Two kinds of sacrifice, and the rule against blemish
Cyril: …from the divine Scripture, showing very well what is true for us in these matters; but to heap up still more where the proof is already clear and evident is, I think, superfluous.
Palladius: That the matter is evident is plain to everyone. But for my part I would like to see the cleansing in Christ in the images of the law as well.
Cyril: Look, then, if you wish, and if it seems good that we go this way. The law ordered those who were defiled, and those who had fallen under charges of transgression, to offer sacrifice, and it divided the kinds of sacrifice in two. Some portray Emmanuel slain on our behalf; others portray us ourselves, dying to the world and offering up to God our own life and salvation as a fragrant aroma. For is it not by putting to death our members that are on earth (Colossians 3:5), and freeing the mind from worldly distraction and from earthier pleasures, that we shall live out the divine life of the Gospel?
Palladius: Certainly.
Cyril: The sacrifice, then, is the spiritual cleansing that comes, as it were, through the death of Christ; while the vow and the gift, on our side, is to dedicate to God a life well ordered and lived in holiness. Yet the law lays it down beforehand and clearly and solemnly testifies that the offerings made in these matters must be without blemish, and this is both useful and necessary. Since some of the victims offered showed Christ as slain for us, while others represent us, all but burning our own life as incense to God, for this very reason the law says that they must be without blemish and in no way afflicted with any defect. For Christ is without blemish, since he committed no sin (1 Peter 2:22); and God would not accept us either while we are still in our defilements and sick with the misery of sin. So it is written in Leviticus (Leviticus 22:17–23): ‘And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons, and to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them: Any man of the sons of Israel, or of the proselytes attached to them in Israel, who offers his gifts for any of their vows or any of their freewill offerings, whatever they offer to God as a whole burnt offering, what is acceptable for you is a male without blemish from the herds, from the sheep, and from the goats. Whatever has a blemish in it they shall not bring to the Lord, for it will not be acceptable for you. And whoever offers a sacrifice of salvation to the Lord, fulfilling a vow, or as a freewill offering, or at your feasts, from the herds or from the sheep, it shall be without blemish to be accepted; there shall be no blemish in it. Blind, or broken, or with its tongue cut, or with warts, or with festering mange, or with scabs: they shall not bring these to God, and you shall not give any of them as a burnt offering on the altar to the Lord. And a calf or a sheep with cropped ears…
Greek
ἀπὸ τῆς θείας Γραφῆς, παραδεικνὺς εὖ μάλα τὸ ἔν γε δὴ τούτοις ἡμῖν ἀληθὲς, τὸ δὲ, οἷς ἂν ἕποιτο σαφής τε καὶ ἐναργὴς ἡ πίστις, ἐπισωρεύειν ἕτερα, περιττὸν οἶμαί που.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀλλ' ἐναργὲς μὲν ὅτι τὸ χρῆμα, παντί τῳ σαφές. Ἑλοίμην δ' ἂν ἔγωγε, καὶ ἐκ νομικῶν εἰκόνων τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ διαθρῆσαι κάθαρσιν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἄθρει δὴ οὖν, εἴ σοι φίλον, τῇδέ τε ἡμᾶς ἰέναι δοκεῖ· τοὺς γάρ τοι μεμολυσμένους, καὶ τοὺς τῆς παρανομίας ἐγκλήμασιν ὑπενηνεγμένους, θύειν ὁ νόμος ἐκέλευε, διχῆ διαστέλλων τῶν θυσιῶν τοὺς τρόπους. Αἱ μὲν γὰρ, ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν σφαζόμενον καταγράφουσι τὸν Ἐμμανουὴλ, αἱ δὲ, καὶ ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ἀποθνήσκοντας τῷ κόσμῳ, καὶ εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας ἀνακομίζοντας τῷ Θεῷ τὴν οἰκείαν ζωήν τε καὶ σωτηρίαν. Ἢ γὰρ οὐχὶ νεκροῦντες τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, καὶ περιφορᾶς κοσμικῆς, καὶ γεωδεστέρων ἡδονῶν τὸν νοῦν ἀπαλλάττοντες, τὴν θείαν τε καὶ εὐαγγελικὴν διαζήσομεν ζωήν;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν θυσία μὲν ἔστιν, ἡ ὡς ἐν θανάτῳ Χριστοῦ πνευματικὴ διακάθαρσις, εὐχὴ δὲ καὶ δῶρον, ὡς πρὸς ἡμῶν, τὸ ἀναθεῖναι Θεῷ τὴν εὐκοσμίαν τε καὶ ἐν ἁγιότητι ζωήν. Προδιαστέλλει γε μὴν ὁ νόμος καὶ διαμαρτύρεται σαφῶς, τὸ δεῖν ἀμωμήτους τὰς ἔν γε δὴ τούτοις ποιεῖσθαι προσαγωγὰς, χρησίμως τε καὶ ἀναγκαίως. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τῶν προσφερομένων θυμάτων, ἃ μὲν ἐδήλου Χριστὸν, ὡς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν σφαζόμενον, ἃ δὲ καὶ ἡμᾶς ἀνατυποῖ, μονονουχὶ καταθυμιῶντας τῷ Θεῷ τὴν οἰκείαν ζωήν. Ταύτῃτοί φησιν, ἀμώμητά τε εἶναι δεῖν αὐτὰ, καὶ κατ' οὐδένα τρόπον νοσοῦντα τὴν ἐμπηρίαν. Ἄμωμος γὰρ ὁ Χριστός· οὐ γὰρ ἐποίησεν ἁμαρτίαν, ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἂν ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς παραδέξαιτο Θεὸς, ἐν μολυσμοῖς ὄντας ἔτι, καὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας νοσοῦντας τὸ ἀτερπές. Γέγραπται τοίνυν ἐν τῷ Λευϊτικῷ· «Καὶ ἐλάλησε Κύριος πρὸς Μωσῆν, λέγων· Λάλησον Ἀαρὼν καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτοῦ, καὶ πάσῃ Συναγωγῇ υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἐρεῖς πρὸς αὐτούς· Ἄνθρωπος ἀπὸ τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, ἢ τῶν προσηλύτων τῶν προσκειμένων πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐν Ἰσραὴλ, ὃς ἂν προσενέγκῃ τὰ δῶρα αὐτοῦ κατὰ πᾶσαν ὁμολογίαν αὐτῶν, ἢ κατὰ πᾶσαν αἵρεσιν αὐτῶν, ὅσα ἂν προσενέγκωσι τῷ Θεῷ εἰς ὁλοκαύτωμα· δεκτὰ ὑμῖν, ἄμωμα ἄρσενα ἐκ τῶν βουκολίων, καὶ ἐκ τῶν προβάτων, καὶ ἐκ τῶν αἰγῶν, πάντα ὅσα ἂν ἔχῃ μῶμον ἐν αὐτῷ, οὐ προσάξουσι Κυρίῳ, διότι οὐ δεκτὸν ἔσται ὑμῖν. Καὶ ἄνθρωπος ὃς ἂν προσενέγκῃ θυσίαν σωτηρίου τῷ Κυρίῳ, διαστείλας εὐχὴν, ἢ κατὰ αἵρεσιν ἢ ἐν ταῖς ἑορταῖς ὑμῶν, ἐκ τῶν βουκολίων ἢ ἐκ τῶν προβάτων, ἄμωμον ἔσται εἰσδεκτὸν, πᾶς μῶμος οὐκ ἔσται ἐν αὐτῷ. Τυφλὸν ἢ συντετριμμένον, ἢ γλωσσότμητον, ἢ μυρμηκιῶντα, ἢ ψωραγριῶντα, ἢ λειχῆνας ἔχοντα, οὐ προσάξουσι ταῦτα τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ εἰς κάρπωσιν οὐ δώσετε ἀπ' αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον τῷ Κυρίῳ. Καὶ μόσχον ἢ πρόβατον ὠτότμητον,