Teaching And Firmness

Διδαχαῖς ποικίλαις καὶ ξέναις μὴ παραφέρεσθε. Τὸ δὲ παραφέρεσθαι εἴρηται ἐκ μεταφορᾶς τῶν μαινομένων, τῶν τῇδε κὰκεῖσε περιφερομένων· ἤ τῶν εὐπαραφόρως ἐν ἴσῳ δόναξιν ἐς τὸ ἀεὶ προσωθοῦν εὐκόλως μετακλινομένων, καὶ μηδὲν βέδαιον ἐχόντων, καίτοι Παύλου μὲν διακεκραγότος· Ἐδραῖοι γίνεσθε, ἀμετακίνητοι. Αὐτοῦ δὲ τοῦ Δεσπότου τὸ λίαν εὐπάροιστον καὶ εὐδιαπτόητον τοῦ τρόπου τὴν ἀνωτάτω τοῖς ἔχουσι τιθέντος διαβολὴν, καὶ δίκην ὀρίζοντος τῇ νόσῳ τὴν ἀποστροφὴν. Ἔφη γὰρ ὧδε περὶ τινῶν· Ἠγάπησαν κινεῖν πόδας αὐτῶν, καὶ οὐκ ἐφείσαντο, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς οὐκ εὐδόκησεν ἐν αὐτοῖς. Τὸ γάρ τοι βεβαίως τε καὶ ἀκλινῶς ἰδρυμένον πρὸς πᾶν ὁτιοῦν τῶν τελούντων εἰς ὄνησιν, ἀσφαλές τε καὶ ἄσυλον· καλὸν γὰρ χάριτι βεβαιοῦσθαι τὴν καρδίαν, οὐ βρώμασιν, ἐν οἵς οὐκ ὠφελήθησαν οἱ περιπατήσαντες. Ἅγιος Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας,Εἰς τὴν πρὸς Ἑβραίους Ἐπιστολὴν, Ἐκλογαι Source: Migne PG 74.1000a-b

Do not be stolen away by various and strange teachings. 1 Stolen is used here as a metaphor for being taken away by madness, for he who is borne away by such things, or is easily disturbed by them, is always being bent like a reed by the power of their will and is never stable, concerning which Paul cries out: 'Be firm and immobile.' 2 And the Lord Himself says that those who have light and inconstant ways place a grave accusation against themselves, and He perceives it to be like the mania of a sickness, for concerning such folk he says, 'They love to move their feet and will not be still, they have not pleased the Lord.' 3 Thus what stands firmly and will not bend is useful in all things, and it is like a guard and a wall. 'For it is good to have the grace to be firm in one's heart, yet not with food, which has not profited those that walk so.' 1 Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary On The Letter to Hebrews, Fragment 1 Heb 13.9 2 1 Cor 15.58 3 Jerem 14.10