Christ’s blood not common; speaker from heaven; same yesterday and forever
So the one who has broken the law has fallen under the sentence of death, while the one who has wronged a human might even be worthy of pardon. How, then, is the one who counted Christ’s blood a common thing under a worse sentence than the one who sins against Moses’ law? Yet he is under a worse one — and very fittingly. Christ’s blood is not common, then: for the Word was God, having become flesh (Hebrews 10:28–29).
“See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we turn away from the one who warns from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth, but now he has promised: Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.” (Hebrews 12:25–26) Who is the one who warned on earth, whom the fathers of the Jews refused and so were put in danger? Clearly Moses. But Christ is not from earth; rather from the heavens. For the God Word from above and from the Father became human — and is God. So the sentence is worse for those who turn away from him, and very fittingly. As wise John says: “He who is of the earth speaks from the earth” — that is, human things — “but he who comes from above is above all,” (John 3:31) as God, of course. And that is what Christ was and is.
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) We will find the Word sprung from God called Jesus Christ when he became human from a woman. How, then, is he the same yesterday and today and forever? Clearly by union with the Word from God into one Son, the flesh assumed by him being understood with him. For so the Word’s unchangeableness by nature remains for him even when he is understood with the flesh.
Greek
γοῦν ὁ μὲν νόμον παραβεβηκὼς ὑπὸ τὴν τοῦ θανάτου πέπτωκε δίκην, ὁ δὲ εἰς ἄνθρωπον πεπλημμεληκὼς εἴη ἂν καὶ συγγνώμης ἄξιος. πῶς οὖν ἐν χείρονι δίκῃ τοῦ πλημμελοῦντος εἰς τὸν Μωϋσέως νόμον ὁ κοινὸν ἡγησάμενος τὸ αἷμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ; ἀλλὰ μὴν ἐν χείρονι, καὶ σφόδρα εἰκότως. οὐκ ἄρα κοινὸν τὸ αἷμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ· Θεὸς γὰρ ἦν ὁ Λόγος γενόμενος σάρξ.
«Βλέπετε μὴ παραιτήσησθε τὸν λαλοῦντα. εἰ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι οὐκ ἐξέφυγον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς παραιτησάμενοι τὸν χρηματίζοντα, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἡμεῖς οἱ τὸν ἀπ’ οὐρανῶν ἀποστρεφόμενοι, οὗ ἡ φωνὴ τὴν γῆν ἐσάλευσε τότε, νῦν δὲ ἐπήγγελται λέγων· Ἔτι ἅπαξ ἐγὼ σείσω οὐ μόνον τὴν γῆν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν οὐρανόν.» τίς ὁ χρηματίσας ἐπὶ γῆς ὃν παραιτησάμενοι κεκινδυνεύκασιν οἱ τῶν Ἰουδαίων πατέρες; δῆλον ὅτι Μωϋσῆς· ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐκ γῆς ὁ Χριστός, ἐξ οὐρανῶν δὲ μᾶλλον. ὁ γὰρ ἄνωθεν καὶ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς Θεὸς Λόγος, ἄνθρωπος γέγονε καὶ Θεός. χείρων οὖν ἡ δίκη τοῖς αὐτὸν ἀποστρεφομένοις, καὶ μάλα εἰκότως. ὡς γὰρ ὁ σοφὸς φησιν Ἰωάννης· «Ὁ ὢν ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἐκ τῆς γῆς λαλεῖ» — τουτέστιν ἀνθρώπινα — «ὁ δὲ ἄνωθεν ἐρχόμενος ἐπάνω πάντων ἐστίν,» ὡς Θεὸς δηλονότι. τοῦτο δὲ ἦν τε καὶ ἔστι Χριστός.
«Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς χθὲς καὶ σήμερον ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας.» τὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ φύντα Λόγον τότε κεκλημένον εὑρήσομεν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, ὅτε γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος ἐκ γυναικός. πῶς οὖν ὁ χθὲς καὶ σήμερον ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας; ἑνώσει δηλονότι τῇ πρὸς τὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ Λόγον εἰς Υἱὸν ἕνα, νοουμένης τῆς ἀναληφθείσης παρ’ αὐτοῦ σαρκός· οὕτω γὰρ τὸ ἄτρεπτον τοῦ Λόγου κατὰ φύσιν μενεῖ πάλιν αὐτῷ νοουμένῳ καὶ μετὰ σαρκός.
About this text
Cyril’s court treatise on right faith for Arcadia and Marina (CPG 5219). One Son, Word made flesh — not two Christs. English from Pusey’s Greek.
English follows Pusey’s 1877 Greek of De recta fide ad Arcadiam et Marinam. This is a reading translation for study, not a new critical edition.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Pusey, De recta fide ad reginas (Oxford, 1877) (Greek · CPG 5219 §§1–100)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.