The woman who gives birth: the Virgin exempt; human nature unclean through corruption
Cyril: …he shall circumcise the flesh of his foreskin. And for thirty-three days she shall remain in her unclean blood. She shall touch nothing holy, and she shall not enter the sanctuary until the days of her cleansing are fulfilled. But if she bears a female child, she shall be unclean twice seven days, as in her monthly impurity, and for sixty-six days she shall remain in her unclean blood. And when the days of her cleansing are completed, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring a year-old lamb without blemish for a whole burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove for sin, to the door of the tent of witness, to the priest. And he shall offer it before the Lord, and the priest shall make atonement for her and cleanse her from the source of her blood’ (Leviticus 12:1–7).
Palladius: Who, then, is the woman who gives birth? And again, what would be the law’s aim concerning her?
Cyril: It seems we must speak with fine precision. For the matter of this commandment is very subtle and not easy to grasp; but let us search it out as best we can. Yet there is one thing, Palladius, that I marvel at before all the rest.
Palladius: What is it you mean?
Cyril: For although the law proceeds against every woman who bears a male or a female child, and makes its denunciation of us as general as can be, the holy Virgin, from whom we say Christ according to the flesh was born, is exempted from the reproach. Look, if you will, at the precision of the law. For it says ‘a woman,’ and perhaps not all women without distinction, but ‘if any woman conceives seed and bears a male child,’ let her be unclean (Leviticus 12:2). But the divine body was formed from the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20), fashioned in the holy Virgin in a way beyond words, and paying little heed to the laws of nature. For the firstborn of the saints, the firstfruits of those who have received rebirth from God through the Spirit, had no need at all of the sowing of seed. Of these it is plainly said: ‘who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God’ (John 1:13). So the holy Virgin escaped the law’s accusation, for she in no way conceived from seed, but brought forth the divine Child by the working of the Holy Spirit. But the woman who gives birth and is unclean for that reason would be, in all likelihood and by a sound reading, human nature. For the present we shall give nature the role of the woman. Nature is accused by the law and called liable to defilements because it gives birth into corruption, and because it is no longer in the state in which it first received its being from God, for it was made for incorruption (Wisdom of Solomon 2:23), but has rather been carried off course into the necessity of being corrupted. It was condemned for the transgression, and nature has endured, against nature, the penalty that came from the divine curse. For ‘God did not make death,’ as it is written, ‘nor does he delight in the destruction of the living, and the dominion of Hades is not on earth. For he created all things that they might exist, and the creatures of the world are wholesome; but through the devil’s envy death entered the world’ (Wisdom of Solomon 1:13–14; 2:24). So then, nature is defiled
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