Hair laid on the fire: the offerings read as stages of the holy life
Cyril: …offer his sacrifice and his drink offering. And the one who has vowed shall shave the head of his vow at the doors of the tent of witness, and lay the hair on the fire that is under the sacrifice of the peace offering. And the priest shall take the boiled arm of the ram, and one unleavened loaf from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the hands of the one who has vowed, after he has shaved his head; and the priest shall bring them as a wave offering before the Lord. It shall be holy to the priest, together with the breast of the wave offering and the arm of the heave offering; and after this the one who has vowed shall drink wine. This is the law of the one who vows, whoever vows his gift to the Lord for his vow, besides whatever his hand can find, according to the measure of the vow he vows, according to the law of purity’ (Numbers 6:17–21). For when the one who owes God the vow to purify himself has, as it were, thrown off the burden of the coarseness of the Mosaic history, and has freed his mind from worship in type and shadows as from a long and heavy head of hair, and has instead, like hair growing again, the truly purifying knowledge and teaching of the decrees given through Christ, he will be holy and consecrated, and acceptable besides. He would offer himself to God as a fragrant aroma, and will dedicate to him, as it were an acceptable sacrifice, the glorious and blameless excellence of his own way of life. ‘For he shall bring,’ it says, ‘his gift: a lamb a year old for a whole burnt offering, and again a ewe lamb for a sin offering, and also a ram for a peace offering, and a basket of unleavened loaves moistened with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil’ (Numbers 6:14–15). By the lamb we may fitly understand the childlikeness in Christ of the one who brings the sacrifice, and by the ram what is mature in mind and, as it were, in bearing fruit. For he says: ‘Brothers, do not be children in your minds; rather, be infants in evil, but in your minds be mature’ (1 Corinthians 14:20). Between them stands the ewe lamb, offered for sin. Through this again it is easier for us to see that even the life of those who are thoroughly purified, who live, as it were, in the simplicity and innocence understood in Christ and have been made perfect in soundness of mind, is not wholly without blame, but certainly needs cleansing. For no one will possess what is wholly beyond reproach. It is reserved for Emmanuel alone, and will remain his own, to say in truth: ‘For the ruler of this age is coming, and he will find nothing in me’ (John 14:30). So in the lamb, the ewe lamb and the ram one may see what I have said. In the unleavened loaves the sincere and pure life is signified; for the most wise Paul writes somewhere to the sanctified: ‘So clean out the old leaven, so that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened’ (1 Corinthians 5:7). And in the wafer is the savor, and as it were the sweetness, of the life of the saints. We shall offer ourselves, then: as in a lamb, because of our infancy in Christ; as in a ewe lamb, because of the weakness of our nature and how easily it is driven to wrongdoing, for the female is a type of weakness; as in a ram, mature and having reached…
Greek
ἱερεὺς τὴν θυσίαν αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὴν σπονδὴν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ξυρήσεται ὁ ηὐγμένος παρὰ τὰς θύρας τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου τὴν κεφαλὴν τῆς εὐχῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐπιθήσει τὰς τρίχας ἐπὶ τὸ πῦρ, ὅ ἐστιν ὑπὸ τὴν θυσίαν τοῦ σωτηρίου. Καὶ λήψεται ὁ ἱερεὺς τὸν βραχίονα ἑφθὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ κριοῦ, καὶ ἄρτον ἕνα ἄζυμον ἀπὸ τοῦ κανοῦ, καὶ λάγανον ἄζυμον ἓν, καὶ ἐπιθήσει ἐπὶ τὰς χεῖρας τοῦ ηὐγμένου μετὰ τὸ ξυρήσασθαι αὐτὸν τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ, καὶ προσοίσει αὐτὰ ὁ ἱερεὺς ἐπίθεμα ἔναντι Κυρίου. Ἅγιον ἔσται τῷ ἱερεῖ ἐπὶ τοῦ στηθηνίου τοῦ ἐπιθέματος, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ βραχίονος τοῦ ἀφαιρέματος, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα, πίεται ὁ ηὐγμένος οἶνον. Οὗτος ὁ νόμος τοῦ εὐξαμένου, ὃς ἂν εὔξηται δῶρον αὐτοῦ Κυρίῳ περὶ τῆς εὐχῆς, χωρὶς ὧν ἂν εὕρῃ ἡ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ κατὰ δύναμιν τῆς εὐχῆς αὐτοῦ, ἣν ἂν εὔξηται κατὰ νόμον ἁγνείας.» Ἀποφορτισάμενος γὰρ ὥσπερ τῆς Μωσαϊκῆς ἱστορίας τὸ πάχος, καὶ λατρείας τῆς ἐν τύπῳ καὶ σκιαῖς, οἱονεί τινος κόμης μακρᾶς καὶ διαβριθοῦς, ἀπαλλάξας τὸν νοῦν, ὁ ἐποφλήσας Θεῷ τὴν εἴς γε τὸ δεῖν ἁγνίσασθαι προσευχὴν, τρίχα δὲ ὥσπερ ἀναβλαστοῦσαν ἔχων τῶν διὰ Χριστοῦ θεσπισμάτων τὴν ἁγνοποιὸν ἀληθῶς εἴδησίν τε καὶ παίδευσιν, ἅγιος ἔσται καὶ ἱερὸς, καὶ πρός γε δὴ τούτῳ καὶ ἀξιόληπτος. Ἀνοίσειε δ' ἂν ἑαυτὸν εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ θυσίαν ὥσπερ ἀναθήσει δεκτὴν, τῆς ἑαυτοῦ πολιτείας τὴν εὐκλεᾶ καὶ ἀμώμητον ἀστειότητα. «Προσοίσει γὰρ, φησὶ, τὸ δῶρον αὐτοῦ, ἀμνὸν ἐνιαύσιον, εἰς ὁλοκαύτωμα, καὶ ἀμνάδα πάλιν εἰς ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ μὴν καὶ κριὸν εἰς σωτήριον, καὶ κανοῦν ἀζύμων, ἐλαίῳ δεδευμένων, καὶ λάγανα ἄζυμα κεχρισμένα ἐλαίῳ.» Καὶ διὰ μὲν τοῦ ἀμνοῦ νοοῖτ' ἂν εἰκότως τοῦ τὴν θυσίαν προσάγοντος ἡ ἐν Χριστῷ νηπιότης, διὰ δέ γε τοῦ κριοῦ τὸ ἐν φρεσί τε καὶ ὡς ἐν καρποφορίᾳ τέλειον. «Ἀδελφοὶ γὰρ, φησὶ, μὴ παιδία γίνεσθε ταῖς φρεσὶν, ἀλλὰ τῇ κακίᾳ νηπιάζετε, ταῖς δὲ φρεσὶ τέλειοι γίνεσθε.» Διὰ μέσου δὲ ἀμνὰς, ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτίας. Δι' οὗ δὴ πάλιν ἡμῖν καταθρῆσαι ῥᾷον, ὅτι καὶ τῶν ἄγαν ἁγνιζομένων ὁ βίος, καὶ ὡς ἐν ἁπλότητι καὶ ἀκακίᾳ τῇ ἐν Χριστῷ νοουμένῃ, καὶ ἐν ἀρτιότητι νοῦ τετελειωμένων, οὐκ ἀμώμητος παντελῶς, δεῖται δὲ δὴ πάντως καθαρισμοῦ. Κεκτήσεται μὲν γὰρ τὸ ἀκατάσκεπτον παντελῶς οὐδεὶς, τετήρηται δὲ μόνῳ καὶ ὡς ἴδιον ἀνακείσεται τῷ Ἐμμανουὴλ τὸ σὺν ἀληθείᾳ φράσαι, «Ἔρχεται γὰρ ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, καὶ ἐν ἐμοὶ εὑρήσει οὐδέν.» Οὐκοῦν ἐν μὲν τῷ ἀμνῷ, καὶ τῇ ἀμνάδι, καὶ τῷ κριῷ, κατίδοι τις ἂν ὅπερ ἔφην· ἐν δέ γε τοῖς ἄρτοις τοῖς οὐκ ἐζυμωμένοις ὁ ἄδολός τε καὶ καθαρὸς σημαίνεται βίος. Ἐπιστέλλει γάρ που καὶ ὁ σοφώτατος Παῦλος τοῖς ἡγιασμένοις· «Ἐκκαθάρατε οὖν τὴν παλαιὰν ζύμην, ἵνα ἦτε νέον φύραμα, καθώς ἐστε ἄζυμοι.» Ἐν δέ γε τῷ λαγάνῳ τὸ ἥδυσμα καὶ οἱονεὶ τὸ γλυκὺ τῆς τῶν ἁγίων ζωῆς. Ἑαυτοὺς οὖν ἄρα προσοίσομεν, ὡς ἐν ἀμνῷ μὲν διὰ τὸ νήπιον ἐν Χριστῷ· ὡς ἐν ἀμνάδι δὲ αὖ, διὰ τὸ τῆς φύσεως ἀσθενὲς καὶ εὐπάροιστον εἰς τὸ πλημμελές· ἀσθενείας γὰρ τύπος τὸ θῆλυ· ὡς ἐν κριῷ δὲ δὴ, τέλειοι, καὶ εἰς