Blood as a type of the immortal soul; no leaven with the blood
Cyril: …And I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for its blood shall make atonement in place of the soul. Therefore I have said to the sons of Israel: No soul among you shall eat blood, and the proselyte residing among you shall not eat blood. And any man of the sons of Israel, or of the proselytes residing among you, who takes in hunting a beast or a bird that may be eaten, shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth. For the soul of all flesh is its blood. And I said to the sons of Israel: You shall not eat the blood of any flesh, for the soul of all flesh is its blood; everyone who eats it shall be utterly destroyed’ (Leviticus 17:10–14). See, then, how clearly and openly the blood is taken as a type of the soul.
Palladius: I understand.
Cyril: The law, therefore, sets the blood apart and draws it away from the bodies of the slaughtered animals, teaching a true doctrine, one received by us in faith and held in honor in the Churches: I mean that the rational soul of man is immortal, and continues to exist and to think. Death does not destroy it together with earthly bodies; rather, the Creator releases it and sets it free, and exempts it from suffering, having made it a sharer in life. For in the beginning man was made a living soul, when God breathed into him the breath of life; for so it is written (Genesis 2:7). For, I think, we shall be charging the Life that gives life to all things with weakness if we say that what came into life from it perishes together with our temporary bodies. But we shall crown that Life with the most excellent wisdom if we believe that the soul is immortal, since the Creator of all, in whom we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28), has willed that it be so. And this, I suppose, is the reason for the legislation on this point. But let us go on to other ordinances of the tent as well. God said, then, in Exodus: ‘You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven’ (Exodus 23:18). Let the blood that is shed be unleavened, he says, the blood shed for what has been brought to God as a sacrifice; that is, of course, no leaven, or fine flour that has been leavened, is to be brought with it. For we must be cleansed and, as it were, unleavened, that is, we must not harbor in our minds any entanglement, so to speak, with baseness and wickedness, and so consecrate to God our own souls, of which the blood is a type. And the inspired Paul also called those ‘a new batch’ and ‘unleavened’ (1 Corinthians 5:7–8) who keep their own soul sincere, unclouded and unmixed with baseness, through faith in Christ, of course, and through perfect love. But ‘neither shall the fat of my feast,’ he says, ‘remain overnight until morning’ (Exodus 23:18); that is, you shall not offer yesterday’s fat as a fragrant odor. And in Leviticus he sets out the law more clearly and makes the matter plain, saying of the one who brings a sacrifice (Leviticus 7:16–17): ‘If he sacrifices his gift as a vow or a freewill offering, on whatever day he offers his sacrifice it shall be eaten, and on the next day as well; but what is left of the flesh of the sacrifice until the third day shall be burned with fire…
Greek
ἐστι. Καὶ ἐγὼ δέδωκα αὐτὸ ὑμῖν ἐπὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου ἐξιλάσκεσθαι περὶ τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν· τὸ γὰρ αἷμα αὐτοῦ ἀντὶ ψυχῆς ἐξιλάσεται. Διὰ τοῦτο εἴρηκα τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραήλ· Πᾶσα ψυχὴ ἐξ ὑμῶν οὐ φάγεται αἷμα. Καὶ ὁ προσήλυτος ὁ προσκείμενος ἐν ὑμῖν οὐ φάγεται αἷμα· καὶ ἄνθρωπος τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, ἢ τῶν προσηλύτων τῶν προσκειμένων ἐν ὑμῖν, ὃς ἂν θηρεύσῃ θήρευμα θηρίον ἢ πετεινὸν, ὃ ἐσθίεται, καὶ ἐκχεεῖ τὸ αἷμα, καὶ καλύψει αὐτὸ τῇ γῇ· ἡ γὰρ ψυχὴ πάσης σαρκὸς, αἷμα αὐτοῦ ἐστι. Καὶ εἶπα τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραήλ· Αἷμα πάσης σαρκὸς οὐ φάγεσθε, ὅτι ἡ ψυχὴ πάσης σαρκὸς αἷμα αὐτοῦ ἐστι· πᾶς ὁ ἐσθίων αὐτὸ, ἐξολοθρευθήσεται.» Ἄθρει δὴ οὖν σαφῶς καὶ ἀναφανδὸν ὡς εἰς ψυχῆς τύπον τὸ αἷμα λαμβάνεται.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Συνίημι,
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀλλοτριοῖ τοιγαροῦν ὁ νόμος, καὶ ὑπεξάγει σωμάτων τῶν σφαζομένων τὸ αἷμα, δόγμα διδάσκων ἀληθὲς, καὶ πρός γε ἡμῶν αὐτῶν ἐν πίστει δεκτὸν, καὶ ἐν Ἐκκλησίαις τίμιον, τὸ, ἀθάνατον εἶναί φημι, διακεῖσθαι καὶ φρονεῖν τὴν λογικὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ψυχὴν, ἣν τοῖς γηΐνοις σώμασιν, οὐ συγκαταφθείρει θάνατος, ἀπολύει δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ ἀνίησιν ὁ Δημιουργὸς, καὶ ὑπεξάγει τοῦ παθεῖν, ζωῆς ἀποφήνας μέτοχον. Πεποίηται γὰρ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐν ἀρχαῖς εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν, ἐνιέντος αὐτῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ πνοὴν ζωῆς· γέγραπται γὰρ ὡδί. Καταγράψομεν γὰρ, καθάπερ ἐγᾦμαι, τὸ ἄναλκι τῆς τὰ πάντα ζωογονούσης ζωῆς, εἰ τὸ πρὸς αὐτῆς γεγονὸς εἰς ζωὴν, συνδιόλλυσθαί φαμεν τοῖς προσκαίροις σώμασι. Συνέσει δὲ τῇ παγκάλῳ στέψομεν, ἀθάνατον εἶναι πιστεύοντες, δοκοῦν ὧδε ἔχειν αὐτὴν τῷ πάντων Δημιουργῷ, ἐν ᾧ ζῶμεν, καὶ κινούμεθα, καὶ ἐσμέν. Καὶ οὗτος, οἶμαί που, τῆς νομοθεσίας τῆς ἐπὶ τῷδε λόγος. Ἴωμεν δὲ καὶ ἐφ' ἕτερα δικαιώματα τῆς σκηνῆς. Ἔφη τοίνυν ὁ Θεὸς ἐν τῇ Ἐξόδῳ, «Οὐ σφάξεις ἐπὶ ζύμῃ αἷμα θυσιάσματός μου.» Ἄζυμον ἔστω, φησὶ, τὸ προχεόμενον αἷμα, καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ προσκεκομισμένου εἰς θυσίαν τῷ Θεῷ, ζύμης αὐτῷ δηλονότι ἤτοι σεμιδάλεως ἐζυμωμένης, οὐκ ἐπενηνεγμένης· χρὴ γὰρ ἡμᾶς ἐκκεκαθαρμένους καὶ ἀζύμους ὥσπερ ὑπάρχοντας, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τὴν ἐκ φαυλότητος καὶ πονηρίας οἱονεί πως ἐπιπλοκὴν, εἰς νοῦν οὐκ ἔχοντας, καθιεροῦν τῷ Θεῷ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ψυχὰς, ὧν εἰς τύπον τὸ αἷμα· νέον δὲ φύραμα καὶ ἀζύμους ἐκάλει καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος, τοὺς εἰλικρινῆ καὶ ἀθόλωτον, καὶ ἀσυμμιγῆ φαυλότητος τὴν οἰκείαν τηροῦντας ψυχὴν, διὰ πίστεως δὲ δηλονότι τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν, καὶ ἀγάπης ὁλοτελοῦς. Ἀλλ' «Οὐδὲ μὴ κοιμηθῇ, φησὶ, στέαρ τῆς ἑορτῆς μου, ἕως πρωΐ,» τοῦτ' ἔστι, χθιζὸν οὐκ ἀνοίσεις στέαρ εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας. Ἐν δὲ τῷ Λευιτικῷ σαφεστέραν ποιεῖται τοῦ νόμου τὴν δήλωσιν, καὶ τὸ χρῆμα ἐναργὲς καθίστησι λέγων περὶ τοῦ προσάγοντος θῦμα· «Κἂν εὐχὴν, ἢ ἑκούσιον θυσιάσῃ τὸ δῶρον αὐτοῦ, ᾗ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ προσενέγκῃ τὴν θυσίαν, βρωθήσεται, καὶ τῇ αὔριον· τὸ δὲ καταλειφθὲν ἀπὸ τῶν κρεῶν τῆς θυσίας, ἕως ἡμέρας τρίτης, ἐν πυρὶ καυθήσεται.