The unblemished male as a type of Christ and of us
Cyril: …or a docked tail, you may slaughter them for yourself, but for your vow it will not be accepted. An animal that is bruised or crushed, gelded or torn, you shall not bring to the Lord, and you shall not do this in your land. And from the hand of a foreigner you shall not offer the gifts of your God from any of these, because there is corruption in them and a blemish in them. They will not be accepted for you.’ (Leviticus 22:23–25) Notice, then, that the law plainly and openly charges both those of Israel's blood and those from outside who have been admitted into the people, I mean the proselytes, that they must inspect the sacred offerings carefully for blemishes. For it said that what we bring must be male and without blemish, that is, strong and above the passions. For softness, an effeminate cast of mind, and also being sick with an inward defect, a maiming of the mind, are wholly unacceptable to God and rejected. Or would you not say that anyone in whom these things are seen is unholy?
Palladius: How could I not?
Cyril: So what is feeble and, as it were, slack is rejected, while what is strong, as pictured in the nature of males, is accepted, if it also has blamelessness joined to it. Such things would serve us as a clear type of Christ. For Emmanuel is at once male and without blemish, since he is truly the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:24) and knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). He is male in another sense too: for the male always stands first and holds the higher place over the other, and besides this it is the one most fitted to lead. And the Son stands at the head, holds a place incomparably higher, and leads the universe, even though he became like us, and the Shepherd was, for our good, counted among the sheep. But among the victims, those that are unholy and to be sent away are the blind, the broken, and also the one with its tongue cut, the one with warts, with festering mange, with scabs, with cropped ears, or with a docked tail. And the same holds, it says, if any animal's male parts should happen to be crushed, and so it should bear the forced condition that already places it among eunuchs. For this, I think, is what ‘bruised and crushed, gelded and torn’ means.
Palladius: Should we, then, apply these things to our own character and ways of life?
Cyril: Certainly. For in no other way than this would the law be spiritual for us (Romans 7:14). God would set no store by a worship carried on as in shadows, nor would he ever have laid down its laws, if he were not sketching in it beforehand the surpassing beauty of the truth.
Palladius: Well said. Then go through the meaning of each one, and explain again what it would be.
Cyril: I will go on, then, and very gladly. ‘Blind’ seems to mean the one without wisdom and understanding, who has no divine light in himself, that is, the enlightenment that comes through Christ in the Spirit; and the one who is senseless and still without faith is wholly unholy. ‘For if you do not believe,’ it says, ‘you will not understand.’ (Isaiah 7:9) ‘Broken’…
Greek
ἢ κολοβόκερκον σφάγια ποιήσεις αὐτὰ σεαυτῷ· εἰς δὲ εὐχήν σου οὐ δεχθήσεται. Θλαδίαν καὶ ἐκτεθλιμμένον, καὶ ἐκτομίαν, καὶ ἀπεσπασμένον, οὐ προσάξετε αὐτὰ τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὑμῶν οὐ ποιήσετε. Καὶ ἐκ χειρὸς ἀλλογενοῦς οὐ προσοίσετε τὰ δῶρα τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑμῶν ἀπὸ πάντων τούτων, ὅτι φθάρματά ἐστιν ἐν αὐτοῖς, καὶ μῶμος ἐν αὐτοῖς. Οὐ δεχθήσεται ταῦτα ὑμῖν.» Ἄθρει δὴ οὖν ὅτι παρεγγυᾷ σαφῶς καὶ ἀναφανδὸν ὁ νόμος, καὶ τοῖς ἐξ αἵματος Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ τοῖς ἔξωθέν τε καὶ εἰσκεκριμένοις εἰς λαοὺς, φημὶ δὴ τοῖς προσηλύτοις, τὸ χρῆναι μωμοσκοπεῖν εὖ μάλα τὰ ἱερά. Δεῖν γὰρ ἔφη προσκομίζεσθαι πρὸς ἡμῶν τὸ ἄρσεν τε καὶ ἄμωμον, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τὸ εὐσθενὲς, καὶ ἀνωτέρω παθῶν· ὁ γάρ τοι μαλακισμὸς, καὶ φρόνημα· τὸ θηλυπρεπὲς, καὶ μέν τοι καὶ τὸ νοσεῖν τὴν εἴς γε νοῦν ἔσω καὶ νοητὴν ἐμπηρίαν, ἀπαράδεκτον παντελῶς τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ἀπόβλητον. Ἢ οὐκ ἀνίερον εἶναι φὴς τὸν ᾧπερ ἂν φαίνοιτο προσόντα ταυτί;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πῶς γὰρ οὔ;
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν ἀπόβλητον μὲν τὸ ἄναλκι, καὶ τὸ οἱονεὶ παρειμένον, δεκτὸν δὲ τὸ εὐσθενὲς, ὡς ἐν ἀρσένων φύσει ζωγραφούμενον, εἰ παρεζευγμένον ἔχοι τὸ ἄμωμον. Εἶεν δι' ἂν εἰς τύπον ἡμῖν σαφῆ τὰ τοιάδε Χριστοῦ. Ἄρσην γὰρ ὁμοῦ καὶ ἄμωμος ὁ Ἐμμανουὴλ, εἴπερ ἐστὶν ἀληθῶς Θεοῦ δύναμις, καὶ οὐκ εἰδὼς ἁμαρτίαν. Ἄρσην δὲ καὶ ἑτέρως· προὖχον γὰρ ἀεὶ, καὶ ἐν ἀμείνοσι θατέρου τὸ ἄρσεν· καὶ πρός γε δὴ τούτῳ καὶ ἡγεμονικώτατον. Προέστηκε δὲ καὶ ἀσυγκρίτως ἐστὶν ἐν ἀμείνοσι, καὶ καθηγεῖται τῶν ὅλων, εἰ καὶ γέγονε καθ' ἡμᾶς ὁ Υἱὸς, καὶ ὁ ποιμὴν ἐν προβάτοις κατελογίσθη χρησίμως. Ἀνίερα δὲ καὶ ἀπόπεμπτα τῶν θυμάτων, τυφλὸν, καὶ συντετριμμένον, καὶ μὴν καὶ γλωσσότμητον, καὶ μυρμηκιῶν, καὶ ψωραγριῶν, καὶ λειχῆνας ἔχον, ὠτότμητόν τε καὶ κολοβόκερκον. Ἀλλὰ καὶ εἴ τῳ, φησὶ, καταθλασθείη τυχὸν τὰ ἀρσενικὰ, καὶ τὸ εἰς εὐνούχους ἤδη τελοῦν, ἀναγκαῖον ἔχοι πάθος. Τουτὶ γὰρ οἶμαι δηλοῦν, θλαδίαν καὶ ἐκτεθλιμμένον, ἐκτομίαν καὶ ἀπεσπασμένον.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἆρ' οὖν εἰς ἤθη καὶ τρόπους τοὺς καθ' ἡμᾶς μεταληπτέον ταυτί;
{ΚΥΡ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν· εἴη γὰρ ἂν οὐχ ἑτέρως ἢ οὕτως ἡμῖν πνευματικὸς ὁ νόμος. Γένοιτο δ' ἂν οὐδεὶς παρὰ Θεῷ λόγος τῆς ὡς ἐν σκιαῖς λατρείας, ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἂν ὡρίσατό ποτε τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ νόμους, μὴ οὐχὶ τῆς ἀληθείας προανατυπῶν ἐν αὐτῇ τὸ ἐκπρεπέστατον κάλλος.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εὖ λέγεις. Πέραινε δὴ οὖν τὸν ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ λόγον, καὶ τίς ἂν γένοιτο διασάφει πάλιν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν εἶμί τοι καὶ μάλα προθύμως. Τυφλὸν μὲν οὖν ἔοικε, τὸν ἄσοφόν τε καὶ ἀσύνετον λέγειν, καὶ φῶς οὐκ ἔχοντα θεῖον ἐν ἑαυτῷ τοῦτ' ἔστι, τὸν διὰ Χριστοῦ φωτισμὸν ἐν Πνεύματι, ἀνίερος δὲ παντελῶς, ὁ ἄνους τε καὶ ἄπιστος ἔτι· «Ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ πιστεύσητε, οὐ μὴ συνῆτε,» φησίν. Συντετριμμέ