The Ancient Witnesses

202 • The Ancient Witnesses: A Journey to Discover Our Sacred Roots

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. 66 Mentor invited Cyril of Alexandria to the lectern to explain why Jesus charged his disciples not to make him known. “I believe that the disciples were not sufficiently prepared or experienced to testify,” said Cyril. “There were things yet unfulfilled which must also be included in their preaching about him.” “His miracles?” asked Father Greg. “The cross, the passion, and the death in the flesh,” replied Cyril, “all these they must proclaim. They must also preach the resurrection of the dead, that great and glorious sign that testifies he is Emmanuel, truly God and by nature the Son of God. Our Lord utterly abolished death and wiped out destruction itself. He robbed hell and overthrew the tyranny of the enemy. He took away the sin of the world, opened the gates above to the dwellers upon the earth, and united earth to heaven. These things proved him, in truth, to be God. Yet, he commanded them to keep the mystery by a seasonable

66 Matt. 16:15–20.