Salvation from the Jews via Abraham’s seed; Word sent humanly
…according to the Word’s nature alone. For how is salvation from the Jews? (John 4:22) No one would say that he is from the Jews insofar as he is understood and exists as Word, but insofar as he has become brother to those in flesh and blood by taking hold of Abraham’s seed (Hebrews 2:16). So there is one Christ, even if he is said to be worshiped because of the human, though he is worshiped by all creation as God.
“A little while I am with you, and I go to the one who sent me.” (John 7:33) Where is the Word of God not present, if he fills all things by the nature of the deity? How then is he sent by the Father? And how does he go to him? So he is sent in a human way, according to the manner and account of the sending, that he may proclaim release to captives and recovery of sight to the blind (Luke 4:18) (Isaiah 61:1); yet he goes to the Father and God no longer in the same way, but as embodied, having gone up into heaven, that he may appear for us before the face of the Father (Hebrews 9:24), as it is written. And if “being sent” is also taken of the Word himself, let no one be harsh: for inspired Scripture is sometimes accustomed to use such voices too; and it does not drag the divine and supermundane nature under places and limits — for it knows that nature is bodiless and beyond boundaries and far from being thought of as in a place — but rather tries to make clear, by human voices, the things beyond our mind. Since the Savior himself also said he would send the Paraclete to us, though the Holy Spirit fills all things: “for the Spirit of the Lord,” it says, “has filled the inhabited world.” (Wisdom 1:7)
Greek
…κατὰ μόνας τῇ φύσει τοῦ Λόγου. ἐπεὶ πῶς ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐστὶν ἡ σωτηρία; οὐ γάρ που φαίη τις ἂν, καθὸ νοεῖται καὶ ἔστι Λόγος, ἐξ Ἰουδαίων ὑπάρχειν αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ καθόπερ ἐστὶ τοῖς ἐν σαρκί τε καὶ αἵματι γεγονὼς ἀδελφὸς διὰ τοι τὸ ἐπιλαβέσθαι σπέρματος Ἀβραάμ· εἷς οὖν ἄρα Χριστός, κἂν προσκυνεῖν λέγηται διὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, καίτοι παρὰ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως προσκυνούμενος ὡς Θεός.
«Ἔτι μικρὸν χρόνον μεθ’ ὑμῶν εἰμι, καὶ ὑπάγω πρὸς τὸν πέμψαντά με.» ποῦ γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, εἰ πληροῖ τὰ πάντα τῇ τῆς θεότητος φύσει; πῶς οὖν πέμπεται παρὰ τοῦ Πατρός; πῶς δὲ καὶ ὑπάγει πρὸς αὐτόν; οὐκοῦν πέμπεται μὲν ἀνθρωπίνως, κατά γε τὸν τῆς ἀποστολῆς τρόπον τε καὶ λόγον, ἵνα κηρύξῃ μὲν αἰχμαλώτοις ἄφεσιν, τυφλοῖς δὲ ἀνάβλεψιν· ὑπάγει γε μὴν πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα καὶ Θεόν, οὐκέτι κατὰ τὸν ἴσον τρόπον, ἀλλ’ οἷον ἐνσώματος ἀναφοιτήσας εἰς οὐρανόν, ἵνα ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἑαυτὸν ἐμφανίσῃ τῷ προσώπῳ τοῦ Πατρός, καθὰ γέγραπται. εἰ δὲ δὴ καὶ ἐπ’ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Λόγου τὸ ἀπεστάλθαι λαμβάνοιτο, χαλεπαινέτω μηδείς· ἔθος γὰρ τῇ θεοπνεύστῳ γραφῇ καὶ ταῖς τοιαύταις ἔσθ’ ὅτε κεχρῆσθαι φωναῖς· καὶ οὐ τόποις καὶ περιγραφαῖς τὴν θείαν τε καὶ ὑπερκόσμιον ὑποφέρει φύσιν· οἶδε γὰρ οὖσαν ἀσώματον καὶ περιορισμῶν ἐπέκεινα καὶ τοῦ ἐν τόπῳ νοεῖσθαι μακράν· φωναῖς δὲ μᾶλλον ταῖς ἀνθρωπίναις τὰ ὑπὲρ νοῦν ὄντα τὸν ἐν ἡμῖν πειρᾶται καταδηλοῦν. ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Σωτὴρ πέμπειν ἔφασκε πρὸς ἡμᾶς τὸν Παράκλητον, καίτοι πληροῦντος τὰ πάντα τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος· «πνεῦμα γὰρ Κυρίου, φησί, πεπλήρωκε τὴν οἰκουμένην.»
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.