Frankincense, salt and the Sabbath, and why these types stand in the first tent
Cyril: Frankincense and salt are sprinkled on the loaves (Leviticus 24:7). The frankincense points to the sweet fragrance of sanctification and to the fragrance of Christ (2 Corinthians 2:15); the salt hints at understanding. For the word of the saints is not senseless or foolish but, as it is written, seasoned with grace and salt (Colossians 4:6), and it gives grace to those who hear (Ephesians 4:29). Christ also said to them, ‘You are the salt of the earth’ (Matthew 5:13). The loaves are set out on the Sabbath day as well (Leviticus 24:8). For the day on which the holy apostles were made known is the time of the spiritual Sabbath, that is, the coming of Christ. Because those of Israel did not recognize it, Paul says of them, ‘So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God’ (Hebrews 4:9). For they did not enter into his rest, because they did not accept faith (Hebrews 3:18–19). The spiritual and true Sabbath rest, then, is the time when our Savior came to dwell among us. The loaves are set out before the eyes of God, and indeed before the eyes of Israel as well. For ‘you shall set them out,’ he says, ‘on the Sabbath day before the Lord continually, from the sons of Israel’ (Leviticus 24:8). They are before the eyes of God, because he looks on the saints and continually counts them worthy of his care; for ‘the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,’ it says (Psalm 34:15). They are before the eyes of Israel, because Israel ought to give heed to them and, as it were, fixes on them the eye of the mind, of which the bodily eye would be a type. ‘But they shall belong,’ he says, ‘to Aaron and to his sons, and they shall eat them’ (Leviticus 24:9). For the writings of the holy apostles are set before us as food: before us who have been justified in faith, a holy and sacred race, peoples for his own possession (1 Peter 2:9), chosen and anointed with the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Palladius: Well said; I would agree. But why are the types of the holy Baptist and of the holy apostles not in the Holy of Holies but in the first tent?
Cyril: First, because the distance between them is great, and what belongs to the saints will not be placed where Christ is, but, as it were, outside and in a lesser place. For the things of God are set apart and stand by themselves, and a wide distance walls off what is human, showing that the distinct character of the natures and the difference in glory admit no comparison. Second, because they came from the Jews and from the worship under the law. For this reason the first tent is, so to speak, the place fitting for them, the tent in which stood the altar of burnt offerings, one of the types. Or did the calling of the holy disciples not come from the blood of Israel and, as it were, from the first tent?
Palladius: Certainly.
Cyril: Since our account of these things is now well and sufficiently settled, we should bring in, if you agree, the voice of the inspired Paul, which sets out clearly and elegantly the testimony concerning the first and the second tent. He writes as follows: ‘Now when these things had been prepared in this way,…’ (Hebrews 9:6)
Greek
Λίβανος δὲ καὶ ἅλας αὐτοῖς τὰ ἐπιπαττόμενα, τοῦ μὲν λιβάνου τὸ εὐῶδες ἐν ἁγιασμῷ, καὶ εὐωδίᾳ Χριστοῦ, τοῦ γε μὴν ἁλὸς, τὴν φρόνησιν ὑπεμφαίνοντος. Οὐ γὰρ ἀσύνετος ἢ μωρὸς τῶν ἁγίων ὁ λόγος, ἀλλ' ἐν χάριτί τε καὶ ἅλατι ἠρτυμένος, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, καὶ χάριν διδοὺς τοῖς ἀκούουσιν. Εἴρηται δὲ πρὸς αὐτοὺς καὶ παρὰ Χριστοῦ· «Ὑμεῖς ἐστε τὸ ἅλας τῆς γῆς.» Προτίθενται δὲ καὶ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ Σαββάτων. Ἡμέρα γὰρ ἀναδείξεως τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων, ὁ τοῦ νοητοῦ Σαββάτου καιρὸς, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ἡ Χριστοῦ παρουσία, ἣν ἐπείπερ οὐκ ἔγνωσαν οἱ ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ, ὁ Παῦλός φησι περὶ αὐτῶν, «Ἄρα ἀπολείπεται σαββατισμὸς τῷ λαῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ.» Οὐ γὰρ εἰσῆλθον εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσιν αὐτοῦ, τὴν πίστιν οὐ προσηκάμενοι. Σαββατισμὸς οὖν νοητὸς καὶ ἀληθὴς, ὁ τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπιδημίας καιρός. Ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς δὲ Θεοῦ τῶν ἄρτων ἡ πρόθεσις, καὶ μὴν καὶ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς Ἰσραήλ. «Προθήσετε γὰρ, φησὶ, τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῶν Σαββάτων ἔναντι Κυρίου διὰ παντὸς, παρὰ τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ·» θεωμένου καὶ διηνεκῶς ἀξιοῦντος τοὺς ἁγίους ἐπισκοπῆς. «Ὀφθαλμοὶ γὰρ Κυρίου ἐπὶ δικαίους,» φησί. Τοῦ δὲ Ἰσραὴλ, ὡς προσέχειν αὐτοῖς ὀφείλοντος, καὶ οἱονεί πως ἐφιστῶντος τῆς διανοίας τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν, οὗ καὶ εἰς τύπον ἂν εἴη ὁ σωματικός. «Ἀλλ' ἔσται, φησὶν, Ἀαρὼν καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτοῦ, καὶ φάγονται αὐτά.» Πρόκειται γὰρ ἡμῖν εἰς τροφὴν τὰ τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων συγγράμματα, τοῖς ἐν πίστει δεδικαιωμένοις, ἁγίῳ τε καὶ ἱερῷ γένει, λαοῖς τοῖς εἰς περιποίησιν, καὶ ἐξειλεγμένοις, καὶ τῇ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος χάριτι κατακεχρισμένοις.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εὖ ἔφης· συναινέσαιμι γὰρ ἄν. Ἀλλὰ τοῦ δὴ χάριν, οὐκ ἐν τοῖς Ἁγίοις τῶν ἁγίων, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ σκηνῇ τοῦ ἁγίου Βαπτιστοῦ, καὶ τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων οἱ τύποι;
{ΚΥΡ.} Πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι πολὺ τὸ μεσολαβοῦν, καὶ οὐκ ἐν οἷς ὁ Χριστὸς, καὶ τὰ τῶν ἁγίων κείσεται, ἀλλ' οἱονεί πως ἔξω καὶ ἐν μείοσιν. Ἐξῄρηται γὰρ καὶ ἀνὰ μέρος ἐστὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ πολὺς τὰ ἀνθρώπινα διατειχίζει λόγος, ἀσύγκριτον ἐπιδεικνὺς τὴν τῶν φύσεων ἰδιότητα, καὶ τὴν τῆς εὐκλείας διαφοράν. Εἶτα ὅτι γεγόνασιν ἐξ Ἰουδαίων καὶ τῆς κατὰ νόμον λατρείας. Ταύτῃ τοι τόπος ὥσπερ αὐτοῖς ὁ πρέπων ἡ πρώτη σκηνὴ, ἐν ᾗ τὸ ἐν τύποις ἔκειτο τῶν καρπωμάτων θυσιαστήριον· ἢ οὐκ ἐξ αἵματος Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἀπὸ σκηνῆς ὥσπερ τῆς πρώτης, ἡ τῶν ἁγίων μαθητῶν γέγονε κλῆσις;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ μάλα.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἔχοντος δὴ οὖν ἀποχρώντως ἡμῖν εὖ μάλα τοῦ περὶ τούτων λόγου, παροιστέον, εἰ δοκεῖ, τὴν τοῦ θεσπεσίου Παύλου φωνὴν, διατρανοῦσαν ἀστείως, τὸ ἐπί γε τῇ πρώτῃ καὶ τῇ δευτέρᾳ σκηνῇ μαρτύριον. Γράφει δὲ ὧδε· «Τούτων δὲ οὕτω κατεσκευασμένων