The Ancient Witnesses

Chapter 6: The Fullness of Time • 211

“Amen,” added Cyril, “and of the profoundness of the dispensation in the flesh and the height of its wisdom, no words can tell.” 90 “Dispensation in the flesh?” asked Joseph. “His incarnation,” explained Cyril, “God’s plan or arrangements for the Fullness of Time . “Father Cyril,” asked Cesar, “did Jesus understand everything his death would accomplish?” “Certainly,” replied Cyril, “our Lord understood that by agreeing to suffer the passion of the cross he would deliver everyone from every evil and be the cause of unending blessings to the inhabitants of the whole earth!” “But the passage says he was troubled and very sorrowful,” said Cesar. “It is true,” said Cyril, “and why were you troubled, O Lord? Were you terrified at death? Did you being seized with fear draw back from suffering? And yet you taught the holy apostles not to worry about the terrors of death, saying “Do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” 91 “What’s the answer?” asked Cesar. “Only what the prophets teach,” Cyril replied, “for I hear our Lord saying ‘It grieves me that Israel the firstborn, henceforth, is not among the servants, and that the portion of the Lord will be the portion of foxes; that the beloved, who had the promises, is utterly stripped of

90 Cyril of Alexandria and R. Payne Smith 1859. Commentary upon the Gospel according to St. Luke (Oxford: Univ. Press), Sermon 146, 684.

91 Matt. 10:28, and Cyril, 684, translation modernized.