Faith the Son of Man seeks; true God become son of man
“When the Son of Man comes, will he find the faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8) Come then, testing again the sense of what was said, let us look round at this: what faith will our Lord Jesus Christ seek on the earth when he returns from the heavens? For if he wants to be believed by us that he is not God nor truly Son, but rather a human with nothing beyond what is ours, who would doubt that he will find that sort of judgment—that is, faith and opinion—not among us, but among Greeks and Jews? For idolaters and those who worship the creature rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25), when they hear of the cross he endured for us and also of the death, laugh, the wretches; and if someone should name him God, they jump up at once, defining the matter as human-worship. And those from the circumcision were attacking Christ, saying clearly: “We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy, because you, being a human, make yourself God.” (John 10:33) When therefore he does not seek the faith that is among those led astray, but rather that among us who are accustomed to think rightly, there is every necessity, having nodded toward the truth, to confess that the one who has also become Son of Man for us is God by nature.
He has not come to be outside judging because of the identity of essence; and the one who received is Son of Man. How then is it clear to all that the Word is God because of the ineffable generation from God the Father, and that the same one is also Son of Man because he has been united to flesh and has endured generation from a woman as we do? So when he says to the Jews, “Why do you seek to kill me, a human who has spoken the truth to you?” (John 8:40) and again, “No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man,” (John 3:13) and when he says about himself, “For the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of his Father with the holy angels,” (Matthew 16:27)
Greek
«Ἆρα γε ἐλθὼν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου εὑρήσει τὴν πίστιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς;» φέρε δὴ πάλιν τὸν τῶν εἰρημένων βασανίζοντες νοῦν, ἐκεῖνο περιαθρήσωμεν, ποίαν ζητήσει πίστιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ὑπονοστήσας ἐξ οὐρανῶν ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστός. εἰ μὲν γὰρ πιστεύεσθαι πρὸς ἡμῶν ἐθέλει, ὅτι Θεὸς μὲν οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲ Υἱὸς ἀληθῶς, ἄνθρωπος δὲ μᾶλλον, οὐδὲν ἔχων τῶν καθ’ ἡμᾶς ἐπέκεινα, πῶς ἂν ἐνδοιάσειέ τις ὅτι τὴν τοιάνδε διάληψιν ἤγουν πίστιν τε καὶ δόξαν οὐ παρ’ ἡμῖν εὑρήσει μᾶλλον, ἀλλὰ παρ’ Ἕλλησί τε καὶ Ἰουδαίοις; εἰδωλολάτραι μὲν γὰρ καὶ οἱ τῇ κτίσει παρὰ τὸν κτίστην λατρεύοντες, σταυρὸν ἀκούοντες ὃν ὑπέμεινε δι’ ἡμᾶς καὶ προσέτι τὸν θάνατον, γελῶσιν οἱ δείλαιοι· κἂν εἴ τις αὐτὸν ὀνομάζοι Θεόν, ἀναπηδῶσιν εὐθύς, ἀνθρωπολατρείαν εἶναι τὸ χρῆμα διοριζόμενοι· οἵ γε μὴν ἐκ περιτομῆς κατεφύοντο τοῦ Χριστοῦ λέγοντες ἐναργῶς· «Περὶ καλοῦ ἔργου οὐ λιθάζομέν σε ἀλλὰ περὶ βλασφημίας, ὅτι σὺ ἄνθρωπος ὢν ποιεῖς σεαυτὸν Θεόν.» ὅτε τοίνυν οὐ τὴν παρὰ γε τοῖς πλανωμένοις πίστιν ἐπιζητεῖ, τὴν ἐν ἡμῖν δὲ μᾶλλον τοῖς ὀρθὰ φρονεῖν εἰωθόσι, πᾶσά πως ἀνάγκη διανενευκότας εἰς ἀλήθειαν ὁμολογεῖν ὅτι Θεὸς κατὰ φύσιν ὁ καὶ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου δι’ ἡμᾶς γεγονώς.
Οὐκ ἔξω γέγονε τοῦ κρίνειν αὐτὸς διὰ τὴν ταυτότητα τῆς οὐσίας· ἔστι δὲ ὁ λαβὼν υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου. πῶς οὖν ἅπασιν ἐναργὲς ὅτι Θεός μέν ἐστιν ὁ Λόγος διὰ τὴν ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς ἀπόρρητον γέννησιν, ὁ αὐτὸς δὲ καὶ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου διὰ τὸ ἡνῶσθαι σαρκὶ καὶ καθ’ ἡμᾶς ὑπομεῖναι γέννησιν ἐκ γυναικός; ὅταν οὖν λέγῃ πρὸς Ἰουδαίους «Τί με ζητεῖτε ἀποκτεῖναι ἄνθρωπον ὃς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ὑμῖν λελάληκα;» καὶ πάλιν «Οὐδεὶς ἀναβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβάς, ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου,» καὶ ὅταν λέγῃ περὶ ἑαυτοῦ «Μέλλει γὰρ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἔρχεσθαι ἐν τῇ δόξῃ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ μετὰ τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων,»
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.