Cyril
of Jerusalem
Lecture 20
“Don’t you know, that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore, we were buried-together in Him by baptism into the death: that just as Christ was raised up from death by the glory of the Father, so also we could have walked in newness of life: for, if we, [the] planted-together, have been begotten[i] in the likeness of His death, moreover also we will be of the resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified-together, that the body of sin would be made powerless, that we no longer be slaves in sin: for, the dead, has been justified from sin. Yet, if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live-together in Him; seeing that Christ, awakening out of death, no longer dies; death no longer has mastery of Him: for, in that He died in[ii] [our] sin, He died once; yet, in that He lives, He lives in God. So also you, count yourselves indeed to be dead in sin; yet, alive in God in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Do] not, therefore, let sin have domination[iii] in your dying body[iv] into submission[v] in her[vi] desires; nor commend[vii] your members as weapons of unrighteousness in sin; but, commend yourselves in God as alive from death, and your members as weapons of righteousness in God:[viii] for, sin will not have mastery of you: for, you are not under law, but under grace. — Romans 6:3-14
Summary: Having laid a foundation in the denouncing of Satan, St. Cyril proceeds to discuss the mysteries of baptism itself; especially that we share in the likeness or similitude of Christ’s death; which he shows from Paul to be far more important than the remission of our sins or our adoption, or even our reception of the Holy Spirit. We have put off the old man and put on a whole new man. We were cut from a wild olive tree and grafted into Christ, the true olive tree. We have died in this similitude and been resurrected from the dead. Not just once, either; but, fully three times entering into death, and three times being resurrected in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.[ix]
Preview: 1. “These daily introductions into the Mysteries
… are profitable to us; and … to you, who have been renewed from an old state to
a new. Therefore, I … lay before you
[yesterday’s] sequel … that you may learn of what those things … in the inner chamber,
were symbolic.” 2. “… as you entered, you put off your tunic; and
this was an image of putting off the old
man with his deeds.[x]
Having stripped yourselves … imitating Christ,
who was stripped naked on the Cross, and by His nakedness put off from Himself the principalities and powers, and openly
triumphed over them on the tree.[xi]
For since … [your enemies] made their lair
in your members, you may no longer wear that old garment … the old man, which waxes corrupt in the lusts of
deceit.[xii]
May the soul which has once put him off,
never again put him on, but say with the Spouse of Christ in the Song of Songs,
I have put off my garment, how shall I
put it on?[xiii]” 3. “Then
… you were anointed with exorcised oil, from the very hairs of your head to your
feet, and were made partakers of the good olive-tree, Jesus Christ. For you were cut off from the wild olive-tree,
and grafted into the good one, and were made to share the fatness of the true olive-tree.[xiv]
The exorcised oil therefore was a symbol
of the participation of the fatness of Christ….” 4.
“[Then] you were led to the holy pool of Divine Baptism, as Christ was carried
from the Cross to the Sepulcher…. Each of
you was asked, whether he believed in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost, and you made that saving confession, and descended three times
into the water, and ascended again … hinting … at the three days burial of Christ.” “And at the self-same moment you were both dying
and being born; and that Water of salvation was at once your grave and your mother. … Solomon … said, in that case, There is a time to bear and a time to die;[xv]
but … in the reverse order….” 5. “O strange and inconceivable thing! We did not … die, were not … buried, … crucified
and raised again; … our imitation was … a figure, [but] our salvation … reality.
Christ was actually crucified, … buried,
and … rose again … that we, sharing His sufferings by imitation, might gain salvation
in reality. O surpassing loving-kindness!
Christ received nails in His undefiled hands
and feet, and suffered anguish; while on me without pain or toil by the fellowship
of His suffering He freely bestows salvation.”
6. “Let no one … suppose that Baptism
is merely the grace of remission of sins, or … of adoption … whereas we know full well, that as it purges our
sins, and ministers to us the gift of the Holy Ghost, so also it is the counterpart
of the sufferings of Christ. … Paul … said,
Or are you ignorant that all we who were
baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism
into His death.”[xvi] 7. “Whatsoever
things Christ endured, for us and for our salvation He suffered them in reality
and not in appearance, and that we also are made partakers of His sufferings, Paul
cried … For if we have been planted together
with the likeness of His death, we shall be also with the likeness of His resurrection.[xvii]”
“He said not, For if we have been planted
together with His death, but, with the likeness of His death. For in Christ’s case there was death in reality
… but in your case there was only a likeness of death and sufferings, whereas of
salvation there was not a likeness but a reality.” 8. “… keep
[these things], I beseech you, in your remembrance; that I also, unworthy though
I be, may say of you, Now I love you, because
you always remember me, and hold fast the traditions, which I delivered unto you.[xviii]
And God, who has presented you as it were alive from the dead,[xix]
is able to grant unto you to walk in newness
of life:[xx]
because His is the glory and the power, now and forever. Amen.”
[i]
Born, born again, created: the new birth is clearly in view.
[ii]
dative, His state at death, in our sin, not in His sin.
[iii]
Third person imperative or emphatic, sin is the subject. The Greek idiom does not require a second
person imperative. Do is supplied to
make sense in English.
[iv]
The force seems to fall just short of, “our dead corpse”: for we are to count
ourselves as dead to sin.
[v]
substantive infinitive
[vi]
This is feminine, because it modifies a feminine noun, desires; so, what is the
antecedent, if any? Sin is the other
feminine noun in the sentence: it is sin’s desires that are under discussion.
However, sin is said to reign in the body, which seems to
contradict St. Cyril’s idea that the mind and will are the root of sin, the
body being the innocent victim.
It is possible that St. Cyril’s concern is pastoral, insofar
as he seeks to rouse the will to fight against the fleshly desires of the body:
this is certainly necessary to sanctified Christian life; yet, these bodily
desires, which seem to act involuntarily and independently of the rational mind
or will, are only brought into subjection by decades of discipline: even then,
they break out from time to time with surprising ferocity. It is only through the power of the Spirit
that we even hope to make any headway in this battle: it is a raging spiritual
battle, which requires the participation of every Christian. Nevertheless, St. Cyril’s pastoral concerns,
if any, seem fully warranted; since Jerusalem was considered to be a licentious
and wicked city in his day. If the will
is not aroused to engage in this battle; then, the soul’s war is hopelessly
lost before it begins. If the will is
engage in this war; battles may be won or lost: but the Spirit brings the war
to its victorious conclusion.
We perceive several possible errors of extremism here: the
will has every affect (misnamed Pelagianism); the will has no affect
(determinism); the will has power (category error); the body always acts
independently of the will (excessive focus on involuntary muscles); the body
never acts independently of the will (excessive focus on voluntary muscles). Augustine’s illustrations concerning the
penis are devastating to several of these excesses.
In modern times, John Romanides weighs in against Augustine;
Georges Florovsky, and many others, value Augustine by appropriation.
[vii]
Take a stand-beside, associate; in the political arena, to stand-beside in a
photo-op, would be an implied endorsement of the person and any evil involved.
[viii]
The opposing dangers here are: One. To
turn this into and justify physical war, or jihad, which this does not approve;
Two. To treat this lightly, as if no
true spiritual battle were taking place.
This is clearly a call for commitment of the will; not a call to take up arms.
[ix]
It is a vital matter of interest that St. Cyril gives no instruction about
making the sign of the cross; left to right, right to left, or otherwise: he
simply insists that we do it. His descriptions
of Baptism, on the other hand, are meticulously scrupulous in every least detail. The Didache has such detailed
instructions for Trine-Baptism; yet, these may be set aside as a superstition coming
from an uncertain single witness. Now,
with St. Cyril’s voice also supporting the necessity of Trine-Baptism, there
can be little doubt that the practice of Mono-Baptism is to be deplored and
rejected in all its forms. While we
accept the persons Baptized by Mono-Baptism, we really wish the practice would
stop: we cringe inwardly, in fear, every time we witness it. Matthew 28:19
[xi]
Colossians 2:15; 1 Peter 2:24
[xiv]
Romans 11:17-24
[xvi]
Romans 6:3
[xvii]
Romans 6:5
[xviii]
1 Corinthians 11:2; 15:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:15
[xx]
Romans 6:4
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