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TOPIC: Post-Nicene Fathers Vol 07 (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 27.01.19 Lecture XV Part 2
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19. But let us wait and look for the Lord's coming upon the clouds from heaven. Then shall Angelic trumpets sound; the dead in Christ shall rise firsthyperlink ,-the godly persons who are alive shall be caught up in the clouds, receiving as the reward of their labours more than human honour, inasmuch as theirs was a more than human strife; according as the Apostle Paul writes, saying, For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lordhyperlink .
20. This earning of the Lord, and the end of the world, were known to the Preacher; who says, Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and the resthyperlink ; Therefore remove angerhyperlink from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh; ... and remember thy Creator ... or ever the evil days comehyperlink .... or ever the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars be darkenedhyperlink , .... and they that look out of the windows be darkenedhyperlink ; (signifying the faculty of sight;) or ever the silver cord be loosed; (meaning the assemblage of the stars, for their appearance is like silver;) and the flower of gold be brokenhyperlink ; (thus veiling the mention of the golden sun; for the camomile is a well-known plant, having many ray-like leaves shooting out round it;) and they shall rise up at the voice of the sparrow, yea, they shall look away from the height, and terrors shall be in the wayhyperlink . What shall they see? Then shall they see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven; and they shall mourn tribe by tribe . And what shall come to pass when the Lord is come? The almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall grow heavy, and the caper-berry shall be scattered abroadhyperlink · And as the interpreters say, the blossoming almond signifies the departure of winter; and our bodies shall then after the winter blossom with a heavenly flowerhyperlink . And the grasshopper shall grow in substance (that means the winged soul clothing itself with the bodyhyperlink ,) and the caper-berry shall be scattered abroad (that is, the transgressors who are like thorns shall be scatteredhyperlink .
21. Thou seest how they all foretell the coming of the Lord. Thou seest how they know the voice of the sparrow. Let us know what sort of voice this is. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of Godhyperlink . The Archangel shall make proclamation and say to all, Arise to meet the Lordhyperlink . And fearful will be that descent of our Master. David says, God shall manifestly come, even our God, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall burn before Him, and a fierce tempest round about Him, and the resthyperlink . The Son of Man shall come to the Father, according to the Scripture which was just now read, on the clouds of heaven, drawn by a stream of firehyperlink , which is to make trial of men. Then if any man's works are of gold, he shall be made brighter; if any man's course of life be like stubble, and unsubstantial, it shall be burnt up by the firehyperlink . And the Father shall sit, having His garment white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure woolhyperlink . But this is spoken after the manner of men; wherefore? Because He is the King of those who have not been defiled with sins; for, He says, I will make your sins white as snow, and as woolhyperlink , which is an emblem of forgiveness of sins, or of sinlessness itself. But the Lord who shall come from heaven on the clouds, is He who ascended on the clouds; for He Himself hath said, And they shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great gloryhyperlink .
22. But what is the sign of His coming? lest a hostile power dare to counterfeit it. And then shall appear, He says, the sign of the Son of Man in heavenhyperlink . Now Christ's own true sign is the Cross; a sign of a luminous Cross shall go before the Kinghyperlink , plainly declaring Him who was formerly crucified: that the Jews who before pierced Him and plotted against Him, when they see it, may mourn tribe by tribehyperlink , saying, "This is He who was buffeted, this is He whose face they spat on, this is He whom they bound with chains, this is He whom of old they crucified, and set at noughthyperlink . Whither, they will say, shall we flee from the face of Thy wrath?" But the Angel hosts shall encompass them, so that they shall not be able to flee anywhere. The sign of the Cross shall be a terror to His foes; but joy to His friends who have believed in Him, or preached Him, or suffered for His sake. Who then is the happy man, who shall then be found a friend of Christ? That King, so great and glorious, attended by the Angel-guards, the partner of the Father's throne, will not despise His own servants. For that His Elect may not be confused with His foes, He shall send forth His Angels with a great trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four windshyperlink . He despised not Lot, who was but one; how then shall He despise many righteous? Come, ye blessed of My Fatherhyperlink , will He say to them who shall then ride on chariots of clouds, and be assembled by Angels.
23. But some one present will say, "I am a poor man," or again, "I shall perhaps be found at that time sick in bed;" or, "I am but a woman, and I shall be taken at the mill: shall we then be despised?" Be of good courage, O man; the Judge is no respecter of persons; He will not judge according to a man's appearance, nor reprove according to his speechhyperlink . He honours not the learned before the simple, nor the rich before the needy. Though thou be in the field, the Angels shall take thee; think not that He will take the landowners, and leave thee the husbandman. Though thou be a slave, though thou be poor, be not any whir distressed; He who took the form of a servanthyperlink despises not servants. Though thou be lying sick in bed, yet it is written, Then shall two be in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other lefthyperlink . Though thou be of compulsion put to grind, whether thou be man or womanhyperlink ; though thou be in fettershyperlink , and sit beside the mill, yet He who by His might bringeth out them that are boundhyperlink , will not overlook thee. He who brought forth Joseph out of slavery and prison to a kingdom, shall redeem thee also from thy afflictions into the kingdom of heaven. Only be of good cheer, only work, only strive earnestly; for nothing shall be lost. Every prayer of thine, every Psalm thou singest is recorded; every alms-deed, every fast is recorded; every marriage duly observed is recorded; continencehyperlink kept for God's sake is recorded; but the first crowns in the records are those of virginity and purity; and thou shalt shine as an Angel. But as thou hast gladly listened to the good things, so listen again without shrinking to the contrary. Every covetous deed of thine is recorded; thine every act of fornication is recorded, thine every false oath is recorded, every blasphemy, and sorcery, and theft, and murder. All these things are henceforth to be recorded, if thou do the same now after having been baptized; for thy former deeds are blotted out.
24. When the Son of Man, He says, shall came in His glory, and all the Angels with Himhyperlink . Behold, O man, before what multitudes thou shalt come to judgment. Every race of mankind will then be present. Reckon, therefore, bow many are the Roman nation; reckon how many the barbarian tribes now living, and how many have died within the last hundred years; reckon how many nations have been buried during the last thousand years; reckon all from Adam to this day. Great indeed is the multitude; but yet it is little, for the Angels are many more. They are the ninety and nine sheep, but mankind is the single onehyperlink . For according to the extent of universal space, must we reckon the number of its inhabitants. The whole earth is but as a point in the midst of the one heaven, and yet contains so great a multitude; what a multitude must the heaven which encircles it contain? And must not the heaven of heavens contain unimaginable numbershyperlink ? And it is written, Thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Himhyperlink ; not that the multitude is only so great, but because the Prophet could not express more than these. So there will be present at the judgment in that day, God, the Father of all, Jesus Christ being seated with Him, and the Holy Ghost present with Them; and an angel's trumpet shall summon us all to bring our deeds with us. Ought we not then from this time forth to be sore troubled? Think it not a slight doom, O man, even apart from punishment, to be condemned in the presence of so many. Shall we not choose rather to die many deaths, than be condemned by friends?
25. Let us dread then, brethren, lest God condemn us; who needs not examination or proofs, to condemn. Say not, In the night I committed fornication, or wrought sorcery, or did any other thing, and there was no man by. Out of thine own conscience shall thou be judged, thy thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of menhyperlink . The terrible countenance of the Judge will force thee to speak the truth; or rather, even though thou speak not, it will convict thee. For thou shall rise clothed with thine own sins, or else with thy righteous deeds. And this has the Judge Himself declared-for it is Christ who judges-for neither cloth the Father judge any man, but he hath given all judgment unto the Sonhyperlink , not divesting Himself of His power, but judging through the Son; the Son therefore judgeth by the wills of the Father; for the willhyperlink of the Father and of the Son are not different, but one and the same. What then says the Judge, as to whether thou shall bear thy works, or no? And before Him shall they gather all nationshyperlink : (for in the presence of Christ every knee must bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earthhyperlink :) and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. How does the shepherd make the separation? Does he examine out of a book which is a sheep and which a goat? or does he distinguish by their evident marks? Does not the wool show the sheep, and the hairy and rough skin the goat? In like manner, if thou hast been just now cleansed from thy sins, thy deeds shall be henceforth as pure wool; and thy robe shall remain unstained, and thou shall ever say, I have put off my coat, how shall I put it onhyperlink ? By thy vesture shall thou be known for a sheep. But if thou be found hairy, like Esau, who was rough with hair, and wicked in mind, who for food lost his birthright and sold his privilege, thou shall be one of those on the left hand. I But God forbid that any here present should be cast out from grace, or for evil deeds be found among the ranks of the sinners on the left hand!
26. Terrible in good truth is the judgment, and terrible the things announced. The kingdom of heaven is set before us, and everlasting fire is prepared. How then, some one will say, are we to escape the fire? And how to enter into the kingdom? I was an hungered, He says, and ye gave Me meat. Learn hence the way; there is here no need of allegory, but to fulfil what is said. I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me in; naked, and ye clothed Me; I was sick, and ye visited Me; I was in prison, and ye came unto Mehyperlink . These things if thou do, thou shall reign together with Him; but if thou do them not, thou shalt be condemned. At once then begin to do these works, and abide in the faith; lest, like the foolish virgins, tarrying to buy oil, thou be shut out. Be not confident because thou merely possessest the lamp, but constantly keep it burning. Let the light of thy good works shine before menhyperlink , and let not Christ be blasphemed on thy account. Wear thou a garment of incorruptionhyperlink , resplendent in good works; and whatever matter thou receivest from God to administer as a steward, administer profitably. Hast thou been put in trust with riches? Dispense them well. Hast thou been entrusted with the word of teaching? Be a good steward thereof. Canst thou attach the souls of the hearershyperlink ? Do this diligently. There are many doors of good stewardship. Only let none of us be condemned and cast out; that we may with boldness meet Christ the Everlasting King, who reigns for ever. For He doth reign for ever, who shall be judge of quick and dead, because for quick and dead He died. And as Paul says, For to this end Christ both died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and livinghyperlink .
27. And shouldest thou ever hear any say that the kingdom of Christ shall have an end abhor the heresy; it is another head of the dragon, lately sprung up in Galatia. A certain one has dared to affirm, that after the end of the world Christ shall reign no longerhyperlink ; he has also dared to say, that the Word having come forth from the Father shall be again absorbed into the Father, and shall be no morehyperlink ; uttering such blasphemies to his own perdition. For he has not listened to the Lord, saying, The Son abideth for everhyperlink . He has not listened to Gabriel, saying, And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no endhyperlink . Consider this text. Heretics of this day teach in disparagement of Christ, while Gabriel the Archangel taught the eternal abiding of the Saviour; whom then wilt thou rather believe? wilt thou not rather give credence to Gabriel? Listen to the testimony of Daniel in the texthyperlink ; I saw in a vision of the night, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancientt of days. .... And to Him was given the honour, and the dominion, and the kingdom: and all peoples, tribes, and languages shall serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom shall not be destroyedhyperlink . These things rather hold fast, these things believe, and east away from thee the words of heresy; for thou hast heard most plainly of the endless kingdom of Christ.
28. The like doctrine thou has also in the interpretation of the Stone, which was cut out of a mountain without hands, which is Christ according to the fleshhyperlink ; And His kingdom shall not be left to another people. David also says in one place, Thy throne, O God, is far ever and everhyperlink ; and in another place, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth, &c., they shall perish, but Thou remainest, &c.; but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not failhyperlink : words which Paul has interpreted of the Sonhyperlink .
29. And wouldest thou know how they who teach the contrary ran into such madness? They read wrongly that good word of the Apostle, For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feethyperlink ; and they say, when His enemies shall have been put under His feet, He shall cease to reign, wrongly and foolishly alleging this. For He who is king before He has subdued His enemies, how shall He not the rather be king, after He has gotten the mastery over them.
30. They have also dared to say that the Scripture, When all things shall be subjected unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subjected unto Him that subjected all things unto Himhyperlink ,-that this Scripture shews that the Son also shall be absorbed into the Father. Shall ye then, O most impious of all men, ye the creatures of Christ, continue? and shall Christ perish, by whom both you and all things were made? Such a word is blasphemous. But further, how shall all things be made subject unto Him? By perishing, or by abiding? Shall then the other things, when subject to the Son abide, and shall the Son, when subject to the Father, not abide? For He shall be subjected, not because He shall then begin to do the Father's will (for from eternity He doth always those things that please Himhyperlink ), but because, then as before, He obeys the Father, yielding, not a forced obedience, but a self-chosen accordance; for He is not a servant, that He should be subjected by force, but a Son, that He should comply of His free choice and natural love.
31. But let us examine them; what is the meaning of "until" or "as long as?" For with the very phrase will I close with them, and try to overthrow their error. Since they have dared to say that the words, till He hath put His enemies under His feet, shew that He Himself shall have an end, and have presumed to set bounds to the eternal kingdom of Christ, and to bring to an end, as far as words go, His never-ending sovereignty, come then, let us read the like expressions in the Apostle: Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam till Moseshyperlink . Did men then die up to that time, and did none die any more after Moses, or after the Law has there been no more death among men? Well then, thou seest that the word "unto" is not to limit time; but that Paul rather signified this,-"And yet, though Moses was a righteous and wonderful man, nevertheless the doom of death, which was uttered against Adam, reached even unto him, and them that came after him; and this, though they had not committed the like sins as Adam, by his disobedience in eating of the tree."
32. Take again another similar text. For until this day... when Moses is read, a vail lieth upon their hearthyperlink . Does until this day mean only "until Paul?" Is it not until this day present, and even to the end? And if Paul say to the Corinthians, For we came even as far as unto you in preaching the Gospel of Christ, having hope when your faith increases to preach the Gospel in the regions beyond youhyperlink , thou seest manifestly that as far as implies not the end, but has something following it. In what sense then shouldest thou remember that Scripture, till He hath put all enemies under His feethyperlink ? According as Paul says in another place, And exhort each other daily, while it is called to-dayhyperlink ; meaning, "continually." For as we may not speak of the "beginning of the days" of Christ, so neither suffer thou that any should ever speak of the end of His kingdom. For it is written, His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom .
Footnotes
90 Ib. vv. 16, 17.
91 Eccles. xi. 9. The Preacher's description of old age and death is interpreted by Cyril of the end of the world, as it had been a century before by Gregory Thamaturgus, in his paraphrase of the book.
92 Ib. v. 10: (R. C.) sorrow. Marg. Or, vexation, Or, provocation.
93 Ib. xii. 1.
94 Ib. v. 2.
95 Ib. v. 3.
96 Ib. v. 6. According to the usual interpretation death is here represented by the breaking of a chain and the lamp which hangs from it. Cf. Delitzsch, and Speaker's Commentary, in loc. for other interpretations.
to\ a'nqemion tou= xrusio/u (Sept.) by which Cyril understood camomile (a'nqemi/j), more probably meant a pattern of flowers embossed on the vessel of gold: vid. Xenoph. Anab. V. 4, § 32: e 9stigme/nouj a'nqe/mia, "damasked with flowers."
97 Eccles. xii. 5. Cyril means rightly that the aged shrink from a giddy height, and form imaginary dangers of the road. For the voice of the sparrow, see below, § 21, note 4.
98 Matt. xxiv. 30: Zech. xii. 12.
99 "Dr. Thomson (The Lord and the Book, p. 319) says of the almond tree, "It is the type of old age, whose hair is white" (Speaker's Commentary).
100 The step, once as active as a grasshopper, or locust, shall grow heavy and slow. For other interpretations see Delitzsch.
101 The caper-berry (ka/pparij) shall fail, i.e. no longer stimulate appetite. But diasxedasqh/setai (Sept. Cyril) means that the old man shall be like a caper-berry which when fully ripe bursts it husks and scatters its seeds: so R.V. (Margin): The caper-berry shall burst. Greg. Thaumat. Metaphr. Eccles. "The transgressors are cast out of the way, like a black and despicable caper-plant."
102 1 Thes. ii. 16.
103 Compare the spurious Apocalypse of John: "And at the voice of the bird every plant shall arise; that is, At the voice of the Archangel all the human race shall arise" (English Trs. Ante-Nic. Libr. p. 496). According to the Talmud the meaning is, "Even a bird awakes him" (Delitzsch).
104 Ps. l. 3.
105 Dan. vii. 13, 10.
106 1 Cor. iii. 12, 13. On a'nupo/staton, see Index. On dokimastiko/n, compare The Teaching of the Apostles, § 16: "Then all created mankind shall come to the fire of testing (dokimasi/aj), and many shall be offended and perish."
107 Dan. vii. 9.
108 Is. i. 18.
109 Ib.
110 Cat. xiii. 4.. In the letter to Constantius, three or four years later than this Lecture, Cyril treats the appearance at that time of a luminous Cross in the sky as a fulfilment of Matt. xxiv. 30: but he there adds (Ep. ad Constantium, § 6) that our Lord's prediction "was both fulfilled at that present time, and shall again be fulfilled more largely." On the opinion that "the sign of the Son of Man in heaven" should be the Cross, see Suicer, Thesaurus, Stanpo/j. It is not improbable that the earliest trace of this interpretation is found in The Teaching of the Apostles, § 16: "Then shall appear the signs of the Truth: the first the sign of a (cross) spreading out (e'kpeta/sewj) in heaven."
111 Zech. xii. 12.
112 Cf. Barnab. Epist. c. vii.: "For they shall see Him in that day wearing the long scarlet robes about His flesh, and shall say, Is not this He, whom once we crucified, and set at nought, and spat upon (al. and pierced, and mocked)?"
113 Matt. xxiv. 31.
114 Ib. xxv. 34.
115 Is. xi. 3: (r.v.) He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, nor reprove after the haring of his ears.
116 Phil. ii. 7.
117 Luke xvii. 34.
118 Ib. v. 35.
119 The Jerusalem Ms. (A) alone has the true reading pe/daj, which is confirmed by pepedmue/nouj in the quotation following, instead of pai=daj, which is quite inappropriate, and evidently an itacism.
120 Ex. xi. 5.
121 0Egkra/teia. "Id est viduitas" (Ben. Ed.). This special reference of the word to widowhood is to some extend confirmed by 1 Cor. vii. 9: ei' de\ ou'k e'gkrateu/ontai, and is rendered highly probable by Cyril's separate mention of marriage and virginity.
122 Matt. xxv. 31.
123 Matt. xviii. 12; Luke xv. 4. Ambrose, Expos. in Luc. VII. 210: "Rich is that shepherd of whose flock we are but the one hundreth part. Of Angels and Archangels, of Dominions, Powers, Thrones, and others He hath countless flocks, whom He hath left upon the mountains." Cf. Gregor, Nyss. Contra Eunom. Or. xii.
124 There is much variation in the reading and punctuation of this passage. I have followed the text adopted by the Jerusalem Editor with Codd. A. Roe. Casaub, and Grodecq, in preference to the Benedictine text, with which the Editor himself is dissatisfied.
125 Dan. vii. 10.
126 Rom. ii. 15, 16.
127 John v. 22.
128 neu/mati. Cat. xi. 22.
129 Matt. xxv. 32.
130 Phil. ii. 10.
131 Cant. V. 3. Compare Cat. iii. 7; xx. (Mystag. ii.) 2.
132 Matt. xxv. 35.
133 Matt. v. 16.
134 The prayer for the Catechumens in the Apostolic Constitutions, viii. 6, contains a petition that God would "vouchsafe to them the laver of regeneration, and the garment of incorruption, which is the true life."
135 prosqei=nai. Cf. Acts ii. 41: prosete/qhsan. According to some Mss. the sentence would run thus: "Hast thou been entrusted with the word of teaching? Be a good steward of thy hearers' souls. Hast thou been entrusted with the word of teaching? Be a good steward of thy hearers' souls. Hast thou power to rule (prosth=nai)? Do this diligently."
136 Rom. xiv. 9.
137 Marcellus, Bishop of Ancyra, and his pupil Photinus, are anathematized in the Creed called Makro/stixoj as holding that Christ first became "Son of God when He took our flesh from the Virgin. . . . For they will have it that then Christ began His Kingdom, and that it will have it that then Christ began His Kingdom, and that it will have an end after the consummation of all and the judgment. Such are the disciples of Marcellus and Scotinus of Galatian Ancyra, &c." See Newman on Athanasius, de Synodis, § 26, (5), notes a and b. Compare the description of Marcellus in the Letter of the Oriental Bishops who had withdrawn from the Council of Sardica to Philoppopolis (A.D. 344). "There has arisen in our days a certain Marcellus of Galatia, the most execrable pest of all heretics, who with sacrilegious mind, and impious mouth, and wicked argument seeks to set bounds to the perpetual, eternal, and timeless kingdom of our Lord Christ, saying that He began to reign four hundred years since, and shall end at the dissolution of the present world" (Hilar. Pictav. Ex Opere Hist. Fragm. iii.).
138 "The person meant by Cyril, though he withholds the name, is Marcellus of Ancyra; who having written a book against the Arian Sophist Asterius to explain the Apostle's statement concerning the subjection of the Son to the Father, was thought to be renewing the heresy of Paul of Samosata. On this account he was reproved by the Bishops at the Council of Jerusalem, A.D. 335, for holding false opinions, and being ordered to recant his opinions promised to burn his book. Afterwards he applied to Constantine, by whom he was remitted to the Council of Constantinople, A.D. 336, and deposed by the Bishops. As however he was acquitted by the Councils of Rome, A.D. 342, and of Sardica, A.D. 347, it became a matter of dispute whether he was really heretical. . . . From the fragments of his books transcribed by Eusebius, you may possibly acquit him of the Sabellian heresy and the confusion of the Father and the Son, but certainly not of the heresy concerning the end of Christ's kingdom, and the abandonment by the Word of the human nature which He assumed for our sake; so express are his words recorded by Eusebius in the beginning of the 2nd Book Contra Marcellum, pp. 50, 51."(Ben. Ed.) Cf. Dict. Chr. Biogr "Eusebius of Caesarea," p. 341. ; and notes 3 on § 9 above.
139 John viii. 25.
140 Luke i. 33.
141 th\n parou=san.
142 Dan. vii. 13, 14.
143 Ib. ii. 45; Rom. ix. 5.
144 Ps xlv. 6.
145 Ib. cii. 25-27.
146 Heb. i. 10-12.
147 1 Cor. xv. 25.
148 1 Cor. xv v. 28. Theodoret Comment. in Epist. i. ad Cor. xv. 28: "This passage the followers of Arius and Eunomius carry continually on their tongue, thinking in this way to disparage the dignity of the Only-begotten."
149 John viii. 29.
150 "Ro 5:14 Rom. v. 14". "a!xri from a!kroj, as me/xri from mh=koj, makpo/j" (L. and Sc). It is not always possible to mark this distinction in translation: cf. Lobeck Phrynichus, p. 14; Viger, De Idot. Gr. p. 419.
151 2 Cor. iii. 14, 15.
152 Ib. x. 14, 15, 16.
153 1 Cor. xv. 25.
154 Heb. iii. 13.
155 Dan. vii. 14, 27.
156 1 Tim. vi. 20.