Cyril of Jerusalem
Lecture 8
“The Great, the strong God, Lord of great Counsel, and mighty in His works, the Great God, the Lord Almighty and of great name.” — Jeremiah 39:18, 19 (Septuagint).
Summary: God’s Oneness in Deity, in Fatherhood, is amplified in His unbounded power or strength. There is no place where it does not reach; no one it does not rule … save Son and Spirit, Who, fully share in it. Money, especially, is neither for our slavery, nor is it a curse; it is God’s gift to the faithful.[i]
Preview: 1. Belief in
One God cuts off any form of polytheism common among the Greeks; belief in the
Father cuts off the circumcision’s [denial of the Trinity]; now we add
“Almighty”[ii]
to these titles. 2. For the Greeks [philosophers] God’s power is
the soul of the world: not reaching beyond heaven, to earth; neither to hell.[iii] 3.
Heretics do not see God’s might as unbounded, which is refuted by
Scripture, especially Matthew 10:28.[iv] 4. We
know only One God from Scripture and doctrine: for He even rules over idolaters
in His forbearance; over heretics who value Him as nought; over the devil; over
Angels; over mankind. His patient and
wise providence lays the groundwork for salvation; as Joseph’s imprisonment,
born from his brothers malice, worked for their salvation; so, the devil’s
wrestling, is groundwork for the victor’s crowns, who through their weakness,
but through God’s strength, overcome a former-Archangel. 5.
None of this diminishes God’s power: for all are His servants, except
Son and Spirit; as “Nebuchadnezzar once learned by experience. 6.
Riches are not the devil’s [property]: for riches are gifts for the
faithful, not the faithless, like the devil.
Yet, faithless people squander God’s gift, impiously blaming their own
mismanagement on their Creator. But, the
faithful may be justified by money.[v] 7.
Heretics count physical things accursed: for we should neither be slaves
of money, nor count God’s gifts as a curse.
The devil’s claim that all these things are his, requires careful
evaluation.[vi] 8.
“God, then, is One, the Father, the Almighty, whom … heretics have dared to blaspheme … the Lord of
Sabaoth, who sits above the Cherubim …
to Whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
[i]
We must proceed with caution here: for St. Cyril is not teaching a prosperity
theology. In every supporting Scripture,
wealth proves to be a blessing as the faithful judiciously give it away or
share it. A blessing, selfishly kept, is
no blessing at all.
[ii]
We ought not draw a cataphatic conclusion from this; for the purists, we point
out that St. Cyril means that God’s might is infinite: which is to say that it
is without human counting, definition, or measure. In other words, God’s might is another of those
unspeakable mysteries, about which we know from Scripture; yet, are far beyond
human comprehension, conception, or imagination: of which they can only be
spoken in extreme abstractions.
Apophatic theology was not invented in the fourteenth century by St.
Gregory Palamas. To be sure, our
understanding of apophaticism has increased in profundity since the fourth
century; ideas like zero and infinity have been more accurately construed:
this, however, has only served to increase the enigma of the mystery… hidden in
Christ with God.
[iii]
We must understand the Greek world of the forms here, perfection in concept;
but, flawed in nature: hence, impotent in the physical earth or past the River
Styx in Hades. Possibly, Plato or
Aristotle are in view.
[iv]
Matthew 12:29 and/or Mark 3:27 are also quoted as proof.
[v]
Matthew 25:35-36; also Matthew 19:21; Mark 10:21
[vi]
Matthew 4; Luke 4
No comments:
Post a Comment