Christ's priesthood begins on the eighth day

Cyril: …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).