Serves as man, receives as God; descends without leaving deity
the Son says: “he did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28) For to be served by creation would fit him very reasonably, as God and Master and having under his feet everything that is made; but to serve is human — yet, as far as it touches the accounts of the economy with flesh, not unfitting for the one who wholly lowered himself toward human things. And see how he priests in a human way and has been set as mediator of God and humans (1 Timothy 2:5) — for every priest mediates — yet he does not bring the mode of the sacrifice still in a slave-like way as one of our priests, himself having no share in it, but works it for himself, and through himself and in himself to the Father. For he consecrates our confession — that is, the faith… So even if he is said to priest in a human way, yet he himself receives the sacrifice in a divine way, being the same one together God and human. And he is also called faithful because he can always save those who approach God through him… And being somehow compared to Moses’ service according to the human, one may learn how great a superiority he has in that he is God… that the one is faithful as a household-servant in the house (Hebrews 3:5–6), but the other as Master over his house; and that Emmanuel is builder and maker of the house, whose house we are. And the difference of maker toward what is made is beyond compare, and of the Master by nature toward what is truly slave…
“Because I have come down from heaven not so that I may do my will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of all that he has given me, but raise it on the last day.” (John 6:38–39) He says that he himself has come down from heaven and been sent from God the Father — though he fills all things — showing, I think… that the Word, being God, has come down economically into humanity for us; and nowhere releasing being God by nature, but rather taking on what he was not… and giving for a short time to death the body united to him and his own, so that he may lose none of what was given him, but rather save it and raise it on the last day. So when he says he does the Father’s will and not altogether his own, he exposes the Jews’ madness… Therefore he says such things economically.
Greek
φησὶν ὁ Υἱός· «οὐκ ἦλθε διακονηθῆναι ἀλλὰ διακονῆσαι καὶ δοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἀντίλυτρον ὑπὲρ πολλῶν.» τὸ μὲν γὰρ διακονεῖσθαι παρὰ τῆς κτίσεως πρέποι ἂν αὐτῷ καὶ μάλα εἰκότως, ὡς Θεῷ καὶ δεσπότῃ καὶ ὑπὸ πόδας ἔχοντι πᾶν ὅπερ ἐστὶ γενητόν· τὸ δέ γε διακονεῖν ἀνθρώπινον μὲν, πλὴν ὅσον ἧκεν εἰς τοὺς τῆς μετὰ σαρκὸς οἰκονομίας λόγους, οὐκ ἀπεοικὸς τῷ γε ὅλως ἑαυτὸν καθέντι πρὸς τὰ ἀνθρώπινα. ἄθρει δὲ ὅπως ἱερατεύει μὲν ἀνθρωπίνως, καὶ μεσίτης τέθειται Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων — μεσιτεύει γὰρ πᾶς ἱερεύς — τὸν δὲ τῆς θυσίας τρόπον οὐκέτι καθ’ ἕνα τῶν καθ’ ἡμᾶς ἱερέων προσκομίζει δουλοπρεπῶς, οὐδὲν αὐτὸς ἐπικοινωνῶν αὐτῇ, ἀλλ’ ἑαυτῷ πραγματεύεται, καὶ δι’ αὐτοῦ τε καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ Πατρί. ἱερουργεῖ γὰρ ἡμῶν τὴν ὁμολογίαν, τουτέστι τὴν πίστιν… οὐκοῦν κἂν ἱερατεύειν ἀνθρωπίνως λέγεται, ἀλλὰ δέχεται τὴν θυσίαν αὐτὸς θεϊκῶς, ὁ αὐτὸς ὢν ὁμοῦ Θεὸς καὶ ἄνθρωπος. εἴρηται δὲ καὶ πιστὸς διὰ τὸ ἀεὶ σώζειν δύνασθαι τοὺς προσερχομένους δι’ αὐτοῦ τῷ Θεῷ… συγκρινόμενος δέ πως τῇ Μωσέως διακονίᾳ κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, ὅσην ἔχει τὴν ὑπεροχὴν κατά γε τὸ εἶναι Θεός, ἀναμάθοι τις ἂν… ὅτι ὁ μὲν ὡς οἰκέτης ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ πιστός, ὁ δὲ ὡς δεσπότης ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ· καὶ ὅτι τοῦ οἴκου κατασκευαστὴς καὶ δημιουργὸς ὁ Ἐμμανουήλ, οὗ οἶκός ἐσμεν ἡμεῖς. ἀσύγκριτος δὲ ποιητοῦ πρὸς τὸ ποιηθὲν ἡ διαφορὰ, καὶ τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν δεσπότου πρὸς τὸ δοῦλον…
«Ὅτι καταβέβηκα ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ οὐχ ἵνα ποιῶ τὸ θέλημα τὸ ἐμὸν ἀλλὰ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πέμψαντός με. τοῦτο δέ ἐστι τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πέμψαντός με, ἵνα πᾶν ὃ δέδωκέ μοι μὴ ἀπολέσω ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἀλλὰ ἀναστήσω αὐτὸ τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ.» καταβῆναί φησιν ἑαυτὸν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, ἀπεστάλθαι τε παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς, καίτοι τὰ πάντα πληρῶν — ἐκεῖνο οἶμαι καταδεικνὺς… ὅτι Θεὸς ὢν ὁ Λόγος καταπεφοίτηκεν οἰκονομικῶς εἰς ἀνθρωπότητα δι’ ἡμᾶς· καὶ οὔτι που μεθεὶς τὸ εἶναι φύσει Θεὸς, προσλαβὼν δὲ μᾶλλον ὅπερ οὐκ ἦν… δούς τε τῷ θανάτῳ πρὸς βραχὺ τὸ ἑνωθὲν αὐτῷ σῶμα καὶ ἴδιον αὐτοῦ, μηδὲν ἀπολέσῃ τῶν δοθέντων αὐτῷ, διασώσῃ δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ ἀναστήσῃ αὐτὸ ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ. ποιεῖν μὲν οὖν λέγων τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ οὐχὶ δὴ πάντως τὸ ἑαυτοῦ, τὰς τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀπονοίας ἐλέγχει… Οὐκοῦν οἰκονομικῶς τὰ τοιάδε φησί.
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.