The goat, the sheep, and offerings matched to rank
Cyril: …for each one individually, because, I mean, he was made like those under sin and was counted among the lawless, according to the Scriptures (Isaiah 53:12). The kid is a type of the lawless man, since it is fruitless and dry. So Christ sets the saints at his right hand as sheep, and the workers of lawlessness at his left as kids (Matthew 25:33). One may therefore see his glory and surpassing greatness as in the calf; but his being made like us, and his being counted even among the lawless, you will understand through the goat. He was also slain as a sheep, because of his inborn gentleness and the surpassing meekness of the sacrifice. ‘For he was led like a sheep,’ it says, ‘and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth’ (Isaiah 53:7). But if the one guilty of the offenses happened to be a ruler, the goat was male (Leviticus 4:22–23); if, however, it was one of the people, a single person, the victim was female, whether it happened to be a sheep or from the goats (Leviticus 4:27–32). Even in the difference between the victims the law points to the wisdom of our Savior’s plan of salvation. For the male always in some way leads and holds first honor, while the female follows and stands second. So the cleansing through Christ is in proportion to each one’s faults, both in those who preside and lead and in those under their authority, each individual subject. For when ruler and people fall into sin they would not be liable to equal charges; the rulers, surely, to greater ones. That is why they are scoured clean by a richer grace.
Palladius: I understand what you mean; for the male is better than the other.
Cyril: And you could see in Christ the difference, as it were, in glory. For he is ruler and, as all confess, the guide of the whole universe, as God and Lord. Yet because of his humanity he also became as it were second in rank, and he was placed under the law (Galatians 4:4), as one who leads the way.
Palladius: The sense is convincing.
Cyril: The law adds other kinds of defilement as well, and once more it has foretold the purification for each, as fulfilled in Christ. It says this: ‘If anyone sins, and hears the voice of adjuration, and he is a witness, having either seen or known, if he does not report it, he shall bear the sin. Whoever touches any unclean thing, whether a carcass, or an unclean thing killed by wild beasts, or the carcasses of unclean abominations, or the carcasses of unclean cattle, or touches human uncleanness, any uncleanness of a person that defiles the one who touches it, and it escaped his notice, but afterwards he knows it and is guilty; or the lawless person who declares with his lips that he will do evil or do good, in anything whatever that a man may declare with an oath, and it is hidden from his eyes, and he comes to know it and sins in any one of these: he shall confess the sin he has committed in this matter, and he shall bring to the Lord for the wrong he has done, for the sin… (Leviticus 5:1–6)
Greek
του δίκην, ὑπὲρ ἑκάστου καὶ ἰδικῶς διὰ τὸ ὡμοιῶσθαι, φημὶ, τοῖς ὑφ' ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀνόμοις λελογίσθαι, κατὰ τὰς Γραφάς· ἀνόμου δὲ τύπος, ὁ ἔριφος, ὡς ἄκαρπος καὶ ξηρός. Παρίστησι γοῦν ὁ Χριστὸς, ὡς πρόβατα μὲν ἐκ δεξιῶν, τοὺς ἁγίους, ὡς ἐρίφους δὲ καὶ ἐξ εὐωνύμων τοὺς τῆς ἀνομίας ἐργάτας. Οὐκοῦν τὸ ἐπίδοξον αὐτοῦ καὶ ὑπερφυὲς κατίδοι τις ἂν ὡς ἕν γε τῷ μόσχῳ. Τὸ δὲ ὁμοιοῦσθαι τοῖς καθ' ἡμᾶς, λελογίσθαι δὲ ὅτι καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀνόμοις, διὰ τοῦ χιμάρου νοήσεις. Ἐσφάζετο δὲ καὶ ὡς πρόβατον, διὰ τὴν ἔμφυτον ἡμερότητα, καὶ τὴν εἰς πραότητα θυσίας ὑπεροχήν. «Ὡς πρόβατον γὰρ ἤχθη,» φησὶ, «καὶ ὡς ἀμνὸς, ἐναντίον τοῦ κείροντος αὐτὸν, ἄφωνος, οὕτως οὐκ ἀνοίγει τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ.» Ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν εἴη τυχὸν ἡγούμενος ὁ ταῖς πλημμελείαις ἔνοχος, ἄρσην ὁ χίμαρος ἦν. Εἰ δὲ δή τις ἐν λαοῖς καὶ καθ' ἕνα, θῆλυ τὸ σφάγιον, κἂν εἴ τε πρόβατον εἴη τυχὸν, εἴτ' οὖν ἐξ αἰγῶν, καὶ ἐν τῇ τῶν θυμάτων διαφορᾷ τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν οἰκονομίας τὸ σοφὸν, τοῦ νόμου κατασημαίνοντος. Ἡγεμονεῦον μὲν γὰρ ἀεί πώς ἐστι, καὶ ἐν τιμῇ πρώτῃ τὸ ἄρσεν, ἑπόμενον δὲ καὶ ἐν δευτέροις τὸ θῆλυ. Ἀναλόγως δὴ οὖν τοῖς ἑκάστου πταίσμασι, καὶ ἡ διὰ Χριστοῦ κάθαρσις ἔν γε τοῖς προεστηκόσι καὶ ἡγουμένοις, καὶ τοῖς ὑπὸ χεῖρα, καὶ καθ' ἕνα τε καὶ ὑπεζευγμένοις. Εἶεν γὰρ οὐκ ἐν ἴσοις αἰτιάμασι πεσόντες εἰς ἁμαρτίαν, ἡγούμενος καὶ λαὸς, ἀλλ' ἐν μείζοσι που πάντως, ἡγούμενοι. Τοιγάρτοι πλουσιωτέρᾳ διασμήχονται χάριτι.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Συνίημι ὃ φής· ἄμεινον γὰρ θατέρου, τὸ ἄρσεν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἴδοις δ' ἂν ἐν Χριστῷ, τὸ ὡς ἐν δόξῃ διάφορον· ἄρχων μὲν γάρ ἐστι καὶ τῶν ὅλων καθηγητὴς ὁμολογουμένως, ὡς Θεὸς καὶ Κύριος. Γέγονε δὲ καὶ ὡς ἐν τάξει δεύτερος, διὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, τέθειται δὲ καὶ ὑπὸ νόμον, ὡς ὑφηγούμενος.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πιθανὸς ὁ νοῦς.
{ΚΥΡ.} Καὶ ἑτέρους δὲ μολυσμῶν ἐπισυνάπτει τρόπους, καὶ τὸν ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ δὴ πάλιν, προκεχρησμῴδηκεν ἁγνισμὸν, ὡς ἐν Χριστῷ πληρούμενον. Ἔφη δὲ οὕτως· «Ἐὰν δὲ ψυχὴ ἁμάρτῃ, καὶ ἀκούσῃ φωνὴν ὁρκισμοῦ, καὶ οὗτος μάρτυς ἢ ἑώρακεν, ἢ σύνοιδεν, ἐὰν μὴ ἀπαγγείλῃ, λήψεται τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. Ἡ ψυχὴ ἐκείνη ἥτις ἐὰν ἅψηται παντὸς πράγματος ἀκαθάρτου, ἢ θνησιμαίου, ἢ θηριαλώτου ἀκαθάρτου, ἢ τῶν θνησιμαίων βδελυγμάτων τῶν ἀκαθάρτων, ἢ τῶν θνησιμαίων κτηνῶν τῶν ἀκαθάρτων, ἢ ἅψηται ἀπὸ ἀκαθαρσίας ἀνθρώπου, ἀπὸ πάσης ἀκαθαρσίας αὐτοῦ, ἧς ἂν ἁψάμενος μιανθῇ, καὶ ἔλαθεν αὐτὸν, μετὰ τοῦτο δὲ γνῷ, καὶ πλημμελήσῃ, ἡ ψυχὴ ἡ ἄνομος, ἡ διαστέλλουσα τοῖς χείλεσι κακοποιῆσαι ἢ καλῶς ποιῆσαι κατὰ πάντα ὅσα ἐὰν διαστείλῃ ὁ ἄνθρωπος μεθ' ὅρκου, καὶ λάθῃ αὐτὸν πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν, καὶ οὗτος γνῷ, καὶ ἁμάρτῃ ἕν τι τούτων· καὶ ἐξαγορεύσει τὴν ἁμαρτίαν περὶ ὧν ἡμάρτηκε κατ' αὐτῆς· καὶ οἴσει περὶ ὧν ἐπλημμέλησε Κυρίῳ, περὶ τῆς ἁμαρ