True circumcision opens the way to God; the story of Dinah begins
Cyril: ‘…Lord, if indeed I have found favor before you, do not pass by your servant. Let water be brought, and let them wash your feet, and refresh yourselves under the tree; and I will bring bread, and you shall eat; and after this you shall go on your way, since it is for this that you have turned aside to your servant. And they said: We will do so, as you have said’ (Genesis 18:3–5).
For circumcision in the flesh would be a very clear type of the inward circumcision, the circumcision in the spirit (Romans 2:29), by which Christ removes all defilement from our thoughts. For, in the words of the blessed Paul, ‘we have been circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the putting off of the flesh’ (Colossians 2:11). For when we have, as it were, stripped off the old self, which is being corrupted by deceitful desires (Ephesians 4:22), and have all but cut away the pleasures of the flesh by the keen edge and the working of the Spirit, we shall already, in some measure, show ourselves fit to be counted worthy even of seeing God, and of becoming a sacred dwelling place of the holy and consubstantial Trinity. ‘For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this generation, we will come, I and the Father, and make our home with him, and dwell in him,’ said the Savior (Mark 8:38; John 14:23).
Nor does the reward of goodness stop there. Rather, as those already received into close fellowship with God, we shall come to know the things that are in him, through the revelation that comes from him, of course; just as the divine Abraham too was taught about the overthrow of Sodom (Genesis 18:17–21). For God shared his counsel with him as with a friend. See, then, that to be rid of defilements would bring us in return countless good things. Therefore Paul too says: ‘I appeal to you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable worship’ (Romans 12:1). And indeed the prophet Jeremiah cried out plainly: ‘Wash your heart clean of wickedness, Jerusalem, that you may be saved’ (Jeremiah 4:14).
Palladius: We must approach the all-holy God, then, not with a profaned soul, but in a holy and blameless life. For in this way we shall go straight to what is fitting.
Cyril: Quite so, Palladius. And I think it will take you no great labor to see that what is said on this point holds true, if you choose to search into the lives of the saints with a love of learning and with a mind that agrees with mine. For the divine Paul said that the things that befell those of old as types were written down as a way of admonishing us (1 Corinthians 10:11). That we must approach God pure and washed, then, one could learn once more from the following as well. For Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, being a virgin and of an age for marriage, ran out of her father’s tent to look at the daughters of the people of Shechem (Genesis 34:1). But Shechem, the son of Hamor, did not keep still. He at once fell in love with the girl (Genesis 34:3) and was swept away by unrestrained desires toward what he had set his mind on. Going about it rather brutishly, the foreigner, who was still uncircumcised, forced the Hebrew virgin (Genesis 34:2). The sons of Jacob found the matter unbearable (Genesis 34:7), and by the law of war they fell upon those who had impiously outraged a Hebrew woman, their own sister (Genesis 34:25–29). As for the divine Jacob, who was distressed and terrified, and who feared that he would be utterly destroyed…
Greek
ριε, εἰ ἄρα εὗρον χάριν ἐναντίον σου, μὴ παρέλθῃς τὸν παῖδά σου· ληφθήτω δὴ ὕδωρ, καὶ νιψάτωσαν τοὺς πόδας ὑμῶν, καὶ καταψύξατε ὑπὸ τὸ δένδρον, καὶ λήψομαι ἄρτον, καὶ φάγεσθε, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο παρελεύσεσθε εἰς τὴν ὁδὸν ὑμῶν, οὗ ἕνεκεν ἐξεκλίνατε πρὸς τὸν παῖδα ὑμῶν. Καὶ εἶπον· Οὕτω ποιήσομεν, καθὼς εἴρηκας.» Ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἐν σαρκὶ περιτομὴ, τύπος ἂν εἴη καὶ μάλα σαφὴς, τῆς νοητῆς καὶ ἐν πνεύματι, καθ' ἣν ἅπαντα μολυσμὸν τῶν ἡμετέρων διανοιῶν ἐξίστησιν ὁ Χριστός. «Περιτετμήμεθα γὰρ, κατά γε τὴν τοῦ μακαρίου Παύλου φωνὴν, περιτομῇ ἀχειροποιήτῳ ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει τῆς σαρκός.» Ἀπημφιεσμένοι γὰρ ὥσπερ τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν φθειρόμενον κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ἀπάτης, καὶ τὰς τῆς σαρκὸς ἡδονὰς τῇ τοῦ πνεύματος ὀξύτητί τε καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ μονονουχὶ παρακεκομμένοι, ἀξίους ἑαυτοὺς ἀποφανοῦμεν ἤδη πως τοῦ καὶ θεοπτίας ἀξιοῦσθαι δεῖν, καὶ ἱερὸν γενέσθαι κατάλυμα τῆς ἁγίας τε καὶ ὁμοουσίου Τριάδος. «Ὃς γὰρ ἂν ἐπαισχυνθῇ με καὶ τοὺς ἐμοὺς λόγους ἐν τῇ γενεᾷ ταύτῃ, ἐλευσόμεθα ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ, καὶ μονὴν παρ' αὐτῷ ποιησόμεθα, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ καταλύσομεν,» ἔφασκεν ὁ Σωτήρ. Καὶ οὐ μέχρι τούτων, τῆς ἐπιεικείας ἡ ἀντέκτισις, ἀλλ' ὡς ἤδη παραδεχθέντες πρὸς οἰκειότητα τὴν ὡς πρὸς Θεὸν, τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ γνωσόμεθα, δι' ἀποκαλύψεως δὲ δηλονότι τῆς παρ' αὐτῷ· καθάπερ ἀμέλει καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος Ἀβραὰμ τὰ περὶ τῆς τῶν Σοδόμων καταστροφῆς ἐδιδάσκετο. Φίλῳ γὰρ ὥσπερ ἀνεκοινοῦτο Θεός. Ἄθρει δὴ οὖν ὅτι μυρίων ὅσων ἡμῖν ἀγαθῶν ἐμποιήσειεν ἀντέκτισιν, τὸ ἐξοίχεσθαι μολυσμῶν. Τοιγάρτοι καὶ Παῦλος, «Παρακαλῶ ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοὶ,» φησὶ, «διὰ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ, παραστῆσαι τὰ σώματα ὑμῶν θυσίαν ζῶσαν, ἁγίαν, εὐάρεστον τῷ Θεῷ, τὴν λογικὴν λατρείαν ὑμῶν.» Καὶ μὴν καὶ ὁ προφήτης Ἱερεμίας ἀνακέκραγε σαφῶς· «Ἀπόπλυνε ἀπὸ κακίας τὴν καρδίαν, Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἵνα σωθῇς.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Προσιτέον δὴ οὖν οὐκ ἐν βεβηλώσει ψυχῆς τῷ παναγίῳ Θεῷ, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐν ἱερᾷ τε καὶ ἀμωμήτῳ ζωῇ. Κατ' εὐθὺ γὰρ ὧδε τοῦ πρέποντος ἥξομεν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν, ὦ Παλλάδιε, καὶ οὐ πολλοῦ τε, οἶμαι, δεήσει πόνου πρὸς τὸ δύνασθαι καταθρεῖν ἀληθῶς ἔχοντά σοι τὸν ἐπὶ τῷδε λόγον, εἰ τὰς τῶν ἁγίων πολυτείας πολυπραγμονεῖν ἕλοιο φιλομαθῶς καὶ ὁμοφρόνως· τὰ γὰρ τοῖς ἀρχαίοις συμβεβηκότα τυπικῶς, νουθεσίας ἡμῖν ἔφασκεν ἀναγεγράφθαι τρόπους ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος. Οὐκοῦν ὅτι καθαροὺς καὶ ἐκνενιμμένους προσιέναι δεῖ τῷ Θεῷ, διαμάθοι τις ἂν κἀκ τῶνδε δὴ πάλιν. Δῖνα μὲν γὰρ ἡ ἐξ Ἰακὼβ, ἅτε παρθένος καὶ ἐν ὤρᾳ γάμου, τὰς τῶν ἐν Σικίμοις θυγατέρας κατοπτεύουσα, τῆς πατρῴας ἐξέθει σκηνῆς, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἠρέμει Συχὲμ ὁ Ἐμμὼρ υἱός. Ἐρᾷ γὰρ εὐθὺς τῆς νεάνιδος, καὶ ἀσχέτοις ἐπιθυμίαις ἐπὶ τὸ δοκοῦν ἡρπάζετο. Ἀγροικότερον δὲ πρὸς τοῦτο ἰὼν, κατεβιάζετο τὴν παρθένον τὴν Ἑβραίαν ὁ ἀλλόφυλός τε καὶ ἀπερίτμητος ἔτι. Δύσοιστον δὲ τὸ χρῆμα ἐδόκει τοῖς ἐξ Ἰακὼβ, καὶ τοῖς ἀνοσίως πεπαρῳνηκόσιν εἰς Ἑβραίαν καὶ ἀδελφὴν, τὸν πολέμου νόμον ἐπῄεσαν. Ἀσχάλλοντα δὲ καὶ περιδεῆ γεγονότα τὸν θεσπέσιον Ἰακὼβ, καὶ ἐν ὑποψίαις ὄντα τοῦ διόλ