§411The Christian tradition sees in this passage an announcement of the "New Adam" who, because he "became obedient unto death, even death on a cross", makes amends superabundantly for the disobedience, of Adam.305 Furthermore many Fathers and Doctors of the Church have seen the woman announced in the "Proto-evangelium" as Mary, the mother of Christ, the "new Eve". Mary benefited f…

§461Taking up St. John's expression, "The Word became flesh",82 The Church calls "Incarnation" the fact that the Son of God assumed a human nature in order to accomplish our salvation in it. In a hymn cited by St. Paul, the Church sings the mystery of the Incarnation: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not cou…

§612The cup of the New Covenant, which Jesus anticipated when he offered himself at the Last Supper, is afterwards accepted by him from his Father's hands in his agony in the garden at Gethsemani,434 making himself "obedient unto death". Jesus prays: "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. . ."435 Thus he expresses the horror that death represented for his human n…

Doctrine of the rest of the apostles. 1. The Apostle Peter, therefore, after the resurrection of the Lord, and His assumption into the heavens, being desirous of filling up the number of the twelve apostles, and in electing into the place of Judas any substitute who should be chosen by God, thus addressed those who were present: Men [and] brethren, this Scripture must needs hav…

The conversion of the Gentiles was more difficult than that of the Jews; the labours of those apostles, therefore who engaged in the former task, were greater than those who undertook the latter. 1. Wherefore also Paul, since he was the apostle of the Gentiles, says, I laboured more than they all. 1 Corinthians 15:10 For the instruction of the former, [viz., the Jews,] was an e…

Since our bodies return to the earth, it follows that they have their substance from it; also, by the advent of the Word, the image of God in us appeared in a clearer light. 1. And since Adam was moulded from this earth to which we belong, the Scripture tells us that God said to him, In the sweat of your face shall you eat your bread, until you turn again to the dust from whenc…

Chapter 15.—Of the Justice of the Punishment with Which Our First Parents Were Visited for Their Disobedience. Therefore, because the sin was a despising of the authority of God,—who had created man; who had made him in His own image; who had set him above the other animals; who had placed him in Paradise; who had enriched him with abundance of every kind and of safety; who had…

The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, and of one substance with the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin, of her substance: so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and manhood, were joined together in one person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, ve…

Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David, and was also of Mary; who was truly born, and did eat and drink. He was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate; He was truly crucified, and truly died, in the sight of beings in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth. He was also truly raised from the dead, His Father quickening Him.

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. …

1. Jesus Comes to Capernaum. Statements of the Four Evangelists Regarding This. After this John 2:12-25 He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brothers and His disciples; and there they abode not many days. And the passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and He found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers…

38. But if they say this of the Saviour also, it follows that He is neither very God nor very Son, nor like the Father, nor in any wise has God for a Father of His being according to essence, but of the mere grace given to Him, and for a Creator of His being according to essence, after the similitude of all others. And being such, as they maintain, it will be manifest further t…

Is martyrdom an act of virtue? Of what virtue is it the act? The perfection of this act The pain of martyrdom Its cause Article 1. Whether martyrdom is an act of virtue? Objection 1. It seems that martyrdom is not an act of virtue. For all acts of virtue are voluntary. But martyrdom is sometimes not voluntary, as in the case of the Innocents who were slain for Christ's sake, an…

Was there any habitual grace in the soul of Christ? Were there virtues in Christ? Did He have faith? Did He have hope? Were there the gifts in Christ? Was the gift of fear in Christ? Were there any gratuitous graces in Christ? Was there prophecy in Christ? Was there the fulness of grace in Him? Was such fulness proper to Christ? Was the grace of Christ infinite? Could it have b…

Was it necessary for Christ to suffer for men's deliverance? Was there any other possible means of delivering men? Was this the more suitable means? Was it fitting for Christ to suffer on the cross? The extent of His sufferings Was the pain which He endured the greatest? Did His entire soul suffer? Did His Passion hinder the joy of fruition? The time of the Passion The place Wa…

Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate and was made man; he suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

It was said of Abba John the Dwarf that he withdrew and lived in the desert at Scetis with an old man of Thebes. His master, taking a piece of dry wood, planted it, and said to him, "Water it every day with a bottle of water, until it bears fruit." Now the water was so far away that he had to leave in the evening and return the following morning. At the end of three years the w…

Abba John said, "Who sold Joseph?" A brother replied, "It was his brothers." The old man said to him, "No, it was his humility which sold him, because he could have said, 'I am their brother' and have objected, but because he kept silent, he sold himself by his humility. It was also his humility which made him chief in Egypt."

Q. Why did Christ have to go all the way to death? A. Because God's justice and truth demand it: only the death of God's Son could pay for our sin.

Q. What do you understand by the communion of saints? A. First, that believers one and all, as members of this community, share in Christ and in all his treasures and gifts. Second, that each member should consider it a duty to use these gifts readily and cheerfully for the service and enrichment of the other members.

We believe that we have no access to God except through the one and only Mediator and Intercessor, "Jesus Christ the righteous," who therefore was made human, uniting together the divine and human natures, so that we human beings might have access to the divine Majesty. Otherwise we would have no access. But this Mediator, whom the Father has appointed between himself and us, o…

Since, then, Christ has two natures, we hold that He has also two natural wills and two natural energies. But since His two natures have one subsistence, we hold that it is one and the same person who wills and energises naturally in both natures, of which, and in which, and also which is Christ our Lord: and moreover that He wills and energises without separation but as a unit…

We believe the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, to have emptied Himself, that is, to have taken into His own Person human flesh, being conceived of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Ever-Virgin Mary, and having become Man without ceasing to be God. Two natures, the Divine and the human, are hypostatically, inseparably, unconfusedly, and unchangeably united in one Person, whe…

Christ truly suffered and truly died — the Cross is not a phantom but the instrument of our salvation. Cyril points to the very place of Golgotha, visible from where he preaches, as the physical evidence of Christ's real death. The wood of the Cross, the crown of thorns, and the tomb are all witnesses. He fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy of the Suffering Servant who was led like a s…