Cyril of Alexandria — Commentary on Scripture

Psalms 2:7

The word today indicates the present time in which he was made in the flesh—he who nevertheless in his own nature was the Lord of everything. John testifies to this, that he came among his own, calling the world his own. Having been called into a kingdom in accordance with his accustomed glory, he said, “I have been made king by him,” that is, by God the Father. Furthermore, he fulfilled this by being made the Son in his humanity even if then he was the Son in his own nature. He smoothed the way for human nature to participate in adoption, and he called to himself people oppressed by the tyranny of sin. Just as we, since we are weighted down by curse and death, have received the evils of the transgressions of Adam like a certain inheritance handed across the generations to the whole universe from the ancestors, so also the splendid gifts of Christ flow down to the generations of humankind into the whole universe. The Only Begotten receives them not wholly for himself but for us. He is fully God as to his nature, nor does he lack anything whatever. He himself becomes richer than all c…

The word today indicates the present time in which he was made in the flesh—he who nevertheless in his own nature was the Lord of everything. John testifies to this, that he came among his own, calling the world his own. Having been called into a kingdom in accordance with his accustomed glory, he said, “I have been made king by him,” that is, by God the Father. Furthermore, he fulfilled this by being made the Son in his humanity even if then he was the Son in his own nature. He smoothed the way for human nature to participate in adoption, and he called to himself people oppressed by the tyranny of sin. Just as we, since we are weighted down by curse and death, have received the evils of the transgressions of Adam like a certain inheritance handed across the generations to the whole universe from the ancestors, so also the splendid gifts of Christ flow down to the generations of humankind into the whole universe. The Only Begotten receives them not wholly for himself but for us. He is fully God as to his nature, nor does he lack anything whatever. He himself becomes richer than all creation with good things from above.

EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 2:7

Psalms 13:3

The right sight of the eyes hidden within is to be able to see plainly and subtly, insofar as is allowed, whatever considerations there may be concerning the words of God. “For we see through a mirror in an obscure manner and we know in part,” but “he who discloses the recesses of the darkness” sends the light of truth to those who wish to gain a knowledge concerning him rightly. It is necessary therefore that we prostrate ourselves before God saying, “Give light to my eyes that I may not sleep in death,” for to slip away from the rightness of holy doctrines would be nothing else except to sleep in death, and we depart from this rightness when we do not follow the divinely inspired Scriptures.

LETTER 55:3

Psalms 16:9

Let us see [Jesus] … in his suffering as man but not suffering as God, and in his dying in the flesh but being greater than death, and in not remaining … in the tomb as we do and not being held fast by the gates of the underworld together with the other dead.… For he rose again, despoiling death and “saying to the prisoners: Come out, to those in darkness: Show yourselves,” and he ascended to his Father above in the heavens to a position inaccessible to people, having taken on himself our sins and being the propitiation for them.

LETTER 41:13

Psalms 22:1

We confess that he, the Son begotten of God the Father and only-begotten God, though being incapable of suffering according to his own nature, suffered in his own flesh for our sake, according to the Scriptures. And he made his own the sufferings of his own flesh in his crucified body impassibly, for by the grace of God and for the sake of all he tasted death by having surrendered to it his own body although by nature he was life and was himself the resurrection. In order that by his ineffable power, after having trampled on death in his own flesh first, he might become “the firstborn from the dead” and “the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” and in order that he might prepare the way for the rise to immortality for the nature of people, by the grace of God, as we said just now, for the sake of all he tasted death, but on the third day he came back to life after despoiling hell.

LETTER 17:11

Psalms 22:7

Just as we say that the flesh became [the Word’s] very own, in the same way the weakness of that flesh became his very own in an economic appropriation according to the terms of the unification. So, he is “made like his brothers in all things except sin alone.” Do not be astonished if we say that he has made the weakness of the flesh his own along with the flesh itself. He even attributed to himself those external outrages that came on him from the roughness of the Jews, saying through the voice of the psalmist: “They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothes,” and again: “All those who saw me sneered at me, they wagged their tongues, they shook their heads.”

ON THE UNITY OF CHRIST

Psalms 27:14

Great and distinguished successes are brought to completion not without labors. No doubt it is necessary that for every good thing sweat must be caused first. And no wonder if we see that such occurs in great matters, since common and inferior ones are full of care and come to pass through labors. But even in labor we have learned to say, “Be strong, and be of stout heart and wait for the Lord.” For we have taken heart that a glorious result attends zealous actions aimed at virtue, and we shall find that our reward from God is the gift of spiritual courage.

LETTER 25:1

Psalms 45:11

By progressing in virtue and attaining to better things, “reaching forth to those things that are before,” according to the word of the blessed Paul, we rise ever to … spiritual beauty, so that to us too it may be said hereafter, “The king greatly desired your beauty.”

GLAPHYRA ON THE PENTATEUCH 49:21-26

Psalms 81:9

Who, then, is this one cast down from his divine preeminence and removed from the limitations of creation? The matter is completely inconceivable, and there is no discernible place or manner of speaking of someone in between creator and creation. Although they dislodged him from the throne of divinity, they have arrived at a point in their teaching that they call him the Son and God and think that he is to be adored although the law openly proclaims, “The Lord your God shall you worship and him only shall you serve,” and although God said to the Israelites through the voice of David, “There shall be no new god among you, nor shall you adore a foreign god.”

LETTER 1:13

Psalms 81:9

That it is none other than God the Word, who exists in the form of God the Father, the impress of his very being, who is equal in all things to the one who begot him, who has emptied himself out. And what is this “emptying out”? It is his life in the form of a slave, in the flesh that he assumes, it is the likeness to us of one who is not as we are in his own nature, since he is above all creation. In this way he humbled himself, economically submitting himself to the limitations of humanity. But even so he was God, for he did not have as a gift what pertained to him by nature. This was why he also said to God the Father who is in heaven, “Father, glorify me with that glory I had with you before the world was.” I do not think that they would say that it was David’s descendant, born in the last times of this age, who was reclaiming as his own a glory that predated the world, at least if he is a different son and distinct from the true and natural Son? No, surely this is a saying that befits the Godhead? It was necessary, yes necessary, that he should be conformed to us in the limitati…

That it is none other than God the Word, who exists in the form of God the Father, the impress of his very being, who is equal in all things to the one who begot him, who has emptied himself out. And what is this “emptying out”? It is his life in the form of a slave, in the flesh that he assumes, it is the likeness to us of one who is not as we are in his own nature, since he is above all creation. In this way he humbled himself, economically submitting himself to the limitations of humanity. But even so he was God, for he did not have as a gift what pertained to him by nature. This was why he also said to God the Father who is in heaven, “Father, glorify me with that glory I had with you before the world was.” I do not think that they would say that it was David’s descendant, born in the last times of this age, who was reclaiming as his own a glory that predated the world, at least if he is a different son and distinct from the true and natural Son? No, surely this is a saying that befits the Godhead? It was necessary, yes necessary, that he should be conformed to us in the limitations of humanity while at the same time he authentically enjoyed transcendent divine status within his own essential being; just as it is with the Father. How can the saying be true: “You must not introduce another god among you,” if according to them a man is deified by a conjunction with the Word and is said to be enthroned with God so as to share the Father’s dignity?

ON THE UNITY OF CHRIST

Psalms 104:15

People of true and good sense, who have intellectually gathered that knowledge that gives life, are never jaded by the sacred sciences. Indeed it is written that “humankind shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” The word of God is food for the mind and a spiritual “bread that strengthens the heart of humankind,” as the book of Psalms sings.

ON THE UNITY OF CHRIST

Psalms 105:15

You are right to conclude that he [Jesus] is called Christ only because of the anointing, just as an apostle is so called because of his apostolic function and an angel from his office as messenger. Names like these clearly indicate certain functions rather than individual realities or specific persons. Even the prophets are called Christs, as it is sung in the Psalms: “Do not touch my Christs, and do not harm my prophets” The prophet Habbakuk also said, “You came forth for the salvation of your people, to save your Christs.” But tell me this: Is it not true that even they would admit that there is only one Christ and Son, who is the Lord made man, the Only Begotten of God made flesh?

ON THE UNITY OF CHRIST