xli
From Saint Cyril
83￣ Therefore the life of each person will be the proof of their behaviour.
For the beauty of a true and well-lived life is not characterised by external adornments
and contrived virtues, but from the deeds a person performs. Again, Christ
› said somewhere: “Beware of those who come to you in the clothing of
› sheep, but inside are ravenous wolves.” * See again how Christ commands that
the people who approach us should be distinguished not from their clothing
but from how they truly are: “For,” he says, “the tree is known by
6:43 83￣ No good tree
bears bad fruit, nor
again does a bad tree
bear good fruit; 6:44for
each tree is known by
its own fruit. Figs are not
gathered from thorns, nor
are grapes picked from a
bramble bush. 6:45The good
person out of the good
treasure of their heart
produces good, and the evil
person out of evil treasure
produces evil;
its fruit.” * And
just as it is sense
less to search for
the choicer kinds
of fruit on thistles
(I mean grapes or
figs), so it is
ridiculous to
imagine we can
find in hypocrites
and fools any
admirable qualities,
that is to say the
nobility of virtue.
One would say that
among such people
there are thorns and
thistles, but
nothing sweet:
everything is bitter
and malformed. For figs do not grow on briars, nor are grapes produced on a
thorn bush. Therefore the teachers must be distinguished not from appearances but
from how each of them lives their life.❧