Lev 12 days; Virgin excepted; Spirit-fashioned body
Cyril: …he will circumcise the flesh of his foreskin; and thirty and three days she will sit in blood unclean of her. Of every holy she will not touch, and unto the sanctuary she will not enter, until if should be fulfilled the days of her cleansing. And if a female she should bear, also unclean she will be twice seven days, according to her menstruation, and sixty days and six she will sit in blood unclean of her. And whenever should be fulfilled the days of her cleansing upon a son or upon a daughter, she will bring-forward a lamb yearly unblemished unto a whole-burnt-offering, and a young of a dove or a turtle-dove about sin, upon the door of the tent of the witness toward the priest, and he will bring-forward him opposite Lord, and will propitiate about her’ (Leviticus 12:3-8)
Palladius: Who then therefore is the having-borne woman? and who would be again at least upon her of the law the aim?
Cyril: To thin-myth, as it seems, necessary for us. For sharp exceedingly of the command the matter, and not ready to grasp, yet as possible let us search-through. That at least then; O Palladius, and before at least of the others I have been astonished then.
Palladius: The what then do you say,
Cyril: For of the law going against a woman every bearing a male or a female, and most-generic of us making the denunciation, has been excepted of the ill-fame the holy Virgin, from whom to have grown we say the according to flesh Christ. For see, if then it seems good, of the law the accuracy. For a woman, he says, and not all somehow indiscriminately, but if someone if she should be seeded and should bear a male, unclean let her be. But from a Spirit holy the divine body has been composed, being molded unspeakably in the holy Virgin, and of the of the nature laws little having cared. For least then of a seed-like casting-down was needing the of the holy ones firstborn, the firstfruit of those having obtained the from God through Spirit rebirth. About whom it has been said clearly: ‘Who’ (John 1:13) (Romans 8:29)
Greek
περιτεμεῖ τὴν σάρκα τῆς ἀκροβυστίας αὐτοῦ· καὶ τριάκοντα καὶ τρεῖς ἡμέρας καθήσεται ἐν αἵματι ἀκαθάρτῳ αὐτῆς. Παντὸς ἁγίου οὐχ ἅψεται, καὶ εἰς τὸ ἁγιαστήριον οὐκ εἰσελεύσεται, ἕως ἂν πληρωθῶσιν αἱ ἡμέραι καθάρσεως αὐτῆς. Ἐὰν δὲ θῆλυ τέκῃ, καὶ ἀκάθαρτος ἔσται δὶς ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας, κατὰ τὴν ἄφεδρον αὐτῆς, καὶ ἑξήκοντα ἡμέρας καὶ ἓξ καθεσθήσεται ἐν αἵματι ἀκαθάρτῳ αὐτῆς. Καὶ ὅταν ἀναπληρωθῶσιν αἱ ἡμέραι καθάρσεως αὐτῆς ἐφ' υἱῷ ἢ ἐπὶ θυγατρὶ, προσοίσει ἀμνὸν ἐνιαύσιον ἄμωμον εἰς ὁλοκαύτωμα, καὶ νεοσσὸν περιστερᾶς ἢ τρυγόνα περὶ ἁμαρτίας, ἐπὶ τὴν θύραν τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου πρὸς τὸν ἱερέα, καὶ προσοίσει αὐτὸν ἔναντι Κυρίου, καὶ ἐξιλάσεται περὶ αὐτῆς ὁ ἱερεὺς, καὶ καθαριεῖ αὐτὴν ἀπὸ τῆς πηγῆς τοῦ αἵματος αὐτῆς.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τίς οὖν ἄρα ἐστὶν ἡ τεκοῦσα γυνή; καὶ τίς ἂν εἴη πάλιν ὅγε ἐπ' αὐτῇ τοῦ νόμου σκοπός;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἰσχνομυθεῖν, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἀναγκαῖον ἡμᾶς. Δριμὺ γὰρ λίαν τῆς ἐντολῆς τὸ χρῆμα, καὶ οὐχ ἕτοιμον ἑλεῖν, πλὴν ὡς ἔνι διερευνήσωμεν. Ἐκεῖνό γε μήν· ὦ Παλλάδιε, καὶ πρό γε τῶν ἄλλων κατατέθηπά τοι.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τὸ τί δὴ φής,
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἰόντος γὰρ δὴ τοῦ νόμου κατὰ γυναικὸς ἁπάσης τικτούσης ἄρσεν ἢ θῆλυ, καὶ γενικωτάτην ἡμῶν ποιουμένου τὴν κατάῤῥησιν, ὑπεξῄρηται τῆς δυσφημίας ἡ ἁγία Παρθένος, ἧς ἐκφῦναί φαμεν τὸν κατὰ σάρκα Χριστόν. Θέα γὰρ, εἴ τοι δοκεῖ, τοῦ νόμου τὸ ἀκριβές. Γυνὴ γὰρ, φησὶν, καὶ οὐ πᾶσαι τυχὸν ἀδιακρίτως, ἀλλ' εἴ τις ἐὰν σπερματισθῇ καὶ τέκῃ ἄρσεν, ἀκάθαρτος ἔστω. Ἀλλ' ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου τὸ θεῖον συνέστη σῶμα, πλαστουργούμενον ἀῤῥήτως ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ Παρθένῳ, καὶ τῶν τῆς φύσεως νόμων ὀλίγα πεφροντικός. Ἥκιστα γὰρ δὴ σπερματικῆς ἐδεῖτο καταβολῆς ὁ τῶν ἁγίων πρωτότοκος, ἡ ἀπαρχὴ τῶν λαχόντων τὴν ἐκ Θεοῦ διὰ Πνεύματος ἀναγέννησιν. Περὶ ὧν εἴρηται σαφῶς· «Οἳ οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων, οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκὸς, ἀλλ' ἐκ Θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν.» Διέδρα δὴ οὖν τὴν ἐκ νόμου καταβοὴν ἡ ἁγία Παρθένος, σπερματισθεῖσα μὲν οὐδαμῶς, ἐνεργείᾳ δὲ τῇ διὰ ἁγίου Πνεύματος τὸ θεῖον ἀποκυήσασα βρέφος. Ἡ δὲ τίκτουσα καὶ ἀκάθαρτος διὰ τοῦτο γυνὴ, εἴη ἂν, κατά γε τὸ εἰκὸς καὶ τὸν ἀμωμήτως ἔχοντα νοῦν, ἡ ἀνθρώπου φύσις. Τὸ γάρ τοι τῆς γυναικὸς πρόσωπον αὐτῇ περιθήσομεν εἴς γε τὸ παρὸν τῇ φύσει. Κατηγορεῖται δὲ νόμῳ, καὶ μολυσμοῖς ἔνοχος ὀνομάζεται, διά τοι τὸ τίκτειν εἰς φθορὰν, καὶ οὐκ εἶναι μὲν ἐν οἷς ἦν εὐθὺς τὸ εἶναι λαχοῦσα παρὰ Θεῷ (γέγονε γὰρ ἐπὶ ἀφθαρσίᾳ)· παρενηνέχθαι δὲ μᾶλλον εἰς τὸ καταφθείρεσθαι δεῖν, κατεγνωσμένη διὰ τὴν παράβασιν, καὶ τὴν ἐκ θείας ἀρᾶς ἀνατλᾶσα δίκην παρὰ φύσιν ἡ φύσις. «Ὁ γὰρ Θεὸς θάνατον οὐκ ἐποίησε,» κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, «οὐδὲ τέρπεται ἐπ' ἀπωλείᾳ ζώντων, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ᾄδου βασίλειον ἐπὶ γῆς. Ἔκτισε γὰρ εἰς τὸ εἶναι τὰ πάντα, καὶ σωτήριοι αἱ γενέσεις τοῦ κόσμου· φθόνῳ δὲ διαβόλου, θάνατος εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον.» Καταμολύνει δὴ
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 15 of a seventeen-book dialogue — not the whole work.
English follows Migne PG 68 (Aubert reprint). The PDF and a cleaned text of the same print were checked against each other. This page is Book 15 of seventeen. This is a reading translation for study, not a new critical edition of the Greek.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Migne PG 68 De adoratione Book 15 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 15)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 15)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.