Cyril
of Jerusalem
Lecture 18, Part A
“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones.” — Ezekiel 37:1
Summary: St. Cyril discusses apologetic methods for dealing with the Greeks and the Samaritans concerning their unbelief in the resurrection of the dead. The Greeks must be confounded by their own superstitions. The Samaritans must be confronted from Torah. Both err in failing to see God as immeasurably powerful; as well as assuming that God will never judge them: for the judgments of this world lack complete justice. He mentions several proofs from nature, and from legends, most convincingly from human nature: which, since created, can certainly be recreated. For God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses did witness several creative, resurrection-like miracles.
Preview: 1. “The root of all good works is the hope of the
Resurrection….” “… every soul believing in
a Resurrection is naturally careful of itself; but, disbelieving it, abandons itself
to perdition.” “Faith therefore in the Resurrection
of the dead, is a great commandment and doctrine of the Holy Catholic Church; great
and most necessary, though gainsaid by many, yet surely warranted by the truth. Greeks contradict it, Samaritans disbelieve it,
heretics mutilate it; the contradiction is manifold, but the truth is uniform.” 2. “Now
Greeks and Samaritans together argue against us thus.” All that die decay, some to be spread around
the world, by birds, fish, and other wild animals. “…whence then is the body to be collected?” “Other[s] … are consumed by fire, and their very
ashes scattered by rain or wind; whence is the body to be brought together again?” 3. To feeble
humans the span of earth is great; “but to God, who holds the whole earth in the hollow of His hand,[i]
all things are near at hand. Impute not then
weakness to God, from a comparison of your feebleness, but rather dwell on His power. Does then the sun, a small work of God, by one
glance of his beams give warmth to the whole world; does the atmosphere, which God
has made, encompass all things in the world; and is God, who is the Creator both
of the sun, and of the atmosphere, far off from the world?” “Can you then [sort] things in your hand, and
cannot God separate the things contained in His hand, and restore them to their
proper place?” 4. “But further, attend, I pray, to the very principle
of justice … if you are a judge, to the good you award praise, and to the transgressors,
punishment. Is then justice observed by you
a mortal man; and with God, the ever changeless King of all, is there no retributive
justice? Nay, to deny it is impious.” “Unless there is a judgment and a retribution
after this world, you charge God with unrighteousness. Marvel not, however, because of the delay of the
judgment; no combatant is crowned or disgraced, till the contest is over; and no
president of the games ever crowns men while yet striving, but he waits till all
the combatants are finished, that then deciding between them he may dispense the
prizes and the chaplets. Even thus God also,
so long as the strife in this world lasts, succors the just but partially, but afterwards
He renders to them their rewards fully.”
5. But if … there is no resurrection
of the dead, wherefore do you condemn the robbers of graves? For if the body perishes, and there is no resurrection
… why does the violator of the tomb undergo punishment? … though you deny it with your lips, there yet
abides with you an indestructible instinct of the resurrection.” 6. “Further,
does a tree … cut down blossom again…?”
“Does the grain sown and reaped remain for the threshing floor…?” “Do shoots of vine or other trees, when … transplanted,
come to life and bear fruit…?” “Shall man,
for whose sake all these exist … not rise again?” Which is easier, to make a new mold or recast
an old one? “Is God then, who created us
out of nothing, unable to raise again those who exist and are fallen?” “Wheat, it may be, or some other kind of grain,
is sown; and when the seed has fallen, it dies and rots, and is henceforth useless
for food. But that which has rotted, springs
up in verdure; and though small when sown, springs up most beautiful. … are then the things which were made for us quickened
when they die, and do we for whom they were made, not rise again after our death?” 7. In
winter trees and vines are as dead, “but green in spring; and when the season has
come, there is restored to them a quickening as it were from a state of death.”
“Flies and bees are often drowned in water,
yet after a while revive; and species of dormice, after remaining motionless during
the winter, are restored in the summer … and shall He who to irrational and despised
creatures grants [resurrection] life supernaturally, not bestow it upon us, for
whose sake He made them? 8. “But the Greeks … say that, even if these creatures
are raised, yet they had not utterly moldered away; and they require to see distinctly
some creature rise again after complete decay.”
[Yet how reply the Greeks to their own legend of the][ii]
“Phoenix. This bird, as Clement writes …
being the only one of its kind, arrives in [Egypt every] … five hundred years …
in a notable city … makes itself a coffin of frankincense and myrrh and other spices,
and entering into this … dies and molders away. Then from the decayed flesh of the dead bird a
worm is engendered, and this worm when grown large is transformed into a bird …
as bees also … [come from] worms, and [birds] from [fluid] eggs … [grow] wings and
bones and sinews.” The Phoenix, “becoming
fledged and a full-grown Phoenix … soars up into the air such as it had died, showing
forth … resurrection of the dead.” “Yet [the
Phoenix] is irrational … it knows not who is the Only-begotten Son of God. Has then a resurrection from the dead been given
to this irrational creature which knows not its Maker, and to us who ascribe glory
to God and keep His commandments, shall there no resurrection be granted?” 9. “Since
the sign of the Phoenix is … uncommon … take … this … every day [proof]. A hundred or two … years ago … where were we?”
“Do you not know how from … elements we are
engendered, and … a living man is formed? And how that weak element being made flesh is changed
into strong sinews, and bright eyes, and sensitive nose, and hearing ears, and speaking
tongue, and beating heart, and busy hands, and swift feet, and into members of all
kinds? … becomes a shipwright, and a builder,
and an architect, and a craftsman of various arts, and a soldier, and a ruler, and
a lawgiver, and a king? Cannot God then,
who has made us out of imperfect materials[iii],
raise us up when we have fallen into decay? He who thus [frames] a body out of what is vile,
cannot He raise the fallen body again? And
He who fashions that which is not, shall He not raise up that which is and is fallen?” 10. “Take
[another] proof.... The body of the moon
vanishes completely, so that no part of it is any more seen, yet it fills again,
and is restored to its former state … the moon … suffering eclipse … changed into
blood, recovers its luminous body … that you also, … might believe concerning yourself
also what you see in respect of the moon. These … use … as arguments against the Greeks;
for with them who receive not what is written fight thou with unwritten weapons,
by reasonings only and demonstrations;[iv]
for these men know not who Moses is, nor Esaias, nor the Gospels, nor Paul.” 11. “The
Samaritans, who, receiving the Law only, allow not the Prophets. To them the text just now read from Ezekiel appears
of no force, for, as I said, they admit no Prophets; whence then shall we persuade
the Samaritans also?” “Now God says to Moses,
I am the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and
of Jacob;[v]
this must mean of those who [are still living]. For if Abraham has come to an end, and Isaac and
Jacob, then He is the God of those who have no being.” “Therefore Abraham and Isaac and Jacob must subsist,
that God may be the God of those who have being; for He said not, I was their
God, but I am. And that there is a judgment, Abraham shows in
saying to the Lord, He who judges all the
earth, shall He not execute judgment?[vi] 12. “But
… Samaritans object again, and say that the souls possibly of Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob continue, but that their bodies cannot possibly rise again. Was it then possible that the rod of righteous
Moses should become a serpent…?” “Again,
the rod of Aaron … budded, without the scent
of waters[vii]….
Did Aaron’s rod rise … and shall not Aaron
himself be raised?” “A woman also was made
salt … and shall not flesh be restored to flesh?” “By what power was Moses’ hand changed, which even
within one hour became as snow, and was restored again? Certainly by God's command. Was then His command of force then, and has it
no force now?”
[i]
Isaiah 40:12
[ii]
Evidently, St. Cyril and St. Clement both believed that the Phoenix legend was
true; or at least they were willing to give its reports the benefit of the
doubt. It is sufficient for the proof
only that the Greeks believed this legend.
We, on the other hand, have no evidence to prove that the legend is
untrue: still, it is not commonly believed today.
[iii]
Note the hint of Greek worldview in that the physical world is imperfect, only
the world of forms is perfect. However,
St. Cyril sees this imperfection, not from the perspective of very flawed Greek
philosophy, but from the corruption of the fall of man; wherein, the heavenly
kingdom is not the creation of perfect imagination; rather, it is a real
spiritual realm that parallels the physical.
The spiritual universe of Christianity and the world of forms in Greek
philosophy are two entirely different things: the first a tangible reality, the
second an imagination.
[iv]
Excellent apologetic technique
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