That Cyril’s testimony concerning the Holy
Places was in full accordance with the general belief of his
contemporaries is clear from the fact that he so frequently points to
the traditional sites as bearing witness to the truth of the
Crucifixion and Resurrection. He speaks of Golgotha in eight
separate passages, sometimes as near to the Church in which he and his
hearers are assembled xiii. § 4:
οὗτος ὁ
Γολγοθᾶς οὗ
πλησίον νῦν
πάντες
πάρεσμεν., and sometimes as
standing up above in their sight x. § 19:
ὁ Γ. ὁ
ἅγιος οὗτος ὁ
ὑπερανεστηκὼς
μαρτυρεῖ
φαινόμενος.
Cf. xiii. 19.. In one
place he asks, “Seest thou this spot of Golgotha?” and the
hearers answer with a shout of approval xiii. § 23:
῾Ορᾶς
τοῦ Γολγοθᾶ
τὸν τόπον;
᾽Επιβοᾶς
ἐπαίνῳ ὡς
συντιθέμενος.. In other passages he speaks as if the
Church itself was in or rather on Golgotha iv. § 10:
ὁ μακάριος
οὗτος Γ. ἐν ᾧ
νῦν διὰ τὸν
ἐν αὐτῷ
σταυρωθέντα
συγκεκροτήμεθα.
Cf. § 14: ὁ ἐν τῷ Γ.
τούτῳ
σταυρωθείς.
xiii. § 22: xvi. 4: ἐν τῷ Γ
τούτῳ
λέγομεν., the same Preposition (ἐν) being repeated
when he mentions “Him who was crucified thereon.”