Emptied unto death yet remains God; Jesus named as apostle-priest
So a work of truly holy-fitting skill, and pleasing to God, would be to bring under the accounts of the economy what seems set against Christ’s glory. For the Word, being God and in the form and equality of the Father, lowered himself into emptying and became obedient as far as death (Philippians 2:6–8). So every thought must be turned cleverly, and as it were taken captive into his obedience; for if something even of the human things is said, the smallness in humanity would in no way wrong the Word’s nature, if he is believed to have become human for us also, and nowhere to have cast off being God — but, along with remaining God, to have taken on the human, and to have become obedient as far as death according to the flesh.
“Therefore, holy brothers, sharers of a heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Jesus, being faithful to the one who made him, as also Moses was in his whole house. For this one has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as the one who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the one who built all things is God. And Moses was faithful as a servant in his house, but Christ as a son over his house, whose house we are.” (Hebrews 3:1–6) Jesus has become apostle and high priest of our confession from God the Father — that is, the Word from God having appeared as human. For then he was also named Jesus through the angel’s voice. And both the name and the fact of priesthood and of apostleship are quite small for the Word’s nature; yet for the measures of humanity they would not be unfitting; for as he himself says somewhere…
Greek
εὐτεχνίας οὖν ἄρα τῆς ἀληθῶς ἁγιοπρεποῦς ἔργον ἂν γένοιτο καὶ ἀρέσκον Θεῷ, τὸ τοῖς τῆς οἰκονομίας λόγοις ὑποφέρειν τὸ ἀντιτετάχθαι δοκοῦν τῇ δόξῃ Χριστοῦ. Θεὸς γὰρ ὢν ὁ Λόγος καὶ ἐν μορφῇ καὶ ἰσότητι τοῦ Πατρὸς, ἑαυτὸν καθῆκεν εἰς κένωσιν καὶ γέγονεν ὑπήκοος μέχρι θανάτου. δεῖ τοίνυν πᾶν νόημα περιτρέπειν ἀστείως, καὶ οἷον αἰχμαλωτίζειν εἰς τὴν ὑπακοὴν αὐτοῦ· εἰ γάρ δή τι λέγοιτο καὶ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων, κατ’ οὐδένα τρόπον ἀδικήσειεν ἂν τὴν τοῦ Λόγου φύσιν τὸ ἐν ἀνθρωπότητι σμικροπρεπές, εἰ πιστεύοιτο καὶ ἡμᾶς ἄνθρωπος γεγονὼς, καὶ οὔ τι που τὸ εἶναι Θεὸς ἀποβεβληκώς· ἀλλὰ μετὰ τοῦ μεῖναι Θεὸς, προσλαβὼν τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, καὶ ὑπήκοος γενόμενος μέχρι θανάτου, κατὰ τὴν σάρκα.
«Ὅθεν, ἀδελφοὶ ἅγιοι, κλήσεως ἐπουρανίου μέτοχοι, κατανοήσατε τὸν ἀπόστολον καὶ ἀρχιερέα τῆς ὁμολογίας ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν, πιστὸν ὄντα τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτὸν, ὡς καὶ Μωϋσῆς ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ. πλείονος γὰρ οὗτος δόξης παρὰ Μωϋσῆν ἠξίωται, καθ’ ὅσον πλείονα τιμὴν ἔχει τοῦ οἴκου ὁ κατασκευάσας αὐτόν. πᾶς γὰρ οἶκος κατασκευάζεται ὑπό τινος, ὁ δὲ πάντα κατασκευάσας Θεός. καὶ Μωϋσῆς μὲν πιστὸς ὡς θεράπων ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ, Χριστὸς δὲ ὡς υἱὸς ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ, οὗ οἶκός ἐσμεν ἡμεῖς.» ἀπόστολος καὶ ἀρχιερεὺς τῆς ὁμολογίας ἡμῶν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς γέγονεν Ἰησοῦς, τουτέστιν ἄνθρωπος πεφηνὼς ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ Λόγος. τότε γὰρ ὠνόμασται καὶ Ἰησοῦς διὰ τῆς τοῦ ἀγγέλου φωνῆς. καὶ μικρὸν μὲν κομιδῇ τῇ τοῦ Λόγου φύσει τό τε τῆς ἱερωσύνης καὶ τὸ τῆς ἀποστολῆς ὄνομά τε καὶ χρῆμα· τοῖς γε μὴν τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος μέτροις εἴη ἂν οὐκ ἀνάρμοστον· ὡς γὰρ αὐτός που…
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.