You went forth for the salvation of your people, even for salvation with your anointed; you wounded the head out of the house of the wicked, by laying bare from the foundation to the neck. Selah.
All Commentaries on Habakkuk 3:13 Go To Habakkuk 3
Cyril of Alexandria
AD 444
And yet, someone may say, we shall find the name Christ applied not to Emmanuel alone, but also applied to others. For God said somewhere about those chosen and sanctified by the Spirit, “Do not touch my anointed ones, and to my prophets do no harm.” The divinely inspired David calls Saul, who had been anointed as king by God through the hand of Samuel: the “Lord’s anointed.” And why do I mention this when it is possible for those who desire to look at the matter calmly to see that those who have been justified by faith in Christ and have been sanctified in the Spirit are honored by such a name? And therefore the prophet Habakkuk has foretold the mystery of Christ and salvation through him, saying, “You went forth for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed ones.” Consequently the name Christ would not be applicable exclusively and properly to Emmanuel, as I said, but also to all the rest who may have been anointed with the grace of the Holy Spirit. For the word is derived from the action and the name anointed from the fact of having been anointed.
