St. Cyril of Jerusalem
c. 313-386 AD
from "Catechetical Lectures"
Lecture 4: Of Judgment to Come.
15. This Jesus Christ who is gone up shall come again, not from earth but from heaven: and I say, not from earth, because there are many Antichrists to come at this time from earth. For already, as you have seen, many have begun to say, I am the Christ (Matthew 24:5): and the abomination of desolation is yet to come, assuming to himself the false title of Christ. But look thou for the true Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God, coming henceforth no more from earth, but from heaven, appearing to all more bright than any lightning and brilliancy of light, with angel guards attended, that He may judge both quick and dead, and reign in a heavenly, eternal kingdom, which shall have no end. For on this point also, I pray you, make yourself sure, since there are many who say that Christ's Kingdom has an end.
Lecture 7: The Father
(The Temple in Jerusalem not Done Away with. Concerning Heretics Who Sever the Old Testament from the New.)
6. We worship, therefore, as the Father of Christ, the Maker of heaven and earth, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exodus 3:6); to whose honour the former temple also, over against us here, was built. For we shall not tolerate the heretics who sever the Old Testament from the New , but shall believe Christ, who says concerning the temple, Did you not know that I must be in My Father's house (Luke 2:49)? And again, Take these things hence, and make not my Father's house a house of merchandise John 2:16, whereby He most clearly confessed that the former temple in Jerusalem was His own Father's house.
Lecture 8: Almighty
(Christ’s Kingdom is an Everlasting Kingdom.)
5. Nothing then is withdrawn from the power of God; for the Scripture says of Him, for all things are Your servants. All things alike are His servants, but from all these One, His only Son, and One, His Holy Spirit, are excepted; and all the things which are His servants serve the Lord through the One Son and in the Holy Spirit. God then rules all, and of His long-suffering endures even murderers and robbers and fornicators, having appointed a set time for recompensing every one, that if they who have had long warning are still impenitent in heart, they may receive the greater condemnation. They are kings of men, who reign upon earth, but not without the power from above: and this Nebuchadnezzar once learned by experience, when he said; For His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His power from generation to generation (Daniel 4:34) .
Lecture 10: On the Clause, and in One Lord Jesus Christ, with a reading from the First Epistle to the Corinthians
(The Second Temple Destroyed Due to the Transgressions of the Jews.)
11. And He is called by two names, Jesus Christ; Jesus, because He saves — Christ, because He is a Priest. And knowing this the inspired Prophet Moses conferred these two titles on two men distinguished above all : his own successor in the government, Auses , he renamed Jesus; and his own brother Aaron he surnamed Christ , that by two well-approved men he might represent at once both the High Priesthood, and the Kingship of the One Jesus Christ who was to come. For Christ is a High Priest like Aaron; since He glorified not Himself to be made a High Priest, but He that spoke unto Him, You are a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. And Jesus the son of Nave was in many things a type of Him. For when he began to rule over the people, he began from Jordan (Joshua 3:1), whence Christ also, after He was baptized, began to preach the gospel. And the son of Nave appoints twelve to divide the inheritance ; and twelve Apostles Jesus sends forth, as heralds of the truth, into all the world. The typical Jesus saved Rahab the harlot when she believed: and the true Jesus says, Behold, the publicans and the harlots go before you into the kingdom of God. (Matthew 21:31) With only a shout the walls of Jericho fell down in the time of the type: and because Jesus said, There shall not be left here one stone upon another (Matthew 24:2), the Temple of the Jews opposite to us is fallen, the cause of its fall not being the denunciation but the sin of the transgressors.
Lecture 12: On the Words Incarnate, and Made Man.
(The Jews Rejected Christ.)
2. But the sons of the Jews by setting at nought Him that came, and looking for him who comes in wickedness, rejected the true Messiah, and wait for the deceiver, themselves deceived; herein also the Saviour being found true, who said, I have come in My Father's name, and you receive Me not: but if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. It is well also to put a question to the Jews. Is the Prophet Esaias, who says that Emmanuel shall be born of a virgin, true or false Isaiah 7:14? For if they charge him with falsehood, no wonder: for their custom is not only to charge with falsehood, but also to stone the Prophets. But if the Prophet is true, point to the Emmanuel, and say, Whether is He who is to come, for whom you are looking, to be born of a virgin or not? For if He is not to be born of a virgin, you accuse the Prophet of falsehood: but if in Him that is to come you expect this, why do you reject that which has come to pass already?
3. Let the Jews, then, be led astray, since they so will: but let the Church of God be glorified. For we receive God the Word made Man in truth, not, as heretics say , of the will of man and woman, but of The Virgin and the Holy Ghost according to the Gospel, Made Man , not in seeming but in truth. And that He was truly Man made of the Virgin, wait for the proper time of instruction in this Lecture, and you shall receive the proofs : for the error of the heretics is manifold. And some have said that He has not been born at all of a virgin : others that He has been born, not of a virgin, but of a wife dwelling with a husband. Others say that the Christ is not God made Man, but a man made God. For they dared to say that not He — the pre-existent Word — was made Man; but a certain man was by advancement crowned.
(Daniels 70 Weeks.)
19. But we seek still more clearly the proof of the time of His coming. For man being hard to persuade, unless he gets the very years for a clear calculation, does not believe what is stated. What then is the season, and what the manner of the time? It is when, on the failure of the kings descended from Judah, Herod a foreigner succeeds to the kingdom? The Angel, therefore, who converses with Daniel says, and do thou now mark the words, And you shall know and understand: From the going forth of the word for making answer , and for the building of Jerusalem, until Messiah the Prince are seven weeks and three score and two weeks. Daniel 9:25 Now three score and nine weeks of years contain four hundred and eighty-three years. He said, therefore, that after the building of Jerusalem, four hundred and eighty-three years having passed, and the rulers having failed, then comes a certain king of another race, in whose time the Christ is to be born. Now Darius the Mede built the city in the sixth year of his own reign, and first year of the 66th Olympiad according to the Greeks. Olympiad is the name among the Greeks of the games celebrated after four years, because of the day which in every four years of the sun's courses is made up of the three (supernumerary) hours in each year. And Herod is king in the 186th Olympiad, in the 4th year thereof. Now from the 66th to the 186th Olympiad there are 120 Olympiads intervening, and a little over. So then the 120 Olympiads make up 480 years: for the other three years remaining are perhaps taken up in the interval between the first and fourth years. And there you have the proof according to the Scripture which says, From the going forth of the word that Jerusalem be restored and built until Messiah the Prince are seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. Of the times, therefore, you have for the present this proof, although there are also other different interpretations concerning the aforesaid weeks of years in Daniel.
Lecture 13: On the words, Crucified and Buried
(The Saints to Return with Christ at His Future Coming.)
41. This shall appear again with Jesus from heaven ; for the trophy shall precede the king*: that seeing Him whom they pierced (Zechariah 12:10), and knowing by the Cross Him who was dishonoured, the Jews may repent and mourn; (but they shall mourn tribe by tribe , for they shall repent, when there shall be no more time for repentance;) and that we may glory, exulting in the Cross, worshipping the Lord who was sent, and crucified for us, and worshipping also God His Father who sent Him, with the Holy Ghost: To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Lecture 14: On the Words, And Rose Again from the Dead on the Third Day, and Ascended into the Heavens, and Sat on the Right Hand of the Father.
(That the Jews would Rise Again after Two Days and in the Third Day.)
(The Christians who are worthy are to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.)
14. Upon the former, sentence was pronounced by Herod, for they were ignorant and had nothing to say for themselves; while the latter, who had seen the truth, and concealed it for money, were protected by the Chief Priests. Nevertheless, though but a few of the Jews were persuaded at the time, the world became obedient. They who hid the truth were themselves hidden; but they who received it were made manifest by the power of the Saviour, who not only rose from the dead, but also raised the dead with Himself. And in the person of these the Prophet Osee says plainly, After two days will He revive us, and in the third day we shall rise again, and shall live in His sight (Hosea 6:2) .
30. Now may He Himself, the God of all, who is Father of the Christ, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who came down, and ascended, and sits together with the Father, watch over your souls; keep unshaken and unchanged your hope in Him who rose again; raise you together with Him from your dead sins unto His heavenly gift; count you worthy to be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air 1 Thessalonians 4:17, in His fitting time; and, until that time** arrive of His glorious second advent, write all your names in the Book of the living, and having written them, never blot them out (for the names of many, who fall away, are blotted out); and may He grant to all of you to believe in Him who rose again, and to look for Him who is gone up, and is to come again, (to come, but not from the earth; for be on your guard, O man, because of the deceivers who are to come).
* It appears from this statement "This shall appear again with Jesus from heaven ; for the trophy shall precede the king" referring to the church, that the saints will return with Christ at his second advent to the earth from heaven In which the Jews will see his pierced body and wounds from the cross and will mourn for him. This means that St. Cyril understands that the church is raptured previous to the second advent for else how could they return with him from heaven to the earth at this time of his second advent? That the Saints returns with Christ at his second advent is also stated in "The Didache" ch. 16.
** Notice that St. Cyrils states a time gap from the time that believers who are worthy are caught up to meet the Lord in the air until that time of his second advent. The phrase "until that time" means a duration of time from the rapture until the second advent.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4