Washing as a type of baptism; the law reverses itself on total leprosy
Cyril: …and that already, in some way, chills the mind in the very deeds themselves. Besides this, it is wise to try hard to turn away from the passions even when they are still seen only as desires; for this, I think, is to depart from both leprosy itself and the white patch. For you have learned that Emmanuel, who is God by nature, our great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14), counts our affairs worthy of the closest oversight. He welcomes those who have washed away what is evil, but sends out of the camp of the saints those he sees to be defiled (Numbers 5:2–3).
Palladius: What you say is true.
Cyril: ‘For you shall be holy,’ it says, ‘because I am holy’ (Leviticus 11:44; 1 Peter 1:16). And notice that the law says that the one freed from the charge will be clean once he has washed his clothes (Leviticus 13:6). In this the law foretells the cleansing through water, and, as in types that the bodily senses can perceive, it sketches for us the mystery of holy baptism.
Palladius: I understand.
Cyril: See, then, Palladius, how very searching the law is. It shifts our thoughts, as it were, to the opposite case, and in every way it hints at what leads to our benefit.
Palladius: What do you mean?
Cyril: For it said again: ‘If a leprous sore appears in a person, he shall come to the priest. The priest shall look, and behold, there is a white scar in the skin, and it has turned the hair white, and there is some healthy, living flesh in the scar. It is a chronic leprosy in the skin of his body; the priest shall pronounce him unclean and shall set him apart, because he is unclean. But if the leprosy breaks out widely in the skin of his body, and the leprosy covers all the skin of the sore from his head to his feet, as far as the priest can see, then the priest shall look, and behold, the leprosy has covered all the skin of his body; and the priest shall pronounce him clean of the sore, because it has all turned white, and he is clean. But on whatever day living flesh appears in him, he shall be unclean. The priest shall look at the healthy flesh and pronounce him unclean. The healthy flesh is unclean; it is leprosy. But if the healthy flesh is restored and turns white, he shall come to the priest; the priest shall look, and behold, the sore has turned white; and the priest shall pronounce the sore clean, and he is clean’ (Leviticus 13:9–17).
Palladius: And how are we to understand the reversal here?
Cyril: Do you not understand that we affirmed leprosy to be a partial deadness in living flesh, and that the one held by the disease was cast out as defiled?
Palladius: I understand.
Cyril: Look, then: the matter is somehow turned round for us again to its opposite. For if, it says, a man becomes wholly leprous, held fast by deadness, with nothing healthy in him, then let him be released from the charges of…
Greek
καὶ αὐτοῖς ἤδη πως τοῖς ἀποτελέσμασι τὸν νοῦν ἀποψύχουσαν. Σοφὸν δὲ πρὸς τούτῳ, τὸ ἀπονεύειν εὖ μάλα πειρᾶσθαι τὰ πάθη, καὶ εἰ ἐν ψιλαῖς ἔτι ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις ὁρῷτο συμβαίνοντα· τουτὶ γὰρ, οἶμαι, ἐστὶ τὸ λέπρας αὐτῆς καὶ λεύκης ἀποφοιτᾷν. Διεπύθου γὰρ ὅτι πλείστης ὅσης τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐποπτείας ἀξιοῖ Θεὸς κατὰ φύσιν ὑπάρχων ὁ Ἐμμανουὴλ, ὁ μέγας ἡμῶν Ἀρχιερεὺς, καὶ προσίεται μὲν τὸ φαῦλον ἐκνενιμμένους, ἐκπέμπει δὲ δὴ τῆς τῶν ἁγίων παρεμβολῆς, εἰ καταθεῷτο μεμολυσμένους.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀληθὴς ὁ λόγος.
{ΚΥΡ.} «Ἅγιοι γὰρ ἔσεσθε,» φησὶν, «ὅτι ἐγὼ ἅγιός εἰμι.» Ἐπιτήρει δὲ, ὅτι πλυνάμενον τὰ ἱμάτια τὸν τῆς αἰτίας ἀπηλλαγμένον, καθαρὸν ἔσεσθαί φησι, τὴν δι' ὕδατος κάθαρσιν προαναφωνῶν ὁ νόμος, καὶ ὡς ἐν τύποις ἡμῖν τοῖς ἐν αἰσθήσει σωματικῇ, τὸ τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος καταγράφων μυστήριον.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Συνίημι.
{ΚΥΡ.} Θέα δὴ οὖν, ὦ Παλλάδιε, τὸ πολὺ λίαν ἐντενὲς τοῦ νόμου. Μετατάττει γὰρ ὥσπερ τὰς ἐννοίας ἡμῶν ἐπὶ τὸ ἐναντίως ἔχον, καὶ τὸ τελοῦν εἰς ὄνησιν διὰ παντὸς ὥσπερ ὑποφαίνει τρόπου.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πῶς δὴ φής;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἔφη γὰρ πάλιν· «Καὶ ἁφὴ λέπρας, ἐὰν γένηται ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ, καὶ ἥξει πρὸς τὸν ἱερέα, καὶ ὄψεται ὁ ἱερεὺς, καὶ ἰδοὺ οὐλὴ λευκὴ ἐν τῷ δέρματι, καὶ αὕτη μετέβαλε τρίχα λευκὴν, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὑγιοῦς τῆς σαρκὸς τῆς ζώσης ἐν τῇ οὐλῇ, λέπρα παλαιουμένη ἐστὶν ἐν τῷ δέρματι τοῦ χρωτὸς αὐτοῦ, καὶ μιανεῖ αὐτὸν ὁ ἱερεὺς, καὶ ἀφοριεῖ αὐτὸν, ὅτι ἀκάθαρτός ἐστιν. Ἐὰν δὲ ἀνθοῦσα ἐξανθήσῃ λέπρα ἐν τῷ δέρματι τοῦ χρωτὸς αὐτοῦ, καὶ καλύψῃ ἡ λέπρα πᾶν τὸ δέρμα τῆς ἁφῆς ἀπὸ κεφαλῆς ἕως ποδῶν αὐτοῦ, καθ' ὅλην τὴν ὅρασιν τοῦ ἱερέως, καὶ ὄψεται ὁ ἱερεὺς, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐκάλυψεν ἡ λέπρα πᾶν τὸ δέρμα τοῦ χρωτὸς αὐτοῦ, καὶ καθαριεῖ αὐτὸν ὁ ἱερεὺς τὴν ἁφὴν, ὅτι πᾶν μετέβαλε λευκὸν, καὶ καθαρός ἐστι. Καὶ ᾗ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ ὀφθῇ ἐν αὐτῷ χρὼς ζῶν, μιανθήσεται· καὶ ὄψεται ὁ ἱερεὺς τὸν χρῶτα τὸν ὑγιῆ, καὶ μιανεῖ αὐτόν. Ὁ χρὼς ὁ ὑγιὴς, ἀκάθαρτός ἐστι· λέπρα ἐστίν. Ἐὰν δὲ ἀποκαταστῇ ὁ χρὼς ὁ ὑγιὴς, καὶ μεταβάλῃ λευκὴ, καὶ ἐλεύσεται πρὸς τὸν ἱερέα· καὶ ὄψεται ὁ ἱερεὺς, καὶ ἰδοὺ μετέβαλεν ἡ ἁφὴ εἰς τὸ λευκὸν, καὶ καθαριεῖ ὁ ἱερεὺς τὴν ἁφὴν, καὶ καθαρός ἐστι.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ τίς ἂν νοοῖτο πρὸς ἡμῶν ἔν γε τούτῳ τῆς ἀντιστροφῆς ὁ τρόπος;
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐ γὰρ δὴ συνίης ὅτι λέπραν μὲν εἶναι διεβεβαιούμεθα, τὴν ἐκ μέρους νέκρωσιν ἐν ζώσῃ σαρκὶ, καὶ ἀπόβλητος ἦν ὁ τῇ νόσῳ κάτοχος, ὡς μεμολυσμένος;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Συνίημι.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἄθρει δὴ οὖν, ὅτι περιτρέπεταί πως ἡμῖν τὸ χρῆμα δὴ πάλιν εἰς τὸ ἐναντίως ἔχον. Εἰ γὰρ δὴ γένοιτο, φησὶν, ὅλος διόλου λεπρὸς, καὶ νεκρώσει κάτοχος, οὐδὲν ἔχων ὑγιὲς, ἀνείσθω δὴ τότε τῶν εἰς