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THE LORD SAVES THROUGH TRIALS. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: It was that you may learn that God silently and noiselessly observes the affairs of people and watches the course of each one’s life, and so it is written, “The paths of a person are before the eyes of God, and God looks at all his tracks.” And as he is good and wills that all people should be saved, he often purifies those who are entangled in sins by inflicting sickness on their body. He somewhere says by the voice of Jeremiah, “You shall be taught, O Jerusalem, by labor and the scourge.” COMMENTARY ON LUKE, CHAPTER 5.18.

ARROGANCE REFUSED THE LORD. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: The prophet Jeremiah also blamed the Jewish multitudes with their rulers because of their excessive arrogance, saying, “To whom shall I speak and testify, and he will hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear. Behold, the Word of the Lord has become to them a derision. They will not hear it.” And in another place he spoke of Jerusalem: “We healed Babel, and she was not healed. Let us leave her and depart every one to his land, because her judgment has reached to the heavens.” COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 134.

ISRAEL REJECTED THE LORD. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: The blessed prophet Jeremiah loudly condemned both the ignorance and pride of the unfaithful Jews. He rebukes them in these words, “How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie. The wise people shall be put to shame. They shall be dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the Word of the Lord, so what wisdom is in them?” For being neither wise nor acquainted with the sacred Scriptures, though the scribes and Pharisees falsely assumed to themselves the reputation of being learned in the law, they rejected the Word of God. For when the Only-begotten had become man, they did not receive him or yield their neck obediently to the summons that he addressed to them by the gospel. Because, therefore, by their wicked conduct they rejected the Word of God, they were themselves rejected, being condemned by God’s just decree. He said, by the voice of Jeremiah, “Call them rejected silver because the Lord has rejected them.” And again, “Shave your head, and cast it away, and take lamentation on your lips because the Lord has rejected and thrust away the generation that has done these things.” And what these things are the God of all has declared to us, saying, “Hear, O earth: behold! I am bringing on this people evils, the fruit of their turning away, because they regarded not my word and have rejected my law.” COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 131.

HOLY LIVING TO MARK WORSHIP. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: The legal manner of service is not what he requires. This is a thing in no respect difficult to see from the prophetic and apostolic writings. For by the word of Jeremiah he says, “Why do you bring me frankincense from Sheba and cinnamon from a far country? Your whole burnt offering is not acceptable, and your sacrifices do not please me.” . . . The will of God, therefore, that will that we pray may be done on earth, is not that we should conform to the law and live according to the grossness of its letter. But we should endeavor to live by the gospel. And this is effected by a faith correct and free from error. By a holy life possessed of the sweet savor of every virtue and proved by the testimony of good and noble conduct in every thing that is excellent. . . . And he also said of them by the word of Jeremiah, “Hear, O earth, behold, I bring on this people evils, the fruit of their turning aside, because they have not regarded my word and have rejected my law.” COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 74.