Book 12 opens: priesthood continued; Levi chosen yet screened for blemish
ON ADORATION AND WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH — BOOK TWELVE. Concerning priesthood.
So then concerning the sacred stole, and indeed also the sacrifices which God was legislating must also be finished upon the perfectings of the priests, it has been said clearly. And with myriad things as many as have been oracled upon them, both concerning liturgy and cleansings, and accurate diligence of the needing to live most lawfully and polished unto intelligible elegance, I at least think it needful also before the others to say that.
Palladius: What sort of thing do you say?
Cyril: For a dedication to God and chosen out from all the tribes was the one from blood of Levi, and law was giving to the race the needing to priest, God apportioning to it the select prize upon this; yet he was not leaving the sacred-working multitude wholly unexamined, nor was he simply releasing the matter to whoever happened, through at least being from blood of Levi; but he was ordering to investigate carefully and very finely, lest somehow some of the blamed things having happened to be sick be unwilled by God, and make the approach blemished, and only not also, rushing in with unwashed feet into the tent of the witness, he should collide and not willingly. And it has been written thus again in Leviticus: ‘And the Lord spoke toward Moses saying: Speak to Aaron: A human from your race into your generations, to whomsoever there should be in him a blemish, will not come forward to offer the gifts of his God. Every human in whom there should be a blemish will not come forward, a human blind, or lame, or flat-nosed, or ear-cut, or a human in whom there is in’ (Leviticus 21:16–18)
Greek
ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΕΝ ΠΝΕΥΜΑΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΑΛΗΘΕΙΑ ΠΡΟΣΚΥΝΗΣΕΩΣ ΚΑΙ ΛΑΤΡΕΙΑΣ ΛΟΓΟΣ ΔΩΔΕΚΑΤΟΣ. Περὶ ἱερωσύνης. Στολῆς μὲν οὖν πέρι τῆς ἱερᾶς, καὶ μέντοι καὶ θυσιῶν, ἃς δὴ καὶ ἀποπεραίνεσθαι δεῖν ἐπὶ ταῖς τῶν ἱερέων τελειώσεσιν ἐθεσμοθέτει Θεὸς, εἴρηται σαφῶς. Μυρίων δὲ ὅσων ἐπ' αὐτοῖς κεχρησμῳδημένων, λειτουργίας τε πέρι καὶ καθαρισμῶν, καὶ ἀκριβοῦς ἐμμελείας τῆς ἔν γε τῷ χρῆναι βιοῦν ἐννομώτατά τε καὶ ἀπεξεσμένως εἰς νοητὴν ἀστειότητα, οἶμαι δεῖν ἔγωγε καὶ πρό γε τῶν ἄλλων ἐκεῖνο εἰπεῖν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τὸ ποῖόν τι φής·
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀνάθημα γὰρ τῷ Θεῷ καὶ ἀπόλεκτον ἐκ πασῶν τῶν φυλῶν, ἡ ἐξ αἵματος ἦν τοῦ Λευὶ, καὶ νόμος ἐδίδου τῷ γένει τὸ ἱερᾶσθαι δεῖν, ἔκκριτον αὐτῷ τὸ ἐπὶ τῷδε γέρας ἀπονέμοντος Θεοῦ· πλὴν οὐκ ἀβασάνιστον ὁλοτρόπως τὴν ἱερουργὸν ἠφίει πληθὺν, οὐδὲ ἀνῆκεν ἁπλῶς τοῖς τυχοῦσι τὸ χρῆμα, διά γε τὸ ἐξ αἵματος εἶναι Λευΐ· πολυπραγμονεῖν δὲ δεῖν ἐκέλευε καὶ σφόδρα λεπτῶς, μὴ ἄρα τι τῶν κατεψεγμένων ἀῤῥωστῆσαι συμβὰν, ἀνεθέλητον εἴη Θεῷ, καὶ μεμωμημένην ποιοῖτο τὴν πρόσοδον, μόνον δὲ οὐχὶ καὶ ἀνίπτοις εἰσθέων ποσὶν εἰς τὴν τοῦ μαρτυρίου σκηνὴν προσκρούοι καὶ οὐχ ἑκών. Γέγραπται δὲ οὕτω πάλιν ἐν τῷ Λευϊτικῷ· «Καὶ ἐλάλησε Κύριος πρὸς Μωσῆν λέγων· Εἶπον Ἀαρών· Ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τοῦ γένους σου εἰς τὰς γενεὰς ὑμῶν, τινὶ ἂν ᾖ ἐν αὐτῷ μῶμος, οὐ προσελεύσεται προσφέρειν τὰ δῶρα τοῦ Θεοῦ αὐτοῦ. Πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ᾧ ἂν ᾖ ἐν αὐτῷ μῶμος, οὐ προσελεύσεται, ἄνθρωπος τυφλὸς, ἢ χωλὸς, ἢ κολοβόρινος, ἢ ὠτότμητος, ἢ ἄνθρωπος ᾧ ἐστιν ἐν
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 12 of a seventeen-book dialogue — not the whole work.
English follows Migne PG 68 (Aubert reprint). The PDF and a cleaned text of the same print were checked against each other. This page is Book 12 of seventeen. This is a reading translation for study, not a new critical edition of the Greek.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Migne PG 68 De adoratione Book 12 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 12)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 12)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.