Commentary on 1 Corinthians

Cyril of Jerusalem (313–386)

We say "one" to stop anyone dreaming that there could be another. We say "one" lest you should hear of his work under manifold names.

Everywhere the Savior becomes "all things to all men." To the hungry, bread; to the thirsty, water; to the dead, resurrection; to the sick, a physician; to sinners, redemption.

There Moses was sent by God into Egypt; here Christ was sent from the Father into the world. Moses' mission was to lead out of Egypt a persecuted people; Christ's was to rescue all the people of the world who were under the tyranny of sin. There the blood of a lamb was the charm against the destroyer; here, the blood of the unspotted Lamb, Jesus Christ, is appointed your inviolable sanctuary against demons.

For as the bread and wine of the Eucharist before the holy invocation of the adorable Trinity were ordinary bread and wine, while after the invocation the bread becomes the body of Christ and the wine becomes his blood, so these foods of the pomp of Satan, though of their own nature ordinary food, become profane through the invocation of evil spirits.

See also

• More works by Cyril of Jerusalem

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