7.18: 113
64.4: 77, 148 13.17–19: 22
66.12: 84 34.14: 47 Nahum
34.20–25: 41 1.15: 74, 176
Jeremiah
2.12–13: 84 Daniel Habakkuk
2.27: 159 1.1–20: 78 2.4: 193
3.12–13: 150 3.8–30: 79 2.6: 6
3.16: 124 2.15: 201
3.22: 107 Hosea 3.2: 174
4.14: 157 2.21–22: 152
4.17–18: 151 3.4: 124 Zechariah
5.21: 95 4.1–3: 149 2.10–11: 129
7.22: 118 5.1: 74, 115 2.14–15 (LXX): 135–36
10.2–3: 24 10.12: 178 14.18: 43
23.16: 138 13.11–12: 70
23.23–24: 122 13.14: 125, 145 Malachi
31.31–34: 118 14.9: 154 3.10: 152
33.15: 170 3.20 (LXX): 46
46.3–4: 75 Joel 4.2: 46
48.10: 139, 168 1.14: 116
2.15: 15
New Testament
Matthew 5.20: 191 11.19: 107, 193
1.23: 173 6.16–18: 80 11.28–29: 69
2.2: 67 6.20: 169 11.29: 166
3.11: 198 7.13–14: 91 12.24: 112
4.4: 53 8.18: 124 12.29: 66
4.10: 26 8.23–27: 124 12.35: 201
4.11: 140 8.25: 109 13.43: 17
5.8: 122 8.26–27: 56 13.55: 193
5.17–18: 90, 119, 163 10.8: 18 14.33: 56, 141
Matthew (cont.) Luke 8.46: 141
14.58: 194 1.46: 66 8.48: 193
15.8–9: 21 1.79: 72 9.1–7: 56
15.14: 131 2.12: 66 9.1–12: 163
16.6: 53, 90 2.52: 67 9.28–29: 184
16.16: 127, 130 3.16: 198 10.11: 41
16.24: 54 3.22: 62 10.16: 129
16.26: 116 4.18–19: 6 10.18: 72
16.27: 27, 56, 72, 153, 6.36: 94, 170 10.30: 190
175, 185 8.15: 42 10.33: 13, 71, 107, 123, 173
17.24: 8 8.22–25: 124 10.37: 140
17.25: 8 9.1–12: 163 10.37–38: 27, 71, 164, 183
17.26–27: 8 10.19: 7 11.25: 13
18.32–33: 170 12.1: 52 11.38–44: 56
19.28: 72 12.16–20: 170 11.39: 163
21.33: 60 17.11–19: 164 11.43: 133
21.38–39: 72 21.33: 90 11.47–48: 184
22.2–3: 146 22.7–12: 60 11.50: 185
22.4: 147 22.12: 61 12.46: 183
22.12: 16 23.2: 194 14.2–3: 14
22.12–13: 137 14.6: 167
22.44: 62 John 14.9: 190
23.27: 159 1.1: 35, 97 15.15: 98
25.23: 111 1.1–3: 26 17.3: 138
25.34: 148 1.3: 55 19.7: 141
25.34–36: 95 1.4: 40 20.17: 123
25.35: 14 1.10: 140 20.28: 13, 113
25.36: 14, 114 1.11: 86, 123
25.40: 95 1.12: 143 Acts
25.43: 56, 73, 86, 98, 1.14: 12, 55, 62, 63, 64, 1.6–9: 108
108, 125, 134, 145, 153, 66, 83, 85, 96, 101, 102 2.33: 72, 86
164, 185 195, 205 1.17: 89 2.34–35: 62
26.61: 194 1.18: 183 2.36: 41
27.23: 141 1.26: 198 13.33: 62
27.40: 107 1.29: 83, 187 17.28: 85
28.19: 14, 72, 113, 133 1.49: 131 17.31: 72
28.19–20: 98 3.16: 11, 191 22.3: 50
3.20: 193 26.14: 184
Mark 3.31: 12
1.8: 198 4.10: 85 Romans
3.27: 66 4.14: 85 1.3: 41
4.35–41: 124 4.23: 21 1.4: 67
4.39: 140 4.23–24: 163 1.17: 193
12.30: 20 4.24: 106, 193 1.20: 183
5.46: 129, 182 1.23: 70
6.47: 13 1.25: 6, 71, 86, 96, 126
8.12: 13, 183 1.29–30: 17
INDEX OF HOLY SCRIPTURE 219
3.12: 171 2.9: 77, 148 7.1: 60, 76, 89, 93, 108,
3.13–14: 101 3.2: 48 111, 134, 167, 175,
3.19: 97 5.7: 51, 89, 90 194, 198
3.19–20: 96 5.7–8: 52 8.9: 61, 62, 101, 182
3.20–24: 199 5.8: 101, 111, 188 10.4: 30
3.21–24: 97 6.9: 73 12.20: 17
3.28: 105 6.17: 146 13.12: 153
3.29: 123 6.19: 72
3.29–30: 127 6.20: 72 Galatians
4.15: 199 8.6: 26, 63, 103 1.3–5: 3
5.1: 115 8.12: 139 1.4: 202
5.5: 191 9.25: 190 2.15–16: 191
5.12: 55 9.27: 16, 106 2.16: 200
5.14: 49 10.11: 80, 149, 156 2.17: 31
5.20: 96, 193, 199 11.30–32: 90 2.19: 121
6.3–4: 19, 121 12.3: 139 2.19–20: 18
6.4: 49 13.11: 48 2.20: 9
6.14: 88 13.12: 48 3.10: 192, 199
7.7: 97 15.20: 14, 83, 108, 3.11: 191
7.12: 33 125, 133, 143, 152 3.13: 11, 110
7.14: 90 15.20–21: 86 3.19: 193
7.14–17: 92 15.22: 185, 194, 3.24: 48, 68, 191
7.17: 92 205 3.27: 144
7.18–21: 92 15.25: 108 4.4: 4, 8, 11, 64, 122
7.23: 16 15.27: 153 5.16: 77
8.3–4: 4, 94 15.42: 164 5.17: 76
8.9–10: 94 15.47: 65 6.8: 147
8.12: 9 15.53: 71 6.10: 107, 168
8.12–14: 156 15.55: 125, 145
8.15: 8 15.55–56: 88 Ephesians
8.17: 98 15.58: 201 1.3–5: 200
8.32: 161 1.21: 173
9.6: 115 2 Corinthians 2.1–5: 11
9.7: 98 2.15: 47 2.12: 9
10.4: 128 3.6: 105 2.14: 52
10.15: 5, 176 3.9: 105 2.14–17: 129
11.29: 143 4.16: 16 2.19: 77
12.1: 10, 119 5.10: 86, 125, 164, 4.2: 42
12.11: 47 185, 194 4.5: 202
13.14: 188 5.14–15: 7 4.13: 47
14.9: 72, 103 5.15: 89 4.17–24: 128
15.16: 31 5.17: 15, 49, 140, 178, 4.32: 73
16.16: 153 196 5.2: 49, 51, 54
6.2: 135 5.3: 182
1 Corinthians 6.14: 61, 180 5.3–5: 155
1.24: 26, 67, 143 6.14–15: 157 5.32: 66
2.8: 174 6.16: 60 6.10–13: 155
Ephesians (cont.) 2 Timothy 11.7: 201
6.11: 76 1.10: 41 12.1: 136, 188
6.12: 88 3.13: 25 12.2: 34, 54
6.14–17: 31, 101 4.7: 56, 73 12.12–13: 133
6.15: 104 13.3: 42
6.17: 104 Titus 13.6: 106
3.5: 97
Philippians James
2.6: 62 Hebrews 1.27: 14, 28, 42, 56, 73,
2.6–7: 82, 110, 161 1.1: 39 86, 98, 108, 113, 125,
2.6–8: 36 1.1–2: 5 134, 145, 153, 164, 185,
2.7: 11, 13, 38, 62, 94, 1.1–4: 171 195, 205
122, 172 1.3: 9, 11, 62, 140, 146, 3.2: 96
2.8: 146, 182, 191 190 3.13: 19, 176
2.10: 103, 202 1.5: 62 4.4: 147
3.2: 138 1.13: 62
3.19: 102 2.9: 133, 143 1 Peter
4.4–5: 154 2.10: 54 1.2: 98
4.5: 135 2.14: 55, 56, 64, 72, 83 1.13–16: 168, 180
4.21: 153 2.14–17: 162 1.17: 145
2.16: 4, 40 1.17–19: 167
Colossians 2.16–17: 140 1.18–19: 9
1.15: 63 2.17: 4, 162 2.11: 76
1.18: 83, 108, 125, 133, 4.12: 122, 171 2.22: 141
143 4.15: 55, 103, 110, 117 3.18–22: 201
2.14: 88 6.20: 56, 156 3.19: 56, 72, 86, 98, 107,
2.15: 88 7.7–11: 149 113, 174
3.2: 51 7.18: 118 4.1: 41
3.3–4: 194 7.19: 68 4.5: 108
3.5: 93, 106, 121 8.2: 49
3.9: 49 8.5: 47, 49 2 Peter
4.6: 125 8.13: 118 1.4: 167
9.2–3: 42
1 Timothy 9.2–4: 50 1 John
1.19: 104 9.6: 50 2.15: 147
2.5: 40 9.6–8: 50, 142 2.15–16: 169
4.1–2: 103 9.6–9: 197 2.15–17: 18, 182
4.1–3: 48 9.8: 51 2.16: 18
4.7: 12 9.11–12: 197 3.1: 117
4.7–8: 117 9.12: 50 4.13: 102
6.4: 12 9.24: 56
6.7: 95, 169 10.1: 7 Revelation
6.9: 138 10.5–6: 193 1.5: 83
6.16: 152 10.28: 162 13.5: 102
10.31: 159 21.4: 4
10.37–38: 193

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THE FATHERS

Andrew Cain Joseph T. Lienhard, S.J.

Brian Daley, S.J. Rebecca Lyman

Susan Ashbrook Harvey Wendy Mayer

William E. Klingshirn Robert D. Sider

FORMER EDITORIAL DIRECTORS

Carole Monica C. Burnett

Edited with notes by

THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum

Li brary o f Congress Cataloging-in-Public ati on Data

Abbreviations and Notes to Reader vii

T IS GOOD, or rather opportune, now for us to come

2. And in fact the Word from God the Father, in indicating to

4. Is 25.8; cf. Rv 21.4. 5. Cf. Ps 8.3.

12. Is 52.6–7. 13. Heb 1.1–2.

3. God, then, spoke of old to Moses, the teacher of sacred

32. Cf. Heb 1.3. 33. Cf. Gal 2.20.

4. While we are at present practicing abstinence from food,

41. Eph 2.1–5. 42. Jn 3.16.

55. Jn 10.33. 56. Cf. Phil 2.7.

64. Mt 28.19. 65. 1 Cor 15.20.

N TIMES PAST there were sacred words that intoned

1. Ps 81.3. 2. 2 Cor 5.17.

time. In addition, it is worthwhile thinking about the following.

2. Let us therefore once again welcome the wise John as a sort

10. Eccl 3.1. 11. Mt 13.43.

wise and irreproachable attitude, and how they spring up coura-

13. 1 Jn 2.15–17. 14. 1 Jn 2.16.

therefore say something necessary to your advantage, and once

18. Rom 6.3–4. 19. Jas 3.13.

21. Mk 12.30; cf. Dt 6.5.

24. Cf. Jn 4.23.

27. Ezek 13.1–3.

30. Jer 10.2–3.

32. Dt 18.9–12. 33. Dt 18.13–14.

36. Prv 4.26. 37. Mt 4.10, quoting Dt 6.13.

48. Bar 3.37. 49. Jn 10.37–38.

53. Cf. Jas 1.27.

OME ONCE AGAIN, let us exult in the Lord.1 For the

9. Cf. Jl 4.10. 10. Cf. Gal 2.17.

3. There has been begotten from God the Father, ineffably

22. This is probably an echo of Jb 38.4–7. A similar appeal to the limits of

4. The Creator of all made man imperishable and incorrupt-

Do you hear how Christ, who is from David’s seed according

37. Is 35.3–4. 38. Is 40.9–11.

46. Literally, “the economy.” 47. Ps 10.9 or 96.13.

7. Wis 3.4. 8. Cf. Nm 9.3.

11. Ps 19.1–2. 12. Is 23.4.

4. The mystery of Christ had, then, to yield in its times to the

23. Cf. Nm 9.1–3. 24. Cf. 1 Cor 3.2.

30. Ex 25.40; Heb 8.5. 31. Ex 40.2.

40. Cf. Acts 22.3. 41. Heb 9.2–4.

of sweetness to God the Father.46 The position therefore in the

5. The great Moses told us, when he composed the revelation

45. Cf. 1 Cor 5.7. 46. Cf. Eph 5.2.

51. Eph 2.14. 52. Ex 12.11.

55. Cf. Mt 4.4; Dt 8.3. 56. Mt 16.6.

6. The law therefore gives us an explanation of necessary mat-