The Nazirite vow, and the wine that clouds the mind
Cyril: ‘…to Moses, saying: Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them: If a man or a woman makes a great vow to consecrate himself in purity to the Lord, he shall keep himself pure from wine and strong drink. He shall not drink vinegar made from wine or vinegar made from strong drink, nor drink anything that is made from grapes; he shall eat no fresh grapes or raisins all the days of the vow of his purification. Of all that comes from the vine, wine from the pressed skins down to the seed, he shall eat nothing all the days of his purification. No razor shall come upon his head until the days are fulfilled that he vowed to the Lord. He shall be holy, letting the locks of the hair of his head grow, all the days of the vow to the Lord. He shall not go near any dead person, not to his father or his mother, nor to his brother or his sister; he shall not be defiled for them when they die, because the vow of his God is upon him, upon his head. All the days of his vow he shall be holy to the Lord. And if anyone dies suddenly beside him, at once the head of his vow shall be defiled; and he shall shave his head on the day he is cleansed; on the seventh day he shall be shaved. And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the doors of the tent of witness. And the priest shall offer one for sin and one as a whole burnt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin he committed in the matter of the dead; and he shall sanctify his head on that day, the day on which he consecrated all the days of his vow to the Lord. And he shall bring a year-old lamb as a whole burnt offering for the trespass. And the former days shall not count, because the head of his vow was defiled’ (Numbers 6:1–12).
Palladius: This oracle is not easy to understand; indeed, it can hardly be understood at all unless the law is examined closely. Not cutting the hair, but letting it grow long and hang loose, and keeping away from wine and vinegar and raisins, and even from grape seeds: what kind of worship could there be in that?
Cyril: None at all, Palladius, in truth, if one looks simply at the practice itself, at what it is by nature. Yet the aim of the law is admirable. It skillfully recasts the customs of the Greeks into something more seemly, and gracefully turns even what seems pointless into an image of the Gospel life. So if anyone aims to consecrate himself to God by the great vow, that is, by the highest way of life and the straight and blameless path of perfect righteousness, let wine and strong drink be far from him; that is, let him free his mind from everything that can make it drunk and that tends to cloud it. These, I think, would be a worldly outlook, earthly desires, the cares of the flesh and idle distractions. It was for falling into these that a prophetic word lamented some of the priests, saying something like this: ‘For priest and prophet were beside themselves because of wine, from the drunkenness of strong drink’ (Isaiah 28:7). And indeed about others too the…
Greek
Κύριος πρὸς Μωσῆν λέγων· Λάλησον τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἐρεῖς πρὸς αὐτούς· Ἀνὴρ ἢ γυνὴ ὃς ἂν μεγάλως εὔξηται εὐχὴν ἀφαγνίσασθαι ἁγνίαν Κυρίῳ, ἀπὸ οἴνου καὶ σίκερα ἁγνισθήσεται. Καὶ ὄξος ἐξ οἴνου καὶ ὄξος ἐκ σίκερα οὐ πίεται, καὶ ὅσα κατεργάζεται ἐκ σταφυλῆς οὐ πίεται, σταφυλὴν πρόσφατον καὶ σταφίδα οὐ φάγεται πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς εὐχῆς τοῦ ἁγνισμοῦ αὐτοῦ, ἀπὸ πάντων ὅσα γίνεται ἐξ ἀμπέλου, οἶνον ἀπὸ στεμφύλων ἕως γιγάρτου οὐ φάγεται πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τοῦ ἁγνισμοῦ. Ξυρὸν οὐκ ἐπελεύσεται ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ, ἕως ἂν πληρωθῶσιν αἱ ἡμέραι, ὅσας ηὔξατο Κυρίῳ. Ἅγιος ἔσται τρέφων κόμην, τρίχα κεφαλῆς πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς εὐχῆς Κυρίῳ. Ἐπὶ πάσῃ ψυχῇ τετελευτηκυίᾳ οὐκ εἰσελεύσεται ἐπὶ πατρὶ καὶ μητρὶ, καὶ ἐπ' ἀδελφῷ καὶ ἐπ' ἀδελφῇ, οὐ μιανθήσεται ἐπ' αὐτοῖς, ἀποθανόντων αὐτῶν, ὅτι εὐχὴ Θεοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἐπὶ κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ, Πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς εὐχῆς αὐτοῦ ἅγιος ἔσται Κυρίῳ. Ἐὰν δέ τις θανάτῳ ἀποθάνῃ ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἐξάπινα, παραχρῆμα μιανθήσεται ἡ κεφαλὴ εὐχῆς αὐτοῦ· καὶ ξυρήσεται τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ ᾗ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ καθαρισθῇ, τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ ξυρηθήσεται· καὶ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ὀγδόῃ οἴσει δύο τρυγόνας, ἢ δύο νεοσσοὺς περιστερῶν πρὸς τὸν ἱερέα, ἐπὶ τὰς θύρας τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου. Καὶ ποιήσει ὁ ἱερεὺς μίαν περὶ ἁμαρτίας, καὶ μίαν εἰς ὁλοκαύτωμα· καὶ ἐξιλάσεται περὶ αὐτοῦ ὁ ἱερεὺς περὶ ὧν ἥμαρτε περὶ τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ ἁγιάσει τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, ᾗ ἡγίασε Κυρίῳ, πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς εὐχῆς, καὶ προσάξει ἀμνὸν ἐνιαύσιον εἰς ὁλοκαύτωμα πλημμελείας. Καὶ αἱ ἡμέραι αἱ πρότεραι ἄλογοι ἔσονται, ὅτι ἐμιάνθη ἡ κεφαλὴ εὐχῆς αὐτοῦ.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐκ ἄτραχυ μὲν τὸ χρησμῴδημα συνιδεῖν, ἥκιστά γε μὴν, οὐχὶ τοῦ νόμου λεπτὴν παθόντος τὴν βάσανον. Τὸ γὰρ μὴ ψιλοῦσθαι τὴν τρίχα, μακρὰν δὲ ἀνεῖναι καὶ κατασείεσθαι κόμην, οἴνου τε καὶ ὄξους καὶ σταφίδος, καὶ μὴν καὶ γιγάρτων ἀποφοιτᾷν, ποῖον ἂν ἔχοι λατρείας τρόπον;
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐδένα μὲν, ὦ Παλλάδιε, κατά γε τὸ ἀληθὲς, εἴπερ τις ὅλως αὐτὸ κατὰ φύσιν ὅ τί ποτέ ἐστιν καταθροῖτο τὸ χρῆμα. Οὐκ ἀθαύμαστός γε μὴν ὁ τοῦ νόμου σκοπὸς, τὰ Ἑλλήνων ἔθη μεταχαράττοντος εὐτέχνως ἐπὶ τὰ πρεπωδέστερα, καὶ μετατιθέντος ἀστείως εἰς εἰκόνα ζωῆς εὐαγγελικῆς, καὶ τὸ εἰκαῖον εἶναι δοκοῦν. Οὐκοῦν εἴ τῳ περ εἴη σκοπὸς ἀφαγνίσασθαι τῷ Θεῷ κατὰ τὴν μεγάλην εὐχὴν, τουτέστι κατά γε τὸν τῆς ἀνωτάτω πολιτείας τρόπον, καὶ δικαιοσύνης ἐντελοῦς ὀρθὴν καὶ ἀμώμητον τρίβον, οἴνου καὶ σικέρατος οἰχέσθω μακρὰν, τουτέστι, παντὸς τοῦ καταμεθύσκειν ἰσχύοντος, καὶ καταθολοῦν εἰωθότος, ἀπαλλαττέτω τὸν νοῦν. Εἶεν δ' ἂν, οἶμαι, ταυτὶ φρόνημα κοσμικὸν, γεώδεις ἐπιθυμίαι, μέριμναι σαρκὸς, εἰκαῖοι περισπασμοί· ταῦτά τοι παθόντας τῶν ἱερέων τινὰς λόγος ἐθρήνει προφητικὸς, ὡδί πως ἔχων· «Ὅτι ἱερεὺς καὶ προφήτης ἐξέστησαν διὰ τὸν οἶνον, ἀπὸ τῆς μέθης τοῦ σίκερα.» Καὶ μὴν καὶ περὶ ἑτέρων ὁ