Discourse delivered in Ephesus

St. Cyril of Alexandria owns 8 homilies, pronounced in Ephesus in the summer of 431 during the Third Ecumenical Council and preserved as part of the council’s acts. The conversations are anti-Nestorian in nature. They touch upon questions of dogmatic content: St. Cyril expounds the doctrine of the Incarnation, the Face of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Mother of God, and also concerns the events that took place at the Council. The “Conversation delivered in Ephesus” presented in this publication is the first of the “Ephesian” homilies, which the saint wrote at the beginning of the Council. Those who listen to the Holy Scripture have a wise heart, flaming with the light of good deeds and true faith. Love for true knowledge accompanies such a life. A clear witness of this is the Savior Himself, crying out to the Heavenly Father and God: “Behold, this is the eternal life, that they may know Thee the one true God, and Whom Jesus Christ hath sent” (John 17:3). So, the knowledge of the Son, combined with the knowledge of the Father, under the same condition, is a life-giving knowledge of God. If you separate one from the other, it will be completely impossible to know God. Our Lord Jesus Christ says to the Jews: “You know neither Me nor my Father; If they knew Me quickly, they also knew My Father” (John 8:19). The Jews thought that their fathers saw the Son of God by nature on the mountain when He descended on Mount Sinai in the form of fire; They thought that they had heard His voice, and for this reason they honored Moses, the minister of the mysteries, with special surprise, and they despised our Lord Jesus Christ for his human nature, saying: “We know that Moses is God, but we do not know Him whence He is” (John 9:29). And what did Christ say to them for this: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you have neither heard His voice anywhere, nor seen His vision, nor have His word abiding in you, because He was His messenger; in this you do not have faith” (John 5:37–38). Truth speaks the absolute truth. The nature of God was not visible on Mount Sinai, but only fire was visible. At the same time, trumpets sounded, smoke rose, and images of truth represented truth itself. The God of all descends on Mount Sinai in the form of fire. Why in the form of fire? Intending to give the Jews a law, it was more convenient for God to descend in the form of fire in order to teach the transgressors of the law that they would have to deal with fire. Therefore, blessed Moses, frightening sinners, usually exclaimed: “Our God consumes fire” (Deut. 4:24). At the same time, there was still smoke and darkness. The darkness made it clear that it was impossible to call God, and the smoke meant the tears of self-willed despisers of the law, since the bodily eye sheds tears from smoke. So, the Jews did not see the face of the Father, but we saw him in Christ. He is. the subtlest and purest beauty of the One who gave birth, His image and radiance. Although the Word, being God, took on flesh and blood and was called the Son of man, taking on a body that was not soulless and not alien to the mind, as the insane heretic Apollinaris claims, despite this, It was always God. He once revealed this secret to the holy fathers, and it can be seen from many sayings of the holy prophets. From the Book of Genesis we see in part that the Son was seen in human form and that He was called God. When blessed Jacob, leaving Mesopotamia, hurried to return to his father’s house and, taking both of Laban’s daughters with the children they had fathered, led them to a stream named Jabbok, then, as the Scripture says, having released the children and wives, he was left alone and his husband fought with him until the morning. Seeing that he could not be overpowered, this husband touched his thigh and injured it. And the husband who was fighting with him said to him: “Let Me go, come before dawn. He said: I won’t let you in unless you bless me... And bless him there. And Jacob called the name of that place the sight of God: for I saw God face to face, and my soul was saved” (Gen. 32:26,29-30). O wisdom worthy of saints! The Patriarch saw a fighter in front of him, and meanwhile exclaimed: “I saw God face to face, and my soul was saved.” By the revelation of the Holy Spirit, he immediately understood the mystery of the incarnation. Please note the following. The husband wrestled with Jacob all night, and when the day dawned, he said: “Let Me go, come before dawn.” What does this mean? The fact that Christ fights and fights with those who, like those who are in darkness and night, have the darkness of ignorance in their minds and hearts, but when the dawn breaks in their minds and the light of true knowledge of God begins to shine in them, like day, then Christ ends the fight. For He arms itself against those who, like those who are in darkness and gloom, have a dark and gloomy heart, and not those who walk in the light and have a spiritual dawn. So, man, accept the spiritual dawn, so that the light of truth may shine upon you. Stop fighting with Christ. He who does not know victory over himself always wins. Although the Only Begotten Word of God became a man, he did not cease by nature to be God. He cannot change in any way. So, according to the Father He is the Word, and according to the Mother He is a man according to the flesh. There is one God the Father, from whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and one Holy Spirit, in whom are all things. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.