# On Mount Sinai and Mount Zion - Author: Anonymous - Latin title: *De montibus Sina et Sion* - Date: 3rd cent. (disputed) (disputed) - Source: Wilhelm von Hartel, ed., S. Thasci Caecili Cypriani Opera omnia, Pars 3, CSEL 3.3 (Vienna: Gerold, 1871) (Latin text: W. von Hartel (CSEL 3.3, 1871), digitized by Open Greek and Latin, University of Leipzig (csel-dev), CC BY-SA 4.0) - Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/ - Passages: 15 ## On Mount Sinai and Mount Zion 1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-1 - Source: CSEL 3.3:104–105 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The writer asks whether Sinai, where the law was given, and Zion, from which Isaiah says the law goes forth, are the same mountain, and proposes to answer from the meaning of their names. ### Latin text * Probatio capitulorum quae in scripturis deificis continentur. quae in uetere testamento figuraliter scripta sunt, per nouo testamento spiritaliter intellegenda sunt, quae per Christum in ueritate adinpleta sunt. nobis enim per Iesum Christum spiritalis intellectus datus est ipso iesu: nobis quidem datum est intellegere sacramenta Dei, aliis autem in similitudinibus, inuenimus in euangelio cata Iohannem scriptum: lex per Moysen data est, gratia et ueritas per Iesum Christum facta est. quae lex Moysi in monte Sina data est. uerum iterum inuenimus scriptum: de Sion enim exiet lex, et uerbum Domini ab Hierusalem. quatenus hoc intellegere debemus? utrum Sina mons ubi a Deo Moysi lex data est et Sion mons unde lex exiuit an unum sint an uero alter sit Sina mons et alter sit Sion mons. inuenimus enim haec nomina duorum montium esse Hebreice: uero Latina interpretatio nominum differet ab inuicem ostendens aliud esse Sina montem et aliud montem Sion. ### English translation (Claude) Proof of the chapters contained in the divine Scriptures. What was written figuratively in the Old Testament must be understood spiritually through the New Testament, since it has been fulfilled in truth through Christ. For spiritual understanding has been given to us through Jesus Christ, as Jesus himself says: “To us it is given to understand the mysteries of God, but to others in parables.” We find written in the Gospel according to John: “The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” This law of Moses was given on Mount Sinai. But again we find written: “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” How far ought we to understand this? Are Mount Sinai, where the law was given by God to Moses, and Mount Zion, from which the law went forth, one mountain, or is Mount Sinai one and Mount Zion another? For we find that these names of the two mountains are Hebrew; but the Latin interpretation of the names differs, showing that Mount Sinai is one thing and Mount Zion another. ### Scripture references - Luke 8:10: quotation, high confidence - Mark 4:11: allusion, medium confidence - John 1:17: quotation, high confidence - Isa 2:3: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - This treatise, transmitted among Cyprian's works, is not by Cyprian; its author and date are unknown (usually placed in the third century, in Africa). Its Latin is colloquial and the text is often corrupt. - Sources: Luke 8:10 (Mark 4:11), adapted; John 1:17; Isa 2:3. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian, Mont. 1 (CSEL 3.3:104–105; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-1). ## On Mount Sinai and Mount Zion 2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-2 - Source: CSEL 3.3:105–106 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: From the meanings of their names and from Psalm 2, the writer argues that Zion is a heavenly, holy mountain and Sinai an earthly one. ### Latin text Haec est interpretatio de Hebreica lingua in Latinam. Sina mons interpretat aeterna temptatio et odium: aeque et Sion interpretat temptatio exacerbationis et speculatio. uides ergo in Hebreica interpretatione non sibi similare, sed neque esse unum montem, sed potius duo inuicem a se differentes gratia et honore. praeterea cum dicat Dauid propheta in psalmo primo: ego autem constitutus sum rex ab eo super Sion montem sanctum eius adnuntians imperium eius. ecce quatenus montem Sion sanctum designat. unde manifestum est montem Sion esse caelestem et spiritalem et Sina esse terrenum. nihil enim potest quod in terra est esse sanctum, cum totus mundus facta mala a diabolo sit maculatus, dicente Iesu: odit me saeculum quia et ego illum, quia mala facta sunt facta illius. ex qua re quicquid est in hoc saeculo terreno sanctum esse non potest. ### English translation (Claude) This is the interpretation from the Hebrew language into Latin. Mount Sinai means “eternal temptation and hatred”; and Zion likewise means “temptation of provocation, and watching.” You see, then, that in the Hebrew interpretation they are not alike, and that they are not one mountain but rather two, differing from each other in grace and honor. Moreover, the prophet David says in the first psalm: “But I have been appointed king by him over Zion, his holy mountain, proclaiming his command.” See how he calls Mount Zion holy. From this it is plain that Mount Zion is heavenly and spiritual, and Sinai earthly. For nothing that is on earth can be holy, since the whole world has been stained by evil deeds from the devil, as Jesus says: “The world hates me, because I also hate it, because its deeds are evil.” Hence whatever is in this earthly world cannot be holy. ### Scripture references - Ps 2:6: quotation, high confidence - John 7:7: quotation, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The meanings given to “Sinai” and “Zion” are the writer's own etymologies. - The “first psalm” is Psalm 2 (Ps 2:6), which some ancient copies joined to Psalm 1. The saying of Jesus is John 7:7, freely. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian, Mont. 2 (CSEL 3.3:105–106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-2). ## On Mount Sinai and Mount Zion 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-3 - Source: CSEL 3.3:106–107 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Sinai is earthly and stands for the carnal people who received the law on stone tablets, while Rebecca's twins prefigure the division between the believing Gentiles and the unbelieving Jews; biblical names foretell their bearers' destiny. ### Latin text Sion autem montem ex prophetico dicto constat esse sanctum et spiritalem, in quo monte spiritus sanctus filius Dei rex constitutus est, adnuntians uoluntatem et imperium Dei patris sui: et Sina montem esse terrenum in arida terra constitutum, qui est in Syria Palaestina, ubi est terra Iudaea, ubi est et ciuitas illa interfectrix prophetarum, ante cuius portas Christus a Iudaeis crucifixus est in horto, quae ciuitas dicitur Hierusalem per Esaiam prophetam spiritali uerbo execrata et derelicta, nec inmerito. et Deus ex eodem monte Sina terreno per Moysen adhuc in carne terrena primi hominis positum populo Iudaeorum terreno et carnali legem dedit. a Deo accepit illis tradendam, digitis sacris scriptam in duabus tabulis lapideis, licet digitis sacris tamen digitis in figura carnis, quasi populo carnali et durissimo sicut fuerunt tabulae lapideae durissimae, in quibus tabulis legem acceperunt. ideo in duabus: significans ex unitate populi diuidi duas partes, partem quae saluatur et partem incredulam quae perit dicente angelo ad Rebeccam uxorem Isaac: duae gentes in utero tuo sunt et duo populi de uentre tuo diuidentur et populus populum superabit et maior seruiet minori. uero Rebecca figuram portat ecclesiae, sicut Isaac uir eius typum in se portabat Christi. ergo cum dicit duae gentes in utero tuo sunt. quia et de gentibus duas partes futuras designabat, partem idololatrem perditam et partem credulam uiuentem per fidem, hanc unam partem gentium designat in utero ecclesiae permanere generationem in aeternum in figura Rebeccae, et partem populi infidelium Iudaeorum a uentre tunc Rebeccae diuidi et separari a natiuitate ecclesiae. haec fuit praefiguratio in Geneseos per angelo spiritaliter adnuntiata. haec uero nomina eorum montium talem habent interpretationem in lingua Latina, demonstrans ueritatem, qui sint hi duo montes Sina uel nunc Sion: quod quidem post paulum dicturi sumus. ita enim hanc ueritatis interpretationem probauimus de principio generis humani uenientem. ita enim Deus omnipotens ab initio mundi et deinceps omni homini nascent * • de tempus et factum nomina a parentibus suis accipiebant: non quidem ex se, sed a Deo mente inpellebantur, qui antequam fiant praescius est futurorum, quales post crementum aetatis suae futuri essent, posteriore tempore uegeti in nominibus Hebreicis designati habentur, quid singulis futurum esset, interpretatio nominum designabat ueritatem: sicuti tunc temporis in Patriarchis conpletum est, secundum primi hominis carnem a terrae limo esse. ex ipso protoplasto probamus ueritatem. ### English translation (Claude) That Mount Zion is holy and spiritual is established by the prophetic saying: the mountain on which the Holy Spirit, the Son of God, was appointed king, proclaiming the will and command of God his Father. And Mount Sinai is earthly, set in dry land in Syria Palaestina, where the land of Judea is, where also is that city that killed the prophets, before whose gates Christ was crucified by the Jews in a garden: the city called Jerusalem, cursed and forsaken by the spiritual word of the prophet Isaiah, and not undeservedly. And from that same earthly Mount Sinai God gave the law, through Moses, who was still in the earthly flesh of the first man, to the earthly and carnal people of the Jews. Moses received it from God to hand on to them, written by the sacred fingers on two tablets of stone (sacred fingers, yet fingers in the figure of flesh), as to a carnal and very hard people, just as the tablets of stone on which they received the law were very hard. And there were two, signifying that the one people would be divided into two parts, a part that is saved and an unbelieving part that perishes, as the angel said to Rebecca, the wife of Isaac: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples shall be divided from your belly, and people shall overcome people, and the elder shall serve the younger.” Rebecca bears the figure of the church, just as Isaac her husband bore in himself the type of Christ. So when he says, “Two nations are in your womb,” he was indicating that of the nations too there would be two parts, an idolatrous part that is lost and a believing part that lives by faith; he indicates that this one part of the nations remains in the womb of the church as a generation for ever, in the figure of Rebecca, and that the part of the people of the unbelieving Jews is divided from the womb of Rebecca and separated from the birth of the church. This was the prefiguration in Genesis, announced spiritually through the angel. And the names of these mountains have such an interpretation in the Latin language, showing the truth of what these two mountains, Sinai and Zion, are, of which we shall speak shortly. For we have proved this interpretation of the truth as coming from the beginning of the human race. For thus almighty God, from the beginning of the world and after, … to every person born: they received names from their parents according to the time and the event, not indeed of themselves, but moved in mind by God, who foreknows the future before it happens, what they would be after they had grown up; later, when grown, they are found designated in their Hebrew names, and the interpretation of the names showed the truth of what would happen to each, as was then fulfilled in the patriarchs, beginning from the flesh of the first man, which is from the mud of the earth. From the first-formed man himself we prove the truth. ### Scripture references - Ps 2:6: allusion, high confidence - Matt 23:37: allusion, medium confidence - John 19:41: allusion, medium confidence - Heb 13:12: echo, low confidence - Exod 31:18: allusion, high confidence - Gen 25:23: quotation, high confidence - Gen 2:7: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The writer locates Mount Sinai in Syria Palaestina near Jerusalem; the geography is his own. - “The Holy Spirit, the Son of God”: the writer calls the divine nature of the Son “Holy Spirit”, an older way of speaking also found in section 13. - Gen 25:23 is spoken by the Lord in Genesis; the writer ascribes it to an angel. - Part of a sentence is garbled near the end (nascent * • de tempus); translated by sense. - The contrast between the Jewish people and the church is the writer's polemic, translated as written. Other references: Ps 2:6; Matt 23:37; John 19:41; Heb 13:12; Exod 31:18. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian, Mont. 3 (CSEL 3.3:106–107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-3). ## On Mount Sinai and Mount Zion 4 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-4 - Source: CSEL 3.3:107–109 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The name Adam is spelled from the Greek names of the four quarters of the world, and its numerical value, 46, points to Christ's passion and to the temple of his body. ### Latin text Nomen accepit a Deo. Hebreicum Adam in Latino interpretat terra caro facta, eo quod ex quattuor cardinibus orbis terrarum pugno conprehendit, meat scriptum est: palmo mensus sum caelum et pugno conprehendi terram et confinxi hominem ex omni limo terrae: ad imaginem Dei feci illum. oportuit illum ex his quattuor cardinibus orbis terrae nomen in se portare Adam: inuenimus in scripturis, per singulos cardines orbis terrae esse a conditore mundi quattuor stellas constitutas in singulis cardinibus. prima stella orientalis dicitur anatole, secunda occidentalis dysis, tertia stella aquilonis arctus, quarta stella meridiana dicitur mesembrion. ex nominibus stellarum numero quattuor de singulis stellarum nominibus tolle singulas litteras principales, de stella anatole a, de stella dysis fi, de stella arctos a, de stella mesembrion fi: in his quattuor litteris cardinalibus habes nomen adap. nam et in numero certo per quattuor litteras Graecas nomen designatur alllp: ita a fita d xlaaaQa a fxla fi τεϭϭαϱϰοντα faciet numerum XLVI. hic numerus XLVI passionem carnis Adae designat, quam Adae carnem in se figuralem Christus portauit et eam in ligno suspendit. quae caro dominica a Deo patre Iesu uocita est: spiritus sanctus qui de caelo descendit Christus, id est unctus Dei uiui Deo uocitus est, spiritus carni mixtus Iesus Christus. hic ergo numerus quadragesimus sextus passionem declarat, eo quod sexto millesimo anno hora sexta passus, resurgens a mortuis quadragesimo die in caelis ascendit: uel quia Salomon quadraginta sex annis templum Deo fabricauerit, in cuius templi similitudinem Iesus carnem suam esse dixit, dicens Pharisaeis: destringite fanum istum et ego in tribus diebus excitabo illum. et Pharisaei dicebant: quadraginta sex annis aedificatum est fanum istud et hic in tribus diebus suscitabit illum? dicebat autem Iesus fanum de corpore suo. ### English translation (Claude) He received his name from God. The Hebrew “Adam” means in Latin “earth made flesh,” because God gathered the earth in his fist from the four cardinal points of the world, as it is written: “With my palm I measured the heaven, and with my fist I gathered the earth, and I formed man from all the mud of the earth; in the image of God I made him.” He had to carry in himself the name Adam from these four cardinal points of the earth. We find in the Scriptures that four stars were set by the maker of the world, one at each of the cardinal points of the earth. The first, the eastern star, is called anatole; the second, the western, dysis; the third, the star of the north, arctos; the fourth, the southern star, is called mesembrion. From the names of the four stars take the first letter of each name: from the star anatole A, from the star dysis D, from the star arctos A, from the star mesembrion M. In these four cardinal letters you have the name ADAM. The name is also signified by a fixed number through its four Greek letters: alpha one, delta four, alpha one, mu forty make the number 46. This number 46 signifies the passion of Adam's flesh, the flesh of Adam that Christ bore in himself figuratively and hung on the tree. This flesh of the Lord was called Jesus by God the Father; the Holy Spirit who came down from heaven, Christ, that is, the anointed of the living God, was so called by God; the Spirit mixed with the flesh is Jesus Christ. This number forty-six, then, declares the passion, because he suffered at the sixth hour in the six-thousandth year, and, rising from the dead, ascended to heaven on the fortieth day; or because Solomon built the temple for God in forty-six years, and Jesus said that his flesh was like that temple, saying to the Pharisees: “Destroy this shrine, and in three days I will raise it up.” And the Pharisees said: “This shrine was built in forty-six years, and will this man raise it up in three days?” But Jesus spoke of the shrine of his body. ### Scripture references - Isa 40:12: quotation, medium confidence - Gen 2:7: allusion, high confidence - Gen 1:27: allusion, high confidence - Matt 27:45: allusion, medium confidence - Acts 1:3: allusion, medium confidence - John 2:19–21: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sib. Or. 3.24–26 (Sibylline Oracles): allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The Greek letters and numerals in this passage are garbled in the digital text (for example adap, alllp, fi for M); the translation follows the evident sense (A-D-A-M, 1 + 4 + 1 + 40 = 46). - The acrostic of Adam from the four quarters of the world is also found in the Sibylline Oracles (3.24–26) and in 2 Enoch 30.13. - The quotation combines Isa 40:12 with Gen 2:7 and 1:27. The temple of forty-six years is from John 2:19–21, which refers to the temple of Herod; the writer attributes it to Solomon. - “Spirit mixed with the flesh”: the writer's description of the union of divine and human in Christ, translated as written. - “The six-thousandth year”: the writer places the passion at the end of the sixth millennium from creation. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian, Mont. 4 (CSEL 3.3:107–109; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-4). ## On Mount Sinai and Mount Zion 5 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-5 - Source: CSEL 3.3:109 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The names of Abel, Enoch, Job, and Abraham foretold their destinies, including Enoch's return to confront the Antichrist. ### Latin text Deinde Abel filius Adae nomen accepit Hebreicum, designans fratria interfectionem et parentorum luctum. item Enoch qui ante diluuium Deo iustus conplacuit et ideo de isto mundo in carnis suae natiuitate uiuus translatus est in loco ubi Deus scit: ex quo loco consummatione mundi innouari habet in hoc mundo, unde et translatus est ad confundendum et reuincendum antichristum: a quo interfecti martyria sua conplebunt, uiuentes in aeternum in saecula saeculorum. et ideo Enoch interpretat innouatus deinde Iob iustus, qui ante diem iudicii meruit uoce iudicis laudari, et ideo deuicto diabolo et superato Iob interpretat carissimus Dei. aeque et Abraham in sua natiuitate a parentibus suis Abram uocitus est, temptatus uero a Deo fidelis inuentus est et a Deo benedictus pater multarum gentium constitutus est: et ideo inmutato a Deo nomine Abraham uocitus est, interpretat pater multorum populorum. ### English translation (Claude) Next, Abel, son of Adam, received a Hebrew name signifying murder by a brother and the grief of his parents. Likewise Enoch, who before the flood pleased God as righteous and was therefore carried away alive from this world, in the flesh in which he was born, to a place that God knows; from that place he is to be renewed in this world at its consummation, for which purpose he was carried away, to confound and refute the Antichrist; and killed by him, they will complete their martyrdoms, living for ever and ever. And so Enoch means “renewed.” Then Job the righteous, who was worthy to be praised by the voice of the Judge before the day of judgment; and so, the devil having been defeated and overcome, Job means “most dear to God.” Likewise Abraham was called Abram by his parents at his birth; but when tested by God he was found faithful, and blessed by God he was made father of many nations; and so, his name having been changed by God, he was called Abraham, which means “father of many peoples.” ### Scripture references - Gen 4:8: allusion, medium confidence - Gen 5:24: allusion, high confidence - Heb 11:5: allusion, medium confidence - Rev 11:3–7: allusion, medium confidence - Job 1:8: allusion, medium confidence - Gen 17:5: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Enoch's return to oppose the Antichrist, with a companion (usually Elijah) with whom he is martyred, is an early Christian reading of the two witnesses of Rev 11:3–12; “they will complete their martyrdoms” assumes this pair. - The meanings of the names are the writer's own etymologies. References: Gen 4:8; Gen 5:24 and Heb 11:5; Job 1:8; Gen 17:5. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian, Mont. 5 (CSEL 3.3:109; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-5). ## On Mount Sinai and Mount Zion 6 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-6 - Source: CSEL 3.3:109–111 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Sinai means “eternal temptation and hatred” because the people tested by the law there failed and fell into God's hatred, as the story of Esau and Jacob prefigures. ### Latin text Ecce interim de multis probationibus pauca diximus, ut ad duorum montium nomina peruenientes interpretationes eorum montium nomina probemus, qualiter designata sint ad nostram instructionem, ut ex hac interpretatione nominum intellegamus montem Sina esse terrenum et montem Sion esse caelestem. spiritaliter interpretat Sina ctemptatio aeterna et odium, et mons Sion ctemptatio exacerbationis et speculatio, ita intellegitur cum dicit {montem] Sina ctemptatio aeterna et odium, eo quod ex eo monte Moyses legem acceperit populos durissimo et contumaci. per quam legem temptati a Deo aeterno et inuenti sunt non posse eandem legem sustinere in perpetuum, exinde Deo in odio conuersi sunt. ideo in nomine montis Sina unde legem acceperant interpretatio nominis designauit populum temptatum a Deo et in aeterno odio esse conuersos: ideo dicit Sina ctemptatio aeterna et odium. inuenimus enim in scripturis eos esse a Deo temptatos ita positum dicente Domino ad Moysen: exeat populus iste et colligant sibi diurnum in diem, et temptabo eos an possint legem meam sustinere an non. et temptati a Deo per legem inuenti sunt ab ea lege alieni. exinde Deo in odio aeterno conuersi sunt et conpleta est interpretatio Sina manifesta. uero et Moysen, per quo eos Deus per legem temptauit, in Latino interpretat similiter, Moyses temptatio Dei et inuentio. per quo temptati a Deo inuenti sunt alieni a legis obseruatione, ideo in aeternum Deo in odio conuersi sunt. hunc odium in ipso genere Iudaeorum scriptum inuenimus dicente Isaac de duobus filiis suis Esau maiore et Iacob minore: Iacob dilexi, Esau autem odio habui. Esau uero maior pilosus fuit totus, inquit, quasi corium pilosum, in figura populi maioris in inpietate delictorum suorum constituti. et Iacob fuit lenis et minor, in figura populi nouellioris, qui ex dictoaudientia per credulitatis fidem ex aspredine saeculi in lenitatem conuersus est ad Christum Dominum et Dei filium. ### English translation (Claude) See, then, we have given a few of many proofs, so that, coming to the names of the two mountains, we may prove the interpretations of these names and how they were designed for our instruction, and may understand from this interpretation of names that Mount Sinai is earthly and Mount Zion heavenly. Spiritually, Sinai means “eternal temptation and hatred,” and Mount Zion “temptation of provocation, and watching.” So it is understood when Sinai is called “eternal temptation and hatred”: because from that mountain Moses received the law for a very hard and stubborn people. Through this law they were tested by the eternal God and found unable to keep that same law for ever, and from then on they were turned into hatred with God. Therefore the interpretation of the name of Mount Sinai, from which they had received the law, designated the people tested by God and turned into eternal hatred; this is why Sinai means “eternal temptation and hatred.” For we find in the Scriptures that they were tested by God, as it is set down when the Lord says to Moses: “Let this people go out and gather for themselves each day's portion day by day, and I will test them whether they can keep my law or not.” And when tested by God through the law, they were found strangers to that law; from then on they were turned into eternal hatred with God, and the interpretation of Sinai was plainly fulfilled. And Moses, through whom God tested them by the law, likewise has a meaning in Latin: Moses means “the testing of God, and discovery”; through him, tested by God, they were found strangers to the keeping of the law, and therefore they have been turned into hatred with God for ever. We find this hatred written in the very lineage of the Jews, when Isaac says of his two sons, Esau the elder and Jacob the younger: “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” Esau the elder was hairy all over, it says, like a hairy hide, a figure of the elder people, set in the impiety of its sins. And Jacob was smooth and the younger, a figure of the newer people, which through obedience, by the faith of belief, has been turned from the roughness of the world to smoothness, to Christ the Lord and Son of God. ### Scripture references - Exod 16:4: quotation, high confidence - Mal 1:2–3: quotation, high confidence - Rom 9:13: allusion, medium confidence - Gen 25:25: allusion, high confidence - Gen 27:11: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Sinai” renders {montem] Sina; the edition's brackets around “Mount” are garbled. - Sources: Exod 16:4 (freely); “Jacob I have loved …” is Mal 1:2–3 (quoted in Rom 9:13), spoken by God, which the writer ascribes to Isaac; Gen 25:25; 27:11. - The claim that the Jewish people were turned into God's eternal hatred is the writer's polemic, translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian, Mont. 6 (CSEL 3.3:109–111; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-6). ## On Mount Sinai and Mount Zion 7 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-7 - Source: CSEL 3.3:111–112 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Zion's meaning, “temptation of provocation and watching,” points to the cross: Christ was tested by his enemies and watched from the cross over the two robbers, figures of the Jews and the Gentiles. ### Latin text Ecce probauimos per scripturarum fidem maiorem populum et uetustiorem esse Deo in odio conuersos secundum interpretationem montis Sina dicentis (temptatio aeterna et odium). aeque et Sion mons ita interpretat temptatio exacerbationis et speculatio). haec uero interpretatio Latina ligni sacri passionem designat dicente Salomone de ipsam passionem Dominicam: contumelia et tormento interrogemus illum, ut sciamus reuerentiam illius et probemus patientiam ipsius et temptemus quae euentura sunt illi. si enim uere filius Dei est, suscipiet illum, et liberabit illum de manibus contrariorum: morte turpissima condemnemus illum. haec cogitauerunt et errauerunt: excaecauit illos malitia ipsorum et non intellexerunt sacramentum Dei. ecce temptatores Iudaeos. item scriptum est: et temptauerunt Dominum in loco inaquoso. speculum uero altitudinem ligni declarat dicente Salomone: posuerunt me uelut custodiam pomarii, eo quod in horto in ligno confixus inter duos latrones pependit. et de altitudine ligni ambos speculabatur in figura duorum populorum malefactorum, gentes in saecula mala facta iacentes et Iudaeos interfectores prophetarum. hi sunt duo populi malefactores, quorum figuram in se portabant duo latrones, inter quibus pependit innocens: unus blasphemabat, alius uero confessus est, quia innocens iniuriam patitur. Iesus autem ambos speculabatur de ligno speculatorio blasphemum et confessorem, confessorem saluauit et blasphemum perdidit, sicuti de duos populos fecit. ### English translation (Claude) See, we have proved by the faith of the Scriptures that the greater and older people has been turned into hatred with God, according to the interpretation of Mount Sinai, which means “eternal temptation and hatred.” Likewise Mount Zion means “temptation of provocation, and watching.” This Latin interpretation signifies the passion of the sacred tree, as Solomon says of the Lord's passion itself: “Let us question him with insult and torment, that we may know his reverence and prove his patience, and let us test what will happen to him. For if he is truly the Son of God, he will take him up and free him from the hands of his adversaries. Let us condemn him to a most shameful death. These things they thought, and they erred: their malice blinded them, and they did not understand the mystery of God.” See, the Jews are the testers. It is also written: “And they tested the Lord in a waterless place.” And “watching” declares the height of the tree, as Solomon says: “They set me as keeper of an orchard,” because, fixed to the tree in a garden, he hung between two robbers. And from the height of the tree he watched both, as figures of two peoples of evildoers: the nations lying in the evil deeds of the world, and the Jews, killers of the prophets. These are the two evildoing peoples whose figure the two robbers bore, between whom the innocent one hung. One blasphemed; the other confessed that an innocent man was suffering wrong. And Jesus watched both from the watching tree, the blasphemer and the confessor; the confessor he saved and the blasphemer he destroyed, as he did with the two peoples. ### Scripture references - Ps 106:14 (105:14 LXX): quotation, medium confidence - Ps 78:40 (77:40 LXX): allusion, low confidence - Song 1:6: allusion, medium confidence - Isa 1:8: echo, low confidence - Luke 23:39–43: allusion, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Wis 2:19–22 (Wisdom of Solomon): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Sources: Wisdom 2:19–22, freely quoted and ascribed to Solomon; Ps 106:14 (Ps 105:14 in the Septuagint) or Ps 78:40; “They set me as keeper of an orchard,” ascribed to Solomon, is closest to Song 1:6 (compare Isa 1:8); the two robbers (Luke 23:39–43). - The identification of the Jews as Christ's “testers” is the writer's polemic, translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian, Mont. 7 (CSEL 3.3:111–112; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-7). ## On Mount Sinai and Mount Zion 8 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-8 - Source: CSEL 3.3:112–113 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: At the crucifixion some wept and others mocked, until the signs in heaven and earth turned the feast into mourning, fulfilling Amos. ### Latin text Persecutores derelicti, qui in aeternae mortis sententia sibi non crediderint, si sic de saeculo exierint, perient: gentes autem ad se conuersae fidem sibi habentes, quia filius Dei est, saluati uiuebunt in aeterna saecula saeculorum cum imperatorem et regem suum. uero in ipsa passione pendens in ligno duas partes populi prospiciens speculabatur de alto ligno, partem populi qui uiderant uirtutes eius mirabiles et deificas, patientem illum iniuriam dolentes plorabant: alii uero Iudaei inridentes de harundine caput ei quassabant, blasphemantes et dicentes: aue rex Iudaeorum, ubi est pater tuus? ueniat et eliberet te de cruce. exinde exacerbatus pater fecit caelum patefactum, et tonitrua facta sunt [et tenebrae] insustinibiles, terra commota est, patefacta sunt sepulcra et corpora foras a se misit, uelum templi scissum est et a tanto fragore caeli et terrae motu omnes qui stabant ante lignum alii dolentes alii uero blasphemantes inludentes prostrati in faciem iacuerunt trementes tamquam mortui. tunc Iudaei intellexerunt se offendisse Deum et in luctum conuersi sunt, et fuit exacerbatio. eo enim tempore quo in ligno confixus pependit dies fuerunt azimorum, qui sunt dies festi Iudaeorum. eo die metuentes factum esse terrae motum et caeli fragorem prostrati facie in terra plangentes in luctum conuersi sunt, et in ipsam suam passionem inpleuit propheticum dictum: et conuertam dies festos eorum in luctum et cantica eorum in lamentationem. ante enim cum captiui detenti essent a Babylones, dicebant illis Babylones: cantate nobis cantica de canticis Sion, et Iudaei lamentantes captiuitatem suam dicebant ad Babylones ut diximus lamentantes se: quomodo cantabimus canticum Domini in terra aliena. ### English translation (Claude) The persecutors are abandoned: those who have not believed him, being under the sentence of eternal death, will perish if they leave the world in that state; but the nations, turned to him and having faith in him, that he is the Son of God, will be saved and will live for ever and ever with their emperor and king. And in the passion itself, as he hung on the tree, he looked out from the high tree and watched two parts of the people. The part that had seen his wonderful and divine miracles wept, grieving at the wrong he suffered; but other Jews mocked him, struck his head with a reed, blaspheming and saying: “Hail, King of the Jews! Where is your father? Let him come and free you from the cross.” Then the Father, provoked, opened heaven, and there were unbearable thunders; the earth was shaken, the tombs were opened and sent forth their bodies, the veil of the temple was torn; and at so great a crash of heaven and quaking of earth all who stood before the tree, some grieving, others blaspheming and mocking, fell on their faces and lay trembling as though dead. Then the Jews understood that they had offended God and were turned to mourning, and there was “provocation.” For at the time when he hung fixed to the tree, it was the days of unleavened bread, which are the Jews' festival days. On that day, fearing because an earthquake and a crash from heaven had come, they lay face down on the ground beating their breasts and were turned to mourning; and in his very passion he fulfilled the prophetic saying: “And I will turn their feasts into mourning and their songs into lamentation.” For earlier, when they were held captive by the Babylonians, the Babylonians said to them: “Sing us songs from the songs of Zion”; and the Jews, lamenting their captivity, said to the Babylonians, as we have said, in lament: “How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?” ### Scripture references - Luke 23:27: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 27:29–30: allusion, high confidence - Matt 27:42–43: allusion, high confidence - Matt 27:51–52: allusion, high confidence - Luke 23:48: allusion, high confidence - Amos 8:10: quotation, high confidence - Ps 137:3–4 (136:3-Ps LXX): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The editor deletes “and darkness” (et tenebrae) after “thunders”. - Sources: Luke 23:27; Matt 27:29–30, 40–43; Matt 27:51–52; Luke 23:48; Amos 8:10; Ps 137:3–4 (Ps 136:3–4 in the Septuagint). The thunder and the falling to the ground are not in the Gospel accounts. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian, Mont. 8 (CSEL 3.3:112–113; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-8). ## On Mount Sinai and Mount Zion 9 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-9 - Source: CSEL 3.3:113–115 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Mount Zion is the cross, Christ's royal throne: Pilate's title proclaimed him king, Psalm 24's innocent one ascends it, and from his pierced side the law of Christians and the church came forth. ### Latin text Ecce quatenus conpleta est interpretatio montis Sion temptatio exacerbationis et speculatio. unde manifestum est Sion montem ligni sacri regnum esse in sanctitate iustificatum dicente Dauid: adnuntiate regnum Dei in gentibus, quia Dominus regnauit de ligno et transiuit in gentibus. de quo regno ligni regalis idem propheta dicit: ego autem dico nobis: constitutus sum rex ab eo super Sion montem sanctum eius, adnuntians imperium eius. quem dictum propheti cum per Pontio Pilato in suam passionem pendens in ligno conpleuit, Pontius Pilatus impulita mente a Deo accepit tabulam et titulum et scripsit tribus linguis hebreice graece et latine: IESVS. NAZARENVS. REX. IVDAEORVM et in capite ligni clauis tabulam cum nomen regis Iudaeorum confixit et manifestauit propheticum dictum eo quod spiritaliter mons Sion crux est quae est uirtus Dei apostolo Paulo dicente: crux Christi non credentibus stultitia est, credentibus autem uirtus Dei crux est, et iterum dicit: nos autem adnuntiamus uobis Christum; et hunc crucifixum, Iudaeis quidem scandalum, gentibus autem stultitiam ipsis autem uocitis Iudaeis et Graecis Dei uirtus et Dei sapientia. sic uerum et alius propheta declarat lignum passionis Dominicae esse montem Sion sanctum, in spiritu ita dicit: quis ascendet in montem Domini, et quis stabit in loco sancto eius? innocens manibus et mundo corda dextra laeuaque extensis clauis fixis innocentiam demonstrans. ideo dicit innocens manibus et mundus corda. qui non accepit in uano animam suam et non iurauit subdole proximo suo, a Domino suo hic accipiet benedictionem et misericordiam a Deo salutari suo. omnis passio hominum in terra cadet, haec sola passio crucis stantem demonstrat: unde uerum dicimus montem sanctum lignum esse passionis. inde innocens manibus et mundus corda: hoc dicto prophetico Iudaeos redarguebat qui Moysen praeponent Christo domino illius, eo quod Moyses cum in montem Sina ascendisset, ut legem Iudaeis acciperet, innocens manibus et mundo corde non fuit. nec ore enim mundus nec.. sed corde, eo quod Aegyptium calce percusserit in Aegypto et mortiferatum manibus suis eum in harena obruent: Christus autem in montem sanctum ascendit lignum regni sui, ut moreretur a Iudaeis, quam quod ipse aliquem hominum mortiferaret, nisi solum diabolum inimicum generi humano. exinde ascendens in montem innocens et mundus corde, et ideo propheta dicit: quis ascendet in montem Domini et quis stabit in loco sancto eius? innocens manibus et cetera, et declarauit montem Sion sanctum esse crucem sanctam dicente aeque propheta: de Sion exiet lex, et uerbum Domini ab Hierusalem. lex christianorum crux est sancta Christi filii Dei uiui dicente aeque propheta: lex tua in medio uentris mei. percussus in lateris uentre de latere sanguis aqua mixtus profusus afluebat, unde sibi ecclesiam sanctam fabricauit, in quam legem passionis suae consecrabat dicente ipso: qui sitit, ueniat et bibat. qui credit in me, flumina de uentre eius fluebunt aquae uiuae. item in psalmis: et erit uelut lignum quod plantatum est secus decursus aquarum, quod fructum suum dabit in tempore suo. ecce uerbum propheticum fructum resurrectionis die tertio spiritaliter intellegendum dicentis: de Sion enim exiet lex, hoc est de ligno regali, et uerbum Domini ab Hierusalem, quae est ecclesia. Caro ligno confixa emisit uerbum dominicum dicens: Heli, Heli. ### English translation (Claude) See how the interpretation of Mount Zion, “temptation of provocation, and watching,” has been fulfilled. From this it is plain that Mount Zion is the kingdom of the sacred tree, justified in holiness, as David says: “Announce the kingdom of God among the nations, for the Lord has reigned from the tree and passed among the nations.” Of this kingdom of the royal tree the same prophet says: “But I say to you: I have been appointed king by him over Zion, his holy mountain, proclaiming his command.” When he fulfilled this prophetic saying under Pontius Pilate, hanging on the tree in his passion, Pontius Pilate, his mind moved by God, took a board as a title and wrote in three languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin: “JESUS OF NAZARETH, KING OF THE JEWS,” and nailed the board with the name of the King of the Jews to the top of the tree, and so made plain the prophetic saying, that spiritually Mount Zion is the cross, which is the power of God, as the apostle Paul says: “The cross of Christ is folly to those who do not believe, but to those who believe the cross is the power of God”; and again: “But we proclaim to you Christ, and him crucified, a scandal to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks, the power of God and the wisdom of God.” So too another prophet truly declares that the tree of the Lord's passion is the holy Mount Zion; in the Spirit he says: “Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord, and who shall stand in his holy place? The one innocent of hands and pure of heart”; showing his innocence with his right and left hands stretched out and fixed with nails, he therefore says “innocent of hands and pure of heart”; “who has not received his soul in vain and has not sworn deceitfully to his neighbor: he shall receive a blessing from his Lord and mercy from God his savior.” Every suffering of men falls to the ground; this suffering of the cross alone shows him standing; so we truly say that the holy mountain is the tree of the passion. Hence “innocent of hands and pure of heart”: by this prophetic saying he refuted the Jews, who put Moses before Christ, his Lord, because Moses, when he went up Mount Sinai to receive the law for the Jews, was not innocent of hands and pure of heart. For he was pure neither in mouth nor … but in heart, because in Egypt he struck an Egyptian with his heel and, having killed him with his hands, buried him in the sand. But Christ ascended the holy mountain, the tree of his kingdom, to be killed by the Jews rather than to kill any human being himself, except only the devil, the enemy of the human race. And so he ascended the mountain innocent and pure of heart; and therefore the prophet says: “Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord, and who shall stand in his holy place? The one innocent of hands,” and so on; and he declared that the holy Mount Zion is the holy cross, as the prophet likewise says: “From Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” The law of Christians is the holy cross of Christ, the Son of the living God, as the prophet likewise says: “Your law is in the midst of my belly.” When he was struck in the belly of his side, blood mixed with water poured out from his side and flowed; from it he built for himself the holy church, in which he consecrated the law of his passion, as he himself says: “Whoever thirsts, let him come and drink. Whoever believes in me, rivers of living water will flow from his belly.” Likewise in the Psalms: “And he will be like a tree planted by the streams of waters, which will give its fruit in its season.” See, the prophetic word is to be understood spiritually of the fruit of the resurrection on the third day, when it says: “For out of Zion shall go forth the law,” that is, from the royal tree, “and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem,” which is the church. The flesh fixed to the tree sent forth the Lord's word, saying: “Eli, Eli.” ### Scripture references - Ps 96:10 (95:10 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 2:6–7: quotation, high confidence - John 19:19–20: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 1:18: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 1:23–24: quotation, high confidence - Ps 24:3–5 (23:3-Ps LXX): quotation, high confidence - Exod 2:12: allusion, high confidence - Isa 2:3: quotation, high confidence - Ps 40:8 (39:9 LXX): quotation, high confidence - John 19:34: allusion, high confidence - John 7:37–38: quotation, high confidence - Ps 1:3: quotation, high confidence - Matt 27:46: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - “The Lord has reigned from the tree” is Ps 96:10 (Ps 95:10 in the Septuagint) with the words “from the tree,” found in some early Latin and Greek Christian copies but not in the Hebrew or the standard Septuagint. - Other sources: Ps 2:6–7; John 19:19–20; 1 Cor 1:18 and 1:23–24 (freely); Ps 24:3–5 (Ps 23:3–5 in the Septuagint); Exod 2:12 (Moses and the Egyptian); Isa 2:3; Ps 40:8 (Ps 39:9 in the Septuagint); John 19:34; John 7:37–38; Ps 1:3; Matt 27:46. - A word is lost after “neither in mouth nor”; the text is translated as it stands. The contrast with Moses is the writer's own argument. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian, Mont. 9 (CSEL 3.3:113–115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-9). ## On Mount Sinai and Mount Zion 10 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-10 - Source: CSEL 3.3:115–116 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The Jerusalem from which the word goes forth is the heavenly city of Revelation, which is the church. ### Latin text et adinpletum est propheticum spiritale ante dictum: de Sion exiet lex, et uerbum Domini ab Hierusalem. dicit Hierusalem de caelo descendentem nouam ciuitatem, quadratam per quattuor euangelia, habens duodecim fundamenta duodecim prophetarum et duodecim portas duodecim apostolorum: per quorum adnuntiationem christiani in hanc ciuitatem sanctam et nouam introierunt, quae spiritalis est ecclesia. ### English translation (Claude) And the spiritual prophecy spoken beforehand was fulfilled: “From Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” It means the new city, the Jerusalem coming down from heaven, foursquare through the four Gospels, having twelve foundations, the twelve prophets, and twelve gates, the twelve apostles, through whose preaching Christians have entered into this holy and new city, which is the spiritual church. ### Scripture references - Isa 2:3: quotation, high confidence - Rev 21:2: allusion, high confidence - Rev 21:12–16: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Sources: Isa 2:3; Rev 21:2, 12–16. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian, Mont. 10 (CSEL 3.3:115–116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-10). ## On Mount Sinai and Mount Zion 11 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-11 - Source: CSEL 3.3:116 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The two mountains stand for the two testaments and the two peoples: the earthly Jews who received the land, and the heavenly Christians who will receive the kingdom. ### Latin text Ecce probauimus per omnium scripturarum deificarum fidem duo montes Sina in terra et Sion in caelo duorum testamentorum portare figuram, ueteris Sina et noui Sion: ex quibus duobus montibus, uidelicet duobus testamentis posteriori tempore demonstratos et depalatos duos populos, ueterem et priorem Iudaeorum et nouum et posteriorem populum christianorum: Iudaeos terrenos quibus terra promissa a Deo (acceperunt carnales) et christianos caelestes quibus regna caelorum a Deo promissa (accepturi sunt in futuro saeculo). caro enim christianorum spiritalis et inmortalis erit. ### English translation (Claude) See, we have proved by the faith of all the divine Scriptures that the two mountains, Sinai on earth and Zion in heaven, bear the figure of the two testaments, Sinai of the old and Zion of the new; and that from these two mountains, that is, from the two testaments, two peoples were later shown and made manifest: the old and earlier people of the Jews, and the new and later people of the Christians; the Jews earthly, to whom the land was promised by God (they received it as carnal), and the Christians heavenly, to whom the kingdoms of heaven were promised by God (they will receive them in the age to come). For the flesh of Christians will be spiritual and immortal. ### Scripture references - Gal 4:24–26: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:44: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Cor 15:53: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Compare Gal 4:24–26 and 1 Cor 15:44, 53. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian, Mont. 11 (CSEL 3.3:116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-11). ## On Mount Sinai and Mount Zion 12 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-12 - Source: CSEL 3.3:116 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The writer introduces a comparison from everyday life to explain Zion as the cross from which Christ watches. ### Latin text Aliam probationem ueritatis scripturis positam ex ea ueritatem caelestem spiritalem. facimus figuratam comparationem de huius mundi conuersu. diximus enim montis sancti Sion quod lignum regalem et sacrum habere interpretationem de Hebreico in Graeco uel in Latino temptatio exacerbationis et speculatio, eo quod de ligno speculabatur ante se stantes bonos et malos. ### English translation (Claude) Another proof of the truth set down in the Scriptures, and from it the heavenly and spiritual truth: we make a figurative comparison from the ways of this world. For we have said of the holy Mount Zion, which is the royal and sacred tree, that its interpretation from Hebrew into Greek or Latin is “temptation of provocation, and watching,” because from the tree he watched the good and the bad standing before him. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian, Mont. 12 (CSEL 3.3:116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-12). ## On Mount Sinai and Mount Zion 13 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-13 - Source: CSEL 3.3:116–117 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ is the spotless mirror of the Father, as Wisdom says, and believers see Christ in themselves as in a mirror; he is also the true vine. ### Latin text Ita inuenimus ipsum saluatorem per Salomonem speculum inmaculatum patris esse dictum, eo quod sanctus spiritus Dei filius geminatur se uideat, pater in filio et filius in patre utrosque se in se uident: ideo speculus inmaculatus. nam et nos qui illi credimus Christum in nobis tamquam in speculo uidemus ipso nos instruente et monente in epistula Iohannis discipuli sui ad populum: ita me in nobis uidete, quomodo quis uestrum se uidet in aquam aut in speculum, et confirmauit Salomonicum dictum de se dicentem: quis est speculus immaculatus patris. Vero etiam et uitem ueram se esse dixit, patrem suum agricolam. ### English translation (Claude) So we find that the Savior himself was called by Solomon the spotless mirror of the Father, because the Holy Spirit, the Son of God, being twofold, they see themselves: the Father in the Son and the Son in the Father; both see themselves in each other; therefore he is the spotless mirror. For we too who believe in him see Christ in us as in a mirror, as he himself instructs and warns us in the letter of John his disciple to the people: “See me in yourselves, as any one of you sees himself in water or in a mirror.” And he confirmed Solomon's saying about himself, saying, “who is the spotless mirror of the Father.” And he also said that he is the true vine, and his Father the vinedresser. ### Scripture references - John 14:10–11: allusion, medium confidence - John 15:1: allusion, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Wis 7:26 (Wisdom of Solomon): quotation, high confidence - Agraphon (Sayings of Jesus outside the Gospels (agrapha)): quotation, low confidence ### Translation notes - Sources: Wisdom 7:26 (ascribed to Solomon); John 14:10–11; John 15:1. - The saying “See me in yourselves, as any one of you sees himself in water or in a mirror,” attributed to a letter of John, is not in 1–3 John; it is otherwise unknown (compare the mirror image in the Odes of Solomon 13). - “The Holy Spirit, the Son of God, being twofold” (sanctus spiritus Dei filius geminatur): the writer again calls the Son's divine nature “Holy Spirit”; the clause is obscure and translated as it stands. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian, Mont. 13 (CSEL 3.3:116–117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-13). ## On Mount Sinai and Mount Zion 14 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-14 - Source: CSEL 3.3:117–118 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Believers are the true vine in the Lord's vineyard, and Christ its keeper, like the boy in a lookout on a pole who drives thieves away from a vineyard at vintage. ### Latin text si ergo Christus uitis est uera, utique constat quia et nos qui in illo credimus et ipsum induimus sumus uitis uera quae est in uinea dominica, et Christus custos uineae suae dicente Salomone: posuerunt me custodem in uineam. inuenimus uero in conuersu huius mundi in similitudinem spiritalem figuraliter esse uineam habentem dominum et possessorem suum. uero tempore maturo prope dies uindemiarum ponunt in mediam uineam custodem puerum in alto ligno media uinea confixo et in eo ligno faciunt speculum quadratum de harundinibus quassatis et per singula latera quadraturae speculi faciunt cauerna terna, quae fiunt cauerna duodecim: per quam quadraturam cauernorum custos puer omnem uineam perspiciens custodiat cantans, ne uiator ingrediens uineam dominicam sibi adsignatam uexet uel fures uiam uineae uestigent. quod si inportunus fur egens in uineam uoluerit introire et uuam demere, illic puer sollicitus de uinea sua deintus de speculo dat uocem maledicens et comminans, ne in uineam uiator fur audeat accedere dicens: rectum ambula. fur autem timens uocem pueri sibi comminantem refugit de uinea, speculum uidet, uocem audit, puerum intus in speculo sibi comminantem non uidet, timens post uiam suam uadit. ### English translation (Claude) If, then, Christ is the true vine, it is surely clear that we too, who believe in him and have put him on, are the true vine that is in the Lord's vineyard, and that Christ is the keeper of his vineyard, as Solomon says: “They set me as keeper in the vineyard.” We find in the ways of this world, figuratively, in a spiritual likeness, a vineyard that has its lord and owner. At the ripe season, near the days of the vintage, they set a boy as keeper in the middle of the vineyard, on a high pole fixed in the middle of the vineyard, and on that pole they make a square lookout of split reeds, and on each side of the square lookout they make three openings, which makes twelve openings. Through this square of openings the boy keeper looks out over the whole vineyard and keeps guard, singing, so that no traveler may enter and harm the lord's vineyard assigned to him, and no thieves may track a path into the vineyard. And if a bold and needy thief wants to enter the vineyard and take grapes, the boy, careful for his vineyard, raises his voice from inside the lookout, cursing and threatening, so that the traveling thief may not dare approach the vineyard, saying: “Walk straight on!” And the thief, fearing the voice of the boy threatening him, flees from the vineyard: he sees the lookout, he hears the voice, but he does not see the boy inside the lookout threatening him, and in fear he goes on his way. ### Scripture references - John 15:1: allusion, high confidence - Gal 3:27: echo, low confidence - Song 1:6: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Lookout” renders speculum, which the writer uses both for a watch post and, in section 13, for a mirror; the play on words carries the argument. - “They set me as keeper in the vineyard” is Song 1:6, ascribed to Solomon. “Put him on” echoes Gal 3:27. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian, Mont. 14 (CSEL 3.3:117–118; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-14). ## On Mount Sinai and Mount Zion 15 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-15 - Source: CSEL 3.3:118–119 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ on the cross is the keeper who guards the church, his vineyard, and drives off the devil, as Isaiah's servant who brings judgment to the nations. ### Latin text Hic conuersus saecularis similatus gratiae spiritali. ita est enim et in populo deifico, sicut in uinea terrena. uinea dominica et spiritalis plebs est christianorum, quae custoditur iusso Dei patris a puero Christo in ligni speculum exaltatum. quod si uiator diabolus perambulans uiam saecularem si ausus fuerit de uinea spiritale hominem de plebe dominica separare et uexare, statim a puero caeleste correptus et flagris spiritalibus emendatus exulans ad centesimum effugit in locis aridis et desertis. hic custos est puer filius dominicus, qui uineam suam sibi a patre commendatam saluandam tenet et reseruandam: de quo Esaias propheta cecinit dicens: ecce puer meus filius meus dilectissimus, ponam super eum spiritum meum, et iudicium gentibus nuntiabit: non clamabit neque contendet. harundinem quassatam non confringet et linum fumigans non conlocabit, quoadusque expellat in contentione iudicium: et in nomine eius gentes credant. ### English translation (Claude) This worldly custom is a likeness of spiritual grace. For so it is with the people of God as with the earthly vineyard. The Lord's spiritual vineyard is the people of the Christians, which is guarded, by the command of God the Father, by the boy Christ in the lookout of the tree lifted on high. And if the devil, a traveler walking the road of the world, dares to separate and harm a spiritual person from the vineyard of the Lord's people, at once, rebuked by the heavenly boy and corrected by spiritual scourges, he flees into exile to the hundredth milestone, into dry and desert places. This keeper is the boy, the Lord's Son, who holds his vineyard, entrusted to him by the Father, to save and preserve it; of him the prophet Isaiah sang, saying: “Behold my servant, my most beloved Son; I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will announce judgment to the nations. He will not cry out or contend; a bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench, until he brings forth judgment to victory; and in his name the nations will believe.” ### Scripture references - Matt 12:43: allusion, medium confidence - Isa 42:1–4: quotation, high confidence - Matt 12:18–21: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Boy” and “servant” both render puer, which the writer uses for the vineyard boy and for the Servant of Isaiah. - “To the hundredth milestone” (ad centesimum) is uncertain; “dry and desert places” recalls Matt 12:43. - The quotation is Isa 42:1–4 in the form of Matt 12:18–21. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian, Mont. 15 (CSEL 3.3:118–119; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ps-cyprian-montibus/1/#p-15).