Ashes, razor and washing: dying with Christ
Cyril: …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).
Greek
βολον ἐναργὲς ἦν, ὡς ἔν γε τῷ ἁγίῳ βαπτίσματι καὶ ἡμεῖς αὐτοὶ πληροῦν εὐχόμεθα διὰ πίστεως. Ὡς γὰρ αὐτός που πάλιν ὁ θεσπέσιος ἔφη Παῦλος, «Συνετάφημεν γὰρ αὐτῷ διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος εἰς τὸν θάνατον, ἵνα ὥσπερ ἠγέρθη Χριστὸς διὰ τῆς δόξης τοῦ Πατρὸς, οὕτω καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐν καινότητι ζωῆς περιπατήσωμεν.» Ἔφη δὲ πάλιν· «Πάντοτε τὴν νέκρωσιν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἐν τῷ σώματι περιφέροντες, ἵνα καὶ ἡ ζωὴ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἐν τῇ θνητῇ ἡμῶν σαρκὶ φανερωθῇ.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ τίς δὴ ἄρα ἐστὶν ἡ ἐνθάδε λεγομένη νέκρωσις τοῦ Χριστοῦ;
{ΚΥΡ.} Τὸ ἐκτεθνάναι μὲν κόσμῳ καὶ ἁμαρτίαις, ἱεράν τε καὶ ἁγίαν καὶ τὴν ὅτι μάλιστα φιλαιτάτην Θεῷ διαβιῶναι ζωὴν, ἐφ' ᾧ δὴ πάλιν ἀπεσεμνύνετο λίαν ὁ Παῦλος λέγων· «Ἐγὼ γὰρ διὰ νόμου νόμῳ ἀπέθανον, ἵνα Θεῷ ζήσω· Χριστῷ συνεσταύρωμαι. Ζῶ δὲ οὐκέτι ἐγὼ, ζῇ δὲ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χριστός. Ὃ δὲ νῦν ζῶ ἐν σαρκὶ, ἐν πίστει ζῶ τῇ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀγαπήσαντός με, καὶ παραδόντος ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ.» Τοῦτο, οἶμαι, ἐστὶ τὸ ἐκτεθνάναι μὲν ἐν κόσμῳ, καὶ τὴν Χριστοῦ νέκρωσιν ὑπενεγκεῖν, διαβιῶναι δὲ αὖ τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ ζωήν. Σποδὸς οὖν δαμάλεως ἀναμὶξ ὕδατι τὴν Ἰησοῦ νέκρωσιν ὡς ἐν ἁγίῳ βαπτίσματι τελουμένην ὑπεμφαίνοι ἄν. Ἧς ἐν μεθέξει γενέσθαι καὶ αὐτοὺς ἔφη δεῖν τοὺς ἐν τάξει τελοῦντας τῇ Λευϊτικῇ, πᾶν εἶδος ἀκαθαρσίας σαρκικῆς ὡς ἐν σκιᾷ πάλιν ἐκπεφορτισμένους. Δηλοῖ γὰρ, οἶμαι, τουτὶ καὶ μάλα σαφῶς τὸ ἀποψιλοῦσθαι ξυρῷ τὴν τοῦ σώματος τρίχα. «Ζῶν γὰρ ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἐνεργὴς, καὶ τομώτερος,» καθάπερ τινὰ τριχῶν καὶ ὀνύχων ἀποκείρων ἐκ νοῦ, τῶν ἐμφύτων καὶ ἐν ἡμῖν σαρκικῶν κινημάτων τὴν ἀκαθαρσίαν, ὃν καὶ νόμον ἁμαρτίας ἐνῳκηκότα τοῖς μέλεσι τῆς σαρκὸς, ἀντιστρατευόμενόν τε τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ νοὸς, καὶ εἰς ἃ μὴ θέμις ἐξέλκοντα, Γράμμα πού φησιν ἱερὸν, ἀλλὰ τῇ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος δυνάμει τε καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ καθάπερ ξυρῷ τεμνόμενος ἀσθενεῖ, κἂν εἰ ἀναφύοιτό πως ἐν ἡμῖν, γοργότερον ἀποκείρεται. «Πνεύματι γὰρ περιπατεῖτε,» φησὶ, «καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν σαρκὸς οὐ μὴ τελέσητε.» Ὥσπερ δὲ τὸ ξυρὸν οὐκ ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς εἰσάπαν ἀναβοθρεύει ῥίζης τὴν ἐν ἡμῖν τρίχα, τέμνει δὲ ἀναφυομένην εὐθέως· οὕτω καὶ ἐν ἡμῖν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγος, πρόῤῥιζον ὥσπερ, τὴν ὡς ἔμφυτον ἐπιθυμίας οὐκ ἀναβοθρεύει κίνησιν (τετήρηται γὰρ τὸ τέλειον ἅγιον εἰς αἰῶνα τὸν μέλλοντα), κατανεκροῖ δὲ μᾶλλον ἀναφυομένην καὶ ἀνίσχουσαν ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ τὸν ἐν τοῖς μέλεσι τῆς σαρκὸς ἀγριαίνοντα τιθασσεύει νόμον. Οὐκοῦν ἡ τριχῶν ἀφαίρεσις τὴν νοῦ κάθαρσιν ὑπαινίττεται, ἣν ἂν ἐν ἡμῖν ὁ θεῖός τε καὶ τομώτερος ἐργάζεται τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγος. Ἀπόπλυσις δὲ ἱματίων, λαμπρὰν καὶ ἀκίβδηλον ἡμῖν πολιτείαν ὑποφαίνει, τὴν ἐξωφανῆ. «Προνοούμενοι γὰρ καλὰ, οὐ μόνον ἐνώπιον Κυρίου,» κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, «ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐνώπιον ἀνθρώπων.» Καὶ αὐτὸς δέ πού φησι· «Λαμψάτω τὸ φῶς ὑμῶν ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὅπως ἴδωσι τὰ καλὰ