Washed, robed and anointed: baptism, Christ and the Spirit
Cyril: ‘…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)
Greek
ρῶν ποιήσεις αὐτὰ, καὶ ἐπιθήσεις αὐτὰ ἐπὶ κανοῦν ἓν, καὶ προσοίσεις αὐτὰ ἐπὶ τῷ κανῷ, καὶ τὸ μοσχάριον, καὶ τοὺς δύο κριούς. Καὶ Ἀαρὼν καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ προσάξεις ἐπὶ τὰς θύρας τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου, καὶ λούσεις αὐτοὺς ἐν ὕδατι. Καὶ λαβὼν τὰς στολὰς, ἐνδύσεις Ἀαρὼν τὸν ἀδελφόν σου καὶ τὸν χιτῶνα τὸν ποδήρη, καὶ τὴν ἐπωμίδα, καὶ τὸ λογεῖον. Καὶ συνάψεις αὐτῷ τὸ λογεῖον πρὸς τὴν ἐπωμίδα. Καὶ ἐπιθήσεις τὴν μίτραν ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐπιθήσεις τὸ πέταλον τὸ ἁγίασμα ἐπὶ τὴν μίτραν, καὶ λήψῃ τοῦ ἐλαίου τοῦ χρίσματος, καὶ ἐπιχεεῖς αὐτὸ ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ, καὶ χρίσεις αὐτόν. Καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ προσάξεις, καὶ ἐνδύσεις αὐτοὺς χιτῶνας, καὶ ζώσεις αὐτοὺς ταῖς ζώναις, καὶ περιθήσεις αὐτοῖς τὰς κιδάρεις. Καὶ ἔσται αὐτοῖς ἱερατεία μοι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, καὶ τελειώσεις Ἀαρὼν τὰς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὰς χεῖρας τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ.» Προσκομίζεσθαι μὲν οὖν εἰς θυσίαν προστέταχε μοσχάριον καὶ δύο κριοὺς, λάγανά τε καὶ ἄρτους ἐπὶ κανῷ. Προαφαγνίζει δὲ καὶ ἑτέρως, τύπον, οἶμαι, οὕτω που τὸ χρῆμα τιθεὶς τοῦ κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ἁγιασμοῦ. Ὕδατι γὰρ ἀπολούσας τὸν Ἀαρὼν, τὴν ἁγίαν αὐτὸν ἀμφιέννυσι στολήν. Ἀπολουσάμενοι δὲ καὶ ἡμεῖς διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος, καὶ πᾶν εἶδος ἀκαθαρσίας ἀποτριβόμενοι, τότε δὴ, τότε τὴν ἄνωθεν καὶ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καταπλουτοῦμεν χάριν, τὸν τῆς εὐφροσύνης χιτῶνα δεχόμενοι, κατά γε τὸ, «Ἐνδύσασθε τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν.» Προαπέδειξε γὰρ ὁ λόγος, ὅτι πολυτρόπως ἦν ὁ Χριστὸς ὡς ἐν κόσμῳ τῷ περὶ τὸν Ἀαρὼν πλαττόμενος. Ἐλαίῳ δὲ καταχρίει τὴν κεφαλὴν ἁγίῳ. Ψάλλει δέ που καὶ ὁ Δαβίδ· «Ἐλίπανας ἐν ἐλαίῳ τὴν κεφαλήν μου,» τὸ ἱλαρὸν ἐν ἐλπίδι τῆς τῶν ἁγίων φωνῆς, ἤτοι τὴν ἄνωθεν ἱλαροποιὸν ἐπίσκεψιν τοῦ ἐλαίου κατασημαίνοντος. Ἠλεήμεθα γὰρ οἱ πιστεύσαντες, καί ἐσμεν εὐλογγημένοι τῷ Κυρίῳ, τῇ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐπιχορηγίᾳ τὸν νοῦν καταπιαινόμενοι· νοῦ δὲ εἰς τύπον ἡ κεφαλή. Κατὰ τὸν ἴσον δὲ τουτονὶ τρόπον οἱ ἱερεῖς ἡγιάζοντο, ὕδατί τε ἀπονιζόμενοι καὶ ἐλαίῳ χριόμενοι, οὕτω τε χριόμενοι τὴν ἱερὰν ἀμφίασιν περικείμενοι, τελειούμενοί τε τὰς χεῖρας, ὡς ἤδη πως δοκεῖν καὶ ἐπιτηδείως ἔχειν εἴς γε τὸ χρῆναι λοιπὸν καθαρῶς τε καὶ ἀμωμήτως τὰς θυσίας ἐπιτελεῖν. Προηγιασμένοι δὲ καὶ ἡμεῖς αὐτοὶ, καὶ τῇ ἄνωθεν χάριτι κατηγλαϊσμένοι, καὶ κεχρισμένοι πρὸς τελειότητα τὴν πνευματικὴν, ὡς ἐκ παῤῥησίας λοιπὸν καθαραῖς οἱονεί πως καὶ πανάγνοις χερσὶ, προσκομίζομεν Θεῷ τὰς δωροφορίας, δῆλον δὲ ὅτι τὰς πνευματικάς. Καί τοι τοιοῦτον οἶμαι δηλοῦν τὸ τῷ μακαρίῳ Δαβὶδ ὑμνούμενον περὶ παντὸς ἀναβαίνοντος εἰς τὸ ὄρος Κυρίου· «Ἀθῶος χερσὶ καὶ καθαρὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἔοικεν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Τίνα δὲ τρόπον αὖ ἐκπράττεσθαι χρὴ τὰς ὑπὲρ τῶν ἱερέων θυσίας, ἐθεσμοθέτει λέγων· «Καὶ προσάξεις τὸν μόσχον ἐπὶ τὰς θύρας τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου, καὶ ἐπιθήσουσιν Ἀαρὼν καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ μόσχου ἔναντι Κυρίου, παρὰ τὰς θύρας τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου, καὶ σφάξεις τὸν μόσχον ἔναντι Κυρίου, παρὰ τὰς