The lamp as John the Baptist, the twelve loaves as the apostles
Cyril: …For in spiritual brightness the shadow in the law (Hebrews 10:1) is in no way equal to the decrees of the Gospel. These flash their light around the whole inhabited world, while the shadow was a token for those of Israel alone.
Palladius: You have spoken rightly.
Cyril: It seems, Palladius, that the table and the lamp in the first tent point to something else as well.
Palladius: What do you mean?
Cyril: The lamp, perhaps, is John, the inspired Baptist, while the twelve loaves prefigure for us the company of the holy apostles.
Palladius: In what way?
Cyril: Or do you not know that for those under the law in Judea the inspired Baptist was a kind of lamp going before Christ, and that God the Father spoke of him beforehand: ‘I have prepared a lamp for my Christ’ (Psalm 132:17)? The Savior himself also bore witness to this, saying of him to the teachers of the Jews: ‘He was the lamp that burns and shines, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light’ (John 5:35). See how blessed Paul, as one learned in the law, all but calls to mind the lamp in the first tent (Hebrews 9:2). For the lawgiver commanded that it must be kept unquenched, saying: ‘And Aaron and his sons shall burn it from evening until morning before the Lord continually’ (Leviticus 24:3). Yet the Jews took delight in John for a very short time, in that they ran to the baptism he gave and marveled greatly at him; then they put the ever-shining lamp to sleep in death, all but quenching it. For even if the crime may perhaps be called Herod’s (Matthew 14:10), still he was of Israel’s blood. That is why Christ, charging the peoples of the Jews with their insolence against every holy man, says: ‘It cannot be that a prophet should perish outside Jerusalem’ (Luke 13:33).
Palladius: So the inspired Baptist too was a light and a lamp for those under the law in Judea, by likeness to Christ and by sharing in him.
Cyril: That is what I say. And in the same way we say that the holy apostles are to be understood as loaves. For only one is bread by nature and in truth: the bread that is from heaven and gives life (John 6:33). But by imitation of the one who is bread by nature, and by sharing in him, the divine guides into the mysteries are loaves that nourish us in godliness, putting into us words of life and driving the famine of ignorance out of the souls of those who believe. The loaves are equal in number to the disciples, for they are twelve, and they are laid in two rows, six on this side, it says, and six on that (Leviticus 24:6), almost as if they stood round in a circle, with the one Bread from heaven, that is, Christ, lying in the middle. And each is of two tenths (Leviticus 24:5), that is, of two perfect measures. For the inspired disciples became perfect in both respects, ready for every good thing, distinguished in deed and in word.
Greek
Ἰσοστατεῖ γὰρ οὐδαμῶς, εἰς λαμπρότητα τὴν πνευματικὴν, τοῖς εὐαγγελικοῖς θεσπίσμασιν, ἡ ἐν νόμῳ σκιά· τὰ μὲν γὰρ ὅλην περιαστράπτει τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἡ δὲ ἦν μόνοις γνώρισμα τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσραήλ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὀρθῶς ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἔοικε δὲ, ὦ Παλλάδιε, καὶ ἕτερόν τι παραδηλοῦν ἡ τράπεζα καὶ ὁ λύχνος, ὁ ἔν γε τῇ πρώτῃ σκηνῇ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τὸ τί δὴ φής;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἰωάννην τάχα που τὸν θεσπέσιον Βαπτιστὴν ὁ λύχνος, ἄρτοι δὲ οἱ δύο καὶ δέκα, τὸν τῶν ἁγίων ἡμῖν ἀποστόλων προανατυποῦσι χορόν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τίνα τρόπον;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἢ οὐκ οἶσθα ὅτι τοῖς ἐν νόμῳ καὶ κατὰ τὴν Ἰουδαίαν λύχνος ἦν οἷά τις, Χριστοῦ προβαδίζων ὁ θεσπέσιος Βαπτιστὴς, καὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ προαναπεφώνηκεν ὁ Θεὸς καὶ Πατήρ· «Ἡτοίμασα λύχνον τῷ Χριστῷ μου.» Μεμαρτύρηκε δὲ τοῦτο καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Σωτὴρ, τοῖς τῶν Ἰουδαίων καθηγηταῖς περὶ αὐτοῦ λέγων. «Ἐκεῖνος ἦν ὁ λύχνος ὁ καιόμενος καὶ φαίνων, ὑμεῖς δὲ ἠθελήσατε ἀγαλλιασθῆναι πρὸς ὥραν ἐν τῷ φωτὶ αὐτοῦ.» Θέα γὰρ ὅπως ὡς νομομαθὴς ὢν ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος, μονονουχὶ πρὸς ἀνάμνησιν ἀναφέρει λύχνου, τοῦ κατὰ τὴν πρώτην σκηνήν. Ἄσβεστον μὲν γὰρ ὁ νομοθέτης διατηρεῖσθαι δεῖν κεκέλευκεν οὕτω λέγων· «Καὶ καύσουσιν αὐτὸν Ἀαρὼν, καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ ἑσπέρας ἕως πρωῒ ἐνώπιον Κυρίου ἐνδελεχῶς.» Χρόνον γε μὴν ἐπ' αὐτῷ κομιδῇ βραχὺν ἡσθέντες Ἰουδαῖοι, διά γε τὸ προσδραμεῖν τῷ δι' αὐτοῦ βαπτίσματι, καὶ θαῦμα ἑλεῖν ἐπ' αὐτῷ πολὺ, κατεκοίμισαν τῷ θανάτῳ μονονουχὶ τὸν ἀειφανῆ λύχνον κατασβεννύοντες. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ Ἡρώδου τὸ τόλμημα λέγοιτο τυχὸν, ἀλλ' οὖν ὄντος ἐξ αἵματος Ἰσραήλ· διὰ τοῦτο Χριστὸς τοῖς Ἰουδαίων λαοῖς τὸ κατὰ παντὸς ἁγίου θράσος ἐγκαλῶν, «Οὐκ ἐνδέχεται,» φησὶ, «προφήτην ἀπολέσθαι ἔξω Ἱερουσαλήμ.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Φῶς οὖν ἄρα καὶ λύχνος, καθ' ὁμοιότητα καὶ κατὰ μέθεξιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος Βαπτιστὴς τοῖς ἐν νόμῳ κατὰ τὴν Ἰουδαίαν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὕτω φημί. Κατὰ τὸν ἴσον δὲ τρόπον ἄρτους νοεῖσθαί φαμεν τοὺς ἁγίους ἀποστόλους. Εἷς μὲν γὰρ ὁ φύσει τε καὶ ἀληθῶς ἄρτος ὁ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ζωοποιός· κατὰ μίμησιν δὲ τοῦ φύσει καὶ κατὰ μέθεξιν ἄρτοι τρέφοντες εἰς εὐσέβειαν οἱ θεῖοι μυσταγωγοὶ, λόγους ἡμῖν ἐνιέντες ζωῆς, καὶ τὸν ἐκ τῆς ἀμαθίας λιμὸν, τῆς τῶν πιστευόντων ἐξιστάντες ψυχῆς. Ἰσάριθμοι δὲ τοῖς μαθηταῖς, οἱ ἄρτοι· δυοκαίδεκα γὰρ, καὶ εἰς δύο κείμενοι θέματα, ἒξ ἔνθεν, φησὶ, καὶ ἓξ ἔνθεν, μονονουχὶ καὶ ἐν κύκλῳ περιεστῶτες, καὶ ἐν μέσῳ τόπῳ κείμενον ἔχοντες ἕνα τε καὶ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, τοῦτ' ἔστι, Χριστόν· καὶ δύο δεκάτων ἕκαστος, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ἐκ δύο μέτρων τελείων. Τέλειοι γὰρ κατ' ἄμφω γεγόνασιν οἱ θεσπέσιοι μαθηταὶ, πρὸς πᾶν ὁτιοῦν ἀρτίως ἔχοντες ἀγαθὸν, ἔργῳ τε διαπρεπεῖς καὶ λόγῳ.