Cyril of Jerusalem
Lecture 11, Part B
“God, who at sundry
times and in various manners spoke in times past unto the Fathers by the Prophets,
has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son.” — Hebrews 1:1
Summary: These great mysteries escape our understanding; we must not be ashamed of that: for, we cannot understand the mystery of Godhood. Christ, the Only-begotten Word is equally Creator with the Father [and the Spirit]; yet, he also becomes man, who alone as God-man is crucified; The Son is also a distinct, but not separate, Person: God is One in Essence and undivided.
Preview: 13. “Be not ashamed to confess your ignorance, since
you share ignorance with Angels.” Only
God understands the mystery of Godhood; The Father knows the Son, as the Son
also knows the Father: these truths are repeated many times for our
safety. 14. The begetting of the Only-begotten is very
God: for true God cannot beget false God.
This generation is timeless.
Emmanuel means, God with us.
15. This [timelessly] begotten
[God][i],
later became man [in time]. 16. “A third testimony to Christ’s Godhead” is
found in Esaias in almost the same words as the “Gospels: The Father is in Me, and
I am in the Father.”[ii] 17. “The
Son then is Very God, having the Father in Himself, not changed into the Father;
for the Father was not made man, but the Son.”
The Son suffered, not the Father.[iii] Their persons are distinct, [not divided or
separated]; “let not their worship be separated.” 18. “He
that has seen Me, has seen the Father.”[iv] “God
was He who begot, God He who was begotten; God of all Himself, yet entitling the
Father His own God. For He is not ashamed
to say, I ascend unto My Father and
your Father, and to My God and your God.”[v] 19. Father:
“in one way Mine, by nature; in another yours, by adoption.” God: “in one way Mine, as His true and Only-begotten
Son, and in another way yours, as His workmanship.” “Exalt not yourself, lest you fall: think upon
those things only which have been commanded you.”[vi] Learn the begetter first; then the
begotten. 20. “For godliness it suffices you to know, as we
have said, that God has One Only Son, One naturally begotten; who began NOT His being when He was born in Bethlehem, but
Before All Ages.”[vii] 21. “Silenced
be every heresy which brings in different creators and makers of the world; silenced
the tongue which blasphemes the Christ the Son of God; let them be silenced who
say that the sun is the Christ, for He is the sun's Creator, not the sun which we
see. Silenced be they who say that the world is the workmanship of Angels, who wish
to steal away the dignity of the Only-begotten.” 22. “When
the Father wished to form all things, the Son created all things at the Father's
bidding, that the act of bidding might secure to the Father His absolute authority
, and yet the Son in turn might have authority over His own workmanship, and neither
the Father be separated from the lordship over His own works, nor the Son rule over
things created by others, but by Himself.”[viii] 23. “Not
that the Father wanted strength to create the works Himself, but because He willed
that the Son should reign over His own workmanship, God Himself giving Him the design
of the things to be made. For honoring His
own Father the Only-begotten says, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but
what He sees the Father do; for whatever things He does, these also does the
Son likewise.”[ix] “My Father works hitherto, and I work.”[x] 24. “Christ then is the Only-begotten Son of God,
and Maker of the world. For He was in the world, and the world was
made by Him; and He came unto His own,
as the Gospel teaches us;”[xi] He
also is Maker of things seen and unseen.[xii]
[i]
Psalm 45:7; Hebrews 1:8-9
[ii]
John 10:30; 14:11; 17:11, 21
[iii]
This is a heresy known as Patripassianism.
[iv]
John 14:9
[v]
John 20.17
[vii]
John 8:56, 58; 17:24
[viii]
We are not comfortable with this illustration: for it seems to carry an implied
servitude of the Son in His Deity, not in His humanity, to the Father. Their mutual Godhead is only One Godhead;
yet, their acts as Persons seem to differ: this is not a mystery for us to
solve. Suffice it to say that we know
the Father did not die on the Cross; we also know that the relationship between
the Persons is not one of altered modes.
[ix]
John 5:19
[x]
John 5:17
[xi]
John 1:10-11; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:2
[xii]
If St. Cyril seems repetitious to us, we must remember that some of his
Catechumens may not be able to read or write; they certainly do not have
personal study books to take home and keep, reviewing from time to time. St. Cyril is compelled to embed the lessons
on their memories.
