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Translated by P.E. Pusey
St Cyril of Alexandria Resources Online and in Print
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31 Pages
Page 24
The Prophet Habaccuc says, O Lord, I have heard Thy hearing and feared, I have thought on Thy works and shuddered. In the midst of the two living creatures shalt Thou be known, in the coming of the times shalt Thou be shewn, while my soul was troubled, shalt Thou in anger remember mercy. God shall come from Teman, the Holy One from mount Paran. How shall He be known in the midst of the two living creatures? for when He had been born of a woman and had lived even unto the time of the Precious Cross, by the grace of God (as saith blessed Paul) did He by His Body taste death for every man. But since He was by Nature God, He rose again unto everlasting life. He therefore is known, Who for us endured the Precious Cross, in the midst of the two living creatures. And Himself says somewhere to the Jews, When ye have lifted up the son of man, then shall ye know that I am. But how, calling Him also God, does he fore-announce that He shall come from Teman and from mount Paran? Teman is interpreted South: for Christ was manifested, not from northern regions, but from the southern Judaea, wherein Bethlehem is.
Since therefore He Who has been named Lord and God, cometh out of the southern Judea, for He was born in Bethlehem, how is not the holy Virgin Mother of God?
In [35] Genesis it is written, And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled with him a Man until the morning: but he saw that he was not prevailing against him and he touched the flat of his thigh as he was wrestling with him [36] and said to him, Let me go for the morning ascendeth. But he said, I do not let thee go, except thou bless me. And after more, And He blessed him there: and he called the name of that place, The Face of God: for I saw (he said) God face to face and my life is preserved. And the sun rose when he passed the face of God: and he hailed on his thigh. Mystic is the sense of that which is written, for it appears to hint at the wrestling of the Jews which they used in regard to Christ, well-nigh wrestling with Him, nevertheless they were overcome and will themselves implore His Blessing, if through faith they turn them to Him at the last times. But note this, it was a man who was wrestling, and Jacob called him The Face of God: nor that alone, for he knew that He is God in truth. For I have seen (he said) God face to face and my life is preserved. For Emmanuel is by Nature God, yet is He called also The Face of God: for He is the Image of the Father's Substance: thus did He call Himself to the Jews, saying respecting God the Father, Nor have ye seen His Face and ye have not His Word abiding in you, for Whom He sent, Him ye believe not.
But that Very God is that Man Who was wrestling with Jacob, holy Writ will again give proof, for it says, And the Lord said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there, and make there an Altar to God that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. For returning from Mesopotamia and being then in fear of Esau, he sent over Jabok his children and all his stuff, and he was left alone and there wrestled a man with him.
35. [k] see above pp. 106, 107.
36. [l] Thus too the Syriac version, not adding, and the flat of Jacob's thigh was out of joint.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/cyril-alexandria/incarnation-only-begotten.asp?pg=24
