Cyril of Jerusalem

Do not suppose that it is a small thing that you are being given.  You, a pitiable creature, are receiving the family name of God.

A Patristic Treasury: Early Church Wisdom for Today, edited by James R. Payton, Jr

Humility is the virtue without which none of the other virtues are meaningfully realizable. 

God the Father

There is one God of the two testaments, who foretold in the Old Testament the Christ who appeared in the New….

A reminder of my earlier post exploring that perhaps we read not only the Old Testament through the lens of Christ, but also the (non-Gospel) New Testament.

We do not declare what God is, but we frankly confess that we have no exact knowledge concerning Him.

If the very least of His works cannot be comprehended, can the One who made all things be comprehended?

Learn, then, that it is impossible to comprehend God’s nature.

I know I keep returning to this point numerous times…if we cannot comprehend or understand God and His nature, why did the Church divide over disagreement on perfectly understand the nature of the God-man – inherently even more complicated than understanding God?

God’s Grace

The iniquity of sinners was not as great as the righteousness of Him who died for them.

True, but…

Great is God’s forbearance, lavish His grace.  But do not let His great patience breed contempt.  Do not make God’s long-suffering a pretext for continuing in sin.

The Son

For if Christ is God, as He truly is, but did not assume humanity, then there is no salvation.

Just as if he is human, but not God, there is no salvation.

…there is no intervening time in the generation of Son from Father.

The Word of God is of God.  The Word was not after God, or separate from God.  It is God.  I will try it this way:

Logos: the divine wisdom manifest in the creation, government, and redemption of the world and often identified with the second person of the Trinity; reason that in ancient Greek philosophy is the controlling principle in the universe.

Did God exist before His wisdom?  Did He exist before His reason?

Returning to Cyril:

Therefore, the Father begot in a manner no one could understand, but as He Himself only knows.  We do not claim to declare how He begot Him; we merely affirm that it was not in this way or that.

Believe that God has a Son, but do not eagerly search out how, for seeking you will not find.

As far as I know, we have rightly left this one a mystery.

We preach not one coming of Christ, but a second as well, far more glorious than the first.

The Holy Spirit

Let us assert of the Holy Spirit, therefore, only what is written; let us not busy ourselves about what is not written.  The Holy Spirit has authored the Scriptures; He has spoken of Himself all that He wished, or all that we could grasp.  Let us confine ourselves to what He has said, for it is reckless to do otherwise.

Baptism

Great is the prize set before you in baptism: ransom for captives; remission of sins; death of sin; a new spiritual birth; a shining garment; a holy seal inviolable; a heaven-bound chariot; delights of Paradise; a passport to the kingdom; the grace of adoption.

It can be more than one thing.

You were asked, one by one, whether you believed in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; you made the saving confession, and then you dipped three times under the water and three times rose up again, therein mystically signifying Christ’s three days’ burial.

The Eucharist

Once at Cana in Galilee, He changed water into wine by His sovereign will; is it not credible, then, that He changed win into blood? … With perfect confidence, then, we partake as of the body and blood of Christ.

Do not think of the elements as bare bread and wine; they are, according to the Lord’s declaration, the body and blood of Christ.

“O taste and see that the Lord is good.” [Ps 34:8].  Entrust not the judgement to your bodily palate, but to unwavering faith.  For in tasting you taste, not bread and wine, but the body and blood of Christ.

A topic with as much difference in theological understanding as any among Christians of different traditions and denominations. 

I heard Jonathan Pageau describe once what he heard from an Orthodox priest, something like: Catholics believe the elements are real, Protestants believe these a symbol.  The Orthodox believe the elements are real because they are a symbol.

I have no idea how Orthodox this is, but there you have it.

The Apostle Paul

I confess my amazement at the wise dispensation of the Holy Spirit, in limiting the letters of the others to a small number, but granting to Paul, the former persecutor, to write fourteen. 

Great, indeed, is the testimony of Peter and John, yet open to suspicion because they were His friends.  But when he who was formerly His enemy [i.e., Saul / Paul] afterwards dies for His sake, who can entertain doubts about the truth?

This is really an interesting take.

Other

He [Marcion] was the first to dare to cut out the Old Testament testimonies cited in the New and this to leave the preaching of the Word without witness.

In other words, we lose that which foretold.

Why do you busy yourself about things which the Holy Spirit has not written of in the Scriptures?  When you cannot understand what is written, why are you curious about what is not written?  There are many questions in the divine Scriptures; if we do not understand what is written, why do we weary ourselves about what is not written?

I really have enough trouble understanding what is written.  Here again, why take what is not made clear and make it a point of division?

Do not wonder at the delay of the [final] judgment].

Biographies / Sources

Cyril (c. 315 – 387) served as bishop of the church in Jerusalem.  He played a lead role in the Council of Constantinople in 381.