Cyril of Jerusalem
Lecture 12, Part C
“And the Lord
spoke again unto Ahaz, saying, ‘Ask you a sign....’ ” and “Behold! A virgin[i]
shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Emmanuel….” — Isaiah 7:10-14
Summary: Jesus is infinitely pure; a fact which St. Cyril defends against his principal adversaries[ii] from Scripture, from Greek fables, and from many well-known miracles among the Jews. This purity, is in no small part the work of the Holy Spirit in purifying Mary. It is also truly and reasonably miraculous, considering that Adam was made from clay, and Eve from Adam’s side. So, we must reject as heretics all those who deprecate this purity in any way; especially, any form of denial of the Virgin birth. This purity is not only the vestiture of Virgins; but Solitary [men] have a share in it as well.
Preview: 25. [Jesus] is infinitely pure…. “For if he who well fulfills the office of a priest
of Jesus abstains from a wife[iii],
how should Jesus Himself be born of man and woman?” But, one Psalm says, “He that took Me out of
the womb….” “For the manner is different
with those who are begotten according to the course of marriage.” 26.
“He is not ashamed to assume flesh … the veil of His Godhead.” “There is nothing polluted in the human frame
except a man defile this with fornication and adultery.”[iv] “Your bodies are the temples of the Holy
Ghost which is in you.” 27. “But
both Greeks and Jews harass us and say that it was impossible for the Christ to
be born of a virgin.” We stop the Greeks
with their own fables: telling of birth from a brain, or a thigh. 28. To
the circumcision say, “Whether is harder, for an aged woman, barren and past age[v],
to bear, or for a virgin in the prime of youth to conceive?” “How then was the hand of Moses made white as
snow, and at once restored again?” Or
how was Moses’s rod made into a frightening serpent? Or how did Aaron’s rod bud?[vi] 29.
When the Jews still contradict, question them about Eve’s mother. “Mary, therefore, paid the debt, of gratitude,
when not by man but of herself alone in an immaculate way she conceived of the Holy
Ghost by the power of God.” 30. “But … a greater wonder than this … that the dust
of the earth should become a man….” Clay
molded into eyes; dust into bones and lungs; animated, traveling, self-moving,
building houses; teaching, talking; carpenter, and king. “Whence, then, O you most ignorant Jews, was Adam
made? Did not God take dust from the earth,
and fashion this wonderful frame? Is then
clay changed into an eye, and cannot a virgin bear a son. Does that which for men is more impossible take
place, and is that which is possible never to occur?” 31. “Let
us remember these things, brethren: let us use these weapons in our defense. Let us not endure those heretics who teach Christ's
coming as a phantom. Let us abhor those also
who say that the Savior’s birth was of husband and wife; who have dared to say that
He was the child of Joseph and Mary, because it is written, And he took unto him his wife.[vii] For Jacob called Rachel, wife, based on
promise, long before they entered into conjugal relations[viii]:
so Mary was Virgin, even though promised in marriage: so say both Luke[ix]
and Paul[x]. 32.
Even the manner of the event is attested[xi]. “Immaculate and undefiled was His generation[xii]:
for where the Holy Spirit breathes, there all pollution is taken away: undefiled
from the Virgin was the incarnate generation of the Only-begotten. And if the heretics gainsay the truth, the Holy
Ghost shall convict them: that overshadowing power of the Highest shall wax angry:
Gabriel shall stand face to face against them in the day of judgment: the place
of the manger, which received the Lord, shall put them to shame.” For shepherds, Angels, offerings of
purification, Symeon, and Anna all bear witness. 33. Since
[the Father], Spirit, and Son also witness, Christ says, “Why do you seek to
kill me….?” And again, “Handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and
bones….” “Adored be the Lord the Virgin-born,
and let Virgins acknowledge the crown of their own state: let the order also of
Solitaries acknowledge the glory of chastity for we men are not deprived of the
dignity of chastity.” For Christ
was nine months in the womb; but, thirty-three years a man.” 34. “But
let us all by God’s grace run the race of chastity, young men and maidens, old men and children; not going after wantonness,
but praising the name of Christ. Let us not
be ignorant of the glory of chastity: for its crown is angelic, and its excellence
above man.”[xiii]
[i]
St. Cyril is clearly teaching from the Septuagint: for the Greek has παρθένος,
virgin; whereas, the Hebrew has הָעַלְמָ֗ה, young
woman. Obviously, the Rabbis who
translated the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek (circa 200 BC), understood
that young woman was not a suitable translation in this context: for young
woman is not a sign at all, let alone the miracle anticipated by the
context. We should logically conclude
that virgin is the only reasonable translation: but, the Rabbis came to this
conclusion two hundred years before Christ was born. Who knows who else holds this certainty from
the time of Isaiah (eighth century BC), six hundred years earlier than the
Septuagint; surely Isaiah did: but, we have no surviving written record, older
than Septuagint.
[ii]
St. Cyril calls out his principal adversaries by name: Greeks and Jews; both of
whom harass Christians. So, St. Cyril
mounts his defense, not offense, as a rebuttal of Greek superstition and Jewish
ignorance.
[iii]
Already, it appears, the voluntary practice of celibacy was common, if not
universal, among the priesthood. St.
John Chrysostom defends the same view at length. Note also, that the office is here titled
priest: we are not sure what else this might affirm or deny. We have previously identified the risks of
putting words into the mouths of ancient witnesses: correct excision is risky
at best.
[iv]
We recall St. Cyril’s belief that the flesh is not the source of sin; rather,
the soul in general, and the will in particular.... This has nothing immediately to do with
original sin.
[v]
Sarah
[vi]
St. Cyril defends from the necessity of miracles.
[vii]
Matthew 1:24
[viii]
Genesis 29:21
[ix]
Luke 1:26-27
[x]
Galatians 4:4
[xi]
Luke 1:34-35
[xii]
St. Cyril is not speaking of Mary’s conception; he clearly attributes Mary’s
purification to the Holy Spirit. These
two ideas are mutually contradictory and exclusive: for if Mary is already
pure, there is no need of the Spirit’s breath; and if the Spirit’s breath is necessary, then Mary must not be personally pure.
[xiii]
While St. Cyril holds a very high view of celibate life; he will later explain
that this in no way denigrates lawful marriage.
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