The newborn offering and the eighth day
Cyril: So then, after the perfecting in Christ, the Father cannot be approached through the worship of the law; he can be approached through the Son alone. That is why he said, ‘No one comes to the Father except through me’ (John 14:6). And that everything not in Christ is unfit for sacrifice and imperfect, while what is through him and in him is acceptable and most holy, can also be seen clearly from what the law says. In Exodus it says, ‘You shall not boil a lamb in its mother’s milk’ (Exodus 23:19); and in Leviticus, ‘And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: When a calf or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall be seven days under its mother; but from the eighth day on it shall be accepted as gifts, an offering by fire to the Lord. And a calf or a sheep, the mother and her young, you shall not slaughter on the same day’ (Leviticus 22:26–28). So he does not allow a lamb that is newborn and still at the breast to be slaughtered, showing that what is still immature and, so to speak, small and weak in understanding is not yet holy, and for this reason is still unacceptable to God. Such were certain unwise and small-minded people to whom the inspired Paul writes: ‘For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; you have come to need milk, not solid food. But solid food belongs to the mature’ (Hebrews 5:12–14). What is still on milk and at the breast is therefore immature, I mean in understanding and in spiritual strength. But let our discussion of these matters now move, as from a type drawn from things that are seen and plain to the senses, to things beyond the senses and grasped by the mind; only, you will understand very well that in Christ all things have come to perfection and acceptance. For the animals that are brought and dedicated to God must, he says, be seven days under their mother, but from the eighth day on they will be a gift, and an offering by fire to God.
Palladius: Your point is not very clear.
Cyril: Do you not say that the eighth day is the day of the Savior’s resurrection, and the beginning, as it were, of a new age, once the time of the law, figured in the first seven days, has passed by?
Palladius: I do.
Cyril: Then whatever belongs, so to speak, to the time of the law, that is, whatever lies in worship according to the flesh, is still unholy and cannot yet be offered; but from now on everything in Christ, on the eighth day and after, is already a gift and well pleasing to God. For the calling in Christ has no end, and its beginning is the resurrection. The Son himself knew this, and so he said at one time, ‘When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself’ (John 12:32), and at another, ‘Truly I tell you, unless the grain falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears more fruit’ (John 12:24).
Palladius: You have spoken rightly. But the rule that a mother must not be killed…
Greek
{ΚΥΡ.} Διὰ νομικῆς οὖν ἄρα λατρείας ἀπρόσιτος ὁ Πατὴρ, μετὰ τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ τελείωσιν, προσιτὸς δέ ἐστι διὰ μόνου τοῦ Υἱοῦ. Τοιγάρτοι καὶ ἔφασκεν, «Οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα, εἰ μὴ δι' ἐμοῦ.» Ὅτι δὲ ἄθυτόν τε καὶ ἀτελὲς πᾶν εἴτι μὴ ἐν Χριστῷ, δεκτὸν δὲ καὶ ἱερώτατον τὸ δι' αὐτοῦ τε καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ, σαφὲς ἂν γένοιτο καὶ δι' ὧν ὁ νόμος ἐν μὲν τῇ Ἐξόδῳ φησίν· «Οὐχ ἑψήσεις ἄρνα ἐν γάλακτι μητρὸς αὐτοῦ·» ἐν δὲ τῷ Λευιτικῷ· «Καὶ ἐλάλησε Κύριος πρὸς Μωσῆν λέγων· Μόσχον ἢ πρόβατον ἢ αἶγα ᾧ ἂν τεχθῇ, καὶ ἔσται ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας ὑπὸ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ. Τῇ δὲ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ὀγδόῃ καὶ ἐπέκεινα, δεχθήσεται εἰς δῶρα κάρπωμα τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ μόσχον καὶ πρόβατον, αὐτὴν καὶ τὸ παιδίον αὐτῆς οὐ σφάξετε ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ.» Ἄρνα μὲν οὖν τὸ ἀρτιγενὲς καὶ ὑπότιτθον ἔτι σφράττειν οὐκ ἐᾷ, δεικνὺς ὅτι, τὸ ἀτελὲς ἔτι καὶ ὡς ἐν συνέσει βραχύ τε καὶ ἀσθενὲς, οὔπω μὲν ἱερόν· ἔτι δὲ ἀπαράδεκτον διὰ τοῦτο Θεῷ. Τοιοῦτοί τινες ἦσαν ἄσοφοί τε καὶ ὀλιγογνώμονες, πρὸς οὓς ὁ θεσπέσιος γράφει Παῦλος· «Καὶ γὰρ ὀφείλοντες εἶναι διδάσκαλοι διὰ τὸν χρόνον, πάλιν χρείαν ἔχετε τοῦ διδάσκοντος ὑμᾶς τίνα τὰ στοιχεῖα τῆς ἀρχῆς τῶν λογίων τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ γεγόνατε χρείαν ἔχοντες γάλακτος, οὐ στερεᾶς τροφῆς· τελείων δέ ἐστιν ἡ στερεὰ τροφή.» Οὐκοῦν ἀτελὲς ἔτι, τὸ ἐν γάλακτί τε καὶ ὑπὸ μαστὸν, κατά γε τὸ ἐν συνέσει φημὶ καὶ εὐρωστίᾳ πνευματικῇ· ἴτω δὲ αὖ ἡμῖν ὁ περὶ τῶνδε λόγος, ὡς ἐκ τύπου τῶν ἐν αἰσθήσει καὶ ἐναργῶν πραγμάτων, ἐπὶ τὰ ὑπὲρ αἴσθησίν τε καὶ νοητὰ, πλὴν ὅτι τὰ πάντα γέγονεν ἐν Χριστῷ καὶ ἐν τελειότητι καὶ παραδοχῇ, συνήσεις εὖ μάλα. Τὰ γάρ τοι προσκομιζόμενα ζῶα καὶ ἀνατιθέμενα τῷ Θεῷ, δεῖν μὲν εἶναί φησιν ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας ὑπὸ τὴν μητέρα, τῇ δὲ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ὀγδόῃ καὶ ἐπέκεινα, δῶρον ἔσεσθαι, καὶ εἰς κάρπωμα τῷ Θεῷ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐ σφόδρα σαφὴς ὁ λόγος.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἦ γὰρ οὐχὶ τὴν ὀγδόην τὴν ἀναστάσιμον τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμέραν εἶναι φὴς, καὶ ἀρχὴν ὥσπερ αἰῶνος νέου, παριππεύσαντος τοῦ κατὰ νόμον ὡς ἐν ἡμέραις ἑπτὰ ταῖς πρώταις;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Φημί.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν ἀνίερόν τε καὶ ἀπροσκόμιστον ἔτι τὸ ὡς ἐν χρόνῳ τῷ κατὰ τὸν νόμον δηλονότι τὸ ἐν λατρείᾳ σαρκικῇ· δῶρον δὲ ἤδη καὶ εὐπρόσδεκτον τῷ Θεῷ πᾶν εἴτι λοιπὸν ἐν Χριστῷ κατὰ τὴν ὀγδόην καὶ ἐπέκεινα. Ἀκατάληκτος γὰρ ἡ ἐν Χριστῷ κλῆσις, ἀρχὴν ἔχουσα τὴν ἀνάστασιν. Καὶ τοῦτο εἰδὼς αὐτὸς ἔφασκεν ὁ Υἱὸς, ὁτὲ μὲν, «Ὅταν ὑψωθῶ ἐκ τῆς γῆς, πάντας ἑλκύσω πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν,» ὁτὲ δὲ, «Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐὰν μὴ ὁ κόκκος πεσὼν εἰς τὴν γῆν ἀποθάνῃ, αὐτὸς μόνος μένει· ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ, καρπὸν πλείονα φέρει.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὀρθῶς ἔφης. Τὸ δέ γε μὴ συνδιόλλυσθαι