The calf burned outside the camp; the tent anointed
Cyril: …in the outer tent. The blood stands as a type of life (Leviticus 17:11), and Emmanuel has laid down his life (John 10:15) not only for the Church from the Gentiles but also for those under the law, that is, for Israel. For all of us together, Greeks and Jews alike, have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, and Paul will bear witness, saying: ‘Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith’ (Romans 3:29–30). When the inner parts of the calf have been taken out and carried up to the altar (Leviticus 4:8–10), the rest of the body is burned outside the camp (Leviticus 4:11–12). For he himself is the holy sacrifice, fragrant with virtues, of which the inner parts would be types, since the virtues are hidden, as it were, within us and lie deep within the mind. He is also the one who suffers outside the gate (Hebrews 13:12), and by the death of his own flesh cleanses those who were defiled. For ‘the ashes of a heifer, sprinkled on those who are defiled,’ it says, ‘sanctify for the purification of the flesh’ (Hebrews 9:13). So Emmanuel, being one and the same, gives off his fragrance in the holy tents, I mean the churches, and he also suffered outside the gate; and there, as the inspired Paul said, we too must go out, bearing his reproach (Hebrews 13:13). A calf is also brought for the sins of ignorance of the people (Leviticus 4:13–14), in the same way and without any difference, and the meaning of the sacrifice was the same in every case. For Emmanuel offered himself in the same way for small and great, for people and priests alike. Or is what I say not true?
Palladius: How could it not be?
Cyril: Shall we, then, rein the discussion back, as it were, and turn again to the accounts of the tent?
Palladius: By all means.
Cyril: When all the work had been completed, and each of the holy vessels had been carefully set in the place most fitting for it, God laid down that they and the tent must be sanctified, saying to the inspired Moses: ‘And you shall take the oil of anointing, and anoint the tent and everything in it, and you shall sanctify it and all its vessels, and they shall be holy. And you shall anoint the altar of burnt offerings and all its vessels, and you shall sanctify the altar, and the altar shall be holy of holies’ (Exodus 40:9–10). So you see the ark anointed with the holy oil, and the table too, and the lampstand beside it, and the golden altar of incense as well; and indeed our long discussion has already made clear that in all of them Emmanuel is portrayed.
Palladius: True.
Cyril: Consider, then, what is sung by the voice of David as addressed to him: ‘You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions’ (Psalm 45:7). Paul also writes: ‘For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one’ (Hebrews 2:11). We must understand that, by reasoning free from all fault, the very one who…
Greek
μάτων ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ σκηνῇ· καὶ ψυχῆς μὲν εἰς τύπον τὸ αἷμα. Τέθεικε δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν ὁ Ἐμμανουὴλ, οὐχ ὑπέρ γε μόνης τῆς ἐξ ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐν νόμῳ, τουτέστι, τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, ἐκλελυτρώμεθα γὰρ τῷ αἵματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ συλλήβδην ἅπαντες, Ἕλληνές τε καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι, καὶ μαρτυρήσει λέγων ὁ Παῦλος· «Ἢ Ἰουδαίων ὁ Θεὸς μόνον; οὐχὶ δὲ καὶ ἐθνῶν; ναὶ καὶ ἐθνῶν· εἴπερ εἷς ὁ Θεὸς, ὃς δικαιώσει περιτομὴν ἐκ πίστεως, καὶ ἀκροβυστίαν διὰ πίστεως.» Ὑφαιρομένων δὲ ἀπ' αὐτῶν τῶν ἐντοσθίων τοῦ μόσχου καὶ ἀναφερομένων εἰς τὸ θυσιαστήριον, ἔξω τῆς παρεμβολῆς τὸ ἐπίλοιπον καταπίμπραται σῶμα. Ἔστι γὰρ αὐτὸς τὸ θῦμα τὸ ἱερὸν, εὐωδιάζων ἐν ἀρεταῖς, ὧν εἶεν ἂν τύποι τὰ ἐντόσθια, καὶ κεκρυμμέναι οἱονεί πως ἐν ἡμῖν αἱ ἀρεταὶ, καὶ εἰς νοῦν ἔσω κείμεναι· αὐτὸς καὶ ὁ πάσχων ἔξω τῆς πύλης, καὶ τῷ θανάτῳ τῆς ἰδίας σαρκὸς ἐκκαθαίρων τοὺς μεμολυσμένους· «Δαμάλεως γὰρ σποδὸς ῥαντίζουσα τοὺς κεκοινωμένους, ἁγιάζει, φησὶ, πρὸς τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς καθαρότητα.» Οὐκοῦν εἷς καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς ὑπάρχων ὁ Ἐμμανουὴλ, καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἁγίαις εὐωδιάζει σκηναῖς, φημὶ δὴ ταῖς Ἐκκλησίαις· πέπονθε δὲ καὶ ἔξω τῆς πύλης· ἔνθα καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐξιέναι δεῖν τὸν ὀνειδισμὸν αὐτοῦ φέροντας, ὁ θεσπέσιος ἔφη Παῦλος. Προσάγεται δὲ ὁ μόσχος καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν τοῦ λαοῦ ἀγνοημάτων, ἐν ἴσῳ τε καὶ ἀπαραλλάκτως· καὶ λόγος ἦν τῆς θυσίας ἐν ἅπασιν ὁ αὐτός. Ἐν ἴσῳ γὰρ τρόπῳ προσκεκόμικεν ἑαυτὸν ὑπέρ τε μικρῶν καὶ μεγάλων, λαοῦ τε καὶ ἱερέων ὁ Ἐμμανουήλ. Ἢ οὐκ ἀληθὲς ὅ φημι;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πῶς γὰρ οὔ;
{ΚΥΡ.} Βούλει δὴ οὖν ὥσπερ ἀνόπιν τὸν λόγον ἀνασειράζοντες, πρὸς τὰ ἐπὶ τῇ σκηνῇ διηγήματα μετατρεπώμεθα.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ μάλα.
{ΚΥΡ.} Συμπεπερασμένων τοιγαροῦν τῶν ἔργων ἁπάντων, καὶ ἐν τόπῳ τῷ ἑκάστῳ πρεπωδεστάτῳ τῶν ἱερῶν σκευῶν εὖ μάλα συντεθειμένων, ἁγιάζεσθαι δεῖν αὐτά τε καὶ τὴν σκηνὴν διετύπου Θεὸς, οὕτω λέγων τῷ θεσπεσίῳ Μωσῇ· «Καὶ λήψῃ τὸ ἔλαιον τοῦ χρίσματος, καὶ χρίσεις τὴν σκηνὴν, καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ ἁγιάσεις αὐτὴν, καὶ πάντα τὰ σκεύη αὐτῆς, καὶ ἔσται ἅγια. Καὶ χρίσεις τὸ θυσιαστήριον τῶν καρπωμάτων, καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ σκεύη, καὶ ἁγιάσεις τὸ θυσιαστήριον, καὶ ἔσται τὸ θυσιαστήριον Ἅγιον ἁγίων.» Ἐλαίῳ δὴ οὖν τῷ ἁγίῳ καταχριουμένην ὁρᾷς τήν τε κιβωτὸν, καὶ μέντοι τὴν τράπεζαν, καὶ τὴν λυχνίαν ἐπ' αὐτῇ, καὶ τὸ χρυσοῦν ἔτι θυμιατήριον· καί τοι γὰρ πάντων μακρὸς ἡμῖν διεσάφησεν ἤδη λόγος ἀνατυπούμενον τὸν Ἐμμανουήλ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀληθές.
{ΚΥΡ.} Σύνες δὴ οὖν ἄρα τὸ διὰ φωνῆς τοῦ Δαβὶδ, ὡς πρὸς αὐτὸν ὑμνούμενον· «Ἠγάπησας δικαιοσύνην, καὶ ἐμίσησας ἀδικίαν. Διὰ τοῦτο ἔχρισέ σε Θεὸς, ὁ Θεός σου, ἔλαιον ἀγαλλιάσεως παρὰ τοὺς μετόχους σου.» Γράφει δὲ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος, «ὅ τε γὰρ ἁγιάζων καὶ οἱ ἁγιαζόμενοι, ἐξ ἑνὸς πάντες.» Ἰστέον δὲ, ὅτι κατὰ τὸν ἀμωμήτως ἔχοντα λόγον, αὐτὸς ὑπάρχων ὁ