Cyril of Jerusalem
Lecture 4, Part B
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world….” — Colossians 2:8
Summary: The human soul sins through its will[i]; it needs cleansing by the baptism of the Spirit. The human body, being only an instrument of the soul, is not the source of sin; it receives a mere symbolic washing with water.[ii]
Preview: 17. Have
this seal in mind with proof from Scripture: for “not even a casual statement must
be delivered without the Holy Scriptures … Even to me … give not absolute credence,
unless thou receive the proof of the things which I announce from the Divine Scriptures. For this salvation which we believe depends not
on ingenious reasoning, but on demonstration of the Holy Scriptures.”
Ⅹ. Of the Soul.
18. Man is of
two-fold nature — body and soul[iv];
God being the Creator of both; the Image of God is noble, immortal, living,
rational, imperishable as a gift: not naturally; with free will: for sin is not
by nativity, chance, or the conjunctions of stars; confess evil, accept blame
for your deeds; do not listen to astrologers.
19. The soul, before entering the
world, committed no sin; “we sin of our own free-will.” Do not “present your members as servants to
uncleanness … but as servants to righteousness unto sanctification.” 20.
The soul is immortal, alike in both men and women; only the body is
distinguished; souls do not sin, nor do they act righteously by nature: but, by
choice. 21. The soul is self-governed; Satan can only
suggest, not compel; your will governs whether you accept his temptation or
reject it: for if you are a sinner by necessity, why Hell? If righteous by
nature, why heavenly crowns?
Ⅺ. Of the Body.
22. Do not tolerate “those
who say that this body is no work of God”; they should have considered how “we
are fearfully and wonderfully made.”[v] 23.
The body is not the cause of sin: for dead bodies do not sin; the soul
sins through the body; the body is an instrument, a garment, a robe of the
soul; with a holy soul it becomes a temple; therefore be tender with this
temple, do not defile it, rather cleanse it by repentance and baptism. 24.
Give heed to chastity: especially Hermits and Virgins; others should
follow them. 25. Have no arrogance in chastity: for the
humbler path of marriage is not defiled if used lawfully; the gold must not
reprobate the silver; marriage is for procreation, not indulgence. 26.
Nor is remarriage to be reprobated: “for it is better to marry than to
burn.” “Let the body be kept pure”,
nourished, not given to luxury.
Ⅻ. Concerning
Meats.
27. Beware of meats
offered to idols; fast not to abhor food and drink, but “for the sake of better
spiritual things set before you.”
28. Do not eat meats offered to
idols, blood, strangled things; but, “eat with reverence”.
ⅩⅢ. Of Apparel.
29. Dress plainly,
for warmth and modesty, not for extravagance and vanity.
ⅩⅣ. Of the
Resurrection.
30. Be tender of this
body: for you will be raised from the dead, to be judged with this body. He Who created you from such a minute being,
shall He not raise you to life; as He does with [seemingly] dead grains and
dormant trees; as the rod of Moses came to life? 31. Do
not list to those who deny that the body is raised: for Esaias is witness,
while Daniel testifies; the just sing with angels, while sinners endure
torment.
ⅩⅤ. Of the Laver.
32. “For this cause the
Lord … according to His loving-kindness, has granted repentance at Baptism, in order
that we may cast off … the whole burden of our sins, and having received the seal
by the Holy Ghost, may be made heirs of eternal life.”
[i]
St. Cyril seems to think of the will as a soul function; today, we would more
likely classify the will as a brain function: hence bodily in nature. Neurologists that specialize in brain research
are still working on the emotion, reason, volition connection, as well as its
complex sequencing.
[ii]
St. Cyril’s idea of the aspects of human nature seems to differ somewhat with
modern ideas; it also appears to clash somewhat with Paul (Romans 3:20; 8:13);
we tend to identify flesh with body: hence, a basic source of sin: yet, this
may be distant from Paul’s true idea.
James 1:13-15 also discusses the issue; but, he attributes the source to
lust/desire without specifying body or soul.
It appears to us that St. Cyril conceives of the soul as brain
(emotions, rationality, volition); rather than with what is elsewhere called
the human spirit in the Bible, the immaterial aspect of man. We know little about the human spirit other
than the Holy Spirit bears witness to it: still, this is not a brain function,
so today we draw finer distinctions.
We also know today that there are complex interactions between
the body, and the brain; differences between voluntary and involuntary muscles;
muscle memory; complex chemistries, such as endorphins; and all the interplay
with the five senses. We know that the
five senses trigger basic desires in both animals and man: which to us seem to
come from the body, not from the soul.
Nevertheless, we must not fault St. Cyril at this point by reading
modern scientific research, back into St. Cyril’s understanding of the
universe: which would be a monstrous anachronism on our part. Someone who thinks in terms of four elements,
necessarily has a different concept of body and soul than we do: so, we need to
proceed with extreme caution here.
So, without faulting St. Cyril, most of us today would think
in terms of the source of sin as infecting both body and mind; but possibly not
infecting the human spirit. However, we
resolve such thorny issues, we must avoid the kind of Greek duality, wherein
the righteous soul is entrapped in the evil body, or vice versa. This topic is deserving of much greater
intense study.
Thus, we take St. Cyril’s applications as very much to the
point; worthy of moral consideration; even where twenty-first-century science
brings new information to the table: our task of interpretation may be
considerably more difficult, in drawing fresh conclusions, without committing
terrible anachronisms.
[iii]
We repeated this, Ⅸ. Of the Holy Ghost,
heading because we divided the commentary on St. Cyril’s fourth lecture into
three parts. So, we wanted to alert you
to the fact that paragraph 17 is a continuation in the source document. We also added the description, Scripture: for
St. Cyril links the Spirit’s seal with Scripture.
[iv]
Genesis suggests the merger of body and spirit make the whole soul in the Imago
Dei. Elsewhere, soul and spirit seem to
be used interchangeably. We refer to the
immaterial aspect of man, by whatever name.
[v]
Psalm 139:14 captures St. Cyril’s thoughts.
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