Christ sanctified in his humanity; the cloud fills the tent
Cyril: …as God, together with God the Father, supplies and bestows sanctification on all others, is himself sanctified with us in his humanity; and this is what is called the self-emptying (Philippians 2:7). For he who is holy by nature, as God, is said to have needed God to sanctify him. Blessed Peter says this too: ‘Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 10:38). So the anointing concerns his humanity, and the sanctification belongs to the flesh, which is not holy by nature but holy by participation in what comes from God. For sanctification comes to created things from outside, and they are enriched with grace as something added to them by God. Together with the rest, the altar of the worship under the law is anointed too. For the law also is holy: it calls its hearers to the knowledge of him who is God by nature, plants in them an understanding of righteousness, and carries those it instructs on to the beginnings of goodness. ‘For the beginning of a good way,’ it says, ‘is to do what is right’ (Proverbs 16:7, Septuagint). And the inspired Paul writes somewhere: ‘So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good’ (Romans 7:12). The law is holy of holies, not in its shadow, but because, if it is turned to spiritual contemplation, its types proclaim aloud to us Christ himself, who is truly the Holy of Holies. For as God he sanctifies those who have come to share in him through faith, anointing them with his own Spirit. Now that the holy tent has been set up, and anointed with the holy oil as well, let us speak of what comes next, if you agree.
Palladius: Certainly.
Cyril: This, then, is what is written: ‘And Moses finished all the works. And the cloud covered the tent of witness, and the tent was filled with the glory of the Lord. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of witness, because the cloud overshadowed it, and the tent was filled with the glory of the Lord. Whenever it went up from the tent, the sons of Israel set out with their baggage; but if the cloud did not go up, they did not set out until the day on which the cloud went up. For the cloud was on the tent by day, and fire was on it by night, before all Israel in all their journeys’ (Exodus 40:33–38). For when the holy and truer tent, that is, the Church from the Gentiles, had been revealed in the world, the light of Christ shone around it, and the cloud, like a kind of spiritual dew richly nourishing us with what comes from above, fills the divine temple. Yet Moses, it says, was not able to enter; for Israel did not go in, since it could not bear the force of the divine light. For it neither understood the mystery of Christ, nor accepted the enlightening that comes in the Spirit, nor beheld the glory of the Lord with the eyes of the mind. And with him, as in the type of the cloud, when he departs from the world and goes on to the things above, we depart too, following in the Master’s footsteps; for he opened for us the new and living way (Hebrews 10:20), I mean the way to the things above and in heaven. And when he rests, as it were…
Greek
τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν ἁγιασμοῦ χορηγὸς καὶ συνδοτὴρ, ὡς Θεὸς, τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ, μεθ' ἡμῶν ἁγιάζεται κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον· καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν ἡ λεγομένη κένωσις. Ὁ γὰρ ἅγιος κατὰ φύσιν ὡς Θεὸς, δεδεῆσθαι λέγεται τοῦ ἁγιάζοντος Θεοῦ· καὶ τοῦτό φησιν ὁ μακάριος Πέτρος· «Ἵνα τὸν ἀπὸ Ναζαρὲτ, ὡς ἔχρισεν αὐτὸν ὁ Θεὸς Πνεύματι ἁγίῳ.» Οὐκοῦν περὶ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον ἡ χρίσις, καὶ τῆς σαρκὸς ὁ ἁγιασμὸς, τῆς οὐ κατὰ φύσιν ἁγίας, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐν μεθέξει τῇ παρὰ Θεοῦ· θύραθεν γὰρ τοῖς κτίσμασιν ὁ ἁγιασμὸς, καὶ εἰσποιητῶς παρὰ Θεοῦ καταπλουτοῦσι τὴν χάριν. Χρίεται δὲ τοῖς ἄλλοις ὁμοῦ, καὶ τῆς κατὰ νόμον λατρείας τὸ θυσιαστήριον. Ἅγιος γὰρ καὶ ὁ νόμος, καλῶν εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν Θεοῦ, καὶ δικαιοσύνης εἴδησιν τοῖς ἀκροωμένοις ἐντιθεὶς, καὶ εἰς ἀρχὰς ἀγαθότητος ἀποφέρων τοὺς παιδευομένους· «Ἀρχὴ γὰρ, φησὶν, ὁδοῦ ἀγαθῆς τὸ ποιεῖν τὰ δίκαια.» Γράφει δέ που καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος, «Ὥστε ὁ μὲν νόμος ἅγιος, καὶ ἡ ἐντολὴ ἁγία, καὶ δικαία καὶ ἀγαθή.» Ἅγιος δὲ ἁγίων ὁ νόμος, οὐ κατά γε τὴν σκιὰν, ἀλλ' ὅτι πρὸς θεωρίαν εἰ μετατρέποιτο τὴν πνευματικὴν, αὐτὸν ἡμῖν οἱ τύποι διακεκράγασι τὸν Χριστὸν, τὸν Ἅγιον ἁγίων ἀληθῶς· ἁγιάζει γὰρ ὡς Θεὸς τῷ ἰδίῳ καταχρίων πνεύματι τοὺς ἐν μεθέξει γεγονότας αὐτοῦ διὰ τῆς πίστεως. Ἐγηγερμένης δὲ δὴ, καὶ μὴν καὶ ἐλαίῳ τῷ ἁγίῳ κατακεχρισμένης τῆς ἁγίας σκηνῆς, τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο λέγωμεν, εἰ δοκεῖ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Γέγραπται τοίνυν ὡδί· «Καὶ συνετέλεσε Μωσῆς πάντα τὰ ἔργα, καὶ συνεκάλυψεν ἡ νεφέλη τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ μαρτυρίου, καὶ δόξης Κυρίου ἐπληρώθη ἡ σκηνή. Καὶ οὐκ ἠδυνήθη Μωσῆς εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ μαρτυρίου, ὅτι ἐπεσκίαζεν ἐπ' αὐτὴν ἡ νεφέλη, καὶ δόξης Κυρίου ἐπλήσθη ἡ σκηνή. Ἡνίκα δὲ ἀνέβη ἀπὸ τῆς σκηνῆς, ἀνεζεύγνυσαν οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ σὺν τῇ ἀπαρτίᾳ αὐτῶν· εἰ δὲ μὴ ἀνέβη ἡ νεφέλη, οὐκ ἀνεζεύγνυσαν ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας, ἧς ἀνέβη ἡ νεφέλη· νεφέλη γὰρ ἦν ἐπὶ τῆς σκηνῆς ἡμέρας, καὶ πῦρ ἦν ἐπ' αὐτῆς νυκτὸς, ἐναντίον παντὸς Ἰσραὴλ, ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ἀναζυγαῖς αὐτῶν.» Ἀναδεδειγμένης γὰρ ἐν κόσμῳ τῆς ἁγίας καὶ ἀληθεστέρας σκηνῆς, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τῆς ἐξ ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησίας, φῶς περιελάμπετο Χριστοῦ, καὶ ἡ νεφέλη ὥσπερ τις πνευματικὴ δρόσος ἡμᾶς τοῖς ἄνωθεν πλουσίως καταπιαίνουσα, τὸν θεῖον ναὸν ἀναπίμπλησι. Πλὴν, οὐκ ἠδυνήθη, φησὶν, εἰσελθεῖν ὁ Μωσῆς, οὐ γὰρ εἰσβέβηκεν ὁ Ἰσραὴλ, τὴν τοῦ θείου φωτὸς προσβολὴν ἐνεγκεῖν οὐ δυνάμενος, ἐπείτοι οὐδὲ συνῆκε τὸ Χριστοῦ μυστήριον, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ προσήκατο τὸν ἐν πνεύματι φωτισμὸν, οὐδὲ τεθέαται τοῖς τῆς διανοίας ὄμμασι τὴν δόξαν Κυρίου, ᾧ καὶ ὡς ἐν τύπῳ νεφέλης, ἀπαίροντι μὲν τοῦ κόσμου καὶ πρὸς τὰ ἄνω βαδίζοντι, συναπαίρομεν κατ' ἴχνος ἰόντες τὸ δεσποτικὸν ἐνεκαίνισε γὰρ ἡμῖν τὴν πρόσφατόν τε καὶ ζῶσαν ὁδὸν, τὴν εἰς τὰ ἄνω φημὶ καὶ ἐν οὐρανῷ, ἀναπαυομένῳ δὲ ὥσπερ