Unclean until evening: Christ comes at the close of the age; the woman with a flow
Cyril: …you have become a transgressor of the law’ (James 2:10–11). For whoever has offended once, that is, has broken the law at all, even if only in one point and in part, will surely be liable to the charge. So under the law a person is defiled even if he does not go to the extreme of defilement, but is caught having suffered it even in part. Yet he is not cast off entirely; he too is cleansed through water in Christ. Thus the saying that the defiled man is unclean until evening would point very well to the time of Christ’s coming. For Christ came at the end (Hebrews 9:26), when this age had all but reached its very setting; through him and in him we have washed off all the filth that comes from sin, and we who were held fast by our offenses have been set free from charges both small and great. That before the time of his coming it was not possible to wash away defilement (for, according to the Scriptures, no one was justified by the law (Galatians 3:11)), you may learn from its plain saying: ‘He shall be unclean until evening’ (Leviticus 15:16).
Palladius: I understand what you say, and the argument is true.
Cyril: To these things the law adds what concerns a woman who has a flow of blood and who, ill in herself with a flow that cannot be checked, is bound to be defiled (Leviticus 15:19–30). And just as with the man with a discharge every vessel was defiled, and every bed, and every garment, and everyone who came near and touched him, so it is with her also. And the law frees her too in the same way as him: by washing her with water, by the sacrifice of turtledoves, and by the atonement made by the mediating priest. But the law, as though lifting us up to spiritual thoughts and not letting us dwell on the ailments of the flesh (for these were taken up as a type of inward realities grasped by the mind), plainly adds: ‘And you shall make the sons of Israel cautious about their uncleannesses, and they shall not die because of their uncleanness when they defile my tent that is among them’ (Leviticus 15:31). For once we have been cleansed and sanctified through Christ, then, yes then, we draw near truly radiant and shall no longer defile the holy tent; and being pure we shall worship the all-holy God purely as we come to the churches.
Palladius: Excellently said.
Cyril: That human nature was first afflicted with defilement, and could be scoured clean in no other way than through Christ, the truly sacred and holy sacrifice, you will know quite clearly if you also look closely at another oracle besides this law. For again it is written in Leviticus (Leviticus 12:1–7): ‘And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: If a woman conceives seed and bears a male child, she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of separation for her monthly impurity, she shall be unclean. And on the eighth day
Greek
δὲ, γέγονας παραβάτης νόμου.» Πεπλημμεληκότι γὰρ ἅπαξ, ἤγουν ὅτι παρανενόμηκεν ὅλως, κἂν γοῦν ἐφ' ἑνὶ καὶ ἐκ μέρους, ἕψεταί που πάντως αὐτῷ τὸ ἐγκαλεῖσθαι δεῖν. Μιαρὸς οὖν ἄρα κατὰ τὸν νόμον, κἂν εἰ μή τις ἴοι πρὸς ἔσχατον μολυσμοῦ, καταφωρῷτο δὲ πεπονθὼς κἂν γοῦν ἐκ μέρους αὐτόν. Πλὴν, οὐκ ἀπόβλητος παντελῶς, καθαίρεται δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς δι' ὕδατος ἐν Χριστῷ. Τοιγάρτοι τῆς ἐπιδημίας καιρὸν, ὑπεμφήνειεν ἂν εὖ μάλα, τὸ μέχρις ἑσπέρας ἀκάθαρτον εἶναι λέγειν τὸν μεμολυσμένον. Ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ γὰρ, μόνον δὲ οὐχὶ καὶ ἐπ' αὐταῖς ἥκοντος ἤδη δυσμαῖς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, παραγέγονεν ὁ Χριστὸς, δι' οὗ καὶ ἐν ᾧ πάντα μὲν ῥύπον ἐκνενίμμεθα τὸν ἐξ ἁμαρτίας, ἀπηλλάγμεθα δὲ μικρῶν καὶ μεγάλων αἰτιαμάτων οἱ ταῖς πλημμελείαις ἐνισχημένοι. Ὅτι δὲ πρὸ τῶν τῆς ἐπιδημίας καιρῶν οὐκ ἦν ἀπονίψασθαι μολυσμὸν (ἐδικαιοῦτο γὰρ οὐδεὶς ἐν νόμῳ, κατὰ τὰς Γραφὰς), ἀναμάθοις ἂν διὰ τοῦ φάναι σαφῶς, ὅτι «Ἀκάθαρτος ἔσται ἕως ἑσπέρας.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Συνίημι ὃ φὴς, καὶ ἀληθὴς ὁ λόγος.
{ΚΥΡ.} Προσεπάγει δὲ τούτοις ὁ νόμος τὰ περὶ γυναικὸς, τῆς ῥεούσης αἵματι, καὶ ἀσχέτῳ καταφορᾷ τὸ καταμιαίνεσθαι δεῖν νοσούσης ἐφ' ἑαυτῇ· καὶ ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ γονοῤῥυοῦς πᾶν σκεῦος κατεμολύνετο, καὶ κοίτη πᾶσα, καὶ πᾶν ἱμάτιον, καὶ πᾶς ὁ ἁπτόμενος ἀγχοῦ τε ἰών· οὕτω καὶ ἐπ' αὐτῆς. Ἀπαλλάττει δὲ καὶ αὐτὴν κατὰ τὸν ἴσον ἐκείνῳ τρόπον, ὕδατι διανίζων, καὶ τρυγόνων καταθυομένων, καὶ μέντοι καὶ ἱλασμοῦ τοῦ μεσιτεύοντος ἱερέως. Ἀνακομίζων δὲ ὥσπερ εἰς ἐννοίας ἡμᾶς τὰς πνευματικὰς ὁ νόμος, καὶ τοῖς τῆς σαρκὸς ἀῤῥωστήμασιν ἐμφιλοχωρεῖν οὐκ ἐῶν (παρελήφθη γὰρ εἰς τύπον τῶν εἰς νοῦν ἔσω καὶ νοητῶν), ἐπάγει σαφῶς· «Καὶ εὐλαβεῖς ποιήσετε τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀκαθαρσιῶν αὐτῶν, καὶ οὐκ ἀποθανοῦνται διὰ τὴν ἀκαθαρσίαν αὐτῶν, ἐν τῷ μιαίνειν αὐτοὺς τὴν σκηνήν μου τὴν ἐν αὐτοῖς·» κεκαθαρμένοι γὰρ δὴ καὶ ἡγιασμένοι διὰ Χριστοῦ, τότε δὴ, τότε λαμπροὶ προσίεμεν ἀληθῶς, καὶ οὐ μιανοῦμεν ἔτι τὴν ἁγίαν σκηνήν· προσκυνήσομεν δὲ καθαροὶ καθαρῶς τῷ παναγίῳ Θεῶ φοιτῶντες ἐν ἐκκλησίαις.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἄριστα ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ὅτι τοι προκατηῤῥώστησε μὲν ἡ ἀνθρώπου φύσις τὸν μολυσμὸν, διασμήχοιτο δ' ἂν οὐχ ἑτέρως, πλὴν ὅτι διὰ Χριστοῦ τοῦ κατ' ἀλήθειαν ἱεροῦ καὶ ἁγίου θύματος, εἴσῃ τοι, καὶ μάλα σαφῶς, καὶ ἕτερον ἐπὶ τῷδε τῷ νόμῳ χρησμῴδημα πολυπραγμονῶν. Γέγραπται γὰρ πάλιν ἐν τῷ Λευϊτικῷ· «Καὶ ἐλάλησε Κύριος πρὸς Μωσῆν, λέγων· Λάλησον τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἐρεῖς πρὸς αὐτούς· Γυνὴ ἐάν τις σπερματισθῇ, καὶ τέκῃ ἄρσεν, ἀκάθαρτος ἔσται ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας, κατὰ τὰς ἡμέρας τοῦ χωρισμοῦ τῆς ἀφέδρου αὐτῆς, ἀκάθαρτος ἔσται· καὶ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ὀγδόῃ