25. For when they speak against the
ascension of the Saviour, as being impossible, remember the account of
the carrying away of Habakkuk: for if Habakkuk was transported by
an Angel, being carried by the hair of his head Bel and the
Dragon, v. 33: Compare Ezek. viii. 3.,
much rather was the Lord of both Prophets and Angels, able by His own
power to make His ascent into the Heavens on a cloud from the Mount of
Olives. Wonders like this thou mayest call to mind, but reserve
the preeminence for the Lord, the Worker of wonders; for the others
were borne up, but He bears up all things. Remember that Enoch
was translated Heb. xi. 5.; but Jesus
ascended: remember what was said yesterday concerning Elias, that
Elias was taken up in a chariot of fire 2 Kings ii. 11.;
but that the chariots of Christ are ten thousand-fold even
thousands upon thousands Ps. lxviii. 17: χιλιάδες
εὐθηνούντων.
The Hebrew means literally “thousands of repetition,” i.e.
many thousands: εὐθηνεῖν,
“to abound.”: and that
Elias was taken up, towards the east of Jordan; but that Christ
ascended at the east of the brook Cedron: and that Elias went
as into heaven Sept. ὡς
εἰς τὸν
οὐρανόν. In
1 Macc. ii. 58 the mss.
vary between ἕως and
ὡς, but the latter (says Fritzsche) “is an
alteration made to agree with 2 Kings ii. 11. But there the reference is
to the intended exaltation of Elijah into heaven, and
therefore ὡς is rightly used (Kühner,
Gramm. § 604, note; Jelf, § 626, Obs. 1), while here
the thing is referred to as an accomplished historical
fact.” The distinction here drawn by Cyril is therefore
hypercritical, as is seen below in § 26, where he writes,
᾽Ηλίας μὲν γὰρ
ἀνελήφθη εἰς
οὐρανόν.; but Jesus, into
heaven: and that Elias said that a double portion in the Holy
Spirit should be given to his holy disciple; but that Christ granted to
His own disciples so great enjoyment of the grace of the Holy Ghost, as
not only to have It in themselves, but also, by the laying on of their
hands, to impart the fellowship of It to them who believed.