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Fragmentum in Psalmum

Cyril of Alexandria · khazarzar

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machine-draft · no human review 2 passages · 500 words

Work dossier · summary and historical context

Summary

This fragment from Cyril of Alexandria's commentary on the Psalms survives only in Byzantine catenae and florilegia, with no continuous manuscript tradition. It likely dates to Cyril's episcopacy (c. 412–444 CE) in Alexandria. The excerpt interprets Psalm 2:7 Christologically, employing Cyrilline terminology like 'economy with flesh' (οἰκονομία) to distinguish Christ's pre-eternal existence from his temporal incarnation. The fragment's brevity may overrepresent polemical concerns, particularly anti-Arian Christology, at the expense of Cyril's broader hermeneutic. The edition on khazarzar lacks critical apparatus or manuscript sigla, impeding verification of the text's reconstruction.

This fragment illustrates Cyril's Christological exegesis of the Psalms, a key aspect of his anti-Arian polemic. It preserves a rare witness to his lost commentary, showing how he used the Septuagint to argue for the Son's pre-eternal existence distinct from his incarnate birth. The fragment's transmission in catenae highlights its role in later Byzantine theology and liturgy.

Historical context

Cyril of Alexandria was bishop from c. 412 to 444 CE, a period marked by intense Christological controversy, especially the Nestorian dispute leading to the Council of Ephesus (431 CE). His commentary on the Psalms, now lost except for fragments, was composed in Greek within this milieu. The fragment's survival in catenae—compilations of patristic exegesis used in liturgical or scholastic settings—indicates its later Byzantine reception, but no independent circulation is attested. The text's date depends solely on Cyril's floruit; no internal evidence narrows it further. The fragment's Christological reading of Psalm 2:7 reflects Cyril's anti-Arian stance, emphasizing the Son's eternal generation against Arian subordinationism. The lack of manuscript sigla in the khazarzar edition means the fragment's selection criteria and textual reconstruction cannot be verified.

Apparatus · what the pipeline recorded

Annotation and terms

11 commentary units 3 scripture2 structure2 term2 background1 caution1 reception 0 derived notes 3 open questions 2 narrative
What the kinds mean

Pipeline notes

  • coverageNo English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed.
  • limitThe English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Coptic; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve.
  • registerRegister: commentary in ancient Greek; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them.
  • structurePassages: 2 narrative.
  • sourceSource edition: khazarzar — Migne PG text (public domain); khazarzar host and the digitising project state no licence for this layer

Term index

CopticRenderingCountFirst
no glossary terms recorded
khazarzar-cyril-of-alexandria-fragmentum-in-psalmum:1 · narrativemedium
Source
Κυρίλλου. Ἕπεται δέ τις αὐτοῖς ἐσθ' ὅτε καὶ οἰκτιρμὸς ὡς μὴ ταῖς ἴσαις τοῖς ἀσεβέσιν κολάσεσιν περιπεσεῖν. Οὐκοῦν ἀναβιώσονται μὲν καὶ οὗτοι, πλὴν οὐκ ἐν βουλῇ δικαίων, βουλὴν δὲ δικαίων φησίν, οἷον τὴν τάξιν καὶ τὸ ἀξίωμα. εἰ γὰρ καὶ εἶέν τινες τῶν ἡμαρτηκότων ἢ ἐλέους ἢ συγγνώμης ἄξιοι, οὐκ ἂν τοῖς τῶν ἁγίων ἐναριθμηθεῖεν χοροῖς, ἕτερος γὰρ ἐκείνων κλῆρος. καὶ ἀνεστηκότα τὰ αὐχήματα, καὶ περίαπτος ἡ χάρις καὶ ἀτελεύτητος ἡ τρυφή. τετρυγήκασι γὰρ καρπὸν ἀνδραγαθημάτων καὶ τῆς εἰς πᾶν ὅ τι οὖν τῶν ἀγαθῶν εὐανδρείας καταπλουτοῦσιν τὰς ἀμοιβάς, Χριστοῦ λέγοντος αὐτοῖς· Δεῦτε οἱ εὐλογημένοι τοῦ Πατρός μου· κληρονομήσατε τὴν ἡτοιμασμένην ὑμῖν βασιλείαν ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου. Κύριος εἶπεν πρός με Υἱός μου εἶ σύ, ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε. Ὁ μόνος εἰδὼς τὸν Πατέρα καὶ ὑπὸ μόνου γινωσκόμενος τοῦ Πατρός, ἡ σοφία καὶ ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ, ὁ τῆς μεγάλης βουλῆς ἄγγελος, τῆς μετὰ σαρκὸς οἰκονομίας ἡμῖν τὸ μυστήριον εὖ μάλα διατρανοῖ. υἱὸς γὰρ ὢν φύσει καὶ ἀληθῶς, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀναλάμψας τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρός, γέγονε σάρξ, τουτέστιν ἄνθρωπος, καὶ τὴν κατὰ σάρκα μεθ' ἡμῶν ὑπέστη γέννησιν, καίτοι προαιώνιος ὢν καὶ ἀεὶ συνυφεστηκὼς τῷ γεγεννηκότι. πλὴν εἰ καὶ γέγονε σάρξ, ἴδιον ὄντα υἱὸν οἶδεν αὐτὸν καὶ οὕτως ὁ Πατήρ, ἔφη γάρ Κύριος εἶπε πρός με· Υἱός μου εἶ σύ, ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε.
English
Cyril. A certain pity sometimes follows them, so that they do not fall into punishments equal to those of the impious. Therefore these also will revive, but not in the council of the righteous; by "council of the righteous" he means, as it were, the rank and dignity. For even if some of those who have sinned are worthy of mercy or pardon, they would not be numbered among the choirs of the saints, for the lot of those is different. And their pride has been raised up, and grace is conspicuous, and delight is unending. For they have harvested the fruit of their brave deeds, and they are richly endowed with the rewards of their abundance in every good thing whatsoever, Christ saying to them: "Come, the blessed ones of my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." The Lord said to me, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you." He who alone knows the Father and is known only by the Father, his wisdom and word, the angel of the great counsel, clearly reveals to us the mystery of the economy with flesh. For being a son by nature and truly, and having shone forth from the very essence of God and Father, he became flesh, that is, man, and underwent birth according to flesh among us, although he is pre-eternal and always coexists with the one who begot him. Yet even if he became flesh, the Father knows him as his own son even so, for he said: "The Lord said to me, 'You are my Son, today I have begotten you.'
khazarzar-cyril-of-alexandria-fragmentum-in-psalmum:2 · narrativehigh
Source
Ὁρᾷς ἐν ἀρχῇ τὴν ὁμολογίαν, ἤγουν τὴν ἀνάρρησιν· τὸ μὲν γὰρ εἶ τέθεικεν, ἵνα δείξῃ τὸ προαιώνιον· οὐ γὰρ ἐν χρόνῳ γέγονεν, ἀλλ' ἦν ἀεὶ τοῦτο, τουτέστιν υἱός. ἐπήνεγκε δὲ τό Σήμερον ἐγέννησά σε, ἵνα τὴν νεωτάτην αὐτοῦ καὶ κατὰ σάρκα δείξῃ γέννησιν, ἣν ὑπέμεινεν ἑκὼν διὰ τῆς ἁγίας Παρθένου. ταύτῃ τοι καὶ Θεοτόκος ὠνόμασται· τέτοκε γὰρ οὐκ ἄνθρωπον ἁπλῶς κατά γε τὴν ἔξωθεν σχέσιν συναφθέντα τῷ Θεῷ, αὐτὸν δὲ μᾶλλον τὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς Λόγον τὴν ἀνθρώπειαν ὑποδύντα πτωχείαν καὶ γενόμενον καθ' ἡμᾶς ἄνθρωπον. ταύτην ὁμολογοῦντες τὴν πίστιν βεβαπτίσμεθα, καὶ οὐκ ἀρνησόμεθα τὸν αἵματι τῷ ἰδίῳ πριάμενον ἡμᾶς δεσπότην. Οὐκοῦν ὅταν λέγῃ τὸν ἀεὶ ὄντα καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ προαιώνιον Υἱὸν γεννῆσαι σήμερον ὁ Πατήρ, τοῦ σήμερον ἐνεστηκότα καιρὸν σημαίνοντος ἤτοι τὸν τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως, ἐκεῖνο περινοήσωμεν, ὅτι καὶ σάρκα γεγονότα, τουτέστιν ἄνθρωπον, τὸν ἴδιον υἱὸν διωμολόγηκεν ὁ ςπατήρ, οἰκειοῦται δὲ ὥσπερ καὶ τὴν δευτέραν αὐτοῦ κατὰ σάρκα γέννησιν. οὐ γὰρ ὅτι γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, ἀπέστη τοὺ εἶναι κατὰ φύσιν υἱὸς τοὺ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρός, μεμένηκε δὲ καὶ οὕτως υἱὸς καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἐμφύτοις ἀξιώμασιν, εἰ καὶ πλούσιος ὢν ἐπτώχευσε δι' ἡμᾶς.
English
You see at the beginning the confession, that is, the proclamation; for he placed the "you are" in order to show the pre-eternal; for this did not come to be in time, but was always, that is, the Son. And he added "Today I have begotten you" in order to show his most recent and fleshly birth, which he willingly underwent through the holy Virgin. For this reason she is also called Theotokos; for she bore not simply a man conjoined to God by external relation, but rather the very Word from God the Father, who underwent human poverty and became a man like us. Professing this faith we have been baptized, and we will not deny the master who purchased us with his own blood. Therefore, when the Father says that he begets today the Son who always is and is pre-eternal from him, with "today" signifying the present time, that is, the time of the incarnation, let us consider this: that the Father acknowledged his own Son as having become flesh, that is, man, and he appropriates, as it were, also his second birth according to the flesh. For because he became man, he did not cease to be by nature Son of God and Father, but remained thus Son and in his innate dignities, even if, being rich, he became poor for our sake.
Citation. Tergwame, “Fragmentum in Psalmum”, khazarzar-cyril-of-alexandria-fragmentum-in-psalmum:1, machine-draft, 2026. https://naxiai.com/christian/works/khazarzar-cyril-of-alexandria-fragmentum-in-psalmum#s1
Colophon. Source: khazarzar · licence: Migne PG text (public domain); khazarzar host and the digitising project state no licence for this layer · model: deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor · provider: Relace · cost: $0.0016 · generated 2026-11-15.