Cyril of Jerusalem
Lecture 4, Part C
“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: We have written no summary for Part C (paragraphs 33-37): for we believe it to be spurious.
St. Cyril dealt with the Divine Scriptures under “Of the
Holy Ghost”, paragraph 17. There is no
need for him to take the topic up again, discussing details that first-year
Catechumens would be expected to master; he addresses baptismal candidates, not
novitiates.
St, Cyril also dealt with moral issues in paragraphs 18-29,
following for the most part, Acts 15; he has no reason to review this topic in
greater detail: this smacks of Judaizing, which St. Cyril faithfully opposes. Since Acts 15 deletes such additional
requirements, it seems dubious to us that St. Cyril would support Acts 15, on
the one hand; then write paragraph 36, in contradiction, on the other hand.
Moreover, St. Cyril seems to be drawing his conclusion, and
concluding benediction in paragraphs 30-32.
It seems unlike him to append additional comments, especially since
almost all of these comments seem so contradictory to St. Cyril’s main point.[i]
ⅩⅥ. Of the Divine
Scriptures.
Preview: 33. “The God
of the two [Old and New] Testaments is One.”
The Old foretells of Christ, leading us to Christ’s school. Only heretics speak evil of the Law or
Prophets: for Jesus came to fulfil the Law.
Learn from the Church, the books of the Old Testament.
“And, pray, read none of the apocryphal
writings: for why do you, who know not those which are acknowledged among all, trouble
yourself in vain about those which are disputed? Read the Divine Scriptures, the twenty-two books
of the Old Testament, these that have been translated by the Seventy-Two Interpreters.”[ii]
34. Here, one version
of the Septuagint legends is inserted.
We cannot accredit this to St. Cyril with any veracity either. Legends abound concerning the source of the
Septuagint. We believe all of them to be
highly embellished. We believe that the
Sanhedrin, confronted with a Greek speaking populace, and numerous private
interpretations stemming from every Synagogue in the land, moved to standardize
the Greek Old Testament for the common good.
Thus, it bears the mark of the Sanhedrin, which is Seventy-Two. The best place to develop such a translation
is Alexandria, because of the benefit of the library resources there. Certain embellishments may have been created
to stroke the egos of Egyptian and other politicians. This whole paragraph 33 is outside of St.
Cyril’s scope in this lecture. Again, we
suspect it was added by a later hand.
The last sentence claims the power of the Holy Ghost for the translation
of the Septuagint(s) or the Greek Old Testament; which, if credible, tends to
contradict the idea of a twenty-two-book Canon of the Old Testament.
35. We return to the
twenty-two, harping on the subject, which is out of character for St. Jerome:
for he does not harp on topics:
“Of these read the two and twenty books,
but have nothing to do with the apocryphal writings. Study earnestly these only which we read openly
in the Church. Far wiser and more pious than
yourself were the Apostles, and the bishops of old time, the presidents of the Church
who handed down these books.[iii] Being therefore a child of the Church, trench
thou not upon its statutes. And of the Old
Testament, as we have said, study the two and twenty books, which, if you are desirous
of learning, strive to remember by name, as I recite them. For of the Law the books of Moses are the first
five, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. And next, Joshua the son of Nave, and the book
of Judges, including Ruth, counted as seventh.
And of the other historical books, the first and second books of the Kings
are among the Hebrews one book; also the third and fourth one book. And in like manner, the first and second of Chronicles
are with them one book; and the first[iv]
and second of Esdras are counted one. Esther
is the twelfth book; and these are the Historical writings. But those which are written in verses are five,
Job, and the book of Psalms, and Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs,
which is the seventeenth book. And after
these come the five Prophetic books: of the Twelve Prophets one book, of Isaiah
one, of Jeremiah one, including Baruch[v]
and Lamentations and the Epistle; then Ezekiel, and the Book of Daniel, the twenty-second
of the Old Testament.[vi]
36. Deals with the
New Testament canon, which is also strange since he is addressing candidates
for baptism, not first year catechumens, not novitiates. It is also strange that Revelation is not
mentioned. 37. Shun diabolical operation, the apostate
Serpent, observations of stars, auguries, omens, divinations, witchcraft,
enchantment, necromancy, and the like; stand aloof from intemperance, gluttony,
licentiousness, covetousness, and usury; venture not to heathen assemblies,
spectacles; do not use amulets; shun taverns; do not fall away to the
Samaritans, or Judaism for Jesus has ransomed you [from them]; do not call
indifferent meats unclean; abhor gatherings of heretics; make your soul safe by
fasting, prayer, alms, and reading God’s oracles. Live your life soberly, and in godly
doctrine; enjoy the salvation the flows from baptism, enrolled in the armies of
heaven, worthy of heavenly crowns.[vii]
[i]
Colossians 2:8
[ii]
We believe these sentences to be spurious.
†
St. Cyril has already
apologized for the lengthiness of his discussion, which is his usual indicator
that his discourse is ended. This may
indicate that all of paragraph 33 is a later interpolation.
†
The books of the Old
Testament according to the Church in the fourth century would have included the
Deuterocanon, which are so named for that reason: they are received as
secondarily canonical.
†
The term “apocryphal” may
refer to other books, outside of the Deuterocanon; the term is not sufficiently
specific: for many false works were afloat in St. Cyril’s day, and still
are. There were and are dangerous documents
abounding. For example, the Gnostic
literature of that day, which may have also been called “apocryphal”.
†
In the phrase, “the
twenty-two books of the Old Testament”, Judaizing words are put into St.
Cyril’s mouth. As much as he warns against
the evils of Judaizing, we doubt that St. Cyril would have ever made such a
statement: it is out of character for him to write in such a way.
†
In the fourth-century the
Hebrew text was in some disarray. We
believe that the Jews would not have spoken with much certainty about the text,
and then only those few experts known as Masoretes would have held any credible
opinion. Even then, the dust would not
settle on the argument until the Rambam (1135-1204).
†
St. Cyril himself will
later quote from the Deuterocanon, so it is unlikely that he contradicts
himself and sets a bad example for Catechumens.
†
The legendary collection of
books, translated by the Seventy-Two Interpreters included the Deuterocanon,
even though some of these may have been originally written in Greek.
†
The number Seventy-Two may
refer to the Sanhedrin of Moses, thus indicating Temple authority for the
translation.
†
Once Pentecost 33 AD has
passed, the Jews have lost all canonical authority, so it would be strange for
Christians, who now possess the whole canonical heritage of Christ, to be
seeking theological direction from Jews.
We suspect from this scenario that a later editor, with a
strong pro-Judaizing bias either inserted these words into St. Cyril’s document
wholesale, or modified St. Cyril’s words to “correct his theological error”. We can only conceive of two such mindsets as
sources: One. The words were inserted by Masoretic sympathizers around the
twelfth or thirteenth centuries. Two.
The words were inserted by Puritans, who with the remainder of the Reformation
changed from the Septuagint Greek base authority to Hebrew base authority, thus
rending the whole Church. This is the
very sort of thing that St. Cyril warns so strongly against.
[iii]
It is indeed strange for St. Cyril to “pull rank” by asserting the authority of
Apostolic succession as basis for these claims.
In paragraph 17, St. Cyril warns us to pay no attention to that which is
not supported by Scripture. If this
topic is genuine to St. Cyril, why was it not dealt with in paragraph 17?
[iv]
This is a definite error of some kind for Ⅰ Esdras is considered to be
Deuterocanonical while Ⅱ Esdras includes Nehemiah as a single book. We still end with twelve historical books,
five poetic books, and five prophetic books.
This, however, is not the division of the Tanakh, which roughly
translates as Law, Prophets, and Psalms, which St. Cyril would have known from
Luke 24:44.
[v]
Baruch is also Deuterocanonical, so this paragraph uses the term apocryphal writings in a somewhat different sense that our
term Deuterocanonical: it probably refers to a class of literature which we
would call pseudepigrapha.
[vi]
All we have done here is reinforce our earlier conclusion: We suspect from this
scenario that a later editor, with a strong pro-Judaizing bias either inserted
these words into St. Cyril’s document wholesale, or modified St. Cyril’s words
to “correct his theological error”. We
can only conceive of two such mindsets as sources: One. The words were inserted
by Masoretic sympathizers around the twelfth or thirteenth centuries. Two. The words were inserted by Puritans, who
with the remainder of the Reformation changed from the Septuagint Greek base
authority to Hebrew base authority, thus rending the whole Church. This is the very sort of thing that St. Cyril
warns so strongly against.
[vii]
Chapter 37 seems to be an unnecessary afterthought of a topic that was
concluded in paragraph 32. Hence, we
believe that the whole of Part C, paragraphs 33-37 are spurious: the work of
Judaizing mutilators… ancient or Puritan.
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