Christ free of all profanation; the virgin bride; no steps to the altar
Cyril: …reverence has been kept pure even in the type itself, and the shadows have been kept free of anything counterfeit, so that the beauty of the truth should not be misrepresented, as though it had suffered harm in them. For Christ is free of all profanation; he knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21) and is beyond all defilement, or rather, he is all radiance and spiritual purity. He remains within all holiness, even if, here at least, its brightness has grown faint, because he stands firm on the laws of his own nature and is always the same and unchanging. This, I think, is what is meant by ‘He shall not go out of the holy place, and shall not profane what is consecrated to his God.’ (Leviticus 21:12) He says very rightly that he must take a virgin as his wife into the fellowship of marriage (Leviticus 21:13–14), and he declares the woman who has been driven out unfit for him. She may also stand as a type of the Synagogue of the Jews, for she has been cast out of union with him, and he says of her through the prophet’s voice: ‘She is not my wife, and I am not her husband.’ (Hosea 2:2) But Paul betrothed the Church from the Gentiles to Christ as a pure virgin (2 Corinthians 11:2), without spot or wrinkle, or rather holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:27). Taken in this way, of the Church from the Gentiles and of the mother of the Jews, the riddle would be true and the type not without beauty. But if someone wishes to apply the force of these ideas fittingly to each individual, we say that Christ has no union with profane and unholy souls; but with souls that are wholly chaste and pure, like virgins, he is joined spiritually, makes them fruitful, and calls them his own kin. For ‘whoever does the will of my Father in heaven,’ he says, ‘is my brother and my sister and my mother.’ (Matthew 12:50)
Palladius: You have put it rightly.
Cyril: He has plainly set out in his oracles what sort of men those chosen for sacred service must be, what they should rightly be eager to do, and what they ought to be free of. But it was surely wise, besides this, to state openly how they must perform the sacred rites, and to regulate by laws the kinds of sacrifices and everything that is offered, so that the whole matter might be blameless for them and they might in this way make their ministry most pleasing. So first of all he says: ‘You shall not go up by steps to my altar, so that you may not uncover your nakedness on it.’ (Exodus 20:26) But someone will say at once: how could this happen, when he gave the priests undergarments made of linen ‘to cover the nakedness’ of their flesh (Exodus 28:42)? Even if they had to climb up high, then, it would have done them no harm, since their nakedness was covered. What, then, shall we say the law is aiming at? The worshippers of idols thought it glorious and even necessary to set up altars high in their temple precincts, and they gave little thought to the need to be decently covered.
Greek
τετήρηται καθαρῶς καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ τύπῳ τὸ σέβας, καὶ τὸ ἀκίβδηλον ἐν σκιαῖς, ἵνα μὴ τὸ τῆς ἀληθείας παρασημαίνηται κάλλος, ὡς ἐν ἐκείνοις ἠδικημένον. Ἀβέβηλος γὰρ ὁ Χριστὸς, καὶ οὐκ εἰδὼς ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ παντὸς ἐπέκεινα μολυσμοῦ, μᾶλλον δὲ λαμπρότητός τε καὶ καθαρότητος νοητῆς· εἴσω τε παντὸς ἁγιασμοῦ, κἂν εἰ ἐξίτηλον ἔχων τὸ ἔν γε τούτῳ διαφανὲς, διά τοι τὸ φυσικοῖς ἐρηρεῖσθαι νόμοις, καὶ ἀεὶ κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχειν. Δηλοῖ δὲ, οἶμαι, τουτὶ, τὸ, «Ἀπὸ τῶν ἁγίων οὐκ ἐξελεύσεται, καὶ οὐ βεβηλώσει τὸ ἡγιασμένον τοῦ Θεοῦ αὐτοῦ.» Γυναῖκα δὲ δεῖν παρθένον πρὸς γάμου φέρεσθαι κοινωνίαν, εὖ μάλα φησὶ, καὶ ἀνάρμοστον ποιεῖται τὴν ἐξωσμένην. Ἣ καὶ εἰς τύπον ἂν εἴη τῆς Ἰουδαίων Συναγωγῆς· ἐκβέβληται γὰρ τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἑνότητος, καὶ περὶ αὐτῆς φησι διὰ τῆς τοῦ προφήτου φωνῆς, ὅτι «Αὐτὴ οὐχ ἡ γυνή μου, καὶ ἐγὼ οὐκ ἀνὴρ αὐτῆς.» Ἡρμόσατο δὲ ὁ Παῦλος τὴν ἐξ ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησίαν, παρθένον ἁγνὴν τῷ Χριστῷ, ἄσπιλον δὲ καὶ ἀρυτίδωτον, μᾶλλον δὲ ἁγίαν καὶ ἄμωμον. Οὕτω μὲν οὖν ἐπί τε τῆς ἐξ ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησίας καὶ τῆς Ἰουδαίων μητρὸς, ἀληθὲς ἂν εἴη τὸ αἴνιγμα, καὶ ὁ τύπος οὐκ ἀκαλλής. Εἰ δὲ δὴ βούλοιτό τις πρὸς τὸν ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ λόγον περιτρέπειν ἀξίως τῶν ἐννοιῶν τὴν δύναμιν, φαμὲν, ὅτι ψυχαῖς βεβήλοις καὶ ἀνοσίαις, ἀσυναφὴς ὁ Χριστός· ταῖς δὲ πανάγνοις καὶ καθαραῖς, οἷάπερ παρθένοις, σύνεστι πνευματικῶς, καὶ ἐγκάρπους ἀποτελεῖ, καὶ γένος αὐτὰς οἰκεῖον ἀποκαλεῖ. «Ὅστις γὰρ ἂν ποιήσῃ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Πατρός μου,» φησὶ, «τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, οὗτος καὶ ἀδελφός μου, καὶ ἀδελφή μου, καὶ μήτηρ μού ἐστιν.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὀρθῶς ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ὁποίους μὲν οὖν εἶναι χρὴ τοὺς ἐξειλεγμένους εἰς ἱερουργίαν, ἄττα τε ὀρθῶς ἐπείγεσθαι δρᾷν, καὶ ὧν ἂν αὐτοὺς ἀπηλλάχθαι πρέποι, διακεχρησμῴδηκεν ἐναργῶς· ἀλλ' ἦν δή που πρὸς τῷδε σοφὸν, τὸ τίνα χρὴ τρόπον ἱερουργεῖν αὐτοὺς, ἐκφάνδην εἰπεῖν, καὶ καταῤῥυθμίσαι νόμοις, τά τε τῶν θυσιῶν εἴδη καὶ πᾶν τὸ ἱερουργούμενον, ὡς ἂν ἀμωμήτως ἔχοι τὸ πρᾶγμα αὐτοῖς, θυμηρεστάτην τε οὕτω ποιοῖντο τὴν λειτουργίαν. Οὐκοῦν καὶ πρό γε τῶν ἄλλων, «Οὐκ ἀναβήσῃ,» φησὶν, «ἐν ἀναβαθμοῖς ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριόν μου, ἵνα μὴ ἀποκαλύψῃς τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην σου ἐπ' αὐτό.» Ἀλλὰ πῶς ἂν τυχὸν γένοιτο τοῦτο, ἐρεῖ τις εὐθὺς, καίτοι ἐκ λίνου κατεσκευασμένον τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν ἐδίδου τὸ περισκελὲς, «ἵνα καλύπτῃ,» φησὶν, «ἀσχημοσύνην» χρωτὸς αὐτοῦ; Εἴπερ οὖν ἄρα, καὶ ὑψοῦ διᾴττειν ἐχρῆν, οὐδὲν ἂν ἠδίκησε τὸ χρῆμα αὐτοὺς περιεσταλμένους τὸ ἄσχημον. Ποῖ δὴ οὖν ἄρα τὸν τοῦ νόμου φαμὲν εἶναι σκοπόν; Τοῖς τῶν εἰδώλων προσκυνηταῖς, εὐκλεὲς εἶναί τε καὶ ἀναγκαῖον ἐδόκει, τὸ ὑψοῦ τοῖς τεμένεσιν ἱδρύσθαι βωμούς· καὶ οὐ πολὺς ἦν αὐτοῖς ὁ ἐπί γε τῷ χρῆναι σεμνῶς περιεστάλθαι λόγος.