Israel loses its inheritance; the nations are redeemed in Christ
Cyril: …that is walled and girded about with help from above, who have the minds of townsfolk and have not been ignorant of what pleases God, but then disregarded what was fitting, have thrown away through carelessness the lot assigned to them and have fallen from their high hope: unless they sober up from their drunkenness, as it is written (Joel 1:5), and recover what is their own while the year of redemption is here (Leviticus 25:29–30), that is, the coming of our Savior, they will be left as they are from then on and will be subject forever to the buyer, that is, to Satan. ‘For behold,’ he says, ‘you were sold for your iniquities, and for your sins I sent away your mother’ (Isaiah 50:1). But the multitude of the nations, wholly without help and sick with a rustic and untaught mind, and for that reason driven out into slavery under others, can be redeemed at any time (Leviticus 25:31), because God takes pity on it. For it will take back its own lot, called to freedom in the year of release, when Christ set free all the earth under the sun from the greed of the demons, rescued it from the snares of sin, justified it by faith and sanctified it in the Spirit, canceling by his own cross the bond that stood against us (Colossians 2:14). The possessions of the Levites, however, can never be sold off (Leviticus 25:32–34); for the lot is kept safe for the saints, and their hope stands firm. So it was that Christ once said of Mary, who was so very eager to learn, that she had chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her (Luke 10:42). Yet for small and great, for priest and people, and in a word for all, redemption and the security of hope are in Christ.
Palladius: So Israel will sell off its own lot, because it did not recognize the year of redemption; but the nations will possess the hope, and the good things of nature will be regained through Christ.
Cyril: So I say. And the God of all will seal our account as true, showing this also in another way through the voice of Ezekiel, in the measuring of the house: ‘Thus says the Lord: If the leader gives a gift to one of his sons out of his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons. But if he gives it to one of his servants, it shall be his until the year of release, and he shall give it back to the leader; only the inheritance of his sons shall remain theirs. And the leader shall not take any of the inheritance of his people, to oppress them and drive them from their possession, and from his inheritance to give an inheritance to his sons, so that my people may not be scattered, each from his own possession’ (Ezekiel 46:16–18). Is the oracle clear to you, and does the sense of the history stand out plainly?
Palladius: Not at all; but I would most gladly learn.
Cyril: By ‘leader,’ Palladius, he means the high priest, the one whose lot it is to lead the peoples under his hand. Since, then, fitting and select lots have been assigned to the holy…
Greek
τετειχισμένην, καὶ ταῖς ἄνωθεν ἐπικουρίαις διεζωσμένην, καὶ φρένας ἔχοντες ἀστικὰς, καὶ τὸ τῷ Θεῷ δοκοῦν οὐκ ἠγνοηκότες, εἶτα τοῦ πρέποντος ἀλογήσαντες, τὸν σφίσιν αὐτοῖς ἀπονεμηθέντα κλῆρον ἀποβεβληκότες ἐκ ῥᾳθυμίας, καὶ τῆς ἄγαν ἐλπίδος ἐκπεπτωκότες, εἰ μὴ ἐκνήψειαν ἂν ἐκ μέθης αὐτῶν, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, καὶ ἀνακομίσαιντο τὰ οἰκεῖα, τοῦ τῆς λυτρώσεως ἐνεστηκότος ἐνιαυτοῦ, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπιδημίας, ἀπομενοῦσι λοιπὸν, καὶ διηνεκῶς ὑποκείσονται τῷ πριαμένῳ, τοῦτ' ἔστι τῷ Σατανᾷ. «Ἰδοὺ γὰρ, φησὶ, ταῖς ἀνομίαις ὑμῶν ἐπράθητε, καὶ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν ἐξαπέστειλα τὴν μητέρα ὑμῶν.» Ἀνεπικούρητος δὲ παντελῶς ἡ τῶν ἐθνῶν οὖσα πληθὺς, καὶ τὴν ἄγροικόν τε καὶ ἀμαθῆ νοσοῦσα φρένα, ταύτῃτοι καὶ ἐξωσμένη πρὸς τὴν ὑφ' ἑτέροις δουλείαν, λυτρωτὴ διὰ παντός ἐστιν, ἐποικτείροντος τοῦ Θεοῦ· ἀναλήψεται γὰρ τὸν ἴδιον κλῆρον κεκλημένη πρὸς ἐλευθερίαν, ἐν τῷ ἔτει τῆς ἀφέσεως, ὅτε πᾶσαν τὴν ὑφ' ἡλίῳ τῆς τῶν δαιμονίων πλεονεξίας ἀνῆκε Χριστὸς, καὶ τῶν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐξείλετο βρόχων, καὶ δεδικαίωκεν ἐν πίστει, καὶ ἡγίακεν ἐν πνεύματι, καταργήσας τῷ ἰδίῳ σταυρῷ τὸ καθ' ἡμῶν χειρόγραφον, ἀνεκποίητα δὲ τὰ Λευϊτικά· τετήρηται γὰρ ἀσφαλῶς τοῖς ἁγίοις ὁ κλῆρος, καὶ ἐρηρεισμένην ἔχουσι τὴν ἐλπίδα. Καὶ γοῦν ἐπὶ τῇ φιλομαθεστάτῃ Μαριὰμ ἔφη που Χριστὸς, ὅτι τὴν καλὴν μερίδα ἐξελέξατο, ἥτις οὐκ ἀφαιρεθήσεται ἀπ' αὐτῆς. Πλὴν μικροῦ καὶ μεγάλου ἱερέως καὶ λαοῦ, καὶ πάντων τῶν ἁπαξαπλῶς ἡ λύτρωσις ἐν Χριστῷ καὶ τὸ τῆς ἐλπίδος ἀσφαλές.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀπεμπωλήσει δὴ οὖν τὸν ἴδιον κλῆρον ὁ Ἰσραὴλ, τῆς λυτρώσεως τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν οὐκ ἐπεγνωκώς· ἔσται γε μὴν ἐν καθέξει τῆς ἐλπίδος τὰ ἔθνη, καὶ τῶν τῆς φύσεως ἀγαθῶν ἐπανάληψις ἔσται διὰ Χριστοῦ.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὕτω φημί· κατασφραγιεῖ δὲ τὸν λόγον ἡμῶν εἰς τὸ ἀληθὲς, ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς καὶ καθ' ἕτερον τοῦτο σημαίνων τρόπον, διὰ φωνῆς Ἰεζεχιὴλ, ἐν τῇ τοῦ οἴκου διαμετρήσει· «Τάδε λέγει Κύριος· Ἐὰν δῷ ὁ ἀφηγούμενος δόμα ἑνὶ ἐκ τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ, ἐκ τῆς κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ, τοῦτο τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτοῦ ἔσται· ἢ ἑνὶ τῶν παίδων αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔσται αὐτῷ ἕως τοῦ ἔτους τῆς ἀφέσεως. Καὶ ἀποδώσει τῷ ἀφηγουμένῳ, πλὴν τῆς κληρονομίας τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ αὐτοῖς ἔσται, καὶ οὐ μὴ λάβῃ ὁ ἀφηγούμενος ἐκ τῆς κληρονομίας τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ καταδυναστεῦσαι αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῆς κατασχέσεως αὐτοῦ, ἀπὸ κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ κατακληρονομῆσαι τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτοῦ, ὅπως μὴ διασκορπίζηται ὁ λαός μου, ἕκαστος ἀπὸ κατασχέσεως αὐτοῦ.» Ἆρά σοι σαφὲς τὸ χρησμῴδημα, καὶ ψιλὸς ὁρᾶται τῆς ἱστορίας ὁ νοῦς;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐδαμῶς· ἀναμάθοιμι δ' ἂν ὡς ἥδιστά γε.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἡγούμενον, ὦ Παλλάδιε, τὸν ἀρχιερέα καλεῖ, τὸν καθηγεῖσθαι λαχόντα τῶν ὑπὸ χεῖρα λαῶν. Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδήπερ ἐπιτήδειοι καὶ ἐξαίρετοι τοῖς ἁγίοις