PREFACE NE MIGHT THINK it somewhat superfluous and rash, not to say hardly vital, to endeavor to poke around, as it were, among the previous comments of many writers and make a contribution in addition to the labors of my predecessors .1 And this despite their being quite capable of adequately clarifying the compositions of the holy prophets.2 For my part, on the other hand, I would claim that this is not the case, and that it is very necessary; I shall recall Paul’s proclaiming to those under the guidance of his sacred teaching, “To write the same things to you is not troublesome to me, and for you it is a safeguard .”3 Consider the truth of his remark: in the case where something that is required for understanding is at hand, and then lengthy commentary is given of it by many writers, there will be no harm at all in that; rather, it would be of particular benefit to the listeners. After all, if those in the business of commentary happen to make comments corresponding to one another , the comprehension by the students is surely rendered more secure. If, on the other hand, some (2)4 new idea is pro1 . Though Cyril himself refers to this preface as the beginning of his work on Hosea (see the initial sentence of the third paragraph, below), and it is thus included by Aubertus and Pusey, its function is in fact to situate all The Twelve in their respective historical settings from the division of the Solomonic kingdom to the return from exile. Cyril gives no other prophet a lengthy introduction of this kind; hence it seems best to characterize it as a general introduction, especially as Hos 1.1 attracts a further historical and hermeneutical preface. 2. Cyril is implying, as the term “Writing Prophets” used of the Latter Prophets of the Hebrew Bible also suggests, that their ministry was one of written composition (suggraphê) rather than of oral proclamation, which prophêteia might instead connote. Cyril would not have found this respectful attitude to his predecessors , which Theodoret may have learned from him, in Theodore. 3. Phil 3.1. In this disclaimer Cyril would have in mind the twenty-five books by Origen on (some of) The Twelve mentioned by Eusebius, Didymus’s work on Zechariah and (part of) Hosea, and the complete coverage of The Twelve beyond Alexandria by Jerome and by Theodore in Antioch. 4. Page numbers of the Pusey edition are included in the text for ease of reference. 27 28 CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA posed by a particular commentator that is not judged correct and acceptable by some, what harm is there if it goes into another person’s mind? Rather, is it not better for there to be ample and orderly presentation of ideas? Accordingly, even if many have written a commentary on the holy prophets before us, this is not a reason for us to keep silent; instead, we shall reject the handicap of sloth, and with the grace given us as well by the one who reveals profound and hidden things5 we shall make this work clear to others as well, mindful of Christ’s saying, “You received without payment; give without payment.”6 In beginning our clarification of the blessed prophet Hosea,7 then, we shall initially expose what pertains also to the compositions of the other prophets. People generally find it easy, in fact, to adapt the commentary they give to what seems the intention of the Holy Spirit, in some cases moving easily from the facts, or the visible events that happened and, as it were, fall within their vision, to interior and spiritual realities, and in other cases penetrating in quite an obscure fashion to the events at a physical level.8 As far as possible we shall present the characters’ own interventions—laments and proclamations, references to past happenings, and predictions of the future.9 There is need, therefore, for clear discernment of each detail to the extent possible, necessarily preserving the sequence of ideas and the difference in characters, this being the way for our treatment to be completely clear, uncomplicated, and free of all difficulty.10 5. See Dn 2.22 in the version of Theodotion. 6. Mt 10.8. 7. Cyril does not advert, as does Theodoret, to the corpus of The Twelve being known as a “book” (from the time of Ben Sira), or discuss its features. (But see n. 18 on...