Authority received in emptying; exalted Word returns to own seat
The Father himself, as having a Son resembling him in every respect and equal in glory and equal in working. And the Son has shown this, having abolished death and having raised from the dead his own temple. Yet he receives authority over all again as we do and humanly, although he reigns over the wholes divinely. And the Father distributes to those given to the Son the eternal life—and this is himself; for he said: “I am the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25) Therefore even if he should be said to receive glory from the Father, and authority and kingship over all, the receiving is to be referred to the measures of the emptying; yet one must know that he is also lord of glory as God and co-throned with the Father, and in no way short of the superiority and glory of the one who begot him, as far as concerns the nature of the deity.
“Therefore, having been exalted by the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this which you see and hear. For David did not go up into the heavens; yet he himself says: The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right until I put your enemies as a footstool of your feet.” (Acts 2:33–35) (Psalm 110:1) In these we may behold the whole mystery of the Only-begotten’s becoming human. For existing in the form and equality of the Father, the God-Word from him—the all-powerful right hand and all-working hand—is said to have been emptied (Philippians 2:6–9) because of the human, yet is exalted again not into a foreign dignity and not by crossing into what had not long belonged to him, but into what he was; and the Word, having appeared, is for this reason also co-seated with God and Father.
Greek
αὐτὸς ὁ Πατήρ, ὡς ἔχων Υἱὸν κατὰ πᾶν ὁτιοῦν ἐοικότα τε καὶ ἰσοκλεᾶ καὶ ἰσουργὸν ἑαυτῷ. καὶ τοῦτο δέδειχεν ὁ Υἱός, καταργήσας θάνατον καὶ ἀναστήσας ἐκ νεκρῶν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ναόν. δέχεται δὲ τὴν κατὰ πάντων ἐξουσίαν, καθ’ ἡμᾶς δὴ πάλιν καὶ ἀνθρωπίνως, καίτοι βασιλεύων τῶν ὅλων θεϊκῶς. καὶ νέμει μὲν ὁ Πατὴρ τοῖς δοθεῖσι τῷ Υἱῷ τὴν ζωὴν τὴν αἰώνιον, αὕτη δέ ἐστιν αὐτός· ἔφη γάρ· «Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή.» οὐκοῦν κἂν εἰ λέγοιτο λαβεῖν παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς δόξαν, καὶ τὴν κατὰ πάντων ἐξουσίαν τε καὶ βασιλείαν, ἀναθετέον μὲν τὸ λαβεῖν τοῖς τῆς κενώσεως μέτροις· ἰστέον δὲ ὅτι καὶ τῆς δόξης ἐστὶ κύριος ὡς Θεὸς καὶ σύνθρονος τῷ Πατρί, καὶ κατ’ οὐδένα τρόπον μειονεκτούμενος τῆς τοῦ τεκόντος αὐτὸν ὑπεροχῆς τε καὶ δόξης, τό γε ἧκον εἰς τὴν τῆς θεότητος φύσιν.
«Τῇ δεξιᾷ οὖν τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑψωθεὶς τήν τε ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ Πνεύματος τοῦ Ἁγίου λαβὼν παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐξέχεε τοῦτο ὃ ὑμεῖς βλέπετε καὶ ἀκούετε. οὐ γὰρ Δαυὶδ ἀνέβη εἰς τοὺς οὐρανούς· λέγει δὲ αὐτός· Εἶπεν ὁ Κύριος τῷ Κυρίῳ μου· Κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου ἕως ἂν θῶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν σου.» ὅλον ἐν τούτοις καταθρήσαιμεν ἂν τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως τοῦ Μονογενοῦς τὸ μυστήριον. ἐν μορφῇ γὰρ ὑπάρχων καὶ ἐν ἰσότητι τοῦ Πατρὸς ὁ ἐξ αὐτοῦ Θεὸς Λόγος, ἡ πανσθενὴς δεξιὰ καὶ χεὶρ ἡ παντουργική, κεκενῶσθαι μὲν λέγεται διὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, ὑψοῦται δὲ πάλιν οὐκ εἰς ὀθνεῖον ἀξίωμα καὶ οὐ πάλαι προπεφυκὸς αὐτῷ διαβαίνων, ἀλλ’ εἰς ὃ ἦν, καὶ πεφηνὼς ὁ Λόγος σύνεδρός τε διὰ τοῦτο τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρί.
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.