Cyril of Alexandria: His second advent from heaven will not happen secretly as did His coming at first Sunday, Nov 29 2015

On Luke 21:5-13.

From Christ we have received the knowledge of things about to happen.

For it is even He Who “reveals the deep things out of darkness,” and knows those that are hidden.

And “in Him are all the treasures of wisdom, and the hidden things of knowledge.”

He changes times and seasons: and refashions the creation to that which it was at the beginning.

For it was by His means that, when it existed not, it was brought into existence according to the will of God the Father. For He is His living and personal power and wisdom.

And again by His means it will easily be changed into that which is better. For as His disciple says, “We expect new heavens, and a new earth, and His promises.”

[…] Before the advent of Christ the Saviour of us all from heaven, various false christs and false prophets will appear preceding Him, falsely assuming to themselves His person, and coming into the world like eddies of smoke springing up from a fire about to break forth.

“But follow them not,” He says. For the Only-begotten Word of God consented to take upon Him our likeness, and to endure the birth in the flesh of a woman, in order that He might save all under heaven.

And this to Him was an emptying of Himself, and a humiliation. For what is the measure of humanity compared with the divine and supreme majesty and glory?

As one therefore Who had humbled Himself to emptiness, He deigned to remain unknown, even charging the holy apostles before His precious Cross that they should not reveal Him.

For it was necessary that the manner of His dispensation in the flesh should remain hid, that by enduring as a man for our sakes even the precious Cross, He might abolish death, and drive away Satan from his tyranny over us all.

For, as Paul says; “The wisdom that was in Christ, by which is meant that which is by Christ, none of the rulers of this world knew: for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

It was necessary therefore that He should remain unknown during the time that preceded His passion. But His second advent from heaven will not happen secretly as did His coming at first, but will be illustrious and terrible.

For He shall descend with the holy angels guarding Him, and in the glory of God the Father, to judge the world in righteousness. And therefore He says, “when there arise false christs and false prophets, go you not after them.”

Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376-444): Commentary on Luke, Sermon 139 (on Luke 21:5-13).

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Cyril of Alexandria: “And lo! I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” Monday, Oct 12 2015

On Luke 9:18-22. 

He Who was there in the likeness of mankind, and as a portion of creation, was God, Who transcends all created things!

He Who dwells in the high and lofty place was abased from His glory to be in poverty like unto us!

And He Who, as God, is Lord of all, and King of all, was in the likeness of a slave, and in the measure of a slave!

This is the faith the Saviour crowns; to those thus minded He extends His bountiful right hand.

[…] When, however, the disciple [Peter] had professed his faith, He charged them, it says, and commanded them to tell it to no man.

“For the Son of man,” He said, “is about to suffer many things, and be rejected, and killed, and the third day He shall rise again.”

And yet how was it not rather the duty of disciples to proclaim Him everywhere? For this was the very business of those appointed by Him to the apostleship.

But as the sacred Scripture says, “There is a time for everything.” There were things yet unfulfilled which must also be included in their preaching of Him.

These were the Cross; the passion; the death in the flesh; the resurrection from the dead; that great and truly glorious sign by which testimony is borne that the Emmanuel is truly God, and by nature the Son of God the Father.

He utterly abolished death, and effaced destruction, and spoiled hell, and overthrew the tyranny of the enemy, and took away the sin of the world, and opened the gates above to the dwellers upon earth, and united earth to heaven.

And these things proved Him to be, as I said, in truth God.

He commanded them, therefore, to guard the mystery by a seasonable silence until the whole plan of the dispensation should arrive at a suitable conclusion.

For then, when He arose from the dead, He gave commandment that the mystery should be revealed to all the inhabitants of the earth, setting before every man justification by faith, and the cleansing efficacy of holy baptism.

For He said, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth: Go ye, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and teaching them to observe all those things which I have commanded you. And lo! I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”

For Christ is with us and in us by the Holy Ghost, and dwells in the souls of us all.

Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376-444): Commentary on Luke, Sermon 49 (on Luke 9:18-22) [slightly adapted].

 

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Cyril of Alexandria: “When He had called the twelve Apostles, He gave them power and authority over all the devils, and to heal sicknesses” Tuesday, Aug 4 2015

And when He had called the twelve Apostles, He gave them power and authority over all the devils, and to heal sicknesses (Luke 9:1).

Behold the Apostles, highly distinguished, and crowned with more than human glory, by this fresh gift bestowed by Christ.

“For He gave them,” it says, “power and authority over all the devils, and to heal sicknesses.”

Observe again, I pray, that the Incarnate Word of God exceeds the measure of humanity, and is radiant with the dignities of the Godhead.

For it transcends the limits of human nature, to give authority over unclean spirits to whomsoever He will: as does also the enabling them to deliver from sicknesses such as were afflicted with them.

For God, indeed, bestows on whom He will powers of this kind; and on His decree alone it depends that any are able, according to His good pleasure, to work divine miracles, and act as ministers of the grace that is from above: but to impart to others the gift bestowed on them, is altogether an impossibility.

For the majesty and glory of the supreme nature is found existing essentially in nothing that has being, except in Itself, and It only.

Be it, therefore, angel or archangel, that any one mentions, or thrones and dominions, or the seraphim, which again are higher in dignity, let him wisely understand this: that they indeed possess pre-eminent authority by the powers given them from above, such as language cannot describe, nor nature bestow; but reason altogether forbids the supposition of their imparting these powers to others.

But Christ bestows them, as being God therefore, and as out of His own fulness: for He is Himself the Lord of glory and of powers.

The grace then bestowed upon the holy Apostles is worthy of all admiration; but the bountifulness of the Giver surpasses all praise and admiration: for He gives them, as I said, His own glory.

Man receives authority over the evil spirits, and reduces unto nothingness the pride that was so high exalted, and arrogant, even that of the devil: his wickedness he renders ineffectual, and, by the might and efficacy of the Holy Ghost, burning him as with fire, he makes him come forth with groans and weeping from those whom he had possessed.

And yet in old time he [the devil] had said: “I will hold the whole world in my hand as a nest, and will take it as eggs that are left: and there is no one that shall escape from me, or speak against me.”

He missed, then, the truth, and fell from his hope, proud and audacious though he was, and vaunting himself over the infirmity of mankind. For the Lord of powers marshalled against him the ministers of the sacred proclamations.

Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376-444): Commentary on Luke, Sermon 47 (on Luke9:1ff).

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Cyril of Alexandria: The Holy Spirit impresses the Saviour’s Image on the hearts of those who receive Him Saturday, Jun 27 2015

And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them: 

“Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained” (John 20:22-23).

He proclaimed that He would send down to us from heaven the Comforter, when He was ascended to God the Father.

And this, indeed, He did, when He had gone away to the Father, and vouchsafed to shed forth the Spirit abundantly upon all who were willing to receive it.

For any man could receive it, through faith, that is, and Holy Baptism.

And then was fulfilled that which was spoken by the voice of the Prophet: I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh.

[…] For God the Father, at the beginning, by His own Word, took of the dust of the ground, as is written, and fashioned the animal, that is man, and endowed him with a soul, according to His Will.

And He illuminated him with a share of His own Spirit; for He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, as is written.

And when it came to pass that through disobedience man fell under the power of death, and lost his ancient honour, God the Father built him up and restored him to newness of life, through the Son, as at the beginning.

And how did the Son restore him? By the death of His own Flesh He slew death, and brought the race of man back again into incorruption; for Christ rose again for us.

In order, then, that we might learn that He it was Who at the beginning created our nature, and sealed us with the Holy Spirit, our Saviour again grants the Spirit, through the outward sign of His Breath, to the holy disciples, as being the firstfruits of renewed nature.

For Moses writes concerning our creation of old, that God breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life.

As, then, at the beginning, man was formed and came into being, so likewise is he renewed.

And as he was then formed in the Image of his Creator, so likewise now, by participation in the Spirit, is he transformed into the Likeness of his Maker.

For that the Spirit impresses the Saviour’s Image on the hearts of those who receive Him surely does not admit of question.

For Paul plainly exhorts those who had fallen through weakness into observance of the Law, in the words: My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you. 

For he says that Christ will not be formed in them save by partaking of the Holy Spirit, and living according to the law of the Gospel.

Therefore, as in the firstfruits of creation, which is made regenerate into incorruption and glory and into the Image of God, Christ establishes anew His own Spirit in His disciples.

Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376-444): Commentary on John, Book 12 (on John 20:22-23) [slightly adapted].

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Cyril of Alexandria: Christ’s coming to life again for our sake has put an end to the sovereignty of death Sunday, Jun 14 2015

Those who have a sure hope, guaranteed by the Spirit, that they will rise again lay hold of what lies in the future as though it were already present.

They say: “Outward appearances will no longer be our standard in judging other men.

“Our lives are all controlled by the Spirit now, and are not confined to this physical world that is subject to corruption.

“The light of the Only-begotten has shone on us, and we have been transformed into the Word, the source of all life.

“While sin was still our master, the bonds of death had a firm hold on us, but now that the righteousness of Christ has found a place in our hearts we have freed ourselves from our former condition of corruptibility”.

This means that none of us lives in the flesh anymore, at least not in so far as living in the flesh means being subject to the weaknesses of the flesh, which include corruptibility.

Once we thought of Christ as being in the flesh, but we do not do so any longer, says Saint Paul.

By this he meant that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us; he suffered death in the flesh in order to give all men life. It was in this flesh that we knew him before, but we do so no longer.

Even though he remains in the flesh, since he came to life again on the third day and is now with his Father in heaven, we know that he has passed beyond the life of the flesh;

for having died once, he will never die again, death has no power over him any more. His death was a death to sin, which he died once for all; his life is life with God.

Since Christ has in this way become the source of life for us, we who follow in his footsteps must not think of ourselves as living in the flesh any longer, but as having passed beyond it.

Saint Paul’s saying is absolutely true that when anyone is in Christ he becomes a completely different person: his old life is over and a new life has begun.

We have been justified by our faith in Christ and the power of the curse has been broken. Christ’s coming to life again for our sake has put an end to the sovereignty of death.

We have come to know the true God and to worship him in spirit and in truth, through the Son, our mediator, who sends down upon the world the Father’s blessings.

Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376-444): Commentary on the Second Letter to the Corinthians (Cap. 5, 5-6, 2: PG 74, 942-943) @ Crossroads Initiative.

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Cyril of Alexandria: The Saviour gives us the Spirit anew, bringing us again unto that ancient dignity and reforming us unto His own Image Tuesday, May 19 2015

But this He said of the Spirit Which they that believe on Him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet, because that Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:39).

There has been given to us the renewing Spirit, that is, the Holy, the occasion of everlasting life after that Christ was glorified, i.e., after the Resurrection.

Having burst the bonds of death and appeared superior to all corruption, He lived again having our whole nature in Himself, in that He was Man and One of us.

And if you investigate the reason why the pouring forth of the Spirit took place not before the resurrection but after it, you will hear in reply, Christ became then the firstfruits of the renewed nature.

Making no account of the bands of death He lived again as we have just now said. How then should those be quickened before the Firstfruit who come after the Firstfruit?

The plant will not shoot up from the earth unless it is surely sprung from its own root (for thence is the beginning of its growth).

So also it was impossible that we, who have as our root unto incorruption our Lord Jesus Christ, should be seen springing up before our root.

But, shewing that the time of the Descent of the Spirit upon us was now come after the revival from the dead, He breathed on His disciples, saying, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. 

For then was the time of the renewal indeed at the doors, yea rather within the doors. And let the searcher after learning again see whether what we say on these things too be not true.

For in the beginning, as the Spirit-clad Moses told us, the Creator of all, taking dust of the ground and having formed man, breathed upon his face the breath of life. 

And what is the breath of life, save surely the Spirit of Christ Who says, I am the Resurrection and the Life? 

But since the Spirit which is able to gather us and to form us unto the Divine Impress fled away from human nature [i.e. after Adam’s sin], the Saviour gives us the Spirit anew, bringing us again unto that ancient dignity and reforming us unto His own Image.

For therefore does Paul too say…, Little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.

[…] In the holy Prophets there was a certain rich shining-upon and torch-illumination from the Spirit, mighty to lead them to the apprehension of things to come and the knowledge of things hidden.

But in those who believe on Christ, we are confident that not merely torch-illumination from the Spirit but the Spirit Himself dwells and has His habitation.

Whence rightly are we called temples too of God, though no one of the holy Prophets was ever called a Divine Temple.

Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376-444): Commentary on John, Book 5 (on John 7:39); slightly adapted.

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Cyril of Alexandria: We are begotten of Him and in Him in the Spirit to produce the fruits of life Sunday, May 3 2015

I am the true Vine, and My Father is the Husbandman (John 15:1).

He wishes to show us that it behoves us to love, to hold fast to our love towards Him, and how great a gain we shall have from our union with Him, when He says that He is the Vine, by way of illustration.

Those who are united and fixed and rooted in a manner in Him, and who are already partakers in His nature through their participation in the Holy Spirit are branches.

For it is His Holy Spirit Which has united us with the Saviour Christ, since connexion with the Vine produces a choice of those things which belong to It, and our connexion with It holds us fast.

From a firm resolve in goodness we proceed onward by faith, and we become His people, obtaining from Him the dignity of Sonship. For according to the holy Paul, He that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit. 

[…] For we are begotten of Him and in Him in the Spirit, to produce the fruits of life; not the old life of former days, but that which consists in newness of faith and love towards Him.

And we are preserved in our hold on this life by clinging as it were to Him, and holding fast to the holy commandment given to us, and by making haste to preserve the blessing of our high birth.

We do this by refusing to grieve in any way whatever the Holy Spirit That has taken up His abode in us, by Whom God is conceived to dwell in us.

For in what manner we are in Christ and He in us the wise John will show us when he says: Hereby we know that we are in Him and He in us, by the Spirit Which He gave us.

And again John says, Hereby know we that we are in Him; he that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked. 

And he makes this even clearer to his hearers by the words, He that keepeth His commandments abideth in Him, and He in him. 

[…] The root of the vine ministers and distributes to the branches the enjoyment of its own natural and inherent qualities.

So also the Only-begotten Word of God imparts to the Saints as it were an affinity to His own nature and the nature of God the Father, by giving them the Spirit, insomuch as they have been united with Him through faith and perfect holiness.

And He nourishes them in piety, and works in them the knowledge of all virtue and good works.

Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376-444): Commentary on John, Book 10 (on John 15:1ff).

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Cyril of Alexandria: He arose from the dead to be the way whereby we return to incorruption Tuesday, Apr 14 2015

It came to pass, as they were perplexed at this (Luke 24:4).

The women came to the sepulchre, and when they could not find the body of Christ – for He had risen – they were much perplexed. And what followed?

For their love’s sake to Christ, and their earnest zeal thereunto, they were counted worthy of seeing holy angels, who even told them the joyful tidings, and became the heralds of the resurrection, saying:

“Why seek you the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen.”

For the Word of God ever lives, and is by His own nature Life: but when He humbled Himself to emptying, and submitted to be made like to us, He tasted death.

But this proved to be the death of death: for He arose from the dead, to be the way whereby not Himself so much but we rather return to incorruption.

And let no one seek Him Who ever lives among the dead; for He is not here, with mortality, that is, and in the tomb: but where rather is He? in heaven plainly, and in godlike glory.

And more firmly to settle the faith of the women in these things, they recall to their minds what Christ had said, that “He must necessarily be given up into the hands of sinners, and suffer, and the third day rise again.”

Angels too brought the joyful tidings of the nativity to the shepherds in Bethlehem, and now they tell His resurrection: and heaven yields its service to proclaim Him, and the hosts of the spirits which are above attend the Son as God, even when He had become flesh.

And they returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest (Luke 24:9).

The women having been taught the mystery by the voice of angels, run to tell these things to the disciples. For it was fitting that this grace, though so splendid, should be granted to women.

For she who of old was the minister of death is now freed from her guilt by ministering to the voice of the holy angels, and by being the first both to learn and tell the adorable mystery of the resurrection.

[…] To the holy apostles however the account of the resurrection seemed absolutely but an idle tale, and falsehood; for even they did not know the inspired Scripture, and so they were incredulous, and mocked at the news and rejected it.

Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376-444): Commentary on St Luke’s Gospel, Fragments on Luke 24.

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Cyril of Alexandria: When we eat the holy flesh of Christ we have life in us Thursday, Apr 2 2015

In what manner can man upon earth, clothed as he is with mortality, return to incorruption?

This dying flesh must be made partaker of the life-giving power which comes from God.

But the life-giving power of God the Father is the Only-begotten Word.

And He sent Him to us as a Saviour and Deliverer…: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt in us” (John 1).

[…] He was made in our likeness, and clothed Himself in our flesh, that by raising it from the dead He might prepare a way henceforth, by which the flesh which had been humbled to death might return anew to incorruption.

For we are united to Him just as also we were united to Adam, when he brought upon himself the penalty of death.

And Paul testifies thereunto, thus writing on one occasion, “For because by man is death, by man is also the resurrection of the dead”;

and again upon another, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all live.”

The Word therefore, by having united to Himself that flesh which was subject to death, as being God and Life drove away from it corruption, and made it also to be the source of life: for such must the body of (Him Who is) the Life be.

[…] When you cast a piece of bread into wine or oil, or any other liquid, you find that it becomes charged with the quality of that particular thing.

When iron is brought into contact with fire, it becomes full of its activity; and while it is by nature iron, it exerts the power of fire.

And so the life-giving Word of God, having united Himself to His own flesh in a way known to Himself, endowed it with the power of giving life.

And of this He certifies us Himself, saying, “Verily, I say to you, he that believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life.”

And again  “…Whoever eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He that eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, abides in Me, and I in him.

“…As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father; so He that eats Me shall also live because of Me” (John 6).

When therefore we eat the holy flesh of Christ, the Saviour of us all, and drink His precious blood, we have life in us, being made as it were, one with Him, and abiding in Him, and possessing Him also in us.

Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376-444): Commentary on St Luke’s Gospel, Sermon 142.

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Cyril of Alexandria: The Mind of Christ and the Advent of the Holy Spirit Tuesday, Jun 10 2014

“I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall guide you into all the truth:

for He shall not speak from Himself; but what things soever He shall hear, these shall He speak;

and He shall declare unto you the things that are to come” (John 16;12-13).

The new instruction of the Gospel message belongs not to those who are not yet moulded by the Spirit into newness of life and knowledge, and they cannot as yet contain the mysteries of the Holy Trinity.

The exposition then of the deeper mysteries of the faith is suitably reserved for the spiritual renovation that was to proceed from the Spirit when the mind of those who believed on Christ would no longer allow them to remain in the obsolete letter of the Law but rather induce their conversion to new doctrines and implant in them thoughts enabling them to see a fair vision of the truth.

And that before the Resurrection of our Saviour Christ from the dead, and before partaking of His Spirit, the disciples were…clinging to the legal dispensation, even though the mystery of Christ was clearly superior to it, one might very readily perceive.

[…] When, by being enriched with the grace that is from above and from heaven, they had their strength renewed, according to the Scripture, and had attained to a better knowledge than before, then we hear them boldly saying: But we have the mind of Christ.

By the Mind of Christ they mean nothing else but the advent of the Holy Spirit into their hearts, revealing unto them in due measure all things whatsoever they ought to know and learn.

When then “He,” that is the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He shall guide you into all the truth. See how free from extravagance the expression is: note the soberness of the phrase. For having told them that the Comforter would come unto them, He called Him the Spirit of Truth, that is, His own Spirit. For He is the Truth.

[…] The Spirit of Truth then, He says, will lead you to complete knowledge of the truth. For as having perfect knowledge of the truth, of which He is also the Spirit, He will make no partial revelation of it to those who worship Him, but will rather engraft in their hearts the mystery concerning it in its entirety.

For even if now we know in part, as Paul says, still, though our knowledge be limited, the fair vision of the truth has gleamed upon us entire and undefiled.

As then no man knoweth the things of a man, according to the Scripture, save the spirit of the man which is in him, in the same way, I think, to use the words of Paul, none knoweth the things of God save the Spirit of God which is in Him.

Since He is My Spirit [says Jesus], and as it were My Mind, He will surely speak to you of the things concerning Me.

Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376-444): Commentary on John, Book 10 [on John 16:12-13].

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