Coming to God's house cleansed; the unclean sent out of the camp
Cyril: …above all for those who choose to live rightly, and to set on their own heads, like a crown, the full beauty of the life lived in Christ, to urge one another on eagerly, as it were, saying: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will declare his way to us, and we will walk in it’ (Isaiah 2:3). At this some, receiving so glorious and profitable a call, all but leap for joy and say: ‘I was glad when they said to me, “We will go into the house of the Lord”’ (Psalm 122:1). So then, Palladius, for those who hasten to go into the house of God, what would their aim be? Where is their mind looking, and what do they long to accomplish, as they press on toward the holy and divine tabernacle?
Palladius: Well, my friend, the matter is not obscure. For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord in his holy court’ (Psalm 96:9), and: ‘Bring sacrifices, and come into his courts’ (Psalm 96:8).
Cyril: So, then, some enter the house of the Lord and his courts bringing sacrifices on their own behalf, spiritual ones of course, and also intending to draw near in inward worship.
Palladius: That is what I say.
Cyril: Are we then to suppose that those who wish to go in should simply rush in, not washed clean of sin, not freed from vileness, not scraped clean, as it were, of the filth of love for the flesh, but with their mind steeped in it and their heart eaten with rust? Not at all. Rather, they should be adorned with the brightness that is in Christ, and shine with the many-colored beauty of virtue, which is most dear to God.
Palladius: Certainly. For I say that we must come before the eyes of the Lord with every stain first wiped from our thoughts.
Cyril: You are right, since he counts the sick man hateful, and indeed casts him off, and sends him away from the company of the saints. The inspired Paul understood this very well when he wrote: ‘Drive out, then, the wicked person from among you’ (1 Corinthians 5:13). And I would not call this the fruit of a savage temper, but a wise safeguard. ‘For a little leaven,’ he says, ‘leavens the whole lump’ (1 Corinthians 5:6). And again, the sacred law sketched this for us in a riddle. For it is written in Numbers: ‘And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the sons of Israel, and let them send out of the camp every leper, and everyone who has a discharge, and everyone who is unclean through a dead body. Male and female alike, send them outside the camp, and they shall not defile their camps, in which I dwell among them. And the sons of Israel did so’ (Numbers 5:1–4). Is it not true to say that the burden of the law is very heavy indeed and truly hard to carry? For you see how it prescribes a penalty even for illnesses that no one chooses, although…
Greek
ποι δ' ἂν ὅτι μάλιστά γε τοὺς οἵπερ ἂν ἕλοιντο βιοῦν ὀρθῶς, καὶ τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ πολιτείας τὸ εἰσάπαν εὐπρεπὲς, οἷά τινα στέφανον ταῖς σφῶν αὐτῶν ἀναδεῖν κεφαλαῖς, προτροπάδην ὥσπερ ἀλλήλοις διακελεύεσθαι λέγοντας· «Δεῦτε, καὶ ἀναβῶμεν εἰς τὸ ὄρος Κυρίου, καὶ εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἰακὼβ, καὶ ἀναγγελεῖ ἡμῖν τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ πορευσόμεθα ἐν αὐτῇ·» ὅτε καί τινες τὴν οὕτως εὐκλεᾶ τε καὶ ὀνησιφόρον εἰσδεδεγμένοι φωνὴν, μονονουχὶ καὶ ἀνασκιρτῶσι λέγοντες· «Εὐφράνθην ἐπὶ τοῖς εἰρηκόσι μοι· Εἰς οἶκον Κυρίου πορευσόμεθα.» Ἆρ' οὖν, ὦ Παλλάδιε, τοῖς εἰς οἶκον ἰέναι Θεοῦ διασπεύδουσι, ποταπὸς ἂν εἴη σκοπὸς καὶ ὁ νοῦς αὐτοῖς ὅποι ποτὲ ἄρα βλέποι, καὶ τί κατορθοῦν γλιχόμενοι, πρὸς τὴν ἱεράν τε καὶ θείαν ἴενται σκηνήν;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ μὴν, ὦ ἑταῖρε, τὸ χρῆμά ἐστιν οὐκ ἀσυμφανές· γέγραπται γὰρ, ὅτι «Προσκυνήσατε τῷ Κυρίῳ ἐν αὐλῇ ἁγίᾳ αὐτοῦ·» καὶ «Ἄρατε θυσίας, καὶ εἰσπορεύεσθε εἰς τὰς αὐλὰς αὐτοῦ.»
{ΚΥΡ.} Προσκομίζοντες οὖν ἄρα τὰς ὑπέρ γε σφῶν αὐτῶν θυσίας, δῆλον δὲ ὅτι τὰς πνευματικὰς, καὶ μὴν καὶ προσελευσόμενοι κατὰ νοητὴν προσκύνησιν, εἰσίασί τινες εἰς τὸν οἶκον Κυρίου καὶ εἰς τὰς αὐλὰς αὐτοῦ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὕτω φημί.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οἰησόμεθα δὴ οὖν τοὺς εἰσφοιτᾷν ἐθέλοντας, χρῆναι διᾴττειν ἁπλῶς, οὐκ ἐκνενιμμένους τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, οὐ βδελυρίας ἀπηλλαγμένους, οὐκ ἀπεξεσμένους ὥσπερ τῆς φιλοσαρκίας τὸν ῥύπον, ἀλλ' ἐντετηγμένον ἔχοντας τὸν νοῦν, καὶ καρδίαν ἰώδη ἔχοντας; Ἥκιστά γε, λαμπρότητι δὲ μᾶλλον τῇ ἐν Χριστῷ κατηγλαϊσμένους, καὶ τὸ παμποίκιλον τῆς θεοφιλεστάτης ἀρετῆς διαστίλβοντας κάλλος.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν· δεῖν γὰρ ἔγωγέ φημι κατ' ὀφθαλμοὺς ἰέναι Κυρίου, κηλίδος ἁπάσης τῶν ἡμετέρων διανοιῶν προεκτετριμμένης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ὀρθῶς ἔφης, ἐπεί τοι καὶ στυγητὸν, καὶ μὴν καὶ ἀπόβλητον ποιεῖται τὸν ἄῤῥωστον, καὶ τῆς τῶν ἁγίων ἐκπέμπει πληθύος. Ὃ δὴ καὶ εὖ μάλα συνιεὶς ὁ θεσπέσιος γράφει Παῦλος· «Ἐξάρατε οὖν τὸν πονηρὸν ἐξ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν.» Καὶ οὐκ ἠθῶν ἀγριότητα φαίην ἂν ἔγωγε τὸ χρῆμα καρπὸν, ἀλλὰ σοφὸν ἀσφαλείας εὕρεμα. «Μικρὰ γὰρ ζύμη,» φησὶν, «ὅλον τὸ φύραμα ζυμοῖ.» Τοῦτό τοι πάλιν καὶ νόμος ἡμῖν ἱερὸς αἰνιγματωδῶς ὑπετύπου. Γέγραπται γὰρ ἐν τοῖς Ἀριθμοῖς· «Καὶ ἐλάλησε Κύριος πρὸς Μωσῆν, λέγων· Λάλησον τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἐξαποστειλάτωσαν ἐκ τῆς παρεμβολῆς πάντα λεπρὸν καὶ πάντα γονοῤῥυῆ, καὶ πάντα ἀκάθαρτον ἐπὶ ψυχῇ, ἀπὸ ἀρσενικοῦ ἕως θηλυκοῦ, ἐξαποστείλατε ἔξω τῆς παρεμβολῆς, καὶ οὐ μιανοῦσι τὰς παρεμβολὰς αὐτῶν ἐν οἷς ἐγὼ καταγίνομαι ἐν αὐτοῖς. Καὶ ἐποίησαν οὕτως οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραήλ» Ἆρ' οὐκἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν ὡς δυσαχθὲς ἄγαν καὶ δυσδιακόμιστον ἀληθῶς τὸ τοῦ νόμου φορτίον; Συνίης γὰρ ὅπως καὶ ἐπ' ἀνεθελήτοις ἀῤῥωστίαις καταγράφει δίκην, καίτοι