Commentary on Isaiah: Volume I: Chapters 1-14

Now available for the first time in a modern English translation, this imposing work by one of the great churchmen of the fifth century had been neglected on library shelves in a less-than-accessible Greek edition. It is a work of dedication and balance by one who resonates with “the most articulate of all the prophets,” as Chrysostom called Isaiah. Cyril of Alexandria wrote his Commentary on Isaiah during a time of ecclesiastical and theological peace, in the years before the Nestorian controversy.

In the exegesis, we see the true Cyril, not the “ecclesiastical thug” portrayed by critics of his later involvement in controversy and conciliar maneuvering. Through the clarity of Robert Charles Hill’s translation, readers will also recognize the same exegetical and hermeneutical skills that Cyril demonstrated in his earlier commentary. Cyril takes seriously all details and facts of the Isaian text, remaining focused while unpacking the layers of imagery. Yet he readily admits that historia yields in importance to dianoia, and he can move readily to Christological and ecclesiological meanings.