Dual speech-forms; obedience of the sinless Son from woman
…as if one might also say that a human’s spirit dwells in him, not being another beside him. And over one person a double-faced form of speech is often brought in for us, and in no way does it wrong the truth. For example, if inspired Scripture should say about God: “He who forms a human’s spirit within him,” (Zechariah 12:1) yet how is it not clear to all that the spirit formed within him would not be understood as another beside the human? And the blessed David says somewhere: “At night I conversed with my heart, and I stirred my spirit.” (Psalm 77:6) Then who was the one conversing with his own heart and probing his own spirit? Therefore one must not over-scrutinize the forms of the words, but rather look to the natures of the things themselves, and being well guided from them go to the truth itself.
On Christ’s obedience. “So then, as through one trespass it came to all humans for condemnation, so also through one righteous act it came to all humans for justification of life; for just as through the one human’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:18–19) So since human nature was condemned by the sentence of death through the first-formed one’s disobedience, it had to rise again toward its original blamelessness by making a full showing of obedience. But this was already much and far beyond humanity’s measures — for no one is clean from sins… So the God and Father, summing up all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:10)… “sent forth his Son, born from a woman,” (Galatians 4:4) so that taking a body like ours and making it his own, he might be found as a human on earth not knowing sin, and thus having become wholly obedient to God the Father, justify human nature in himself and free it from death’s bonds…
Greek
…ὡσανεὶ καὶ ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ λέγοιτο κατοικεῖν τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ, οὐχ ἕτερον ὂν παρ’ αὐτόν· ἐφ’ ἑνὸς δὲ προσώπου πολλάκις διπρόσωπον ἡμῖν εἰσφέρεται λόγου σχῆμα, καὶ κατ’ οὐδένα τρόπον ἀδικεῖ τὴν ἀλήθειαν. οἷον φέρε εἰπεῖν, ὡς εἰ λέγοιτο περὶ Θεοῦ παρὰ τῆς θεοπνεύστου γραφῆς· «Ὁ πλάσσων πνεῦμα ἀνθρώπου ἐν αὐτῷ,» καίτοι πῶς οὐχ ἅπασιν ἐναργὲς ὡς οὐκ ἂν νοοῖτο παρὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἕτερον τὸ ἐν αὐτῷ πλαττόμενον αὐτοῦ πνεῦμα; φησὶ δέ που καὶ ὁ μακάριος Δαυίδ· «Νυκτὸς μετὰ τῆς καρδίας μου ἠδολέσχουν, καὶ ἔσκαλλον τὸ πνεῦμά μου.» εἶτα τίς ἦν ὁ μετὰ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ καρδίας ἀδολεσχῶν καὶ τὸ ἴδιον πνεῦμα σκαλεύων; χρὴ τοιγαροῦν τὰ μὲν τῶν λόγων σχήματα μὴ σφόδρα φιλοκρινεῖν, ἀφορᾶν δὲ μᾶλλον εἰς αὐτὰς τῶν πραγμάτων τὰς φύσεις, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν εὖ μάλα ποδηγουμένους ἐπ’ αὐτὴν ἰέναι τὴν ἀλήθειαν.
Περὶ ὑπακοῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ. «Ἄρα οὖν ὡς δι’ ἑνὸς παραπτώματος εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἰς κατάκριμα, οὕτω καὶ δι’ ἑνὸς δικαιώματος εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἰς δικαίωσιν ζωῆς· ὥσπερ γὰρ διὰ τῆς παρακοῆς τοῦ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου ἁμαρτωλοὶ κατεστάθησαν οἱ πολλοί, οὕτω καὶ διὰ τῆς ὑπακοῆς τοῦ ἑνὸς δίκαιοι κατασταθήσονται οἱ πολλοί.» τῆς ἀνθρώπου φύσεως ἄρα τῇ δίκῃ θανάτου καταδεδικασμένης διὰ τὴν τοῦ πρωτοπλάστου παρακοήν, ἔδει πάλιν ἀνασφῆλαι πρὸς τὸ ἐν ἀρχαῖς αὐτὴν ἀνεπίπληκτον κομιδῇ τῆς ὑπακοῆς ποιουμένην τὴν ἔνδειξιν. ἀλλ’ ἤδη τοῦτο πολὺ καὶ λίαν ἐπέκεινα τῶν τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος μέτρων· καθαρὸς γὰρ οὐδεὶς ἀπὸ ἁμαρτιῶν… εὐμηχάνως τοιγαροῦν ὁ Θεὸς καὶ Πατὴρ ἀνακεφαλαιούμενος τὰ πάντα ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ… «ἐξαπέστειλε τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ, γενόμενον ἐκ γυναικός,» ἵνα τὸ ὅμοιον ἡμῖν σῶμα λαβὼν καὶ ἴδιον αὐτὸ ποιησάμενος, ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἐπὶ γῆς εὑρεθῇ μὴ εἰδὼς ἁμαρτίαν, οὕτω τε εἰς ἅπαν κατήκοος γεγονὼς τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρί, δικαιώσῃ τὴν ἀνθρώπου φύσιν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, καὶ τῶν τοῦ θανάτου δεσμῶν ἐξέληται…
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.