Faith and Hospitality
When we abandon the Creator and God of all, we inevitably serve demonic and misanthropic beings, and live as friends to them.
Christ suffered in the flesh for us, and we should arm ourselves with the same mindset as he did.
The Word of God became flesh and suffered voluntarily, showing us that true strength comes from God.
As we are baptized into Christ's death, we become one with him, impassible in divinity but passible in flesh.
Christ is God, and as such, he is impassible in his divinity, but passible in his flesh.
When we receive brothers at table, we should not be anxious about much service, but rather focus on the encounters with our guests, and gain the reward of hospitality.
In what seems difficult, we should show what is noble.
We did not follow clever myths when we made known to you the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, but rather we became eyewitnesses of his greatness.
For he received honor and glory from God the Father, and a voice was brought to him by the magnificent foot of glory.
The problems of the heretics are indeed myths and human wisdom, which Paul writes to us to avoid, as he says, 'Avoid a heretic after a first and second warning' is not our concern, but rather Paul's warning to avoid heretics (Titus 3:10).
The heretics, not having the truth, are forced to wander in various speeches to defend the falsehood.
But we are not so, for we have seen the truth with our eyes, being with him on the mountain.
We also have the prophets who foretold this truth to us, and thus the word became more confirmed to us through sight than through the prophets.
For what they said, Christ confirmed by being present, and we are witnesses who also heard the testimony.
For not having followed clever myths, we made known to you the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, but having become eyewitnesses of his greatness.
We should not consider it a strange occurrence to us to face narrowness and tribulations and bodily infirmities, but rather show what is noble in such situations.
Greek
δημιουργὸν καὶ τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεὸν ἀπολιπόντες, καὶ δαίμοσι μισανθρώποις δουλεύσαντες, καὶ ὡς ἐκείνοις φίλον ὑπῆρχε διαβιώσαντες. Χριστοῦ οὖν παθόντος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν σαρκὶ, καὶ ὑμεῖς τὴν αὐτὴν ἔννοιαν ὁπλίσασθε, κ. τ. λ. Κυρίλλου. Οὐκοῦν ἀνάγκη νοεῖν, ὅτι γεγονὼς καθ' ἡμᾶς ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος σαρκὶ πέπονθεν ἑκών. Βεβαπτίσμεθα γὰρ οὕτως εἰς τὸν αὐτοῦ θάνατον, ὡς ἑνὸς ὄντος Υἱοῦ, κατὰ μὲν τὴν τῆς θεότητος φύσιν ἀπαθοῦς, παθητοῦ δὲ κατὰ τὴν σάρκα. Κυρίλλου. Ὡς γὰρ ὑπάρχοντος Θεοῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, σοφῶς καὶ ἐμφρόνως ὁ μαθητὴς σαρκὶ πεπονθέναι φησὶν αὐτὸν, ὑπεξάγων τοῦ παθεῖν τὴν ἀπόῤῥητον φύσιν, ἧς ἀλλότριον τὸ παθεῖν. Ἰδίᾳ τοίνυν πέπονθε σαρκὶ, καίτοι τοῦ παθεῖν ἀμοιρεῖν εἰθισμένος ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ Λόγος. Θεὸς οὖν ἄρα ὁ Χριστὸς, θεϊκῶς μὲν ἀπαθὴς, παθητὸς δὲ κατὰ τὴν σάρκα. Εἴ τις διακονεῖ, ὡς ἐξ ἰσχύος ἧς χορηγεῖ ὁ Θεός. Κυρίλλου. Οἱ τὴν ἑστίαν εὐρύνοντες ὑπαντάτωσαν ἱλαροὶ, πρόθυμοι, οὐχ ὡς διδόντες τι μᾶλλον, ἀλλ' ὡς αὐτοὶ ληψόμενοι κατὰ διττὸν τρόπον· πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ταῖς παρὰ τῶν ξενιζομένων ἐντρυφήσωσι συντυχίαις· εἶτα πρὸς τοῦτο καὶ τὸν τῆς φιλοξενίας κερδανοῦσι μισθόν. ∆εχόμενοι δὲ εἰς ἑστίαν τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς, μὴ περισπάσθωσαν περὶ πολλὴν διακονίαν, μὴ ζητείτωσαν τὰ ὑπὲρ χεῖρα καὶ χρείαν. Λυπεῖ γὰρ πανταχοῦ ἐν παντὶ πράγματι τὸ περιττόν· ἐνεργάζεται μὲν τοῖς φιλοξενεῖν ἐθέλουσιν, ὄκνον· κάματος δὲ τοῖς ἑστιωμένοις εὑρίσκεται. Μὴ ξένον τοῦτον νομίσητε συμβαίνειν ὑμῖν καὶ στενοχωρίας καὶ θλίψεις καὶ ἀῤῥωστίας σωματικάς· ἁλλ' ἐν τοῖς δοκοῦσι δυσχερέσι τὸ δόκιμον ἐπιδείξασθε. IN EPISTOLAM IIB. PETRI. Οὐ γὰρ σεσοφισμένοις μύθοις ἐξακολουθήσαντες ἐγνωρίσαμεν ὑμῖν τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δύναμιν καὶ παρουσίαν, ἀλλ' ἐπόπται γενηθέντες τῆς ἐκείνου μεγαλειότητος. Λαβὼν γὰρ παρὰ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς τιμὴν καὶ δόξαν, φωνῆς ἐνεχθείσης αὐτῷ τοιᾶσδε ὑπὸ τῆς μεγαλοπρε ποῦς δόξης. Κυρίλλου. Μῦθοι γὰρ ὄντως καὶ ἀνθρώπινα σοφίσματα τῶν αἱρετικῶν τὰ προβλήματα, οὕστινας ἐκτρέπεσθαι βουλόμενος ἡμᾶς ὁ Παῦλος γράφει· Αἱρετικὸν ἄνθρωπον μετὰ μίαν καὶ δευτέραν νουθεσίαν παραιτοῦ, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Ἄρχεται μὲν ἤδη τῆς κατὰ τῶν αἱρετικῶν ἐπιδρομῆς· καθὸ ἐκεῖνοι, τὴν ἀλήθειαν οὐκ ἔχοντες, ποικίλοις λόγοις ἀναγκάζονται περιπλάττειν τὸ ψεῦδος. Ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς οὐχ οὕτω, φησὶν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐθεασάμεθα, μετ' αὐτοῦ ὄντες ἐν τῷ ὄρει· ἔχομεν οὖν καὶ τοὺς προφήτας ταύτην αὐτὴν τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἡμῖν προμηνύσαντας, καὶ οὕτως διὰ τῆς ὄψεως βεβαιότερος τῶν προφητῶν ὁ λόγος ἡμῖν ἐγένετο· ἃ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι εἶπον, ταῦτα παρὼν ὁ Χριστὸς ἐπιστώσατο. Καὶ μάρτυρες ἡμεῖς, οἱ καὶ τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἀκούσαντες 9
About this text
Cyril of Alexandria, Fragmenta in Acta et epistulas catholicas (Greek).
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 74 (Greek)
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.