Section CCIII

To this most illustrious testimony of Eusebius I add another and final one from Cyril, who governed the Church of Jerusalem in the fourth century, who is called by Theodoret¹ τῶν ἀποστολικῶν δογμάτων προθύμως ὑπερμαχῶν, a most ardent defender of apostolic doctrine, and whose authority on behalf of Catholic truth was frequently employed both by the same Theodoret², and by Gelasius³, Eustratius⁴, Leontius of Byzantium⁵, Anastasius the Sinaite⁶, Maximus⁷, the Lateran Synod celebrated under the presidency of Martin I⁸, John Damascene⁹, and—

—the Second Council of Nicaea itself, the seventh ecumenical council¹⁰. Cyril, therefore, holds nothing more important than to extol with the highest praises the infinite goodness of God and his clemency toward the human race, and to depict it as though with its own colors. “For,” he says¹¹, refuting the Gnostics¹², “because he is called good and just and omnipotent and Sabaoth¹³, he is not therefore manifold and diverse; but since he is one and the same, μυρίας ἐκπέμπει τὰς τῆς θεότητος ἐνεργείας, he sends forth innumerable operations of the divinity. He does not have more in one respect and less in another, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν πᾶσιν ὅμοιος ὢν αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ, but in all things is similar to himself. He is not great in goodness alone and lesser in wisdom, ἀλλ᾽ ἰσοδύναμον ἔχων τὴν σοφίαν καὶ τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν, but has wisdom and benignity equal and of the same power.” The force of this benignity is such that Cyril writes of it¹⁴: “Πλήρη τὰ πέρατα τοῦ κόσμου τῆς ἀγαθότητος αὐτοῦ· πλήρης πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις τῆς αἰνέσεως αὐτοῦ· πλήρης πᾶσα ἡ ἀνθρωπότης τῆς συγκαταβάσεως αὐτοῦ· τὰ οὐράνια, τὰ ἐπίγεια, τὰ καταχθόνια, πλήρη τῆς εὐσπλαγχνίας αὐτοῦ· πλήρη τοῦ ἐλέους αὐτοῦ· πλήρη τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν· πλήρη τῶν δωρεῶν· πλήρη τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν αὐτοῦ. The ends of the world are full of his goodness; the whole creation is full of his praise; the whole human race is full of his most merciful condescension toward us. The heavenly, the earthly, and those beneath the earth are full of his compassion, full of mercy, full of the effects of mercy, full of gifts, full of his beneficences.” So much so that Cyril continues¹⁵: “No man can explain his clemency according to its worth; indeed, even if all the tongues of men should come together as one, οὐδ᾽—

—οὕτως μέρος τι τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίας διηγήσασθαι δυνήσονται, not even thus would they be able to recount some part of his benignity.”

Certainly¹⁶, ὁ κτίστης ἀγαθὸς ὢν, ἐπὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς ἔκτισεν· τὸ δὲ κτισθέν, ἐξ οἰκείας προαιρέσεως εἰς πονηρίαν ἐτράπη, since the Creator is good, he created the creature for good works; but the created thing was turned to wickedness by its own choice. Satan was the first to indulge in wickedness¹⁷, and¹⁸ διὰ τοῦτον ὁ προπάτωρ ἡμῶν Ἀδὰμ ἐξεβλήθη, καὶ ἀντὶ παραδείσου αὐτομάτως θαυμασίους φέροντος καρπούς, τὴν ἀκανθοφόρον ἀντικατηλλάξατο γῆν, through him our first parent Adam was cast out and exchanged paradise, which of itself bore wondrous fruits, for the thorn-bearing earth. But what was the outcome of this exchange? Or what condition then befell our first parents and all their posterity? Cyril proposes to himself this very question to be resolved¹⁹, in these words: “What, therefore? someone might say: having been deceived, we have perished; is there no salvation thereafter? We have fallen²⁰; is it not permitted to rise again? We have been blinded; is it not lawful to recover sight? We have been made lame; is there no hope of someday walking rightly? To speak summarily, we are dead; is it not permitted that we rise again?” But he answers²¹: “O man, will he who raised Lazarus after four days and when stinking not much more easily raise you while living? He who poured out his precious blood for us will himself deliver us from sin. Let us not despair of ourselves; let us not cast ourselves into a desperate state. Δεινὸν γάρ ἐστι τὸ μὴ πιστεύειν εἰς μετανοίας ἐλπίδα. It is cruel not to believe in the hope of repentance. He who does not await salvation accumulates evils without measure; but he who hopes for healing easily spares himself… Ἡ μὲν οὖν φύσις ἐπιδέχεται τὴν σωτηρίαν, ζητεῖται δὲ λοιπὸν ἡ προαίρεσις. Nature, therefore, is capable of salvation, but the will of free choice is further required for this.”

And Cyril immediately teaches and confirms by many things that nature, although corrupted by the original stain, is nevertheless capable—

—of salvation. For, repeating the most widely known maxim²², φιλάνθρωπος ὁ Θεός, καὶ φιλάνθρωπος οὐκ ὀλίγον, God is benign, and not only slightly benign, he runs through the several ages of the human race down to Christ²³, and applies himself wholly to demonstrating by testimonies and arguments that there never existed even one man who was altogether deprived of a divinely received faculty for attaining salvation. Whence he finally infers²⁴: “Φιλάνθρωπος ὁ Κύριος καὶ ταχὺς εἰς συγχώρησιν, βραδὺς δὲ εἰς τιμωρίαν. Μηδεὶς οὖν ἀπελπίσῃ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ σωτηρίας. The Lord is benign and prompt to pardon, but slow to punish. Let no one, therefore, cast away the hope of his salvation.”