The goat of confession, and the voice from above the mercy seat
Cyril: …toward all, teaching with meekness those who oppose him’ (2 Timothy 2:24–25). That the offering of a goat must follow what has already been named (Numbers 7:16) would show, I think, nothing other than what I said just now: that all people, even any whose settled character is good, need cleansing through repentance and the pardon of their trespasses. Knowing this, the divine David said: ‘If you should mark iniquities, Lord, Lord, who will stand?’ (Psalm 130:3). Under the old law, then, the goat was the sacrifice for forgiveness. But now repentance and the plea for pardon are the sacrifice for us who draw near to God in spirit and in truth (John 4:23). For it says: ‘State your sins first, that you may be justified’ (Isaiah 43:26). And David too sings somewhere: ‘I said, I will confess my sin against myself to the Lord, and you forgave the ungodliness of my heart’ (Psalm 32:5). Is the account of the leaders’ gifts clear to you now?
Palladius: Entirely so.
Cyril: I think this too must be said. For when the sacrifice had already been brought by each, and as it were on behalf of all, the divine words began to come to Moses, the revealer of the sacred rites, in the holy tent. It is written thus, again in Numbers: ‘This is the dedication of the altar, after his hands were filled and after he was anointed. When Moses went into the tent of testimony to speak with him, he heard the voice of the Lord God speaking to him from above the mercy seat, which is on the ark of the testimony, between the two cherubim; and he spoke to him’ (Numbers 7:88–89). For when the holy tent had, as it were, been completed, and the true sanctuary, which is the Church, had been shown to the world, then indeed the voice of God the Father came to us. ‘For he has spoken to us in the Son’ (Hebrews 1:2), whom we also call the mercy seat for our sins, according to the Scriptures (Romans 3:25; 1 John 2:2). The voice comes from above the cherubim, for God is above all creation and beyond it, and his supremacy over everything that has come into being belongs to his very essence and is inherent in him. And the Son, the true mercy seat, conveying to us the words that come from above and from the Father, said: ‘The words that I speak are not mine, but his who sent me’ (John 14:10, 24). So the voice came from above the mercy seat. You would also marvel not a little as you consider the approach of the tribal leaders. For a day was assigned to each one separately (Numbers 7:11), on which he was to carry out what had been prescribed and bring his gift. They came forward in good order, as the lawgiver decided; yet not in the order of their birth, that is, by age, nor simply mixed together at random, but arranged instead, as it were, in a mystical order.
Palladius: And yet I cannot work out what you mean. So tell me plainly.
Cyril: Would you like us to name, in order and one after another, those born of…
Greek
πρὸς πάντας, ἐν πραότητι διδάσκοντα τοὺς ἀντιδιατιθεμένους.» Τὸ δὲ δεῖν ἕπεσθαι τοῖς ἤδη προειρημένοις καὶ τὴν αἰγὸς προσφορὰν, ἐκδείξειεν ἂν οὐχὶ ἕτερον, οἶμαι, τὶ, πλὴν ὅπερ ἔναγχος ἔφην, τὸ δεῖσθαι δὴ πάντας, κἂν εἴ τινες εἶεν ἀγαθοὶ τὴν ἕξιν, τοῦ διὰ μεταγνώσεως καθαρισμοῦ καὶ ἀμνηστίας παραπτωμάτων. Καὶ τοῦτο εἰδὼς ὁ θεῖος ἔφη Δαβίδ «Ἐὰν ἀνομίας παρατηρήσῃς, Κύριε, Κύριε, τίς ὑποστήσεται;» Χίμαρος δὴ οὖν τὸ ὑπὲρ ἀφέσεως θῦμα, κατὰ τὸν πάλαι νόμον. Μετάγνωσις δὲ νυνὶ καὶ ἀμνηστίας αἴτησις τὸ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἱερεῖον, τοὺς ἐν πνεύματί τε καὶ ἀληθείᾳ προσιόντας Θεῷ. «Λέγε γὰρ, φησὶ, σὺ τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου πρῶτος, ἵνα δικαιωθῇς.» Ψάλλει δέ που καὶ ὁ Δαβίδ· «Εἶπα, Ἐξαγορεύσω κατ' ἐμοῦ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν μου τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ σὺ ἀφῆκας τὴν ἀσέβειαν τῆς καρδίας μου.» Ἆρά σοι λοιπὸν σαφὴς ὁ λόγος περὶ τῆς τῶν ἀρχόντων δωροφορίας;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Χρῆναι δὲ οἶμαι κἀκεῖνο εἰπεῖν, προσκεκομισμένης γὰρ ἤδη τῆς παρ' ἑκάστου καὶ ὡς ὑπὲρ πάντων θυσίας, ἀρχὴ τῶν θείων ἐγένετο λόγων ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ σκηνῇ πρὸς τὸν ἱεροφάντην Μωσέα. Γέγραπται δὲ οὕτω πάλιν ἐν τοῖς Ἀριθμοῖς· «Αὕτη ἡ ἐγκαίνισις τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου, μετὰ τὸ πληρῶσαι τὰς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ, καὶ μετὰ τὸ χρίσαι αὐτόν. Ἐν τῷ εἰσπορεύεσθαι Μωσῆν εἰς τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ μαρτυρίου, τοῦ λαλῆσαι αὐτῷ, καὶ ἤκουσε τὴν φωνὴν Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ λαλοῦντος πρὸς αὐτὸν ἄνωθεν τοῦ ἱλαστηρίου, ὅ ἐστιν ἐπὶ τῆς κιβωτοῦ τοῦ μαρτυρίου, ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν δύο Χερουβὶμ, καὶ ἐλάλει πρὸς αὐτόν.» Τετελειωμένης γὰρ ὥσπερ τῆς ἁγίας σκηνῆς, καὶ ἀναδειχθέντος κόσμῳ τοῦ ἀληθοῦς ἁγιάσματος, ὅ ἐστιν ἡ Ἐκκλησία, τότε δὴ τότε φωνὴ γέγονε πρὸς ἡμᾶς τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρός. «Λελάληκε γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐν Υἱῷ,» ὃν καὶ ἱλαστήριον εἶναί φαμεν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν, κατὰ τὰς Γραφάς. Ἄνωθεν δὲ τῶν Χερουβὶμ ἡ φωνή· κτίσεως γὰρ ἀνωτάτω καὶ ἐπέκεινα Θεὸς, οὐσιώδη τε καὶ ἐνυπάρχουσαν τὴν κατὰ παντὸς τοῦ γεγονότος ἔχων ὑπεροχήν· διαπορθμεύων δὲ εἰς ἡμᾶς τὰς ἄνωθεν καὶ παρὰ Πατρὸς φωνὰς, ἔφασκεν ὁ Υἱὸς, τὸ ἀληθὲς ἱλαστήριον, «Τὰ ῥήματα ἃ ἐγὼ λαλῶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμὰ, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πέμψαντός με.» Οὐκοῦν ἄνωθεν τοῦ ἱλαστηρίου γέγονεν ἡ φωνή. Θαυμάσαις δ' ἂν οὐ μετρίως τὴν τῶν φυλάρχων ἀνασκοπούμενος πρόσοδον. Ἀπονεμηθείσης γὰρ ἡμέρας ἑκάστῳ καὶ ἰδικῶς, καθ' ἣν ἔδει πληροῦν τὰ συντεταγμένα καὶ προσκομίσαι τὸ δῶρον, προσίεσαν μὲν ἐν κόσμῳ κατά γε τὸ τῷ νομοθέτῃ δοκοῦν· πλὴν οὐ κατὰ τὴν τῆς γενέσεως τάξιν, ἤτοι καθ' ἡλικίαν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἀναμὶξ καὶ χύδην ἁπλῶς, συντεθειμένοι δὲ μᾶλλον ὥσπερ εἰς οἰκονομίαν μυστικήν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ μὴν ὅ τι ποτέ ἐστιν ὃ φὴς, ἐννοεῖν οὐκ ἔχω. Φράζε δὴ οὖν μοι σαφῶς.
{ΚΥΡ.} Βούλει λέγωμεν ἐν τάξει καὶ καθεξῆς τοὺς ἐξ