Ash-water cleansing; calf for ruler/people; kid for one; grace abounds
Cyril: …ship. And a cleansing for the having-been-defiled, the ash-heap with water. For a releasing of sin, the passion of the Savior, sanctifying us through water, through which we will gain not a putting-away of filth of flesh, according to the having-been-written (1 Peter 3:21), but the washing-off of the defilements in souls; ‘For wash yourselves,’ he says, ‘and become clean;’ (Isaiah 1:16) and a prophetic word from above was ordering for us.
Palladius: So then in a calf as in an image and types, the death of Christ through us and over us is being sketched.
Cyril: You understand very well, and toward this at least you would wonder-down, I think, also looking unto that.
Palladius: The of what sort?
Cyril: For if on the one hand the leader together of those yoked-under should sin, or then the under-hand multitude itself according to itself, a calf will be the victim. And with a leader having been caught in special stumblings, let him bring-up, he says, a he-goat from goats. And if somehow someone should be of those in peoples, male no longer, but female let the slaughter be; And I will read, if it seems good, also the laws upon these, for he said thus: ‘And if the ruler should sin, and should do one from all the commands of Lord his God, which will not be done unwillingly, and should fault, and the sin should be known to him, which he sinned in it, also he will bring-forward his gift a he-goat from goats, male unblemished, about sin; and he will put the hand upon the head of the he-goat, and they will slaughter him in a place, where they slaughter the whole-burnt-offerings before Lord, it is of sin. And the priest will put from the blood of the of the sin with the finger upon the horns of the altar of the whole-burnt-offerings, and all his blood he will pour-out beside the base of the altar of the whole-burnt-offerings, and all his fat he will bring-up upon the altar, just as the fat of a sacrifice of salvation, and he will propitiate about…’ (Leviticus 4:22-26) … approach of victims; and a calf on the one hand was over both ruler and people, somehow common and having been sick with one sin. And one kid, over one, or of one soul; for Christ has brought himself forward, on the one hand over all, as in an image in the calf, a heavy and great victim; ‘For where the sin abounded,’ he says, ‘the grace over-abounded.’ (Romans 5:20) And of a kid and of a sheep
Greek
τευμα. Κάθαρσις δὲ τοῖς μεμολυσμένοις, ἡ σποδιὰ μετὰ ὕδατος. Λυτήριον γὰρ ἁμαρτίας, τοῦ Σωτῆρος τὸ πάθος, ἁγιάζων ἡμᾶς δι' ὕδατος, δι' οὗ κερδανοῦμεν οὐ σαρκὸς ἀπόθεσιν ῥύπου, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἐν ψυχαῖς μολυσμῶν τὴν ἀπόνιψιν· «Λούσασθε» γὰρ, φησὶν, «καὶ καθαροὶ γίνεσθε·» καὶ προφητικὸς ἡμῖν ἄνωθεν διεκελεύετο λόγος.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἐν μόσχῳ δὴ οὖν ὡς ἐν εἰκόνι καὶ τύποις, ὁ δι' ἡμᾶς καὶ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ σκιαγραφεῖται θάνατος.
{ΚΥΡ.} Συνίης εὖ μάλα, καὶ πρός γε δὴ τούτῳ καταθαυμάσαις ἂν, οἶμαι, καὶ εἰς ἐκεῖνο βλέπων.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τὸ ποῖον;
{ΚΥΡ.} Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἁμάρτοι, φησὶν, ὁ ἡγούμενος ὁμοῦ τῶν ὑπεζευγμένων, εἴ τ' οὖν αὐτὴ καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἡ ὑπὸ χεῖρα πληθὺς, μόσχος ἔσται τὸ θῦμα. Ἐναλοὺς δὲ πταίσμασιν ἰδικοῖς ὁ ἡγούμενος, προσκομιζέτω, φησὶ, χίμαρον ἐξ αἰγῶν. Εἰ δὲ δή τις εἴη τῶν ἐν λαοῖς, ἄρσεν μὲν οὐκέτι, θῆλυ δὲ ἔστω τὸ σφάγιον· Ἀναγνώσομαι δὲ, εἰ δοκεῖ, καὶ τοὺς ἐπὶ τοῖσδε νόμους, ἔφη γὰρ ὧδε· «Ἐὰν δὲ ὁ ἄρχων ἁμάρτῃ, καὶ ποιήσῃ μίαν ἀπὸ πασῶν τῶν ἐντολῶν Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ αὐτοῦ, ἢ οὐ ποιηθήσεται ἀκουσίως, καὶ πλημμελήσῃ, καὶ γνωσθῇ αὐτῷ ἡ ἁμαρτία, ἣν ἥμαρτεν ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ προσοίσει τὸ δῶρον αὐτοῦ χίμαρον ἐξ αἰγῶν, ἄρσεν ἄμωμον, περὶ ἁμαρτίας· καὶ ἐπιθήσει τὴν χεῖρα ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ χιμάρου, καὶ σφάξουσιν αὐτὸν ἐν τόπῳ, οὗ σφάζουσι τὰ ὁλοκαυτώματα ἐνώπιον Κυρίου, ἁμαρτίας ἐστί. Καὶ ἐπιθήσει ὁ ἱερεὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τῷ δακτύλῳ ἐπὶ τὰ κέρατα τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τῶν ὁλοκαυτωμάτων, καὶ τὸ πᾶν αἷμα αὐτοῦ ἐκχεεῖ παρὰ τὴν βάσιν τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τῶν ὁλοκαυτωμάτων, καὶ τὸ πᾶν στέαρ αὐτοῦ ἀνοίσει ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον, ὥσπερ τὸ στέαρ θυσίας σωτηρίου, καὶ ἐξιλάσεται περὶ αὐτοῦ ὁ ἱερεὺς περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀφεθήσεται αὐτῷ.» Καὶ πρός γε δὴ τούτοις, «Ἐὰν δὲ ψυχὴ μία ἁμάρτῃ ἀκουσίως ἐκ τοῦ λαοῦ τῆς γῆς, ἐν τῷ ποιῆσαι μίαν ἀπὸ πασῶν τῶν ἐντολῶν Κυρίου, ἣ οὐ ποιηθήσεται, καὶ πλημμελήσῃ, καὶ γνωσθῇ αὐτῷ ἡ ἁμαρτία, ἣν ἥμαρτεν ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ οἴσει χίμαιραν ἐξ αἰγῶν, θήλειαν ἄμωμον οἴσει περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας αὐτοῦ.» Καὶ τῆς θυσίας τὸν τρόπον, ὅπως ἂν γένοιτο, διειπών· «Ἐὰν δὲ πρόβατον προσενέγκῃ,» φησὶ, «τὸ δῶρον αὐτοῦ περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, θῆλυ ἄμωμον προσοίσει αὐτό.» Συνίης οὖν, ὦ Παλλάδιε, τοῦ μυστηρίου τὸ βάθος, ὡς ἐν ἐσόπτρῳ καὶ σκιαῖς τοῖς ἀρχαιοτέροις ἀνατυπούμενον; Ἰσομοιρεῖ γὰρ ὥσπερ τῷ μεγέθει τῶν πλημμελημάτων, ἡ τῶν θυμάτων προσαγωγή· καὶ μόσχος μὲν ἧν ὑπὲρ ἄρχοντός τε καὶ λαοῦ, κοινὴ τάχα που καὶ μίαν ἠῤῥωστηκότοιν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. Ἔριφος δὲ εἷς, ὑπὲρ ἑνὸς, ἤτοι μιᾶς ψυχῆς· ἑαυτὸν γὰρ προσκεκόμικεν ὁ Χριστὸς, ἅμα μὲν ὑπὲρ πάντων, ὡς ἐν εἰκόνι τῷ μόσχῳ, βαρεῖ τε καὶ μεγάλῳ θύματι· «Ὅπου γὰρ ἐπλεόνασεν ἡ ἁμαρτία, φησὶν, ὑπερεπερίσσευσεν ἡ χάρις.» Ἐρίφου δὲ καὶ προβά
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 15 of a seventeen-book dialogue — not the whole work.
English follows Migne PG 68 (Aubert reprint). The PDF and a cleaned text of the same print were checked against each other. This page is Book 15 of seventeen. This is a reading translation for study, not a new critical edition of the Greek.
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- Copy-text Migne PG 68 De adoratione Book 15 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 15)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 15)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.