The law of discharges and what it means for the mind
Cyril: ‘And this is the law of his uncleanness: one who discharges seed from his body, from the discharge with which his body is afflicted through the discharge—this is his uncleanness in him. All the days of the discharge of his body, with which his body is afflicted through the discharge, it is his uncleanness. Every bed on which the man with a discharge lies is unclean, and every article on which the man with a discharge sits shall be unclean. And anyone who touches his bed shall wash his garments and bathe his body in water, and he shall be unclean until evening. And whoever sits on anything on which the man with a discharge has sat shall wash his garments and bathe in water, and he shall be unclean until evening. And whoever touches the skin of the man with a discharge shall wash his garments and bathe in water, and he shall be unclean until evening. And if the man with a discharge comes near one who is clean, that person shall wash his garments and bathe in water, and he shall be unclean until evening’ (Leviticus 15:3–8). Besides this, the law says that every article on which the man with a discharge sits will be loathsome and abhorred, and that even if he washes his hands in water, that too will be defiled (Leviticus 15:9–11). If anyone touches his skin, he will certainly share in the charge of uncleanness; and if any who are not yet defiled come near him, they will certainly incur the charge of uncleanness. That is why he went out together with the lepers and was banished from the camp (Numbers 5:2), unapproachable and cut off from others, defiling anyone at all who met him by the mere touch of his hand.
Palladius: And what passion in the soul would resemble the bodily discharge of seed? For the law is spiritual (Romans 7:14); or is that not so?
Cyril: Certainly it is; you put it rightly. But consider this. The discharge of the body in a way harms the natural capacity to bear fruit: it lets the supply of seed run out to no purpose, and by slackening the tension in the members it brings about a wasting that is by then, in a sense, involuntary, so that those seized by this condition remain in long and continual defilement. Understand, then, that this is an image, drawn from a visible bodily illness, of what happens to the mind. For the mind too is wasted when it toils most prodigally at what it should not, and spends the effort of its own activity on nothing needful; so it bears no genuine fruit, but is always somehow carried down toward wrongdoing, and, past all restraint, is sick with a descent into baser things.
Palladius: What do you mean?
Cyril: Did not the divine Paul tell us, my friend, that man was created for good works (Ephesians 2:10)?
Palladius: Certainly.
Cyril: Then he was given a nature rightly and aptly suited to everything that deserves praise. Or do you not say that this living being is capable of wisdom and of all knowledge? And would he not easily achieve self-control and courage, and justice too, if he chose to carry out what is fitting and to follow the divine laws?
Greek
Καὶ οὗτος ὁ νόμος τῆς ἀκαθαρσίας αὐτοῦ, ῥέων γόνον ἐκ σώματος αὐτοῦ, ἐκ τῆς ῥύσεως ἧς συνέστηκε τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ, διὰ τῆς ῥύσεως, αὕτη ἡ ἀκαθαρσία αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ, πᾶσαι αἱ ἡμέραι ῥύσεως σώματος αὐτοῦ ᾗ συνέστηκε τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ διὰ τῆς ῥύσεως, ἀκαθαρσία αὐτοῦ ἐστι. Πᾶσα κοίτη ἐφ' ἧς ἂν κοιμηθῇ ἐπ' αὐτῆς ὁ γονοῤῥυὴς, ἀκάθαρτός ἐστι, καὶ πᾶν σκεῦος ἐφ' ὃ ἂν καθίσῃ ἐπ' αὐτὸ ὁ γονοῤῥυὴς, ἀκάθαρτον ἔσται. Καὶ ἄνθρωπος, ὃς ἐὰν ἅψηται τῆς κοίτης αὐτοῦ, πλυνεῖ τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ, καὶ λούσεται τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ ὕδατι, καὶ ἀκάθαρτος ἔσται ἕως ἑσπέρας. Καὶ ὁ καθήμενος ἐπὶ τοῦ σκεύους, ἐφ' ὃ ἂν καθίσῃ ὁ γονοῤῥυὴς, πλυνεῖ τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ, καὶ λούσεται ὕδατι, καὶ ἀκάθαρτος ἔσται ἕως ἑσπέρας. Καὶ ὁ ἁπτόμενος τοῦ χρωτὸς τοῦ γονοῤῥυοῦς, πλυνεῖ τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ, καὶ λούσεται ὕδατι, καὶ ἀκάθαρτος ἔσται ἕως ἑσπέρας. Ἐὰν δὲ προσεγγίσῃ ὁ γονοῤῥυὴς ἐπὶ τὸν καθαρὸν, πλυνεῖ τὰ ἱμάτια καὶ λούσεται ὕδατι, καὶ ἀκάθαρτος ἔσται ἕως ἑσπέρας.» Καὶ πρός γε δὴ τούτοις φησὶ βδελυρὸν ἔσεσθαι καὶ ἀπηχθημένον πᾶν σκεῦος ᾧπερ ἂν ἐνιζήσειεν ὁ γονοῤῥυὴς, κἂν εἰ ἀπονίψαιτο τὰς χεῖρας ὕδατι, καὶ τοῦτο ἔσται μεμολυσμένον. Κἂν εἰ ἅψαιτό τις τοῦ χρωτὸς αὐτοῦ, συμμεθέξει πάντως τῆς ἀκαθαρσίας τὴν γραφὴν, κἂν εἰ προσεγγίσειέ τις τῶν οὔπω μεμολυσμένων, ὑπομενοῦσι δὴ πάντως τῆς ἀκαθαρσίας τὴν γραφήν. Τοιγάρτοι καὶ ἀναμὶξ τοῖς λεπροῖς ἐξέθη τε καὶ ἐξῳκίζετο τῆς παρεμβολῆς, ἀπρόσιτος ὢν καὶ ἄμικτος καὶ αὐτῇ καταμιαίνων τῇ χειρὸς ἁφῇ τοὺς προστυγχάνοντας ἀπλῶς.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ ποῖον ἂν εἴη τὸ ἐν ψυχῇ πάθος, τῇ σωματικῇ γονοῤῥοίᾳ προσεοικός; Πνευματικὸς γὰρ ὁ νόμος· ἢ οὐχ ὧδε ἔχει;
{ΚΥΡ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν· ἔφης γὰρ ὀρθῶς. Πλὴν ἐκεῖνο διανοοῦ, ἡ τοῦ σώματος ῥύσις, τὴν τῆς φύσεως ἐπιτηδειότητα πρὸς καρπογονίαν ἀδικεῖ τρόπον τινὰ, καθιεῖσα πρὸς τὸ μηδὲν τῶν σπερμάτων τὰς χορηγίας, καὶ τοὺς ἐν τοῖς μορίοις χαλῶσα τόνους, ἀνεθέλητον ἤδη πως ἐργάζεται τὴν καταφθορὰν, ὡς ἐν μολυσμοῖς εἶναι μακροῖς καὶ διηνεκέσι τοὺς τῷ πάθει κατειλημμένους. Ἴσθι δὴ οὖν ὡς ἐξ ἀῤῥωστίας σωματικῆς καὶ ἐναργοῦς, εἰκόνος ἐπὶ τὰ εἰς νοῦν συμβαίνοντα· καταφθείρεται γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐφ' ἃ μὴ προσῆκεν ὁ νοῦς ἀσωτότατα διαπονούμενος, καὶ ἐπ' οὐδενὶ τῶν ἀναγκαίων τῆς ἰδίας ἐνεργείας ἐνιεὶς τὸ σπούδασμα, ὡς καρπὸν μὲν οὐδένα γνήσιον ἔχειν, ὑποφέρεσθαι δὲ ἀεί πως πρὸς τὸ ἀδικοῦν, καὶ ἀκαθέκτως νοσεῖν τὴν εἰς τὰ αἰσχίω κάθοδον.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οἷον δὴ τί φής;
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐ γὰρ, ὦ φιλότης, ἐκτίσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐπὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς ὁ θεῖος ἡμῖν ἔφη Παῦλος;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ μάλα.
{ΚΥΡ.} Φύσιν οὖν ἄρα διεκληρώσατο πρὸς πᾶν ὁτιοῦν τῶν ἐπαινουμένων ὀρθῶς ἔχουσαν καὶ ἐπιτηδείως· ἢ γὰρ, οὐχὶ σοφίας μὲν δεκτικὸν, καὶ ἁπάσης ἐπιστήμης τὸ ζῶον εἶναι φής; Σωφροσύνην δὲ καὶ ἀνδρίαν, καὶ μὴν καὶ δικαιοσύνην κατορθώσειεν ἂν εὐκόλως, εἰ διαπεραίνειν ἕλοιτο τὰ εἰκότα καὶ τοῖς θείοις ἕπεσθαι νόμοις;