Father accepts the economy; the day unknown humanly, known as God
…in favor with God and humans. There is nothing unfitting if the Father himself also accepted the economy, and if the Son himself appropriated what belongs to the flesh, because of what is both fitting and useful for the mystery.
“But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of the heavens, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32) You have learned to confess one Christ, the Word of God made flesh — that is, become human. How then did he not know the day of the consummation? We say that for the creation not to know the mysteries in God is neither unusual nor otherwise unfitting: “For who has known the mind of the Lord?” (Romans 11:34) according to what is written. And if the Son is said to have been made a little lower than angels (Hebrews 2:9) — clearly insofar as he became human, though he is beyond all creation in a divine way — what wonder if he is also said, together with the angels, not to know the mystery in God, though he is the Father’s wisdom and power (1 Corinthians 1:24)? Then how would the Father’s wisdom not know what is hidden in him? And if the Spirit is said to “search all things, even the depths of God,” (1 Corinthians 2:10) and the Spirit is Christ’s, how would he himself not know what his Spirit knows exactly? So even if he is said not to know in a human way, yet he knows in a divine way. And so, asking “Where have you laid Lazarus?” (John 11:34) as if it were possible for him not to know according to the human, he worked in a divine way, raising him from the dead. Therefore, assigning the human things to the economy with flesh, let us also keep piously for the Word born from God who has come to be according to us the things that befit God.
Greek
…ἐν χάριτι παρά τε Θεῷ καὶ ἀνθρώποις· τὸ ἀπεικὸς οὐδέν, εἰ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Πατὴρ ἀπεδέχετο τὴν οἰκονομίαν, καὶ αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν Υἱὸν οἰκειούμενον τὰ τῆς σαρκός, διὰ τὸ τῷ μυστηρίῳ πρέπον τε ὁμοῦ καὶ τὸ χρήσιμον.
«Περὶ δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης καὶ τῆς ὥρας οὐδεὶς οἶδεν, οὐδὲ οἱ ἄγγελοι τῶν οὐρανῶν, οὐδὲ ὁ υἱός, εἰ μὴ ὁ πατήρ.» Χριστὸν ἕνα, φησίν, ὁμολογεῖν ἐγνώκατε, τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον σεσαρκωμένον, ἤγουν ἐνηνθρωπηκότα· πῶς ἠγνόηκε τὴν τῆς συντελείας ἡμέραν; φαμὲν οὖν ὅτι τὸ ἀγνοῆσαι τυχὸν τὰ ἐν Θεῷ μυστήρια οὔτε ἀσύνηθες οὔτε μὴν ἑτέρως ἀπρεπὲς ἂν εἴη τῇ κτίσει· «τίς γὰρ ἔγνω νοῦν Κυρίου;» κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον. καὶ εἰ λέγεται βραχύ τι παρ’ ἀγγέλους ἠλαττῶσθαι ὁ Υἱός, καθὸ γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος δηλονότι, καίτοι κτίσεως ἁπάσης ὢν ἐπέκεινα θεϊκῶς, τί τὸ θαῦμα κἂν ὁμοῦ τοῖς ἀγγέλοις ἀγνοεῖν λέγηται τὸ ἐν Θεῷ μυστήριον, καίτοι σοφία καὶ δύναμις ὑπάρχων αὐτοῦ; εἶτα πῶς ἂν ἠγνόησεν ἡ σοφία τοῦ Πατρὸς τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ κεκρυμμένα; καὶ εἰ τὸ Πνεῦμα λέγεται «πάντα ἐρευνᾶν καὶ τὰ βάθη τοῦ Θεοῦ,» Πνεῦμα δέ ἐστι τοῦ Χριστοῦ, πῶς ἂν αὐτὸς ἠγνόησεν ἅπερ οἶδεν ἀκριβῶς τὸ Πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ; οὐκοῦν κἂν ἀγνοεῖν ἀνθρωπίνως λέγηται, ἀλλ’ οἶδε θεϊκῶς. καὶ γοῦν «Ποῦ τέθειται Λάζαρος;» ἐρωτῶν, ὡς ἐξὸν αὐτῷ μὴ εἰδέναι κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, ἐνήργησε θεϊκῶς, ἀναστήσας αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν. ἀπονέμοντες τοίνυν τῇ μετὰ σαρκὸς οἰκονομίᾳ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, τηρήσωμεν εὐσεβῶς καὶ καθ’ ἡμᾶς γεγονότι τῷ ἐκ Θεοῦ φύντι Λόγῳ τὰ θεοπρεπῆ.
About this text
Cyril’s court treatise on right faith for Pulcheria and Eudocia (CPG 5220). One Son who suffers in flesh yet remains impassible as God. English from Pusey’s Greek.
English follows Pusey’s 1877 Greek of De recta fide ad Pulcheriam et Eudociam. 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 5220 §§1–48)
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.