Cyril of Jerusalem, Lecture 16, Part B

Cyril of Jerusalem

Lecture 16, Part B

https://www.swrktec.org/catechism

https://www.swrktec.org/spirit

“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant....  Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit….” — 1 Corinthians 12:1, 4

Summary: The Holy Spirit is called water for a reason, St. Cyril contends; water is ubiquitous in and indispensable for life.  The Holy Spirit’s distribution of gifts brings life to the Church.  Even though the word spirit or wind has many confusing uses, there is only One Holy Spirit; from Whom we learn the need to be wary: for there are many false spirits abroad in this world.  The Spirit comes to save us; yet, He will also judge us.  He enlightened all the Prophets of the Old Testament, as well as all the Apostles of the New: freely given, He is never bought or sold.  We do not control Him we share Him: for He empowers us, cooperating with us through our separate wills.  As comforter He helps us endure suffering in persecution and tribulation.  He helps us become what the Father wants us to be.

Preview:  12.  “Why did He call the grace of the Spirit water?  Because by water all things subsist….”[i]  “Thus also the Holy Ghost, being one, and of one nature, and indivisible, divides to each His grace, according as He will.”[ii]  And so, divers spiritual gifts are distributed to people who were formerly dry and comparatively lifeless: struggling just to survive the drought of their own souls.  “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.  For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith, in the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healing, in the same Spirit; and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discernings of spirits; and to another various kinds of tongues; and to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these works that one and the same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will.”[iii]  13.  “For as Aaron is called Christ, and David and Saul and others are called Christs, but there is only one true Christ[iv], so likewise since the name of spirit is given to different things, it is right to see what is that which is distinctively called the Holy Spirit.”[v]  “Beware therefore when you hear these things, lest from their having a common name thou mistake one for another.”  14.  Yes, the Spirit speaks, “The Spirit said to Philip, Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.”[vi]  “The Spirit of the Lord came upon me, and said to me, Thus says the Lord.”[vii]  “The Holy Ghost said….”[viii]  “Behold thou the Spirit living, separating, calling, and with authority sending forth?”  “Save that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.”[ix]  Jesus said, “He shall teach you all things (and He said not only, He shall teach, but also, He shall bring to your remembrance whatever I have said to you;[x] for the teachings of Christ and of the Holy Ghost are not different, but the same)….”  15.  “But sin also is called spirit … in another … sense, as … The spirit of whoredom caused them to err.[xi]  The name spirit is given also to the unclean spirit[xii], the devil….”  “The devils are verily foes of men, using them foully and mercilessly.”  16.  “Such is not the Holy Ghost….  For His doings tend the contrary way, towards what is good and salutary.  First, His coming is gentle; the perception of Him is fragrant; His burden most light; beams of light and knowledge gleam forth before His coming.  He comes with the bowels of a true guardian: for He comes to save, and to heal, to teach, to admonish, to strengthen, to exhort, to enlighten the mind, first of him who receives Him, and afterwards of others also, through him.”  So, a man is transported from darkness to light.  “He sees, like Esaias, the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up;[xiii] he sees, like Ezekiel, Him who is above the Cherubim;[xiv] he sees like Daniel, ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands….”[xv]  17.  “Peter was not with Ananias and Sapphira when they sold their possessions, but he was present by the Spirit; Why, he says, has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?[xvi]  There was no accuser; there was no witness; whence knew he what had happened?...  [as] in the case also of Elisseus.…  Gehazi received the reward … you have sold the cure of the leper, and the leprosy is your heritage.  I, he says, have fulfilled the bidding of Him who said to me, Freely you have received, freely give;[xvii] but you have sold this grace; receive now the condition of the sale.  But what says Elisseus to him?  Went not mine heart with you?[xviii] … Do you see how the Holy Ghost not only rids of ignorance, but invests with knowledge?  Do you see how He enlightens men's souls?”  18.  “Esaias … says, Zion shall be ploughed as a field [xix]… And the daughter of Zion shall be left as a booth in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers.[xx]  And now the place is filled with gardens of cucumbers.  Do you see how the Holy Spirit enlightens the saints?  Be not therefore carried away to other things, by the force of a common term, but keep fast the exact meaning.”  19.  “And if ever, while you have been sitting here, a thought concerning chastity or virginity has come into your mind….”  “Many ways of covetousness are there in the world; yet Christians refuse possessions: wherefore?  Because of the teaching of the Holy Ghost.”  “A mighty ally and protector, therefore, have we from God; a great Teacher of the Church, a mighty Champion on our behalf.  Let us not be afraid of the demons, nor of the devil; for mightier is He who fights for us.  Only let us open to Him our doors; for He goes about seeking such as are worthy and searching on whom He may confer His gifts.  20.  “And He is called the Comforter, because He comforts and encourages us, and helps our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered.”[xxi]  Facing martyrdom, the Spirit whispers, “Wait on the Lord,[xxii] O man; what is now befalling you is a small matter, the reward will be great.[xxiii]  Suffer a little while, and you shall be with Angels forever.[xxiv]  The sufferings of this present time art not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”[xxv]  21.  “And would you be sure that by the power of the Holy Ghost the Martyrs bear their witness?  The Savior says to His disciples, And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and the magistrates, and authorities, be not anxious how you shall answer, or what you shall say; for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in that very hour, what you ought to say.”[xxvi]  22.  “Great indeed, and all-powerful in gifts, and wonderful, is the Holy Ghost.  Consider, how many of you are now sitting here, how many souls of us are present.  He is working suitably for each, and being present in the midst, beholds the temper of each, beholds also his reasoning and his conscience, and what we say, and think, and believe.”

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[i] Hence, we find a reference to the Spirit in Psalms 1:3.

[ii] 1 Corinthians 12:11

[iii] 1 Corinthians 12:7-11

[iv] The word meaning anointed is fairly common in Scripture; we are anointed at baptism; there are many anointed: but, there is only One Anointed, One Christ, One Messiah.

[v] The word meaning wind is also fairly common in Scripture; we receive the Spirit at baptism; each of us also has a human spirit; there are many spirits: but, there is only One Holy Spirit, One Paraclete.

[vi] Acts 8:29

[vii] Ezekiel 11:5

[viii] Acts 13:2

[ix] Acts 20:23

[x] John 14:26

[xi] Hosea 4:12

[xii] Zechariah 13:2; Matthew 10:1; 12:43; Mark 1:23, 26-27; 3:11, 30; 5:2, and others

[xiii] Isaiah 6:1

[xiv] Ezekiel 10:1

[xv] Daniel 7:10

[xvi] Acts 5:3

[xvii] Matthew 10:8

[xviii] 2 Kings 5:20-36

[xix] Micah 3:12; Jeremiah 26:18

[xx] Isaiah 1:8

[xxi] Romans 8:26

[xxii] Psalms 27:14; 37:34

[xxiii] Matthew 5:12

[xxiv] 1 Peter 5:10

[xxv] Romans 8:18

[xxvi] Luke 12:11-12

Cyril of Jerusalem, Lecture 11, Part B

Cyril of Jerusalem

Lecture 11, Part B

https://www.swrktec.org/catechism

“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]

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[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

[vi] This is the fifth-time St. Cyril has referenced the Deuterocanon as Scripture.  Sirach 3:2

[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.

Cyril of Jerusalem, Lecture 11, Part A

Cyril of Jerusalem

Lecture 11, Part A

https://www.swrktec.org/catechism

“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: There is, at last, only One True Christ, Who, is the complete and perfect expressed Word and Wisdom of God: “for in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”[i]  This is what the Spirit teaches; so, we need not busy ourselves with religious teachings and wild philosophical speculations about God[ii] that are not found in Scripture.

Preview: 1.  We must hope, not in the many “called” or figurative Christs; but, in the One True Christ, the One having the dignity of eternal Priesthood from the Father, the Only-Begotten: as our profession of Faith[iii] guards us.  2.  Jesus, the natural Son of God, without brother, is called Only-Begotten, because of [His] dignity of Godhead, and [eternal] generation from the Father.[iv]  3.  “Our Lord Jesus Christ … became man; He was not mere man by nature; which Peter blurts out, and Christ blesses as Truth.  4.  Any doubts are clarified by the words, “but a Son eternally begotten by an inscrutable and incomprehensible generation.”  Others received [adopted] sonship; but, He, not receiving sonship, was Son of the Father before all ages.  5.  So the word, generation, in the genealogies refers [only] to His flesh: son of Abraham, son of David.  But, as Son by the standard of Godhead, without time, place, or genealogical descent.  6.  “Believe thou therefore on Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, and a Son Only-Begotten”; gift of God’s love for the world; source of life; glory of the Father; before whom devils tremble.  7.  “He is then the Son of God by nature and not by adoption”: timelessly perfect and complete, without origin, by eternal begetting; not by an imperfect progression.  8.  So, unlike human generation; as when Abraham begot Isaac: for God was not without a Son previously.  9.  Not like a teacher begets disciples, by adoption of grace, by the will of God[v], by water and the Spirit: for at Jesus’ baptism He says, “This is My Son,” not, “This has now become My Son.”  10.  Nor as mind begets word, dispersing into air, thus ending; but, as Word [the person] “substantially existing and living; not spoken”; but, speaking.  11.  Nor as wisdom that man can understand; but, as [Wisdom] that only God Himself knows, between Father and Son[vi]: for all creation is ignorant of such Wisdom.  Thus, man should not be downcast over his ignorance of things that even Angels cannot explain.  12.  The curiosity of bold men amazes, insofar as they are ignorant of created angelic ranks; yet, attempt to scrutinize the Creator of Angels.  The Holy Ghost knows all the deep things of God; yet, has not written of them in Scripture: “why do we busy ourselves about what is not written?”

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[i] Colossians 2:9

[ii] St. Cyril does not reject legitimate secular studies here: agriculture, art, mathematics, music, poetry, science, and may others.  What he rejects are wild cataphatic assertions about the Godhead which can only be described apophatically, as a confession of ignorance.  Others, taking The Creed as a declaration of what we know, rather than a confession of what we do not know, have made The Creed into and instrument of dictatorship and oppression: committing terrible atrocities, a "Jehovian Terror", justified by false understanding.

[iii] We believe that St. Cyril intends The Nicene Creed (325), or perhaps even Then Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381).  We believe that St. Cyril (313-386) was instrumental in the formation of this revised creed; especially, since his lectures on the Holy Spirit will show a more well-developed view than that put into words around 325.

[iv] We have added words of clarification; yet, these are not our mere opinion: for what else can these sentences mean, other than that Christ possesses all the fullness of the Godhead, Godhood, or nature of God by eternal generation.  There is no need for these statements at all if they do not indicate the complete and perfect Deity of Christ by eternal generation from the Father.

[v] John 1:12-13; 1 Corinthians 4:15

[vi] St. Cyril was around twelve when The Creed was first presented.  He was about twenty-two when he was ordained deacon (circa 335).  There is every reason to believe that he is following the sequential structure of The Creed here.  He does not discuss the details of the Godhead of the Spirit, such as Wisdom: for that topic, has yet to be treated in The Creed.  The Spirit, of course, fully shares in the Wisdom that God alone is able to comprehend.