The unblemished calf and the blood sprinkled seven times

Cyril: …will be clear to anyone from these things too. But let us take up, one by one, what belongs to each point of the text; for so the discussion would go forward clearly and unfold, as far as it can, what is hidden.

Palladius: Well said.

Cyril: The calf, then, is taken without blemish and without wound (Leviticus 4:3) as a type of Christ, who is truly without blemish and did not submit to the wound that sin inflicts. ‘For the ruler of this world is coming,’ he says, ‘and he will find nothing in me’ (John 14:30); for he committed no sin, as the Scriptures say (1 Peter 2:22). And it is brought to the very doors of the holy tent, before the Lord (Leviticus 4:4); so Christ, as it were, did not refuse to suffer for the holy tent, that is, the Church, and was dedicated for her as a fragrant aroma to God the Father (Ephesians 5:2). That is why he said, ‘For their sake I sanctify myself’ (John 17:19). By ‘I sanctify’ he means ‘I bring and dedicate an unblemished offering to God the Father.’ For whatever is dedicated to God is said to be sanctified, as in the saying somewhere in Scripture: ‘It is a snare to a man to sanctify hastily something of his own, for after he has made the vow he comes to regret it’ (Proverbs 20:25). The words ‘before the Lord’ show that the offering is acceptable and well pleasing. For we already know what is written about the pair of brothers, I mean Cain and Abel: ‘God looked upon Abel and upon his gifts,’ it says, ‘but to Cain and his sacrifices he paid no heed’ (Genesis 4:4–5). For it is plain enough that God looks upon what pleases him, and turns away in hatred from what does not. When the hands of the one who has sinned have been laid on the calf, the slaughter is carried out, and that before the Lord (Leviticus 4:4). For ‘he takes away our sins and suffers pain for us’ (Isaiah 53:4) as he is slain; for the hand stands as a type of deeds and actions. Yet he is slain before the Lord, the Father all but consenting that the Son must die for us. For the Father does not turn away when he sees him slain; not that he in any way praises the suffering, but he knows well that Emmanuel’s suffering for us brings salvation to the world. So it is he who takes away our sins and suffers pain for us (Isaiah 53:4), enduring for our sake the slaughter on the precious cross. Then the priest takes some of the blood on his finger and sprinkles it seven times on the holy veil (Leviticus 4:6), which was over the ark, and whose name is the mercy seat. He also smears the horns of the altar of incense (Leviticus 4:7). For Christ has become for us both atonement (1 John 2:2) and mercy seat (Romans 3:25). Yet it is in the blood of an eternal covenant (Hebrews 13:20) that he grants us the most perfect cleansing. This, I think, is the meaning of the mercy seat being sprinkled seven times with the blood, for the number seven is a sign of perfection. For his death too is fragrant with the salvation and life of the world, and with our access to God in faith. ‘For one died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised’ (2 Corinthians 5:14–15), as the Scriptures say. So the smearing of the golden altar of incense with the blood shows the fragrance of his death. The rest of the blood is poured out at the base of the altar of burnt offerings (Leviticus 4:7)…