The guilt offering and the parts reserved for God
Cyril: …to the holy things for no other reason than to share in the holy Christ through the ineffable and spiritual sacrifice. And the vessels that serve the sacrifices are also purified (Leviticus 6:28), so that what has served sacred things may belong to nothing else and not be put to human uses. This law has been kept, and it is preserved in the churches. And the law will again make clear that being blessed befits those who act with manly courage, when it says: ‘Every male among the priests shall eat them’ (Leviticus 6:29).
Palladius: The point is clear.
Cyril: Besides this, he also lays down how the sacrifice should be properly carried out (the sacrifice for sin, I mean): which parts of it the ministers may eat, and which are set apart for a fragrant aroma. For it is written thus: ‘And all the sin offerings, any of whose blood is brought into the tent of witness to make atonement in the holy place, shall not be eaten; it shall be burned up in fire (Leviticus 6:30). And this is the law of the ram of the guilt offering; it is most holy. In the place where they slaughter the whole burnt offering, they shall slaughter the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord. And he shall pour its blood at the base of the altar all around. And he shall offer from it all its fat: the loin, and all the fat that covers the entrails, and all the fat on the entrails, and the two kidneys and the fat on them that is on the thighs, and the lobe on the liver with the kidneys; he shall remove them, and the priest shall offer them on the altar as an offering to the Lord; it is a guilt offering. Every male of the priests shall eat them; they shall eat them in a holy place; they are most holy. As the sin offering is, so is the guilt offering; there is one law for them. The priest who makes atonement with it shall have it’ (Leviticus 7:1–7).
For he declares that the inward parts of the victims must not be made into food. They must, he says, be dedicated to God alone and offered to him. This, I think, is what ‘it shall be burned up in fire’ points to; that is, what is dedicated is to be plainly assigned to the divine nature alone, which is above all things, and of which fire is a type. And when the ram of the guilt offering is sacrificed, its blood is poured out at the base of the altar; for the death of Christ is holy and sacred, and fragrant as well. For the inward parts are offered up: the fat, the kidneys, and the lobe of the liver. These, I think, as I have said elsewhere too, would be a type of virtue, not of one virtue only but of many kinds. For the ways of virtue are very many. And so we have been justified in Christ, who endured death for us and dedicated himself to God the Father as a fragrant aroma (Ephesians 5:2).
He makes clear that we shall not serve God without reward, for he says straight after this: ‘And the priest who offers someone’s whole burnt offering, the skin of the whole burnt offering that he offers shall be his; and every sacrifice that is prepared in the oven, and every one that is prepared…’ (Leviticus 7:8–9)
Greek
ίεμεν γὰρ τοῖς ἁγίοις, οὐχ ἑτέρου του χάριν, ἢ ὥστε μεταλαχεῖν τοῦ ἁγίου Χριστοῦ διά τε τῆς ἀποῤῥήτου καὶ πνευματικῆς θυσίας. Διαγνίζεται δὲ καὶ τὰ ταῖς θυσίαις ὑπηρετοῦντα σκεύη, ὡς ἂν μὴ ἑτέρῳ γένοιτό τινι, μηδὲ ταῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὑποφέροιτο χρείαις τὰ τοῖς ἱεροῖς λελειτουργηκότα. Τετήρηται δὲ ὁ νόμος, καὶ ἐν ἐκκλησίαις σώζεται. Ἀνδριζομένοις δὲ ὅτι τὸ εὐλογεῖσθαι πρέπει, σαφηνιεῖ πάλιν ὁ νόμος εἰπών· «Πᾶν ἄρσεν ἐν τοῖς ἱερεῦσι φάγεται αὐτά.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Σαφὴς ὁ λόγος.
{ΚΥΡ.} Θεσμοθετεῖ δὲ πρὸς τούτοις, καὶ ὅπως ἂν γένοιτο καλῶς τῆς θυσίας ὁ τρόπος, τῆς ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτίας, φημί· καὶ τίνα μὲν ἐξ αὐτῆς, τὰ τοῖς λειτουργοῦσιν ἐδώδιμα, τίνα δὲ αὖ, τὰ εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας ἐξῃρημένα. Γέγραπται γὰρ οὕτω· «Καὶ πάντα, φησὶ, τὰ περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ὧν ἂν εἰσενεχθῇ ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτῶν εἰς τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ μαρτυρίου ἐξιλάσασθαι ἐν τόπῳ ἁγίῳ, οὐ βρωθήσεται, ἐν πυρὶ κατακαυθήσεται. Καὶ οὗτος ὁ νόμος τοῦ κριοῦ τοῦ περὶ τῆς πλημμελείας, Ἅγια ἁγίων ἐστίν· ἐν τόπῳ οὗ σφάξουσι τὸ ὁλοκαύτωμα, σφάξουσι τὸν κριὸν περὶ τῆς πλημμελείας ἔναντι Κυρίου. Καὶ τὸ αἷμα προσχεεῖ ἐπὶ τὴν βάσιν τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου κύκλῳ· καὶ πᾶν τὸ στέαρ αὐτοῦ προσοίσει ἀπ' αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὴν ὀσφὺν, καὶ πᾶν τὸ στέαρ τὸ κατακαλύπτον τὰ ἐνδόσθια, καὶ πᾶν τὸ στέαρ τὸ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐνδοσθίων· καὶ τοὺς δύο νεφροὺς, καὶ τὸ στέαρ τὸ ἐπ' αὐτῶν τὸ ἐπὶ τῶν μηρίων, καὶ τὸν λοβὸν τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ ἥπατος σὺν τοῖς νεφροῖς, περιελεῖ αὐτὰ, καὶ ἀνοίσει αὐτὰ ὁ ἱερεὺς ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον κάρπωμα τῷ Κυρίῳ· περὶ πλημμελείας ἐστί. Πᾶς ἄρσην ἐκ τῶν ἱερέων ἔδεται αὐτὰ, ἐν τόπῳ ἁγίῳ ἔδονται αὐτά. Ἅγια ἁγίων ἐστίν. Ὥσπερ τὸ περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, οὕτω καὶ τὸ περὶ τῆς πλημμελείας· νόμος εἷς αὐτῶν ὁ ἱερεὺς ὅστις ἐξιλάσεται ἐν αὐτῷ, αὐτῷ ἔσται.» Ἀποφάσκει μὲν γὰρ δεῖν ποιεῖσθαι τροφὰς τὰ τῶν ἱερείων ἐνδόσθια. Χρὴ γὰρ μόνῳ, φησὶν, ἀνακεῖσθαι Θεῷ, καὶ αὐτῷ προσάγεσθαι· τουτὶ γὰρ οἶμαι καταδηλοῦν τὸ, «ἐν πυρὶ κατακαυθήσεται,» τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ἀνακεῖσθαι τὸ ἐν μόνῃ ἐκνενεμήσθω σαφῶς τῇ θείᾳ τε καὶ ὑπὲρ πάντα φύσει, ἧς εἰς τύπον τὸ πῦρ. Καταθυομένου δὲ τοῦ κριοῦ τῆς πλημμελείας, προσχεῖται τὸ αἷμα τῇ βάσει τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου· ἅγιος γὰρ καὶ ἱερὸς ὁ Χριστοῦ θάνατος, καὶ μὴν καὶ εὐώδης. Ἀναφέρεται γὰρ τὰ ἐνδόσθια, πιμελὴ, καὶ νεφροὶ, καὶ λοβὸς τοῦ ἥπατος. Εἶεν δ' ἂν, οἶμαι, ταυτὶ, καθὰ καὶ ἐν ἑτέροις ἔφην, εἰς ἀρετῆς τύπον τῆς οὐ μιᾶς, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐν εἴδει πολλῶν. Πλεῖστοι γὰρ ὅσοι τῆς ἀρετῆς οἱ τρόποι· δεδικαιώμεθα δὴ οὖν ἐν Χριστῷ, τὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀνατλάντι θάνατον, καὶ ἀναθέντι ἑαυτὸν εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρί· ὅτι δὲ οὐκ ἀμισθὶ λειτουργήσομεν τῷ Θεῷ, σαφηνίζει, λέγων εὐθύς τε καὶ ἐφεξῆς· «Καὶ ὁ ἱερεὺς ὁ προσάγων ὁλοκαυτώματα ἀνθρώπου, τὸ δέρμα τῆς ὁλοκαυτώσεως ἧς αὐτὸς προσφέρει, αὐτῷ ἔσται, καὶ πᾶσα θυσία ἥτις ποιηθήσεται ἐν τῷ κλιβάνῳ. Καὶ πᾶσα ἥτις ποιηθήσεται