The sin offering of a calf for the priest and the people
Cyril: …how those who have fallen sick with sin may escape the disease and ward off the harm that comes from transgression. Now it is written in Leviticus: ‘And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the sons of Israel, saying: If a soul sins unintentionally before the Lord against any of the commandments of the Lord, in things that ought not to be done, and does any one of them: if the anointed high priest sins so as to make the people sin, he shall bring for the sin that he has committed a calf from the herd, without blemish, to the Lord for the sin. He shall bring the calf to the door of the tent of witness before the Lord, lay his hand on the head of the calf before the Lord, and slaughter the calf before the Lord. And the anointed priest, whose hands have been consecrated, shall take some of the blood of the calf and bring it into the tent of witness; and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the Lord, in front of the holy veil. And the priest shall put some of the blood of the calf on the horns of the altar of compounded incense that is before the Lord, which is in the tent of witness. And all the blood of the calf he shall pour out at the base of the altar of whole burnt offerings, which is by the doors of the tent of witness. And all the fat of the calf of the sin offering he shall take from it: the fat that covers the entrails, and all the fat on the entrails, and the two kidneys and the fat on them, which is on the thighs, and the lobe of the liver; he shall remove it with the kidneys, just as it is removed from the calf of the peace offering, and the priest shall offer it up on the altar of burnt offering. As for the skin of the calf and all its flesh, with the head, the extremities, the belly and the dung, they shall carry the whole calf outside the camp to a clean place where they pour out the ashes, and they shall burn it on wood with fire; it shall be burned where the ashes are poured out’ (Leviticus 4:1–12). This, then, is what he says about a ruler who leads the peoples under his hand to fall short of what is right along with him. And at once he declared further: ‘If the whole congregation of the sons of Israel errs through ignorance, and a matter is hidden from the eyes of the congregation, and they do, against any of the commandments of the Lord, one thing that ought not to be done, and they transgress, and the sin that they committed in it becomes known to them, then the congregation shall bring a calf from the herd, without blemish, for the sin’ (Leviticus 4:13–14). And he states plainly that it must be offered in the same manner as the first.
Palladius: And what, again, is the meaning of these passages?
Cyril: It is clear, Palladius, and not hard to grasp, at least for anyone of sound mind. For in Christ is the cleansing of priests and of people, of small and great, in short of all, even if one by one we should happen to be caught transgressing, through not knowing the divine law…
Greek
ὅπως ἂν γένοιτο τοῖς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν διηῤῥωστηκόσι, διεκδύναι τὴν νόσον, καὶ τὰ ἐκ τοῦ πλημμελεῖν διακρούσασθαι βλάβη· γέγραπται τοίνυν ἐν τῷ Λευϊτικῷ· «Καὶ ἐλάλησε Κύριος πρὸς Μωσῆν, λέγων· Λάλησον πρὸς τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ, λέγων· Ψυχὴ ἐὰν ἁμάρτῃ ἔναντι Κυρίου ἀκουσίως, ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν προσταγμάτων Κυρίου, ὧν οὐ δεῖ ποιεῖν καὶ ποιήσῃ ἕν τι ἀπ' αὐτῶν· ἐὰν μὲν ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς ὁ κεχρισμένος ἁμάρτῃ τοῦ τὸν λαὸν ἁμαρτεῖν, καὶ προσάξει περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας αὐτοῦ, ἧς ἥμαρτε, μόσχον ἐκ βοῶν ἄμωμον τῷ Κυρίῳ περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Καὶ προσάξει τὸν μόσχον παρὰ τὴν θύραν τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου ἔναντι Κυρίου, καὶ ἐπιθήσει τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ μόσχου ἔναντι Κυρίου, καὶ σφάξει τὸν μόσχον ἐνώπιον Κυρίου. Καὶ λαβὼν ὁ ἱερεὺς ὁ χριστὸς ὁ τετελειωμένος τὰς χεῖρας ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ μόσχου, καὶ εἰσοίσει αὐτὸ εἰς τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ μαρτυρίου· καὶ βάψει ὁ ἱερεὺς τὸν δάκτυλον εἰς τὸ αἷμα, καὶ προσρανεῖ ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος ἑπτάκις ἔναντι Κυρίου, κατὰ τὸ καταπέτασμα τὸ ἅγιον. Καὶ ἐπιθήσει ὁ ἱερεὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ μόσχου ἐπὶ τὰ κέρατα τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τοῦ θυμιάματος τῆς συνθέσεως τοῦ ἐναντίον Κυρίου, ὅ ἐστιν ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ τοῦ μαρτυρίου. Καὶ πᾶν τὸ αἷμα τοῦ μόσχου ἐκχεεῖ παρὰ τὴν βάσιν τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τῶν ὁλοκαυτωμάτων, ὅ ἐστι παρὰ τὰς θύρας τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου. Καὶ πᾶν τὸ στέαρ τοῦ μόσχου τοῦ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, περιελεῖ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ τὸ στέαρ τὸ κατακαλύπτον τὰ ἐνδόσθια, καὶ πᾶν τὸ στέαρ τὸ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐνδοσθίων, καὶ τοὺς δύο νεφροὺς, καὶ στέαρ τὸ ἐπ' αὐτῶν, ὅ ἐστιν ἐπὶ τῶν μηρίων, καὶ τὸν λοβὸν τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ ἥπατος σὺν τοῖς νεφροῖς περιελεῖ αὐτὸ, ὃν τρόπον ἀφαιρεῖται αὐτὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ μόσχου τοῦ τῆς θυσίας τοῦ σωτηρίου, καὶ ἀνοίσει ὁ ἱερεὺς ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον τῆς καρπώσεως, καὶ τὸ δέρμα τοῦ μόσχου, καὶ πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ τὴν σάρκα σὺν τῇ κεφαλῇ καὶ τοῖς ἀκρωτηρίοις καὶ τῇ κοιλίᾳ καὶ τῇ κόπρῳ. Καὶ ἐξοίσουσιν ὅλον τὸν μόσχον ἔξω τῆς παρεμβολῆς εἰς τόπον καθαρὸν οὗ ἐκχέουσι τὴν σποδιὰν, καὶ κατακαύσουσιν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ ξύλων ἐν πυρὶ, ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκχύσεως τῆς σποδιᾶς καυθήσεται.» Ἄρχοντος μὲν οὖν πέρι, συναφαμαρτεῖν αὐτῷ τοῦ πρέποντος, καὶ τοὺς ὑπὸ χεῖρα λαοὺς παρασκευάζοντος, τὰ τοιάδε φησίν· ἐπεχρησμῴδησε δὲ τούτοις εὐθύς· «Ἐὰν δὲ πᾶσα συναγωγὴ τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ ἀγνοήσῃ καὶ λάθῃ ῥῆμα ἐξ ὀφθαλμῶν τῆς συναγωγῆς, καὶ ποιήσωσι μίαν ἀπὸ πασῶν τῶν ἐντολῶν Κυρίου, ἣ οὐ ποιηθήσεται, καὶ πλημμελήσωσι, καὶ γνωσθῇ αὐτοῖς ἡ ἁμαρτία ἣν ἥμαρτον ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ προσάξει ἡ συναγωγὴ μόσχον ἐκ βοῶν ἄμωμον περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας.» Ἱερουργεῖσθαι δὲ δεῖν αὐτὸν κατὰ τὸν ἴσον τῷ πρώτῳ τύπον, εὖ μάλα φησί.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τίς οὖν ἂν εἴη πάλιν ὁ ἔν γε τουτοισὶ λόγος;
{ΚΥΡ.} Σαφὴς, ὦ Παλλάδιε, καὶ οὐ χαλεπὸς ἑλεῖν, τοῖς γε ὅλως ἀρτίφροσιν. Ἐν Χριστῷ γὰρ ἡ κάθαρσις ἱερέων, καὶ λαοῦ, σμικροῦ καὶ μεγάλου, καὶ συλλήβδην ἁπάντων, καὶ εἰ καθ' ἕνα τυχὸν πλημμελοῦντες ἁλισκοίμεθα, διά τοι τὸ τὸν θεῖον οὐκ εἰδέναι νόμον,