Bodily uncleanness as a type of the soul; testing for leprosy
Cyril: Shall we, then, add still other lines of thought to these, and explain both the charges that arise from defilements and what has been decreed for the cleansing of each?
Palladius: By all means; for in this way our discussion of it would bring us a more abundant benefit.
Cyril: It is written, then, 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 unclean through contact with the dead; male and female alike, send them out of the camp, and they shall not defile their camps, in which I dwell among them’ (Numbers 5:1–3). Now it is clear to anyone, I think, that the law could not reasonably be thought to rebuke us in these matters for what happens by necessity and against our will. For why should a bodily affliction be punished, and how could the one who has fallen into fleshly infirmities justly incur the law’s condemnation? It is wise, then, and necessary to take these bodily conditions as an image and type of the diseases in souls. For in this way the law would be spiritual (Romans 7:14), and what God has declared on each matter at various times would be a holy verdict, not subjecting to penalties those caught by diseases they did not choose, but those in whose case the fact of wrongdoing would make the rebuke holy.
Palladius: How well you put it.
Cyril: He commanded, then, that the leper be sent away from the camp, yet in his case he makes the examination very exact, and orders that the disease be tested, saying: ‘And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: If a man has on the skin of his body a scar with a bright mark, and an infection of leprosy appears in the skin of his body, he shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or to one of his sons the priests. And the priest shall look at the infection in the skin of his body; and if the hair in the infection has turned white, and the infection appears deeper than the skin of the body, it is an infection of leprosy; and the priest shall look and pronounce him unclean (Leviticus 13:1–3). But if it is bright white in the skin of his body, and it does not appear deeper than the skin, and its hair has not turned white, but it is faint, then the priest shall isolate the infection for seven days. And the priest shall look at the infection on the seventh day; and if in his sight the infection remains as it was and has not spread in the skin, the priest shall isolate him for seven days a second time, and the priest shall look at him on the seventh day a second time. And if the infection is faint and has not spread in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean, for it is a mark. And when he has washed his clothes he shall be clean (Leviticus 13:4–6). But if the mark changes and spreads in the skin after the priest has seen him in order to pronounce him clean, he shall show himself to the priest a second time; and the priest shall look at him, and if the mark has spread in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him unclean (Leviticus 13:7–8);…
Greek
{ΚΥΡ.} Βούλει δὴ τούτοις καὶ ἑτέρους ἐννοιῶν ἐπισυλλέγοντες τρόπους, τά τε ἐκ μολυσμῶν ἐγκλήματα, καὶ τὰ ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τεθεσπισμένα πρὸς ἀποκάθαρσιν ἐξηγώμεθα;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν, ἀμφιλαφεστέραν γὰρ οὕτω τὴν ὄνησιν ἐξεργάσαιτ' ἂν ἡμῖν ὁ ἐπὶ τῷδε λόγος.
{ΚΥΡ.} Γέγραπται τοίνυν 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 μὴ μιανοῦσι τὰς παρεμβολὰς αὐτῶν, ἐν οἷς ἐγὼ καταγίνομαι ἐν αὐτοῖς.» Ὅτι μὲν οὖν τοῖς ἐξ ἀνάγκης καὶ ἀβουλήτως συμβαίνουσιν, οὐκ ἂν, οἶμαι, δόξειεν εἰκότως ἐπιτιμᾷν ὁ νόμος ἡμῖν, ἐν τούτοις, παντί τῳ σαφές· κολάζεται γὰρ ἀνθ' ὅτου, τὸ σώματος πάθος, καὶ τὴν ἐκ νόμου κατάῤῥησιν ὅπως ἂν ἔχοι δικαίαν, ὁ σαρκικαῖς ἀῤῥωστίαις περιπεσών; σοφὸν οὖν ἄρα καὶ ἀναγκαῖον εἰς εἰκόνα καὶ τύπον τῶν ἐν ψυχαῖς νοσημάτων, δέχεσθαι τὰ σωματικά. Εἴη γὰρ ἂν οὕτω πνευματικὸς ὁ νόμος, καὶ ψῆφος ὁσία τὰ ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ παρὰ Θεοῦ κατὰ καιροὺς κεχρησμωδημένα, οὐχὶ τοὺς ἀνεθελήτοις ἐναλόντας νόσοις, ταῖς δίκαις ὑπάγοντα, ἀλλ' οἷς ὁ τοῦ πλημμελῆσαι λόγος, ὁσίαν ἂν ἔχοι τὴν ἐπίπληξιν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὡς εὖγε δὴ φής.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀποπέμπεσθαι μὲν οὖν τῆς παρεμβολῆς προστέταχε λεπρὸν, ἰσχνοτάτην δὲ λίαν ἐπ' αὐτῷ ποιεῖται τὴν βάσανον, καὶ δοκιμάζεσθαι δεῖν ἐπιτάττει τὴν νόσον, οὕτω λέγων· «Καὶ ἐλάλησε Κύριος πρὸς Μωσῆν καὶ Ἀαρὼν, λέγων· Ἀνθρώπῳ ἐάν τινι γένηται ἐν δέρματι χρωτὸς αὐτοῦ οὐλὴ σημασίας τηλαυγὴς, καὶ γένηται ἐν δέρματι χρωτὸς αὐτοῦ ἁφὴ λέπρας, ἀχθήσεται πρὸς Ἀαρὼν τὸν ἱερέα, ἢ ἕνα τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ τῶν ἱερέων· καὶ ὄψεται ὁ ἱερεὺς τὴν ἁφὴν ἐν δέρματι τοῦ χρωτὸς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἡ θρὶξ ἐν τῇ ἁφῇ μεταβάλῃ λευκὴ, καὶ ἡ ὄψις τῆς ἁφῆς ταπεινὴ ἀπὸ δέρματος τοῦ χρωτὸς, ἁφὴ λέπρας ἐστὶ, καὶ ὄψεται ὁ ἱερεὺς, καὶ μιανεῖ αὐτόν. Ἐὰν δὲ καὶ τηλαυγὴς λευκὴ ᾖ ἐν τῷ δέρματι τοῦ χρωτὸς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ταπεινὴ μὴ ᾖ ἡ ὄψις αὐτῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ δέρματος, καὶ ἡ θρὶξ αὐτοῦ οὐ μετέβαλε τρίχα λευκὴν, αὐτὴ δέ ἐστιν ἀμαυρὰ, καὶ ἀφοριεῖ ὁ ἱερεὺς τὴν ἁφὴν ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας· καὶ ὄψεται ὁ ἱερεὺς τὴν ἁφὴν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἡ ἁφὴ μένει ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ, οὐ μετέπεσεν ἡ ἁφὴ ἐν τῷ δέρματι, καὶ ἀφοριεῖ αὐτὸν ὁ ἱερεὺς ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας τὸ δεύτερον, καὶ ὄψεται ὁ ἱερεὺς αὐτὸν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ τὸ δεύτερον. Καὶ ἰδοὺ ἀμαυρὰ ἡ ἁφὴ, οὐ μετέπεσεν ἡ ἁφὴ ἐν τῷ δέρματι, καὶ καθαριεῖ αὐτὸν ὁ ἱερεύς· σημασία γάρ ἐστι. Καὶ πλυνάμενος τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ, καθαρὸς ἔσται. Ἐὰν δὲ μεταβαλοῦσα μεταπέσῃ ἡ σημασία ἐν τῷ δέρματι, μετὰ τὸ ἰδεῖν αὐτὸν τὸν ἱερέα τοῦ καθαρίσαι αὐτὸν, καὶ ὀφθήσεται τὸ δεύτερον τῷ ἱερεῖ, καὶ ὄψεται αὐτὸν ὁ ἱερεὺς, καὶ ἰδοὺ μετέπεσεν ἡ σημασία ἐν τῷ δέρματι, καὶ μιανεῖ αὐτὸν ὁ ἱερεύς·