Eunuch names = passions; only through Christ; leaven honey salt
Cyril: …having-been-eunuched the law calls-out; for a crushed one, he says, and squeezed-out, and a eunuch and pulled-apart; for all-variegated are the passions in us, leading as it were through a long path unto the strengthless and inactive.’
Palladius: Persuasive the word.
Cyril: And abominable that beside these it is, also through an alien hand, to sacrifice-down the sacred-works for God, he further-showed saying: ‘And from a hand of an alien-born you will not bring-forward the gifts to Lord your God.’ (Leviticus 22:25) Through which it is signaled typically, that through Christ alone is the Father approachable; for he himself is our truly unblemished and great high priest (Hebrews 4:14), the mediator economically; for as the all-divine Paul writes: ‘In him we have had the approach in Spirit toward the Father.’ (Ephesians 2:18) So then of blemish must have been freed those who ever would choose to dedicate their own souls to God and Father, with Christ mediating; ‘For holy you will be,’ he says, ‘just as I am holy.’ (Leviticus 11:44)
Palladius: Most excellently you spoke.
Cyril: And having rhythm-set the manners of the sacrifice, as in cattle and sheep, also through other thoughts for us he comes, enjoining very well the needing to approach God unblemishedly for those accustomed to do this; for he said again in Leviticus: ‘Every sacrifice which if you should bring-forward to Lord, you will not bring-forward leavened; for every leaven and every honey you will not bring-forward from it, to fruit-offer to Lord, a gift of firstfruit you will bring them forward to Lord, upon the altar it will not be brought-up unto a smell of sweet-fragrance to Lord, and every gift of your sacrifice will be salted with salt. You will not pause salts of a covenant to Lord from your sacrifices, upon every gift of you you will bring-forward salt to Lord your God.’ (Leviticus 2:11-13) So then leaven would be a type of craftiness, not altogether also only of the blamed, but also of the other, I say the good and praised, which also of the wisdom… needing to be brought unto a fruit-offering and sacrifice, both leaven and honey. For he receives on the one hand from the one bringing-forward unto a gift and firstfruit, yet brings-up nowhere unto a smell of sweet-fragrance for God.
Palladius: Then what the riddle clarify again.
Cyril: Hard-to-reach, O Palladius, is the matter. For what would it wish to signal, the making these nowhere rejectable, not indeed still also unto a fruit-offering and sacri-
Greek
εὐνουχισθὲν ὁ νόμος ἀποκαλεῖ· θλαδίαν γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ ἐκτεθλιμμένον, καὶ ἐκτομίαν καὶ ἀπεσπασμένον· παμποίκιλα γὰρ τὰ ἐν ἡμῖν πάθη, διὰ πολλῆς ὥσπερ ἄγοντα τρίβου πρὸς τὸ ἄναλκί τε καὶ ἀδρανές.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πιθανὸς ὁ λόγος.
{ΚΥΡ.} Μυσαρὸν δὲ ὅτι πρὸς τούτοις ἐστὶ, καὶ διὰ χειρὸς ἀλλοτρίας, τὰς ἱερουργίας καταθύειν Θεῷ, προσαπέφηνε λέγων· «Καὶ ἐκ χειρὸς ἀλλογενοῦς οὐ προσοίσετε τὰ δῶρα Κυρίῳ τῷ Θεῷ ὑμῶν.» Δι' οὗ σημαίνεται τυπικῶς, ὡς διὰ μόνου Χριστοῦ προσιτὸς ὁ Πατήρ· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἡμῶν ὁ ἄμωμος ἀληθῶς καὶ μέγας ἀρχιερεὺς, ὁ μεσίτης οἰκονομικῶς· ὡς γὰρ ὁ θεσπέσιος γράφει Παῦλος· «Ἐν αὐτῷ τὴν προσαγωγὴν ἐσχήκαμεν ἐν Πνεύματι πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα.» Μώμου δὴ οὖν ἀπηλλάχθαι πρέπει τοὺς οἵπερ ἂν ἕλοιντο τὰς ἑαυτῶν ψυχὰς καθιεροῦν τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ, μεσιτεύοντος τοῦ Χριστοῦ· «Ἅγιοι γὰρ ἔσεσθε,» φησὶ, «καθὼς ἐγὼ ἅγιός εἰμι.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἄριστα ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Καταρυθμίσας δὲ τῆς θυσίας τοὺς τρόπους, ὡς ἐν βουσὶ καὶ προβάτοις, καὶ δι' ἑτέρων ἡμῖν ἐπινοιῶν ἔρχεται, τὸ δεῖν ἀμωμήτως προσιέναι Θεῷ τοῖς τοῦτο δρᾷν εἰωθόσιν, εὖ μάλα παρεγγυῶν· ἔφη γὰρ πάλιν ἐν τῷ Λευϊτικῷ· «Πᾶσαν θυσίαν ἣν ἂν προσφέρητε Κυρίῳ, οὐ προσοίσετε ζυμωτήν· πᾶσαν γὰρ ζύμην καὶ πᾶν μέλι οὐ προσοίσετε ἀπ' αὐτοῦ, καρπῶσαι Κυρίῳ, δῶρον ἀπαρχῆς προσοίσετε αὐτὰ Κυρίῳ, ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον οὐκ ἀναβιβασθήσεται εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας Κυρίῳ, καὶ πᾶν δῶρον θυσίας ὑμῶν ἁλὶ ἁλισθήσεται. Οὐ διαπαύσετε ἅλας διαθήκης Κυρίῳ ἀπὸ θυσιασμάτων ὑμῶν, ἐπὶ παντὸς δώρου ὑμῶν προσοίσετε Κυρίῳ τῷ Θεῷ ὑμῶν ἅλας.» Ζύμη μὲν οὖν πανουργίας ἂν εἴη τύπος, οὐχὶ πάντως γε καὶ μόνης τῆς κατεψεγμένης, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ἑτέρας, φημὶ δὴ τῆς ἀγαθῆς καὶ ἐπαινουμένης, ἢν καὶ τῆς σοφίας ὁ λόγος, τοῖς ἀκάκοις ἔτι διδόναι κατεπαγγέλλεται. μέσον γάρ πώς ἐστι τὸ τῆς πανουργίας ὄνομα. Μέλι δὲ αὖ, ἡδονὴν μὲν ἔσθ' ὅτε τὴν σωματικὴν ἡμῖν πλαγίως ὑπαινίττεται, ὡς ἔν γε τῷ φάναι· «Μὴ πρόσεχε φαύλῃ γυναικί· μέλι γὰρ ἀποστάζει ἀπὸ χειλέων γυναικὸς πόρνης.» Ποτὲ δὲ καὶ ἀγαθῶν γλυκασμάτων εἰσφέρει τὴν ὑποτύπωσιν. Γέγραπται γὰρ, ὅτι «Φάγε μέλι, υἱέ· ἀγαθὸν γὰρ κηρίον, ἵνα γλυκανθῇ σου ὁ φάρυγξ.» Ἀποφάσκει δὴ οὖν ὁ νόμος, τὸ προσκομίζεσθαι δεῖν εἰς κάρπωμα καὶ θυσίαν, ζύμην τε καὶ μέλι. Δέχεται μὲν γὰρ παρὰ τοῦ προσάγοντος εἰς δῶρον καὶ ἀπαρχὴν, ἀνακομίζει δὲ οὐδαμῶς εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας τῷ Θεῷ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εἶτα τί τὸ αἴνιγμα διασάφει πάλιν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Δυσέφικτον, ὦ Παλλάδιε, τὸ χρῆμά ἐστι. Τί γὰρ ἂν βούλοιτο δηλοῦν, τὸ ἀπόβλητα μὲν οὐδαμῶς ποιεῖσθαι ταυτὶ, μὴ μὴν ἔτι καὶ εἰς κάρπωμα καὶ θυ
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.