Weekday

THOSE WHO SEARCH FOR THE TIME
OF CHRIST’S COMING
From a commentary by St Cyril of Alexandria6
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Observe how… He cried unto the multitudes, saying; “When you see a cloud
rising out of the west, straightway you say that rain comes; and it is so. And when
[you see] the south wind blowing, you say there will be heat: and so it is.” For men
fix their attention on things of this kind, and from long observation and practice
tell beforehand when rain will fall, or gusts happen of violent winds: and one
especially sees sailors very skillful in this matter. Well therefore, He says, well
would it become those who can calculate things of this sort, and… fix the
penetrating glance of the mind also upon matters of importance. And what are
these? The law showed beforehand the mystery of Christ; and that certainly He
would shine forth in the last ages of the world upon the inhabitants of the earth,
and submit to be a sacrifice for the salvation of all…

But against those, who, in the greatness of their wickedness, have scorned
His goodness, and rejected the Saviour, there is decreed wrath and misery; and, as
it were, a winter of torment and punishment, from the blast of which hard will it
be to escape. For, as the Psalmist says; “Fire, and brimstone, and the whirlwind, is
the portion of their cup.” And why so? Because they have rejected… the grace that
is by faith; and therefore the guilt of their sins cannot be wiped away, and they
must bear, as they deserve, the punishment due to those who love sin. For…He
said; “Verily I say unto you, that if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in
your sins.”…

But those who are in Christ by faith, escaping from the pollutions of sin, are
not only not full of shame, but have that boldness which becomes those who are
free. It was their duty, therefore… as being possessed of understanding, and able
to discern the face of the sky and of the earth, to examine also things future, and
not to let those tempests escape their observation, which come after this world.
For there will be the south wind and rain: that is to say, fiery torment. For the south
wind is hot: and the infliction of that punishment is vehement and inevitable, like
the rain falling upon those overtaken by it. They must not, therefore, let the time
of salvation pass by unnoticed: that time in which our Saviour came, and at which
perfect knowledge of the truth reached mankind, and the grace shone forth which
purifies the wicked…

Now all of us, without exception, upon earth are guilty of offences: he who
has a suit against us and accuses us is the wicked Satan: for he is “the enemy and
the exactor.” While therefore we are in the way… let us deliver ourselves
from him: let us do away with the offences of which we have been guilty: let us
close his mouth: let us seize upon the grace that is by Christ, which frees us from
all debt and penalty, and delivers us from fear and torment: lest if our impurity be
not cleansed away, we be carried before the judge, and given over to the exactors,
that is, the tormentors, from whose cruelty no man can escape… who will exact
vengeance for every fault, whether it be great or small.

Far removed from this danger are those who search for the time of Christ’s
coming, and are not ignorant of His mystery, but well know that the Word, though
He be God, has shone forth upon the inhabitants of earth in likeness as one of us,
that freeing them from all blame, He may bless with exceeding happiness those
who believe in Him, and acknowledge Him as God…

6 St Cyril of Alexandria. Patristic Bible Commentary. Accessed Online:
https://sites.google.com/site/aquinasstudybible/home/luke-commentary/cyril-on-luke-12