The priests’ linen: holy warfare, purity, and putting off dead works
Cyril: …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)
Greek
ἰσχνῆς τὴν πολεμικὴν γενέσθαι σκευὴν, κίδαρίν τε καὶ ζώνην. Κόσμῳ μὲν οὖν ἱεροπρεπεῖ λαμπρόν τε καὶ ἀξιάγαστον ὑποφαίνει τὸν Ἀαρών. Προσεπιτάττει δὲ λέγων· «Καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἀαρὼν ποιήσεις χιτῶνας καὶ ζώνας, καὶ κιδάρεις ποιήσεις αὐτοῖς εἰς τιμὴν καὶ δόξαν. Καὶ ἐνδύσεις αὐτὰ Ἀαρὼν τὸν ἀδελφόν σου, καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ μετ' αὐτοῦ. Καὶ χρίσεις αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἐμπλήσεις αὐτῶν τὰς χεῖρας, καὶ ἁγιάσεις αὐτοὺς, ἵνα ἱερατεύωσί μοι. Καὶ ποιήσεις αὐτοῖς περισκελῆ λινᾶ καλύψαι ἀσχημοσύνην χρωτὸς αὐτῶν, ἀπὸ ὀσφύος ἕως μηρῶν ἔσται. Καὶ ἕξει Ἀαρὼν αὐτὰ καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ, ὅταν εἰσπορεύωνται εἰς τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ μαρτυρίου, ἢ ὅταν προσπορεύωνται λειτουργεῖν πρὸς τὸ θυσιαστήριον τοῦ ἁγίου. Καὶ οὐκ ἐπάξονται πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς ἁμαρτίαν, ἵνα μὴ ἀποθάνωσι. Νόμιμον αἰώνιον αὐτῷ καὶ τῷ σπέρματι αὐτοῦ μετ' αὐτόν.» Ὁρᾷς ὅτι καὶ αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἐξ Ἀαρὼν ἐμπρέπει τὸ, ὡς ἔν γε τῷ πολεμικῷ καθορᾶσθαι σχήματι. Μάχιμον γὰρ τὸ ἱερὸν ἅπαν ἐστὶ γένος, καὶ οὐ πρὸς αἷμα καὶ σάρκα στρατεύεσθαί τε καὶ ἀντεξάγειν εἰδὸς, ἀλλὰ τῆς βεβήλου κατακωλύειν ἁμαρτίας, ἐμφανέστατά τε καὶ λογικῶς τῶν τῆς ἀληθείας δογμάτων ὑπερμαχόμενον, καὶ αἰχμαλωτίζον πᾶν νόημα εἰς τὴν ὑπακοὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καθὰ γέγραπται. Περισκελές τε λινοῦν αὐτοῖς, τὸ ἀκαλλές τε καὶ ἄσχημον τῶν περὶ μηροὺς κατασκιάζον εὖ μάλα. Σεμνὰ γὰρ εὖ μάλα πάντα τὰ τῶν ἀγίων, καὶ ἄσχημον ἐν αὐτοῖς οὐδέν· ὑποσημαίνει δέ πως τὸ λινοῦν τοῖς περιμηροῖς τοῦ σώματος μέρεσιν ἐπενηνεγμένον, ὅτι τοῖς ἁγίοις πρεπωδεστάτη τῶν τῆς σαρκὸς ἡδονῶν ἡ ἀπόψυξις· ψυχρὸν γὰρ τὸ λινοῦν. Τὸ δὲ θερμὸν εἰς ὀρέξεις τὰς μυσαρωτάτας, ὁσίου παντὸς ἀλλότριον. Ἐκ λίνου δὲ καὶ ἑτέρως τοῖς ἱερᾶσθαι λαχοῦσιν, ἄμφιά τε καὶ περισκελῆ. Νεκρῶν γὰρ ἔργων ἀποφοιτᾷν ἀναγκαῖον αὐτούς· σύμβολον δὲ νεκρότητος ὡς ἐκ θνησειδίου ληφθὲν, φημὶ δὴ προβάτου. Νεκρῶν οὖν ἔργων ἀπόθεσις, ὡς ἐν τύπῳ πάλιν, τὸ τοῖς ἐκ λίνου ἐστάλθαι, καὶ οὐχὶ δὴ μᾶλλον τοῖς ἐξ ἐρίων ἐσθήμασι· καὶ τοῦτο νόμος ἅγιος ὁ διηνεκής. Ἕψεται δὲ ὅτι πάντη τε καὶ πάντως τὸ ἐκτεθνάναι δεῖν, ἠμεληκόσι τοῦ πρέποντος, Καὶ τῆς ὅτι μάλιστα πρεπούσης αὐτοῖς εὐκοσμίας, διαμεμήνυκεν εἰπὼν ὅ τι χρὴ φοροῦντας ἱερουργεῖν· Καὶ οὐκ ἐπάξονται, φησὶ, πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς ἁμαρτίαν, ἵνα μὴ ἀποθάνωσιν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀσφαλὴς ὁ νόμος τὸ ἑκάστῳ λυσιτελὲς εὖ μάλα καταδεικνὺς, καὶ τὰ δι' ὧν ἄριστα ἔχοι σαφῆ καθιστάς.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ὧδε ἔχει· καὶ στολῇ μὲν τῇ τοιᾷδε τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ ἀπόλεκτον κατακαλλύνει γένος, ἁγιάζει δὲ καὶ ἑτέρως. ὡς ἐν σκιᾷ μὲν ἔτι, πλὴν ἐν Χριστῷ. Γέγραπται γὰρ δὲ ὡδί· «Καὶ ταῦτά ἐστιν ἃ ποιήσεις αὐτοῖς· ἁγίασαι αὐτοὺς ὥστε ἱερατεύειν μοι αὐτοὺς, λήψῃ μοσχάριον ἐκ βοῶν ἓν, καὶ κριοὺς δύο ἀμώμους, καὶ ἄρτους ἀζύμους πεφυραμένους ἐν ἐλαίῳ, καὶ λάγανα ἄζυμα κεχρισμένα ἐν ἐλαίῳ. Σεμίδαλιν ἐκ πυ