The law made idle; doves and lamb as signs of Christ; the Nazirite’s completion offerings
Cyril: …rubbish, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that is in the law, but the righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ’ (Philippians 3:8–9)?
Palladius: I know it.
Cyril: He also rebuked others for honoring the circumcision of the law after the mystery of Christ. ‘You have been cut off from Christ,’ he says, ‘you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen from grace. But we, through faith, await the hope of righteousness’ (Galatians 5:4–5). He said too that the old commandment had been made useless, since it was not without fault, and that the other, that is, the commandment of the Gospel, had been brought in to take its place (Hebrews 7:18–19; Hebrews 8:7).
Palladius: True.
Cyril: So the riddle shows that the teaching of the law has become idle. It commands Israel, who had made the vow, to be shaved as one who had incurred defilement from a dead body, that is, as one held fast in the guilt of killing the Lord; and to sanctify to God, as it were, another head of hair after the eighth day, that is, after the resurrection: the precise and finely wrought refinement and teaching of the decrees of the Gospel. To the one who grows his hair after the eighth day the law prescribed the offering of turtledoves and doves (Numbers 6:10), setting this down too as a sign of the one who cleanses the defiled, that is, of Christ. For he is signified by both: as most sweet-voiced by the turtledove, as most gentle by the dove; whereas the law is slow of tongue (Exodus 4:10) and has no gentleness, for it punishes wrongdoers at once. A lamb is also offered together with the birds (Numbers 6:12), so that Christ may be understood through them all: through the birds as from above and from heaven, through the lamb as from below and from the earth. For the Word, who is God by nature, became flesh (John 1:14). Yet even so he was and is God. He frees us from the shadow of the law and puts into the hearts of all the knowledge of his own decrees; and he makes us truly holy, cleansing us with his own blood, according to the Scriptures (Hebrews 13:12).
Palladius: That is so.
Cyril: But if, he says, the course of the vow is brought to a good end by the one who lets his hair grow after the eighth day, let him then be made complete. And he lays down how this is to be done, saying: ‘And this is the law of the one who has vowed: on the day he completes the days of his vow, he shall present himself at the doors of the tent of witness. And he shall offer his gift to the Lord: one male lamb a year old without blemish for a whole burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for a peace offering, and a basket of unleavened loaves of fine flour, loaves mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And the priest shall bring them before the Lord, and shall offer his sin offering and his whole burnt offering; and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened loaves. And the priest shall…’ (Numbers 6:13–17)
Greek
βαλα εἶναι, ἵνα Χριστὸν κερδήσω, καὶ εὑρεθῶ ἐν αὐτῷ μὴ ἔχων ἐμὴν δικαιοσύνην τὴν ἐν νόμῳ, ἀλλὰ τὴν διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ;»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἐπυθόμην.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἐπετίμα δὲ καὶ ἑτέροις, ὡς τὴν ἐν νόμῳ τετιμηκόσι περιτομὴν μετὰ τὸ Χριστοῦ μυστήριον. «Κατηργήθητε γὰρ ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ, φησὶν, οἵτινες ἐν νόμῳ δικαιοῦσθε, τῆς χάριτος ἐξεπέσετε. Ἡμεῖς δὲ διὰ πίστεως ἐλπίδα δικαιοσύνης ἀπεκδεχόμεθα.» Ἠχρειῶσθαι δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀρχαίαν ἐκείνην ἔφασκεν ἐντολὴν, οὐκ ἀμωμήτως ἔχουσαν, ἀντεισῆχθαι δὲ τὴν ἑτέραν, τουτέστι τὴν εὐαγγελικήν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀληθές.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀργοτέραν οὖν ἄρα τὴν ἐν νόμῳ παίδευσιν ἀποφαίνει τὸ αἴνιγμα, ξυρᾶσθαι κελεῦον τὸν εὐξάμενον Ἰσραὴλ, ὡς μολυσμὸν ὑπομείναντα τὸν ἐπὶ νεκρῷ, τουτέστι, τὸν τοῖς τῆς κυριοκτονίας ἐνισχημένον ἐγκλήμασι, κόμην δὲ ὥσπερ ἑτέραν ἁγιάζειν Θεῷ μετὰ τὴν ὀγδόην, τουτέστι, μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν, τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν θεσπισμάτων τὴν ἀκριβῆ καὶ τετορευμένην ἀστειότητά τε καὶ παίδευσιν. Τῷ γε μὴν τρέφοντι τὴν τρίχα, μετὰ τὴν ὀγδόην, τρυγόνας προσάγειν καὶ περιστερὰς ὁ νόμος προστέταχε, μήνυσιν ὥσπερ καὶ τοῦτο τιθεὶς τοῦ καθαίροντος τοὺς μεμολυσμένους, τουτέστι, Χριστοῦ. Σημαίνεται γὰρ δι' ἀμφοῖν, ὡς εὐφωνότατος μὲν ἐν τρυγόνι, πραότατος δὲ διὰ τῆς περιστερᾶς· καὶ τοιούτου νόμου βραδυγλώσσου τε ὄντος, καὶ τὸ πρᾶον οὐκ ἔχοντος. Ἐπιτίθησι γὰρ εὐθὺς τοῖς πλημμελοῦσι τὰς δίκας. Ἀναφέρεται δὲ καὶ ἀμνὸς τοῖς στρουθίοις ὁμοῦ, ἵνα διὰ πάντων νοοῖτο Χριστὸς, ὡς διὰ μὲν τῶν στρουθίων, ἄνωθεν καὶ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, διὰ δὲ τοῦ ἀμνοῦ, κάτωθεν καὶ ἀπὸ γῆς. Θεὸς γὰρ ὑπάρχων κατὰ φύσιν ὁ Λόγος, γέγονε σάρξ. Ἀλλ' ἦν καὶ ἔστι καὶ οὕτω Θεός· καὶ ἀπαλλάττει μὲν ἡμᾶς τῆς κατὰ νόμον σκιᾶς, ἐνίησι δὲ ταῖς ἁπάντων καρδίαις τῶν ἑαυτοῦ θεσπισμάτων τὴν εἴδησιν· καὶ ἁγίους ἀληθῶς ἀποφαίνει, τῷ ἰδίῳ καθαίρων αἵματι, κατὰ τὰς Γραφάς.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὧδε ἔχει.
{ΚΥΡ.} Εἰ δὲ δὴ, φησὶν, ἀποπεραίνοιτο καλῶς ὁ τῆς εὐχῆς τρόπος, τῷ κομῶντι μετὰ τὴν ὀγδόην, τελειούσθω τότε· καὶ ὅπως ἔσται τὸ χρῆμα, νομοθετεῖ λέγων· «Καὶ οὗτος ὁ νόμος τοῦ εὐξαμένου· Ἦ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ πληρώσῃ ἡμέρας εὐχῆς αὐτοῦ, προσοίσει αὐτὸς παρὰ τὰς θύρας τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου· καὶ προσάξει τὸ δῶρον αὐτοῦ Κυρίῳ ἀμνὸν ἐνιαύσιον ἄμωμον ἕνα εἰς ὁλοκαύτωσιν, καὶ ἀμνάδα ἐνιαυσίαν μίαν ἄμωμον εἰς ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ κριὸν ἕνα ἄμωμον εἰς σωτήριον, καὶ κανοῦν ἀζύμων σεμιδάλεως, ἄρτους ἀναπεποιημένους ἐν ἐλαίῳ, καὶ λάγανα ἄζυμα κεχρισμένα ἐν ἐλαίῳ, καὶ θυσίαν αὐτῶν, καὶ σπονδὴν αὐτῶν, καὶ προσοίσει ὁ ἱερεὺς ἔναντι Κυρίου, καὶ ποιήσει τὸ περὶ ἁμαρτίας αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸ ὁλοκαύτωμα αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸν κριὸν ποιήσει θυσίαν σωτηρίου τῷ Κυρίῳ ἐπὶ τοῦ κανοῦ τῶν ἀζύμων. Καὶ ποιήσει ὁ