On Adoration and Worship in Spirit and Truth, Book 11

Book Eleven opens: the priesthood of the law as a type of Christ's§1

1ON ADORATION AND WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH — BOOK ELEVEN. On the priesthood, and that the priesthood under the law was a type of the priesthood in Christ.

Cyril: We have now completed a sufficient discussion of the tabernacle and of the oracles given concerning it, polished very well and elegantly to a spiritual subtlety. Now it would be fitting, as it seems to me (and you yourself will agree, I know), to take up the honors of the priesthood, and the way in which the true priesthood is signified through the priesthood in type and under the law: that is, the priesthood which, in Christ and through him, sanctifies the sacred race. By the sacred race I mean, once again, those who have been made radiant in faith and enriched with closeness to God through sharing in the Holy Spirit.

Palladius: It would indeed be fitting, and very rightly so.

Cyril: When the holy tabernacle had been finished with fitting adornment, and brought into the form shown on the mountain to the inspired Moses (Exodus 25:40), God went on to appoint the priests. He said (Exodus 28:1): ‘And you, bring near to yourself Aaron your brother and his sons

Called by name: Aaron as a type of Christ the High Priest§2

2Cyril: …from among the sons of Israel, to serve me as priests: Aaron, and Nadab and Abihu, and Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron.’ (Exodus 28:1) So the chosen men were called by name to the sacred ministry. For ‘no one takes the honor for himself, but the one who is called by God’ (Hebrews 5:4), as it is written. Let no one, then, go of his own accord into serving God as a priest; let him wait for a call. Otherwise, if he tries to seize what he does not hold by decree from above, he will suffer the punishment of Dathan and Abiram (Numbers 16:31–33). And do not be surprised that self-appointment is out of place and unseemly among us, when Paul writes even about Christ himself: ‘He did not glorify himself to become high priest, but the one who said to him, “You are a priest for ever, according to the order of Melchizedek”’ (Hebrews 5:5–6; Psalm 110:4). So what was wisely said to Moses would again be an image of the call spoken of in Christ’s case: ‘And you, bring near to yourself Aaron your brother and his sons’ (Exodus 28:1). For what else does ‘bring near’ mean than ‘make him your own and call him to you’? Now Christ has been called, as it were, to be high priest through the counsel of the Father. And in a certain way the inspired disciples were also called together with him and made fellow workers for the sacred ministry. That is why they said plainly, ‘For we are God’s fellow workers’ (1 Corinthians 3:9); and they went about the whole world under the sun, serving the Gospel of Christ as priests among the nations (Romans 15:16). They were indeed called to apostleship through Christ, and the statement is true. But this too was surely willed by the Father; for there is one decision over all that is done, since the Son is the counsel and wisdom and will of the Father. So Aaron would be a type of Christ, and, as it were, a showing in advance of the priesthood understood in spirit and truth, as still in the dimmer shadows. Notice that Moses is commanded to bring Aaron near to himself; for the law is in some way weak and incomplete if it is separated from Christ. ‘For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins’ (Hebrews 10:4). But Christ, having offered one sacrifice for sinners, has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified (Hebrews 10:12, 14). Let those, then, who are still friends of the shadow and the letter, and who have been counted worthy of the commandments of Moses, know this: unless they bring near to themselves the high priest and apostle of our confession, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 3:1), their zeal for the worship in type will come to nothing. For what would the boasts of life under the law amount to before God, who loves virtue? That is why our most wise Paul says that, because of the surpassing excellence of the knowledge of Christ, he counts the things in the world as refuse (Philippians 3:8), and has chosen spiritual things instead. And this, understood spiritually, is to bring Aaron himself near to oneself.

Palladius: I understand what you say; the point is clear.

Cyril: ‘Bring near to yourself,’ then, he says,

Aaron given to weak Moses as a type of Christ; the holy robe is Christ§3

3Cyril: …‘Aaron your brother’ (Exodus 28:1), in another sense too, I think, since he knew that the matter is not without value for the benefit that comes through spiritual understanding. Consider what I mean. Moses was being sent to bring Israel out of their misery in Egypt. Then, seeing that the undertaking rose far above human power and beyond the measure of the strength and eloquence he had, he pleaded, saying: ‘Look, I have not been eloquent, neither yesterday nor the day before, nor since you began to speak to your servant; I am weak in voice and slow of tongue’ (Exodus 4:10). When God answered him, ‘Who gave man a mouth? Who made the deaf and the mute, the seeing and the blind? Was it not I, the Lord God? Now go, and I will open your mouth’ (Exodus 4:11–12), Moses, overcome by the greatness of the deeds to be achieved, was afraid again and said: ‘I beg you, Lord, appoint another who is able, whom you will send’ (Exodus 4:13). Then God at once appointed Aaron (Exodus 4:14–16), as a type of Christ, who knows how to accomplish all things with ease. And Israel was redeemed in no other way than by Christ being given, once again as in the image of Aaron, as a fellow worker to the halting speech and weakness of Moses. You will understand the present passage in the same way. For God, perfecting the weakness of the law in Christ, brought Aaron into the priesthood and joins him to good purpose with the blessed Moses. For the law would not suffice for redemption, nor would it be able to perfect the redeemed in sanctification. But Christ is redemption and sanctification (1 Corinthians 1:30), with the saints working together with him; just as Moses then worked with Aaron in Egypt, and the sons worked with Aaron himself. So too the inspired disciples worked together, in the spiritual sense, with Christ, the high priest and leader of all. He has power to accomplish all things, and they did not assist him as one who was weak; they were called to serve and chosen as the best, and from him they gained strength for everything. The inspired Paul will bear witness to this when he says: ‘I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me’ (Philippians 4:13).

Palladius: So Aaron and the rest were chosen and called by name to the sacred ministry.

Cyril: And besides this he ordained that splendid garments, fit for sacred service, should be made for them, saying: ‘And you shall make a holy robe for Aaron your brother, for honor and glory. And you, speak to all who are wise in understanding, whom I have filled with a spirit of perception, and they shall make the holy robe for Aaron for the sanctuary, in which he will serve me as priest’ (Exodus 28:2–3). Now the most wise Paul advises those who have been justified in faith that they must put on the robe that is truly holy and from heaven, writing: ‘Put on our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Romans 13:14). This is what the prophet Isaiah cried out beforehand, speaking as in the person of the Church: ‘Let my soul rejoice in the Lord, for he has clothed me with a garment of salvation and a tunic of gladness’ (Isaiah 61:10). The garment, then, that is for

Christ the garment of glory; the colors of the robe show the Word§4

4Cyril: …honor and glory, in truth, for the sacred and holy race is Christ, a splendid adornment, beyond this world, for the souls of the saints. ‘For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ’ (Galatians 3:27), he says, and the saying is true. But the law adorns Aaron as in shadows, referring to Christ the glory that comes from his richly varied robes. For a mystical and exact meaning is found all but woven into the making of these works of craft, hinting in riddles at the glory of the Savior. See how he says that the makers of the garments were filled with understanding from God (Exodus 28:3), since God was leading them to richly colored embroidery and writing the glory of Christ into the vestments. The pieces to be made were the breastpiece and the ephod, the full-length robe and the fringed tunic, the turban and the sash (Exodus 28:4): these, and others besides, which we will discuss one by one as far as we can. He spoke, then, of the materials taken for the work: ‘And they shall take the gold, and the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and fine linen’ (Exodus 28:5). Now once more, please, bring a keen mind to what lies before us, and first of all observe this.

Palladius: What do you mean?

Cyril: Were not all the things in the tabernacle made of gold and fine linen, and also of purple and spun scarlet, and of blue? And were they not a type of Christ?

Palladius: That is so.

Cyril: See, then, that the robe of the one who holds first place in the priesthood was made of the same materials, again laboring, as in an image and in types, to bring forth the glory of Christ. For the same meanings, and no different knowledge, point to the beauty of Christ. He is known as God in the gold; as having royal dignity in the purple; as the fine and bodiless Word in the fine linen; in the scarlet, because of the flesh; and in the blue, which looks like the sky (for that is the color of hyacinth), because he is from above and from heaven. Or is not the Word who is from God the Father both God and King at once?

Palladius: How could he not be?

Cyril: And though he is the fine and bodiless Word of the Father, did he not come to be in flesh? And is he not from above?

Palladius: True.

Cyril: So, to careful contemplation, the materials of the garments are exactly the same as those of the things made in the holy tabernacle. So much for that. Now it is time to speak of the things woven in many colors for Aaron’s honor and glory. So he says (Exodus 28:6–8): ‘And they shall make the ephod of spun fine linen, the woven work of an embroiderer. It shall have two shoulder pieces joined to each other, fastened at its two edges. And the woven work of the

The ephod’s emerald stones, an image of heaven§5

5Cyril: …of the shoulder pieces, which is on it, shall be of one piece with it in its workmanship, of gold and blue and purple and spun scarlet and twisted fine linen’ (Exodus 28:8). Having given the woven work the material already named, he goes straight on: ‘And you shall take the two stones, emerald stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, six names on the one stone and the remaining six names on the second stone, according to their birth. As the work of the stonecutter’s craft, as the engraving of a seal, you shall engrave the stones with the names of the sons of Israel. And you shall set the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod; they are stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel’ (Exodus 28:9–12).

Palladius: The meaning in these contemplations runs deep, it seems. But first try to tell me this: what is the thing called the ephod, and how would it have been made?

Cyril: He commanded that a woven garment be made, shaped like a tunic and reaching down to the chest, laid over the garments beneath it, those worn next to the skin that reach to the feet, so that, flashing with the gleam of gold and purple, it might stir in the eyes of those who saw it a wonder both august and fitting for holy things. He called it the ephod, that is, the shoulder piece, because, I think, the work was short and barely stretched across both shoulders. On this ephod, then, he plainly prescribed that two stones be set, stones of emerald, bound very tightly with fine threads, with the names of the tribes skilfully engraved on them, so that six were written on one stone. And the reason for this he himself made plain to us when he said: ‘And Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel before the Lord on his two shoulders, a remembrance for them’ (Exodus 28:12).

Palladius: And what, once again, shall we take the stones and what is on them to signify?

Cyril: Listen, then. The emerald is a pale stone. Deep within it something bright swims, and light is blended, as it were, with darkness, each drawing the victory toward itself against the other. Well then, Palladius, when the bodily eye looks up to the heights above and strains into the depths toward the upper air and heaven, will it not meet with just such a sight? For the uppermost air, very high above, is pale, I think, dark as it were in its depths, and mingled with a moderate light.

Palladius: That is so.

Cyril: So holy Scripture makes the stone an image of heaven. And do not be surprised when it likens heaven, in turn, to sapphire; for sapphire too is pale, and not far from the look of emerald. It is written thus in Exodus: ‘And Moses went up, and Aaron, and Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. And they saw the place where the God of Israel stood; and what was under his feet was like a work of sapphire stone, and like the appearance of the firmament of heaven in its purity’ (Exodus 24:9–10).

Names written in heaven, carried on Christ’s shoulders§6

6Cyril: For since the Israelites, while they lived in Egypt, had served the creation (Romans 1:25) and called heaven a god, the Lord of all appeared to them, for their good, standing upon the firmament itself, so that they might know that he has all things under his feet and is master of the heavens themselves, as their Creator. Do you see, then, that holy Scripture makes the stone, with its pallor as of a moderate light, a kind of type and image of heaven? For by nature it gleams dark blue.

Palladius: Very well said.

Cyril: The emerald, then, is a sign of heaven. It has Israel written on it, family by family, and it has been given the ephod as its place. From this we may understand that those who have been granted enrollment in heaven will surely, and in every way, rest upon Christ, who all but carries them on his shoulders and counts the good in the rank of children. The divine Moses said something like this when he adorned Israel with the tender care that comes from God: ‘As an eagle would shelter its nest, and yearned over its young, spreading its wings it received them, and took them up on its back’ (Deuteronomy 32:11). David too sings to every holy one who has made his dwelling in the help of the Most High (Psalm 91:1): ‘He will overshadow you upon his back,’ he says (Psalm 91:4). By ‘back’ I take him to mean the parts just below the neck, the region, as it were, of the shoulders, and not the back as a whole. So, in the words of the prophet, they will be lifted up on shoulders (Isaiah 60:4; Isaiah 66:12), and, as with Ephraim of old, they will be taken up on the arm (Hosea 11:3): those who have been granted the enrollment above. The Savior himself declared that enrollment glorious and admirable, surpassing even the beauty of the divine gifts, when he said somewhere to the holy disciples: ‘Do not rejoice that the demons are subject to you, but rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven’ (Luke 10:20). And he says that the enrollment on the stones will be a remembrance for the sons of Israel before the Lord (Exodus 28:12), who all but fixes his gaze on them, as they are in Aaron. For God the Father receives us into remembrance in Christ, and in him we have become known to God and worthy of his watchful care, as though written in God’s book.

Palladius: Rightly said.

Cyril: He commands that yet another ornament be added to it, saying: ‘And you shall make little shields of pure gold, of mingled work, and you shall make two fringes of pure gold, mingled with flowers, a plaited work; and you shall put the plaited fringes on the little shields and on their shoulder straps at the front. And you shall make the oracle of judgments, the work of a weaver, after the design of the ephod; you shall make it of gold and blue and purple and twisted scarlet and twisted fine linen. You shall make it square; it shall be double, a span its length and a span its breadth’ (Exodus 28:13–16), ‘and you shall weave into it a woven work set with…

How the oracle of judgments was made§7

7Cyril: …stones, in four rows’ (Exodus 28:17). Then, after setting out the names of the stones, he adds again: ‘And let the stones be twelve, according to the names of the sons of Israel, according to their names; let them be engravings of seals, each according to their names, for the twelve tribes’ (Exodus 28:21). And next, a little further on, he says: ‘And Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the oracle of judgment, on his breast, when he goes into the Holy Place, a remembrance before the Lord God’ (Exodus 28:29).

Palladius: How deep a matter the oracle is! Even the way it was made seems to me very hard to grasp.

Cyril: We must approach it, then, and come as near the truth as we can, even if the steep climb perhaps does not allow us to reach it entirely. For to see very obscure things even in a mirror (1 Corinthians 13:12) is, I would say, better than the alternative, I mean, than not to have grasped them at all. I will speak, then, as far as possible, and as I am able to understand it. He commanded that two little shields be made of pure gold, wider than the round of a coin but of the same shape, for a coin is round; then two fringes of pure gold, mingled with flowers. By the fringes we mean chains, whose appearance is richly varied, as with colors, for by ‘flowers’ he meant colors. These colors, then, were fine linen and purple, and gold thread, and blue as well, and the scarlet yarn. Besides this, he says that a square woven piece must be made, shaped, as it were, like a cube, a span in size and equal on every side. And he says that the twelve stones must be woven very firmly into it, set three by three, in four rows in all, with the names of the tribes engraved on them. So the little shields hung from the ephod by golden chains of many kinds, though they sat a little lower than the height of the shoulders themselves. They touched the chest and hung right over the breasts. And from the little shields, by other chains, the oracle of judgments, firmly attached, rested lightly on the chest, with the fringes hanging down. To those who saw it the thing was no small marvel, bright with stones and gold, and gloriously worked in the fine colors of the other materials. This too, he says, will again be a remembrance for the sons of Israel before the Lord, when Aaron goes into the Holy Place (Exodus 28:29). Is the shape of these works now as clear to you as it can be?

Palladius: Very clear. But why is the name ‘the oracle of judgments’ given to this work?

Cyril: Did we not say, explaining the word’s origin, that the upper piece was called the ephod, the shoulder piece, because it is stretched over both shoulders?

Palladius: Yes. What of it?

Cyril: That, again, by true derivation and by analogy, we say that the piece laid up, as it were…

The oracle on the heart: right judgment and the armor of God§8

8Cyril: …in the heart and the inward parts has been named the oracle (logion) of judgments. For the heart and the inward parts are, so to speak, the dwelling place of the reason (logikon) within us. And firmly set, and as it were naturally fixed, in the reason within us is also right and blameless judgment about each thing to be done, that is, just judgment, and what befits each case. Or is it not some power of reason in us that weighs the nature of the things to be done, and separates what is unpleasant and unprofitable from what is better?

Palladius: Certainly.

Cyril: It is the custom of the divinely inspired Scripture to call uprightness and just judgment ‘judgment’. So the divine David sings: ‘Blessed are those who keep judgment and do righteousness at all times’ (Psalm 106:3). And again he said somewhere: ‘And the honor of the king loves judgment’ (Psalm 99:4). For the honor and glory of a king is splendid when it loves righteousness. So, then, the piece laid upon the heart and breast is the oracle of judgment, because it lies, as it were, in the place of the reason, where uprightness in righteousness is found. On it are twelve stones set round with gold, bearing an inscription: the tribes. They would be a type of holy men, who are splendid and precious, like choice stones, lying, as it were, in the mind and heart of Christ. And they are truly worthy of remembrance, because of the brightness of their virtue and the worth of their sanctification. Golden fringes also hang from the oracle of judgments. The thing indicates, I think, that the great and countless host of noble deeds done by the multitude of the saints is seen, as it were, hanging from it. And indeed the blessed David says that the adornment of the Church is in fringes (Psalm 45:13).

Palladius: The account is convincing.

Cyril: From the oracle of judgments, gripped by golden clasps, a many-colored and bright chain climbs upward, as we were saying, and passing through both little shields, it reaches the very top of the ephod, where the stones of the enrollment are. Is it not worth seeing what this, too, might mean? To me the riddle seems again to point to something like this: that the precious stones, which are in the knowledge and the memory of Christ, as they run toward the enrollment above, gain it through the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left (2 Corinthians 6:7); for so the divine Paul plainly writes. And elsewhere he also says: ‘Put on the whole armor of God’ (Ephesians 6:11). A king’s weapons are golden, and golden likewise are the little shields, which hint, as in a riddle, at the whole armor of God. So we shall be in God’s memory and enrollment in no other way than by taking up the weapons of righteousness and making our way by them in action. And its being fastened to the ephod…

The oracle joins earth to heaven; Manifestation and Truth§9

9Cyril: …the oracle would signify, I think, that the things below are joined to the things above, with Christ as mediator. ‘For he himself is our peace, who has made both one’ (Ephesians 2:14), as the Scriptures say; and he has bound humankind to the multitude of the holy angels by the bond of love. It should be known, too, that the blessed Ezekiel says that the ruler of Tyre was clothed with every precious stone (Ezekiel 28:13); and he lists the very stones which the inspired Moses says were set in the oracle of judgment. They were these: sardius, topaz, emerald, carbuncle, sapphire and jasper, ligure, agate, amethyst, chrysolite, beryl and onyx (Exodus 28:17–20). They were arranged in threes, in four rows in all, and this arrangement sketches for us the firmness in faith of those who are in the heart and memory of Christ. For the setting in threes is a symbol of faith, as in the Trinity; and the arrangement as in a square figure with equal sides is a symbol of firmness. For the oracle on which the twelve stones were set was made in this way (Exodus 28:16).

Palladius: I am persuaded.

Cyril: Besides these, he also orders something else to be joined with the twelve stones, saying: ‘And you shall put on the oracle of judgment the Manifestation and the Truth, and it shall be on Aaron’s breast whenever he goes into the holy place before the Lord; and Aaron shall bring the judgments of the sons of Israel on the breast before the Lord continually’ (Exodus 28:30). He names them Manifestation and Truth, but he does not go on to state clearly whether he ordered them to be stones, or writing as on a small tablet. But I will call to mind the prophet who says, ‘For the sons of Israel shall sit many days with no king and no ruler, with no sacrifice and no altar, with neither priesthood nor manifestations’ (Hosea 3:4). But whether these too were stones, or the names were written in gold as on a tablet, our discussion will not inquire into it too closely. We shall recognize, however, that they were set there as a type of Christ’s presence with the saints. ‘For behold,’ he says, ‘I am with you always, to the end of the age’ (Matthew 28:20). And Christ is the Truth and the Manifestation. For in him we have come to know the Father, and he has made known to us his good will, perfect and pleasing, as the Scriptures say (Romans 12:2). For Christ said somewhere, ‘I no longer call you servants; you are my friends, because everything that I heard from my Father I have declared to you’ (John 15:14–15). Emmanuel is the Truth in another sense as well: because he alone is Son by nature, and, as God from God, he alone is holy, he alone is Lord; while creation is, by participation and by imitation, whatever he himself is understood to be. So Christ, understood as Manifestation and Truth, is with the saints; and he brings our affairs before the face of the Father (Hebrews 9:24), since he always lives to intercede for us (Hebrews 7:25). For this, I think, is the meaning of ‘And Aaron shall bring the judgments of the sons of Israel…’ (Exodus 28:30)

The blue robe: incorruption from above§10

10Cyril: …before the Lord on his breast continually’ (Exodus 28:30).

Palladius: True.

Cyril: He orders that a vestment be made, fit for a priest and worthy of admiration, saying: ‘And you shall make a full-length robe, all of blue. Its opening for the head shall be in the middle of it, with a border all around the opening, woven work, the joining woven together from the same piece, so that it may not be torn. And beneath the hem of the robe, below, you shall make little pomegranates like those of a pomegranate in bloom, of blue and purple and spun scarlet and twisted fine linen, beneath the hem of the robe all around. Of the same pattern as the pomegranates, golden bells between them all around: beside each pomegranate a golden bell and a flower, on the hem of the robe all around. And when Aaron ministers, its sound shall be heard as he goes into the holy place before the Lord and as he comes out, so that he may not die’ (Exodus 28:31–35). By ‘full-length robe’ he clearly means a long tunic, well suited to cover the body, reaching from the neck itself to the tips of the feet. It is of blue because this is a symbol of the incorruption from above, that is, of Christ. For the inspired David too proclaimed something of this kind beforehand, speaking as in the person of God about those who serve as priests in the churches: ‘Her priests I will clothe with salvation’ (Psalm 132:16). And the wise Paul writes to us, ‘Put on our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Romans 13:14). And this, I think, is our dwelling from heaven, which we long to put on (2 Corinthians 5:2), the tunic of gladness, the garment of salvation, as the prophet says (Isaiah 61:10). It has been clearly stated that the color blue is a figure of heaven. This account is true when it is applied to ourselves, for we have been clothed with the incorruption from above. But if Christ himself should be understood as the one wearing the full-length robe, as in the person of Aaron, our account is no less true. For the Only-begotten, being God by nature, makes his own body incorruptible; and, clothing it with the life from above, he set it entirely beyond the greed of death. That incorruption and life are in Christ by nature, and not by participation, you will understand from this as well. For, as one who is God by nature, he said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life’ (John 11:25). But as one who is given life in respect of his humanity, he says, ‘For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself’ (John 5:26). So even if Christ himself is understood as the one said to be clothed with the incorruption from above, the interpretation would not stray from what is fitting. On the lower parts are pomegranates and bells, set alternately: the pomegranates woven in, and the bells of gold, so that they would truly ring out well, and, when Aaron hurries into the Holy of Holies, would make his entrance very noticeable. This too is a symbol of the saving and wise dispensation; I mean of the divine Gospel…

Bells and pomegranates: teachers in every city; the gold plate§11

11Cyril: …proclamation, which rings out, as it were, around every city, when our great high priest (Hebrews 4:14), the spotless victim, has entered for our sake into the Holy of Holies, having obtained eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12). ‘For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified’ (Hebrews 10:14). The riddle is not hard to see through: the bells made of gold stand for the saving proclamation, and the pomegranates for cities.

Palladius: In what way?

Cyril: A city is enclosed on the outside by a single wall, yet holds countless quarters within itself. In the same way, I think, the pomegranate fruit is girded on the outside by a single rind, while inside the seeds are walled off from one another by thin membranes and are all but gathered into quarters. Or is it not so?

Palladius: I agree.

Cyril: So there is a bell beside each pomegranate, for there is a teacher in each city, who by the ringing and clear sound of the divine doctrines makes our Savior’s entry into the Holy of Holies plain to all. And the fear of death hangs over those appointed to serve as priests, that is, over Aaron, as he goes into the holy tabernacle, unless the strokes of the bells ring out loudly all around. For silence is a dangerous thing for teachers. And this is plainly what Paul said: ‘For woe to me if I do not preach the gospel’ (1 Corinthians 9:16).

Palladius: So it seems; for you judge this very rightly.

Cyril: And besides these: ‘And you shall make,’ he says, ‘a plate of pure gold, and you shall engrave on it, as a seal is engraved, “Consecrated to the Lord.” And you shall set it on twisted blue thread, and it shall be on the turban; it shall be on the front of the turban. And it shall be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall take away the sins of the holy things, whatever the sons of Israel consecrate, of every gift of their holy things. And it shall be on Aaron’s forehead continually, acceptable for them before the Lord’ (Exodus 28:36–38). The turban, then, is of blue, and the plate is of gold. The engraving and the writing on it are the mystery of Christ and a clear proclamation, made beforehand, of his being sent into this world. For it says, ‘Consecrated to the Lord.’ Or did Emmanuel not say plainly that he had been consecrated by God the Father (John 10:36)?

Palladius: Yes; for I remember him saying to the Jews, ‘If he called them gods to whom the word of God came, and Scripture cannot be broken, do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, “You are blaspheming,” because I said, “I am the Son of God”?’ (John 10:35–36)

Cyril: When the Son says that he has been consecrated by God the Father, he shows that he has been, as it were, appointed and sent. So ‘Consecrated to the Lord,’ he says; that is, a manifestation to this world and…

Christ's kingship has no end; the linen headdress and belt§12

12Cyril: …a sending, yet for kingship and glory. For in this way he brings Aaron to completion, setting the golden band on his forehead. And Christ is Lord and King of all, both by nature and by participation. For though he is God by nature, he emptied himself, lowering himself into the form of a servant (Philippians 2:7); and he receives kingship in the way that befits his human form, even though from above and from the beginning he sits beside God the Father, rules all things with him and is Master of all with him. Notice how his turban is made of blue and bears the bright token of kingship, I mean the golden plate. Blue is a sign of heaven; and remember that Christ says, ‘My kingdom is not of this world’ (John 18:36). For Christ is not an earthly king but a heavenly one, having the whole creation under his feet (Ephesians 1:22). And by adding, ‘And Aaron shall take away the sins of the holy things, whatever they consecrate, of every gift of their holy things’ (Exodus 28:38), he has clearly shown that all access and all perfecting are in Christ, and indeed that all justification is in him and through him, and also the putting away of former offenses. For he takes away our sins (John 1:29), and through him we have become acceptable, bringing offerings in spirit to God the Father (1 Peter 2:5).

Palladius: Well said.

Cyril: And showing very well that our Savior’s kingship cannot be laid aside, but is continual and stretches into endless ages, he says of the plate on the turban, ‘And it shall be on Aaron’s forehead continually’ (Exodus 28:38). What then will become of the bold and senseless talk of the unholy heretics, who have babbled that Christ’s dominion will one day come to an end, and that Emmanuel will hand over the kingdom to God the Father (1 Corinthians 15:24) and leave the thrones of the Godhead? For they pride themselves on doctrines so dreadful and so short-lived; and it is fitting to say to them, ‘You are wrong, because you do not know the Scriptures’ (Matthew 22:29). For look, look: while God the Father plainly and clearly crowns Aaron with lasting glory and honor and with the tokens of kingship, they take the crown from him, and all but snatch away the sacred turban that graces his forehead.

Palladius: True.

Cyril: ‘And you shall make a headdress and a belt of fine linen’ (Exodus 28:39), he says. Aaron’s dress is that of a soldier, a belt and a helmet; for the headdress is shaped rather like a helmet. For Christ has fought for us ‘with a hidden hand’ (Exodus 17:16), as it is written; and ‘he has bent his bow and made it ready; he has fashioned his arrows for those who are burning’ (Psalm 7:12–13); and he has pulled down rulers, led powers in triumph (Colossians 2:15), shaken dominions, and rescued those on earth who were captives. And that the war he waged was not visible or material, nor, so to speak, against blood and flesh (Ephesians 6:12), seems to be shown in a riddle by this: that from linen alone, and that very…

The priests’ linen: holy warfare, purity, and putting off dead works§13

13Cyril: …thin, that his war gear was made, the headdress and the belt. So with adornment fit for a priest he shows Aaron splendid and admirable. Then he gives a further command, saying: ‘And for the sons of Aaron you shall make tunics and belts, and you shall make headdresses for them, for honor and glory. And you shall put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him. And you shall anoint them, and ordain them, and sanctify them, so that they may serve me as priests. And you shall make for them linen undergarments to cover the nakedness of their bodies; they shall reach from the loins to the thighs. And Aaron and his sons shall wear them whenever they go into the tent of witness, or whenever they come near to minister at the altar of the sanctuary. And they shall not bring sin upon themselves, so that they do not die. It is a perpetual statute for him and for his offspring after him’ (Exodus 28:40–43). You see that it befits Aaron’s descendants too to be seen, as it were, in the dress of war. For the whole sacred race is made for battle. It knows how to campaign and take the field, not against blood and flesh (Ephesians 6:12), but so as to hold back profane sin, fighting most openly and with reason for the doctrines of the truth, and ‘taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ’ (2 Corinthians 10:5), as it is written. They also have a linen undergarment, which covers very well what is unlovely and unseemly about the thighs. For all that belongs to the saints is truly dignified, and nothing unseemly is found in them. And the linen placed on the parts of the body around the thighs hints in some way that the cooling of the pleasures of the flesh is most fitting for the saints, for linen is cool. Heat that runs toward the most loathsome desires is foreign to everything holy. And there is another reason why those who have been allotted the priesthood wear robes and undergarments of linen. They must depart from dead works, and what is taken from a dead creature, I mean a sheep, is a symbol of deadness. So, again as in a type, to be clothed in garments of linen and not rather in garments of wool is the putting away of dead works; and this is the holy and perpetual law. And he made it plain that death must follow, wholly and without fail, for those who neglect what is fitting and the good order that most befits them, when, after saying what they must wear to perform the sacred service, he added: ‘And they shall not bring sin upon themselves, so that they do not die’ (Exodus 28:43).

Palladius: The law is sure. It shows very well what benefits each person, and it makes clear the means by which things would go best.

Cyril: So it is. With such a robe he adorns the sacred and chosen race, and he sanctifies it in another way as well: still as in shadow, yet in Christ. For it is written thus: ‘And these are the things you shall do for them to sanctify them, so that they may serve me as priests. You shall take one young bull from the herd and two unblemished rams, and unleavened loaves kneaded with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil. Of fine wheat flour…’ (Exodus 29:1–2)

Washed, robed and anointed: baptism, Christ and the Spirit§14

14Cyril: ‘…you shall make them, and you shall put them in one basket, and bring them in the basket, together with the young bull and the two rams. And you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the doors of the tent of witness, and wash them with water. And taking the vestments, you shall clothe Aaron your brother with the full-length tunic, the ephod and the breastpiece, and you shall join the breastpiece to the ephod for him. And you shall set the turban on his head, and set the holy plate on the turban. And you shall take some of the anointing oil and pour it on his head, and anoint him. And you shall bring his sons and clothe them with tunics, and gird them with belts, and put the headdresses on them. And they shall hold the priesthood for me for ever. And you shall consecrate the hands of Aaron and the hands of his sons’ (Exodus 29:2–9). So he ordered a young bull and two rams to be brought for sacrifice, with wafers and loaves in a basket. But he also purifies them beforehand in another way, setting the matter down, I think, as a type of true sanctification. For after washing Aaron with water, he clothes him in the holy robe. And when we too are washed through holy baptism and cleansed of every kind of uncleanness, it is then, then indeed, that we are enriched with the grace from above and from heaven, receiving the tunic of gladness, according to the words: ‘Put on our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Romans 13:14). For our discourse has already shown that Christ was portrayed in many ways, as it were, in Aaron’s adornment. And he anoints his head with holy oil. David too sings somewhere: ‘You anointed my head with oil’ (Psalm 23:5), the oil signifying the gladness in hope of this voice of the saints, or else the visitation from above that makes us glad. For we who have believed have received mercy, and we are blessed by the Lord, our mind richly fed by the supply of the Spirit; and the head is a type of the mind. In this same way the priests were sanctified: washed with water and anointed with oil, and so anointed, putting on the sacred vesture and having their hands consecrated, so that they might now in some measure seem fit to offer the sacrifices purely and blamelessly from then on. We ourselves, too, sanctified beforehand, made glorious by the grace from above, and anointed for spiritual perfection, now bring our offerings to God with boldness, as it were with clean and wholly pure hands; spiritual offerings, clearly. And indeed I think something of this kind is shown by what blessed David sings about everyone who goes up to the mountain of the Lord: ‘innocent in hands and pure in heart’ (Psalm 24:3–4).

Palladius: So it seems.

Cyril: He then laid down by law how the sacrifices for the priests must be carried out, saying: ‘And you shall bring the young bull to the doors of the tent of witness, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the young bull before the Lord, at the doors of the tent of witness. And you shall slaughter the young bull before the Lord, at the…’ (Exodus 29:10–11)

The bull for sin, the ram of burnt offering, and the ram of consecration§15

15Cyril: ‘…doors of the tent of witness. And you shall take some of the young bull’s blood and put it on the two horns of the altar with your finger, and you shall pour out all the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. And you shall take all the fat on the belly, and the lobe on the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat on them, and put them on the altar. But the flesh of the young bull, and its hide, and its dung you shall burn with fire outside the camp, for it is a sin offering. And you shall take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the ram’s head. And you shall slaughter it, and taking the blood you shall pour it out against the altar all around. And you shall cut the ram into pieces limb by limb, and wash the entrails and the feet with water, and put them on the pieces with the head. And you shall offer up the whole ram on the altar, a whole burnt offering to the Lord, for a fragrant aroma; it is an incense offering to the Lord. And you shall take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the ram’s head. And you shall slaughter it, and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, and on the tip of his right hand, and on the tip of his right foot, and on the lobes of the right ears of his sons, and on the tips of their right hands, and on the tips of their right feet. And you shall take some of the blood from the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his robe, and on his sons and on his sons’ robes with him; and he and his robe shall be sanctified, and his sons and his sons’ robes. And you shall pour out the ram’s blood against the altar all around. And you shall take from the ram its fat, and the fat that covers the belly, and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat beneath them, and the right shoulder, for this is a consecration; and one loaf made with oil, and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread set out before the Lord. And you shall put them all on the hands of Aaron and on the hands of his sons, and you shall set them apart as a special portion before the Lord. And you shall take them from their hands and offer them up on the altar of burnt offering for a fragrant aroma before the Lord; it is an offering to the Lord. And you shall take the breast from the ram of consecration, which is Aaron’s, and set it apart as a special portion before the Lord, and it shall be your share. And you shall sanctify the breast as a special portion, and the shoulder of the contribution, which has been set apart and which has been taken from the ram of consecration, from Aaron and from his sons. And it shall be for Aaron and his sons a perpetual statute from the sons of Israel; for this is a special portion, and it shall be a contribution from the sons of Israel, from the sacrifices of deliverance of the sons of Israel, a contribution to the Lord’ (Exodus 29:11–28). And a little further on: ‘And you shall take the ram of consecration and boil its flesh in a holy place, and Aaron…’ (Exodus 29:31–32)

The ordination meal; Christ the calf burned outside the camp§16

16Cyril: …‘and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the loaves in the basket at the doors of the tent of witness. They shall eat the things by which they were sanctified, to consecrate their hands and to sanctify them; and no stranger shall eat of them, for they are holy. And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of consecration or of the loaves is left until morning, you shall burn what remains with fire. It shall not be eaten, for it is a holy thing.’ (Exodus 29:32–34)

Palladius: How deep a thing the commandments of the law are!

Cyril: Very deep indeed; you were right to say so. Yet they are not wholly obscure, since the Holy Spirit makes the divine light flash within us. Come, then, let us again speak of each point as best we can. Our Lord Jesus Christ sanctifies us in countless ways, and makes us sacred and acceptable. For through him and in him we have gained access (Romans 5:2), and we are not unwelcome to God the Father. For us who are subject to corruption and sin, his death is most needful and necessary for salvation; so too is his life, and besides these the perfecting that comes through his body and blood; for perfection is in Christ, not in the law (Hebrews 7:19).

Palladius: Well said.

Cyril: See, then, how the things by which we have been so fully saved and sanctified, and have become sacred and holy in Christ, are still set out in types. A young calf from the herd was brought for sacrifice, and it is slaughtered at the very doors of the holy tent after hands have been laid on it. Its blood was poured out at the altar, and the horns of the altar were smeared with it; the inward parts are sent up in smoke, ranked with the most fragrant offerings of incense; and the rest of the body is carried out beyond the camp and burned (Exodus 29:10–14). Christ is the calf, as one both free of the yoke and under the yoke. For though he is God by nature, he came under the law because of his humanity (Galatians 4:4). Is not a young calf unused to the yoke, and yet of a nature made to bear the yoke?

Palladius: It is so.

Cyril: Christ, then, is again called a calf in keeping with the plan of salvation, so that we may grasp at one and the same time both that the Godhead of the Word is a stranger to servitude, and that in his humanity he came to be in a nature that bears the yoke. He is slaughtered, as it were, for the holy tent and for those who laid their hands on him; and these are Levites and priests. For he died for the Church and for those consecrated to him through faith. That the death of Emmanuel is sacred, and acceptable to God the Father as a sacrifice, you may see from the blood poured out at the holy altar and smeared on it, and from the inward parts burned as incense. These may stand as a type of the virtues that lie within and belong to the mind. In these virtues there is a spiritual fragrance, and not in one way only, since the inward parts are many: the fat, the kidneys, and the lobe of the liver (Exodus 29:13). What is left of the body is burned outside the camp. For Christ suffered outside the gate; so Paul writes (Hebrews 13:12). And the consuming of the body by fire would signify, in a subtle way, that his suffering and death…

Death turned to glory; the first ram and Christ's holy life§17

17Cyril: …would in no way end in dishonor, but would issue in bright and most evident glory. For the divine nature is thought of under the form of fire, and in this way it came down upon Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:18). To destroy the power of death (Hebrews 2:14), Christ underwent death in keeping with the plan of salvation, so that he might be glorified by us as God. His death, then, passes on into a glory fit for God, having as its end a glorious return to life; and the lowliness of his suffering, overcome by the highest honors, vanishes into nothing. And this, I think, is what is meant in a veiled way by the dead calf being consumed by fire. And when he adds, ‘for it is a sin offering’ (Exodus 29:14), he has made known that the suffering of Christ took place for the cleansing away of sin; and the matter is not obscure.

Palladius: Indeed it is not.

Cyril: Next the first ram is taken and slaughtered in the same way as the calf. Its blood again was poured out at the altar, and it was cut up limb by limb and offered up together with its head and feet, after its inward parts had been washed with water, because it is an offering of incense (Exodus 29:15–18). By these things again Christ is portrayed for us: he who is perfect, pictured in the perfect ram, and whose life is holy. The pouring of the blood at the altar shows this, I think, for blood is a type of life; and it shows him dedicated to God the Father as a fragrant aroma, on behalf of all together and of each one. The ram’s being offered up on the altar both whole and limb by limb is again a type of this. Now we are members of Christ individually, and all of us are understood to be one body (1 Corinthians 12:27; Romans 12:5). That he is holy and sacred through and through, and has no spot of uncleanness, the washing of the inward parts makes very plain. The head and the feet are offered up together, showing that the Savior’s life was fragrant in holiness from the beginning to the very end. For in every animal the head is the beginning, while the feet are the end, where the whole body, as it were, comes to its close. Or perhaps it is better to take the head as a type of the mind, and the feet as a type of the course of active, practical life. In Christ all is fragrant, and both his thoughts and his deeds reached the height of purity; for he committed no sin (1 Peter 2:22). That is why it calls the dedication of the ram whole burnt offerings and a sacrifice (Exodus 29:18): he is not holy or sacred only in part. For it would in no way befit him, but rather us, to be weak at times and to be caught stumbling; for no one is pure from sins, and we all stumble in many ways, as it is written (James 3:2).

Palladius: And how might one suppose that the very life of Christ was also for our sake?

Cyril: You will see it quite easily if you consider that we became sharers in the transgression that took place in Adam, and all but paid the penalty for his offences ourselves, since the curse ran through to all (Romans 5:12), and the wrath was in some way spread over the race descended from him. So the Only-begotten came down to become man and dwelt among us (John 1:14), and…

The obedient Son; the second ram and the ear that tests words§18

18Cyril: …placed himself in subjection to God the Father. ‘For he became obedient to the point of death’ (Philippians 2:8), blotting out the charges of the rebellion that came from Adam; and he brought the fragrance of his ready obedience to God the Father on behalf of all together and of each one, and through him we have been saved. Paul is a witness, writing thus: ‘So then, as through one trespass there came condemnation to all people, so also through one righteous act there comes justification that brings life to all people. For as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous’ (Romans 5:18–19). Do you see, then, that we have been saved as in the calf, since Christ died for us, while we give off a fragrance to God the Father through his submission and his life in holiness? For the blood of the ram was poured out at the holy altar.

Palladius: I understand what you are saying.

Cyril: In many ways it portrays the same one for us, as in shadows. ‘And you shall take,’ it says, ‘the second ram’ (Exodus 29:19), and its slaughter is carried out as with the first. Aaron is anointed, and the band of priests under him is sanctified, as the blood is put on the tips of the right hand and ear, and of the right foot as well (Exodus 29:20). The vestment of the priests too is sanctified by being sprinkled with the blood (Exodus 29:21). Then, after the rest has been poured out at the base of the altar, as God saw fit, the inward parts are taken, with an unleavened loaf and one wafer, both made with oil (Exodus 29:22–23). Aaron and those with him place these in their own hands and bring them, and Moses receives the sacrifice and offers it up (Exodus 29:24–25). Besides this, he said that the shoulder and the breast must be assigned to the priest and counted among the portions set apart (Exodus 29:26–28). The name of the victim is ‘ram of perfection’ (Exodus 29:26). When the inward parts have been burned as incense, the rest of the body is eaten with the loaves, and whatever has been left until morning is burned with fire (Exodus 29:31–34). For so the sacred text runs.

Palladius: How deep the passage is!

Cyril: You are right; it is very deep indeed, but it is in labor with the mystery of Christ. For he became for us a ram of perfection, making us fully fitted for every good thing, and most outstanding in virtues through sanctification in the Spirit. And before all else he planted in us a hearing full of blessing, that is, one that is obedient and easily guided, well fitted to receive the doctrines about him, but that will not bear the whispered chatter and foul, unbridled talk of those who fight against the truth and set themselves against the doctrines of right belief. For this is the fruit of holy hearing. And indeed the divine John speaks to us somewhere in this way: ‘Brothers, test the spirits, whether they are from God; every spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ is not from God, and every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ is from God’ (1 John 4:1–3). And the testing of words would rightly be done by nothing so much as by the ear. Holy…

Ear, hand and foot made holy; the holy food kept from outsiders§19

19Cyril: …then, will the ear be for those who care for precision and right doctrine. Yet this is the gift of Christ, a gift of welcome from heaven, and what the holy blood has accomplished; for in him and through him we possess every excellent thing. For this reason the hand also was sanctified, which points to active work, and the foot as well, a clear symbol of walking straight in one’s paths (Exodus 29:20). For we ought to take pride in holy works and walk well along the path that leads to everything pleasing to God, as is sung in the Psalms, ‘And I turned my feet to your testimonies’ (Psalm 119:59), or as the book of Proverbs says, ‘Make straight paths for your feet, and direct your ways’ (Proverbs 4:26). Let the sacred and chosen race, then, possess a holy hearing, and likewise a holy hand and foot, in the ways we have just described. All are anointed on the right side, and as it were at their farthest part, that is, at the tips; for he speaks of the tip of the ear, and of the foot and the hand as well. For every good action, I think, is noble and belongs to the right; it has nothing of the left, as wickedness has, and it reaches to the tips, that is, all the way through, even to the end. For those consecrated to God ought to stand on the right in holiness, persevering to the very end. ‘For he who began a good work in you,’ it says, ‘may he bring it to completion’ (Philippians 1:6). It is quite out of place, too, to fall back in some way, shrinking from carrying the good through to its end. Since Moses stands as a type of God, Aaron and those with him bring the sacrifice, and Moses himself receives it (Exodus 29:24–25). By this too God was, as it were, signifying that he will receive, almost straight from their hands into his own, the sacrifices offered in Christ by those so sanctified, and will not scorn the gift; for it carries the fragrance of Christ. And this, I think, is the meaning of the inward parts offered up and burned as incense to him. The portion set apart for the priest from the ram of consecration is the breast and the arm (Exodus 29:26–28). The arm would be a symbol of strength, and the breast of the heart and the kidneys. And Christ has been given to the holy and priestly race by God the Father as power and wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:24, 30). Or are we not wise in him, and very strong?

Palladius: Of course we are. For it is written that Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24), has become these things for us from God (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Cyril: The meat is holy food for those chosen for the sacred service. It is given together with the unleavened loaves, and no one of another race shares in it (Exodus 29:32–33); or, if anyone should do so, he would die. For it befits holy souls to share in holy food, that is, in the body of Christ, and the blessing is closed to those of another race. By ‘of another race’ one may understand the race that is still unbelieving and unbaptized, and besides these, whoever has been twisted into heterodox thinking, is at odds with the convictions of the saints, and has been cut off, as it were, by the wickedness of its doctrines. And whatever is left of the sacrifice is consumed by fire…

Nothing kept till morning; the anointing and the seven days§20

20Cyril: …since the law does not allow it to be eaten on into the next day (Exodus 29:34). For there will be for us, I think, another way of sanctification in the age to come, worked spiritually and no longer bodily, in a manner known to God, who reshapes all things and changes them into whatever he wills. A mind not without understanding will follow the argument: once the corruption in us has been undone, after we have come back to life from the dead, the things through which one could escape it are perhaps in some way no longer needed. Another way of sanctification, fitting the condition of that time, will then be devised, when Christ is with us. Having said what came to mind, we will yield to those who understand better. And perhaps the divine Paul hints at something of this kind when he says, ‘But when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away’ (1 Corinthians 13:10), meaning that it will have an end and cease.

Palladius: So it seems.

Cyril: These, then, are the things he said must be carried out for the consecration of the priests. With the priests of Israel gathered together and assembled into a congregation, he laid down how they were to be publicly installed, saying, ‘Take Aaron and his sons, and the oil of anointing, and the calf for sin, and the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread, and assemble the whole congregation at the door of the tent of witness. [And Moses did as the Lord had commanded him, and assembled the congregation at the door of the tent of witness.] And Moses said to the congregation, “This is the word which the Lord commanded to be done”’ (Leviticus 8:2–5). Then he clothes Aaron in his adornment, and the priests as well (Leviticus 8:7–9, 13), and with the oil of anointing he sprinkles the altar seven times, and all its vessels, and the laver, it says, and the tent and all that is in it, ‘and he sanctified them’ (Leviticus 8:10–11). For the tent is holy, and the altar is fully enriched with the sanctification that comes through the Spirit, though it does not share in it as one ranked among rational beings does; for it is not holy in the way that, say, the nature of an angel or a human soul is holy, but as it were through contact with the sacrifice laid upon it. For holy too is any place where Christ may be. Having anointed the altar seven times, that is, abundantly, he sanctifies Aaron; for he poured the oil of anointing over him (Leviticus 8:12). Besides this, he brought the sacrifices for Aaron and for his sons in the ways we have just set out (Leviticus 8:14–29). When these things had been completed, he gave a further command, saying, ‘And you shall not go out from the door of the tent of witness for seven days, until the day is fulfilled, the day of your consecration. For seven days he will consecrate your hands, as he did on this day, as the Lord commanded to be done, so as to make atonement for you; and at the door of the tent of witness you shall sit seven days. Day and night keep the charges of the Lord, so that you do not die; for so the Lord God commanded me’ (Leviticus 8:33–35).

Staying within the tent; the eighth day begins§21

21Cyril: The account has shown us well enough what was done in the case of each of the sacrifices. So let us stop going into these matters in fine detail and turn to this point. The law does not allow those who have been enriched with a holy and chosen lot, and have now been consecrated for the priesthood, to go anywhere outside the holy tent (Leviticus 8:33). It bids them sit within until the seventh day (Leviticus 8:35), and all but nails them to the doors, so that they do not cross the threshold. In this, I think, it makes their sitting in holy places a symbol of steadfastness and of remaining in holiness. For we who have been appointed to wait upon God must be firmly set and unshaken in virtue, not straying outside the fitting way nor running away from the mind that befits a priest, but always near God and, as it were, dwelling with him, as was said through the voice of a prophet: ‘Seek earnestly, and dwell with me’ (Isaiah 21:12). Moses ordered this to be done for seven days; the seven signifies that we must be eager to wait upon God at every season, for in a way it means ‘throughout’ and ‘always’. While they are inside the tent, he commands them to keep the charges of the Lord (Leviticus 8:35), hinting that obedience is the fruit of waiting upon God, together with the will to do whatever he may choose to command. This is how we must wait upon the Master of all, since carelessness about what is good always ends in the very last of evils. That is why, as I believe, Moses added, ‘so that you do not die’ (Leviticus 8:35).

Palladius: You have spoken rightly.

Cyril: Aaron, now consecrated for the sacred service, begins to carry out what was prescribed. And in what way, come, let us say. For it is written again in Leviticus: ‘On the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel; and Moses said to Aaron, “Take for yourself a young calf from the herd for sin, and a ram for a whole burnt offering, without blemish, and offer them before the Lord. And speak to the elders of Israel, saying: Take one male goat for sin, and a young calf and a lamb a year old for a whole burnt offering, without blemish, and a calf and a ram for a sacrifice of salvation before the Lord, and fine flour mixed with oil; for today the Lord will appear among you.” And they took them, as Moses commanded, before the tent of witness, and the whole congregation came forward, and they stood before the Lord. And Moses said, “This is the word which the Lord has spoken; do it, and the glory of the Lord will appear among you.” And Moses said to Aaron, “Approach the altar, and make your sin offering and your whole burnt offering, and make atonement for yourself and for your house; and offer the gifts of the people, and make atonement for them, as the Lord commanded”’ (Leviticus 9:1–7). If you bring a keen mind to the sacred Scriptures, Palladius, you will see the mystery of Christ shining clearly here too.

Palladius: In what way?

Cyril: On the eighth day (Leviticus 9:1) Moses, as it were, ceases from acting as priest, and Aaron begins…

Christ's priesthood begins on the eighth day§22

22Cyril: …yet Moses has not fallen silent, even though Aaron is already hurrying to the works of the priesthood. For the time of Christ's priesthood may rightly be understood as the time after the law, that is, the eighth day, on which the resurrection took place, and which is, as it were, the beginning of a new age. For in Christ there is a new creation, as it is written (2 Corinthians 5:17). Once Christ has been revealed on the eighth day, the things of Moses come to an end, for we no longer worship in types and shadows (Hebrews 8:5). Yet the teaching of the law has not fallen silent, for the law is spiritual to those who are spiritual (Romans 7:14), and it always speaks of the mystery of Christ. Moses, then, promised that on the eighth day the glory of the Lord would be seen (Leviticus 9:1–6), for the law announced beforehand the time of our Savior's coming. Again he gives a further command: Aaron is first to offer sacrifices for himself, and after this those for the whole people (Leviticus 9:7). In this, I think, he already makes the matter in some way a type for those of our own day, and indicates very well and clearly that it is right and fitting for those chosen for the priesthood, and for those who receive sanctification in faith, to be holy and consecrated. What the manner of the offering was, we shall explain as best we can. A young calf, then, was slaughtered for sin and for the cleansing of those who performed the sacred rites. Its blood was poured out at the holy altar, the inner parts were turned to smoke, and the rest of the body was burned up with fire (Leviticus 9:8–11). A ram, in turn, was what was burned whole, according to the customary law of the whole burnt offering (Leviticus 9:12–14). A male goat was the victim for cleansing the people's sin (Leviticus 9:15); a young calf and a lamb were for the whole burnt offering (Leviticus 9:3, 16); a ram and a calf were for the sacrifice of salvation (Leviticus 9:4, 18), and fine flour was also laid on the altar, though perhaps not all of it, only a handful, a part of it (Leviticus 9:17). Then it says: ‘And Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them; and he came down after making the sin offering, the whole burnt offerings and the sacrifices of salvation. And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of witness, and they came out and blessed all the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. And fire came out from the Lord and consumed what was on the altar, both the whole burnt offerings and the fat portions; and all the people saw it, and were amazed, and fell on their faces’ (Leviticus 9:22–24).

Palladius: What, then, do you say about this as well?

Cyril: In truth the glory of the Lord was seen on the eighth day; that is, the Son, the glory of God the Father, became manifest. For God named him so when he said to the most holy Moses, ‘As I live, says the Lord, all the earth shall surely be filled with the glory of the Lord’ (Numbers 14:21). It is he himself who makes us consecrated. He is slain for us, like the calf; he sets us free from sin, releases us from every charge, and scours away the filth that comes from being condemned. He likewise, like the ram, is made perfect for a pleasing spiritual aroma; he himself becomes the sacrifice of salvation and sanctifies us with his own blood (Hebrews 13:12); he himself is the fine flour moistened with oil, in the gladness of a holy life, presenting himself for us to God the Father (Ephesians 5:2).

Priests and people offer themselves to God§23

23Palladius: I understand what you mean.

Cyril: For my part, I think that the sacrifice for Aaron and for the people neatly hints at the consecration of the saints to God. Emmanuel has now been revealed and has made plain all that concerns him; through him we have been called to sanctification, made acceptable and consecrated, and dedicated to the Father for a fragrant aroma. For notice that, through the rites just described, the perfecting of the priests was carried out according to the law, while it was through him, in turn, that they were sanctified in many ways. For he was burned like a calf outside the camp for sin (Leviticus 9:11); he was offered up in smoke like a ram duly burned whole, all of him, limb by limb, as though for each one and for all (Leviticus 9:13); and he sanctified them by anointing them with blood, as the ram of salvation. Now that the eighth day has dawned, that is, the day on which the glory of Christ became more manifest, when death was abolished and corruption trampled down, priests and people alike bear fruit for God. They do not honor him with things foreign to them, nor delight the Master of all with things from outside, as Israel according to the flesh did (1 Corinthians 10:18), but they show themselves to be a fragrant sacrifice. For in a way, as if in the likeness of the victims, we offer up our own souls in sacrifice and bring them to God. We die to the world and to minding the things of the flesh (Romans 8:5), we endure the putting to death of the passions, and we are all but crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:19–20), so that, passing over to a holy and blameless life, we may live as he wills. The inspired Paul, too, writes something of this kind: ‘Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our body’ (2 Corinthians 4:10). And again: ‘If we endure, we shall also reign with him’ (2 Timothy 2:12). If we are conformed to his death and his sufferings, as it is written, we shall share in the resurrection and the glory as well (Philippians 3:10–11). So then Christ suffered for us outside the gate, as the blessed Paul says, and we too go out of the gate, bearing his reproach (Hebrews 13:12–13); slain in the same way, like a young calf, and burned whole like a ram, we make our life in Christ fragrant to God. These, then, are the victims offered for Aaron and for those with him and descended from him. For the people, a male goat is the sin offering (Leviticus 9:15). And why is that, when a young calf was offered for the cleansing of the priests? Everything that belongs to the priests stands higher: the bringing of sacrifices and the rites of cleansing and purification. And a young calf is larger in body than a goat, and so displays a clear token of the spiritual pre-eminence found in the realities themselves. The young calf and the lamb for the whole burnt offering (Leviticus 9:3) hint at the infancy in Christ of those consecrated in faith. The calf and the ram signify very well endurance and courage, and fruitfulness in gentleness: the calf is the type of the first, the ram of the second (Leviticus 9:4). The fine flour soaked with oil (Leviticus 9:4) shows very clearly the bright hope of the life in Christ. For it is not in gloom and tears…

Fire from the Lord, and Aaron's blessing§24

24Cyril: …but in good cheer and gladness that we ought to hold fast to the life in Christ. For this, I think, is the meaning of ‘Come, let us rejoice in the Lord’ (Psalm 95:1). For so the glory of Christ will shine out purely and clearly, welcoming most gladly the fruits the saints bring, just as then, too, God came down visibly in the form of fire and consumed the sacrifices (Leviticus 9:24). He all but counts the approved life of those sanctified in faith as his food and delight. The passage also hints at a mystery. For then God sent the blaze of fire down upon the divided pieces, as though in some way touching what lay before him, for the Godhead always takes on the guise of fire. But now, when the spiritual sacrifice is set before him, he touches what lies before him in a spiritual way, not in the form of fire but in the Holy Spirit, and makes it life-giving for those who desire to partake of it; and we have received this by faith as true.

Palladius: You are right.

Cyril: Aaron lifted up his hands and blessed the people (Leviticus 9:22). And see again: here, through Aaron, is as it were the first laying on of hands upon the people. For the true Aaron blesses everyone, priests and people, the small together with the great, as it is written (Psalm 115:13), all but laying his hands on them as well; and the laying on of the hand would be a clear sign of the all-holy Spirit coming down upon us. Before Aaron's priestly service there was no laying on of hands. ‘For the Spirit was not yet,’ as John says, ‘because Jesus was not yet glorified’ (John 7:39).

Palladius: That is convincing.

Cyril: He also sets in order the form of the priests' prayer in this way, making its words very aptly foretell something of what would come to us through Christ. For he said: ‘Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying: Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel, saying to them. And they shall put my name upon the sons of Israel, and I the Lord will bless them. May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make his face shine upon you, and give you peace, and have mercy on you’ (Numbers 6:23–27). So he commands those crowned with the priesthood to bless the people, but he usefully keeps them from rash thinking by showing that it is not a human hand that blesses, but he himself, as Lord. For ‘every good gift and every good present and every blessing is from above, coming down from the Father of lights,’ as it is written (James 1:17). And Christ is the way of the blessing; he is the one who distributes the heavenly goods to us, and in him and through him all things come from the Father. Indeed the inspired Paul says, ‘Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Romans 1:7). So we are blessed in the name of God; and, aptly indicating how this too might come about, he said that the priest who prays over the people must pronounce: ‘May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make…’ (Numbers 6:24–25)

The priestly blessing fulfilled in Christ: mercy and peace§25

25Cyril: ‘…his face shine upon you, and have mercy on you; the Lord lift up his face upon you, and give you peace’ (Numbers 6:25–26). The blessing, then, keeps us, for it undoes the curse and refashions what had sinned, so that in Christ it may be found worthy of praise. Paul is witness to this, for he wrote: ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Christ to himself’ (Ephesians 1:3–5).

You see that rejection came about through sin, and that man is accepted for adoption when he is blessed in Christ by sharing in the Spirit, whom he also poured out on us richly (Titus 3:6); he does not give the Spirit to the saints in part, but places him in them as from his own fullness. And the shining of God’s face would at once bring us mercy, if indeed it is true that our share in eternal life comes in through knowing God. For so the Savior said to his Father and God in heaven: ‘And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent’ (John 17:3).

That the Son, who has also shone upon us, is the face of God the Father, no one, I think, could doubt in the least. For he is his exact imprint (Hebrews 1:3), his likeness and his image (Colossians 1:15), and through him and with him we know the Father; and with such knowledge our receiving mercy necessarily comes in as well. For we have been justified by faith, and not by works of righteousness that we ourselves did, but according to his great mercy (Titus 3:5). We have laid down the burden of corruption and have been changed into newness of life in Christ (Romans 6:4), because God has taken pity on us.

In another way too, if we turn the force of the passage toward the Jews, they truly received mercy when the Only-begotten shone upon them. For the law lay on them like a burden hard to bear and fit only to be cast off, the law that condemns and punishes sinners without pity (Hebrews 10:28). But they received mercy, gaining through Christ, late and with difficulty, the grace that justifies. Longing to see his coming, they had cried out to the God of all: ‘O God of hosts, bring us back, and make your face shine, and we shall be saved’ (Psalm 80:7). So we have all received mercy in the shining forth of Christ.

And further, the lifting up of God’s face brings peace. Christ is the giver of that peace and the one who awards it, for he sets it before those who believe in him and bestows it on them as his own good. ‘My peace,’ he says, ‘I give to you; my peace I leave with you’ (John 14:27). For when the Father set the Son, as it were, on high, granting him the name that is above every name (Philippians 2:9) and saying, ‘Sit at my right hand’ (Psalm 110:1), then, yes then, we put an end to the enmity that divided us and were joined together in peace, by choosing to set our minds on what is his and to walk in the Spirit…

Peace through the exalted Son; the cleansing of the Levites§26

26Cyril: …in whom and through whom we have been shown to be sharers in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), since Christ binds us together into unity. For he said somewhere to the Father: ‘I desire that, just as you and I are one, so they too may be one in us’ (John 17:21–22). For, as Scripture says, ‘we are all one body in Christ’ (Romans 12:5), and ‘whoever is joined to the Lord is one spirit’ (1 Corinthians 6:17). And that we have been enriched with peace toward him when God the Father, as it were, lifted up his own face, that is, glorified the Son, he himself will make plain when he says: ‘When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself’ (John 12:32).

Palladius: You think rightly. ‘For he is our peace’ (Ephesians 2:14), ‘and through him we have gained access in the Spirit to the Father’ (Ephesians 2:18).

Cyril: This, then, is what the law tells us about the priests and how they were appointed. It also says that the Levites must be thoroughly sanctified, and only then, once purified beforehand in the proper ways, take up the ministry assigned to them. In Numbers it says this: ‘Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and purify them. And this is how you shall perform their purification: you shall sprinkle them with water of purification, and a razor shall pass over their whole body, and they shall wash their garments, and they shall be clean. And they shall take one young bull from the herd, and with it its sacrifice of fine flour mixed with oil; and you shall take one young bull a year old from the herd for a sin offering. And you shall bring the Levites inside the tabernacle of testimony. And you shall gather the whole congregation of the children of Israel, and you shall bring the Levites forward, and Aaron shall set the Levites apart as an offering before the Lord from the children of Israel, so that they may do the works of the Lord. And the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer the one as a sin offering and the other as a whole burnt offering, to make atonement for them. And you shall set the Levites before the Lord, and before Aaron, and before his sons, and you shall give them over as an offering before the Lord. And you shall separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and they shall be mine. And after this the Levites shall go in to do the works of the tabernacle of testimony’ (Numbers 8:6–15).

Palladius: Explain clearly, then, how we should understand the manner of purification applied to the Levites.

Cyril: It is a mystical one, Palladius, and once again it is in Christ. For he is our cleansing, the washing away of every stain, and the giver of sanctification. ‘For you shall sprinkle them,’ it says, ‘with water of purification’ (Numbers 8:7). This is just what the wise Paul made plain when he wrote: ‘For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who have been defiled, sanctify for the purity of the flesh, how much more the blood of Christ’ (Hebrews 9:13–14). And the saying is true. For if there is benefit in the types, and the shadow brings salvation, how could the truth, that is, the blood of Christ, not do so far more? So the water of purification, mixed with the ashes of the heifer (Numbers 19:9, 17), was a clear symbol of what is called the dying of Christ…

Ashes, razor and washing: dying with Christ§27

27Cyril: …that dying which we ourselves also pray to fulfill in holy baptism, through faith. For, as the inspired Paul himself said somewhere, once again: ‘For we were buried with him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life’ (Romans 6:4). And he said again: ‘Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be made manifest in our mortal flesh’ (2 Corinthians 4:10–11).

Palladius: And what, then, is the dying of Christ spoken of here?

Cyril: To have died to the world and to sins, and to live out a life that is sacred and holy and as dear to God as possible. Paul again took great pride in this, when he said: ‘For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me’ (Galatians 2:19–20). This, I think, is what it means to have died to the world and to have undergone the dying of Christ, and in turn to live out the life that is in him. So the heifer’s ashes mixed with water (Numbers 19:17) would point to the dying of Jesus as it is accomplished in holy baptism. And he said that even those who served in the Levitical order must share in it, once they had cast off, again as in a shadow, every kind of uncleanness of the flesh.

For this, I think, is shown very clearly by the shaving of the body’s hair with a razor (Numbers 8:7). For ‘the word of God is living and active and sharper…’ (Hebrews 4:12), and it cuts away from the mind, as one would hair and nails, the uncleanness of the impulses of the flesh that are inborn in us. Holy Scripture somewhere calls this a law of sin dwelling in the members of the flesh, waging war against the law of the mind, and dragging us toward what is forbidden (Romans 7:23). But cut as with a razor by the power and working of the Holy Spirit, it grows weak, and even if it somehow springs up again in us, it is all the more quickly shorn away. For, ‘walk by the Spirit,’ he says, ‘and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh’ (Galatians 5:16).

Just as the razor does not tear our hair out from the very root once and for all, but cuts it straight away as it grows back, so too the word of God in us does not tear out, root and all, the movement of desire that is as though inborn in us (for perfect holiness is reserved for the age to come). Rather, it puts that movement to death as it grows back and springs up in us, and it tames the law that runs wild in the members of the flesh. So the removal of the hair hints at the cleansing of the mind, which the divine and sharper word of God works in us. And the washing of the garments points to a bright and genuine way of life for us, the one that is seen outwardly. For, as it is written, ‘taking thought for what is good, not only before the Lord but also before people’ (2 Corinthians 8:21). And the Lord himself says somewhere: ‘Let your light shine before people, so that they may see your good…’ (Matthew 5:16).

The two calves and the people's hands on the Levites§28

28Cyril: …works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven’ (Matthew 5:16). So it must be that those who are truly holy and consecrated carry about in their own body, purely both within and without, the dying of Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:10), and are in some way joined with him through holy baptism.

Palladius: You have spoken well.

Cyril: He said that the sacrifice for them must be offered with two calves, one full-grown and one a year old, that is, tender and young (Numbers 8:8). The full-grown one is for the whole burnt offering, and fine flour mixed with oil is burned together with it; the other, for sin, is burned outside the camp (Leviticus 4:12), for that is how the sacrifices for sin are completed. And here again Christ is in both. In the calf for the whole burnt offering he is wholly holy and a sweet-smelling fragrance to God the Father on our behalf (Ephesians 5:2), bringing to the saints the delight and gladness of the life that is in hope; for the fine flour mixed with oil was offered up together with the calf, and it will surely, I think, follow those who have honored the life that is in Christ. He is also the young calf for sin, consumed by fire, for ‘by his wound we were healed’ (Isaiah 53:5), as the Scriptures say. Notice that the full-grown calf is burned whole, while the yearling is slaughtered for sin (Numbers 8:12), so that through the two you may understand at once the One: most fragrant in a spiritual sense, as in the perfection of virtues, and slaughtered, as in simplicity and innocence. For he says: ‘I, like an innocent lamb led to be sacrificed, did not know’ (Jeremiah 11:19). The laying on of hands by the people of Israel would show that the priestly race is brought to God as an offering on behalf of all and from all together. For he says: ‘The sons of Israel shall lay their hands on the heads of the Levites’ (Numbers 8:10). The Levites laid their hands on the heads of the sacrificial victims, which were slaughtered on their behalf as a type of Christ (Numbers 8:12). They did this not to bless them in any way, far from it, but as though by the laying on of hands to point to the God who bears our sins (Isaiah 53:4) and is offered in sacrifice for us, so that he might nail to his own cross the record of debt that stood against us (Colossians 2:14). You will understand that the people’s ordination of the Levites was carried out in the same way. For when they laid their hands on them, it was as though they were setting them before God in their own place for the sacred service, as chosen men. Then, the laying on of hands was the practice. But now that things have passed over to what is incomparably better, the people vote for those who are called through Christ to the sacred service, joining heartily in the cry that they are worthy; and they do this in the churches, just as, of course, those of old performed the laying on of hands upon the Levites at the sacred and divine tabernacle (Numbers 8:10). It is plain, then, that if an ordination took place neither in church nor in the presence of the people, it would be contrary to the divine will and outside the sacred laws. Once the Levites have been consecrated, they handle everything that belongs to the sacred service (Numbers 8:15).

Whoever is not holy must keep away from the altar§29

29Cyril: So then, whoever is not holy in Christ and does not first purify himself in the way that is fitting, let him keep far away; for he will not touch the divine altars without punishment.