Male and without blemish: slaughter, blood and flaying as dying to the world
Cyril: …it would be fitting for those consecrated to God to be male and without blemish: with nothing effeminate about them, not given over to sloth, but firmly bent on showing manly courage, and keeping the mind within them manly and, as it were, wide awake. And I would add this as well: they must be pure and without blemish, at least as far as human nature allows. For somewhere the inspired David sings, and very wisely: ‘Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, and according to my innocence that is in me.’ (Psalm 7:8) For with God the standard of human goodness is in some way measured to fit us, while that of the holy angels plainly rises higher and far exceeds our measure. So let the holy victim be male and without blemish.
It is brought to the very doors of the holy tent (Leviticus 1:3). For we are made perfect nowhere else than in the churches, since it is there, wholly and in every way, that we shall be acceptable to God the Father, with Christ as priest bringing us to him. For through him we have obtained access (Romans 5:2; Ephesians 2:18), and he himself opened for us the way in (Hebrews 10:19–20), entering the Holy of Holies as forerunner on our behalf (Hebrews 6:20), and showing us the true path. God also commanded them to lay their hands on the calf (Leviticus 1:4), hinting at this indirectly: that in place of themselves they offer, in type, an image of our need to live in holiness by dying to the world, when they duly carry out the slaughter of the beast.
See, then, how the shadow gives shape to the truth for us. The calf was slaughtered before the Lord, and the blood was poured out on the altar (Leviticus 1:5). For dying to the world, and putting to death the impulses of the flesh, is most pleasing to God and worthy of his gaze from above. And perhaps our godly David sings of something like this when he says: ‘Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his holy ones.’ (Psalm 116:15) For the death of the holy ones will be like a sacred offering to God; and surely I do not mean the death of all who live in the flesh. Rather, the word would point us to the death they are accustomed to endure, dying to the world but living to God in holiness and sanctification. For it is impossible for us to achieve the holy life unless we have first died to the world. For Peter writes about Christ: ‘He bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that, having died to sins, we might live to righteousness.’ (1 Peter 2:24) So the slaughter of the calf seems to signify dying to sins, and enduring the death that is precious with God, the death he is pleased to look upon. For ‘they shall slaughter the calf,’ it says, ‘before the Lord.’ (Leviticus 1:5) And the pouring of the blood on the altar would signify, I think, the dedication of one's life and the offering up of the soul to the glory of God.
The victim is flayed and cut up limb by limb (Leviticus 1:6). The flaying suggests a kind of stripping bare and uncovering of what is within us; the cutting into pieces shows very well that the word of God reaches down to joints and marrow (Hebrews 4:12).
Greek
ἄρσενάς τε καὶ ἀμώμους πρέποι ἂν εἶναι τοὺς Θεῷ καθιερωμένους, οὐδὲν ἔχοντας τὸ θηλυπρεπὲς, οὐ παρειμένους εἰς ῥᾳθυμίαν· ἀλλὰ πολὺ λίαν διανενευκότας εἰς τὸ ἀνδρίζεσθαι δεῖν, ἄρσενά τε καὶ οἱονεὶ διεγηγερμένον τὸν ἔν γε δὴ σφίσιν αὐτοῖς διασώζοντας νοῦν. Καὶ μέντοι πρὸς τόδε φαίην ἂν, ὅτι καθαρούς τε καὶ ἀμώμους εἶναι χρὴ, κατά γε τὸ ἐγχωροῦν τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει. Ψάλλει γάρ που καὶ μάλα ἐμφρόνως ὁ θεσπέσιος Δαβίδ· «Κρῖνόν με, Κύριε, κατὰ τὴν δικαιοσύνην μου, καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἀκακίαν μου ἐπ' ἐμοί.» Συμμεμέτρηται γάρ πως παρὰ Θεῷ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἐπιεικείας ὁ τρόπος, ὑπερανισχούσης δηλονότι τῆς τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων, καὶ πολὺ τὸ καθ' ἡμᾶς ὑπεραιρούσης μέτρον. Οὐκοῦν ἄρσεν τε καὶ ἄμωμον τὸ ἱερὸν ἔστω θῦμα. Ἀποφέρεται δέ πως πρὸς αὐταῖς ταῖς θύραις τῆς ἁγίας σκηνῆς. Τελειούμεθα γὰρ οὐχ ἑτέρωσέ ποι, ἢ ὅτι πάντη τε καὶ πάντως ἐν ἐκκλησίαις ἐσόμεθα εὐπαράδεκτοι τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ, προσκομίζοντος ἡμᾶς ὡς ἱερέως Χριστοῦ. Δι' αὐτοῦ γὰρ τὴν προσαγωγὴν ἐσχήκαμεν, καὶ αὐτὸς ἡμῖν ἐνεκαίνισε τὴν εἰς τὸ εἶναι πάροδον, πρόδρομος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν εἰσελάσας εἰς τὰ Ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων, καὶ καταδείξας ἡμῖν τὴν ἀληθῆ τρίβον. Ἐπιθεῖναί γε μὴν τῷ μόσχῳ τὰς χεῖρας προστέταχε, διά γε δὴ τούτου πλαγίως ὑποσημαίνων, ὡς ἀνθ' ἑαυτῶν ἐν τύπῳ προσάγουσιν εἰκόνα τινὰ τοῦ χρῆναι βιοῦν ἁγίως, διὰ τοῦ τεθνάναι τῷ κόσμῳ τὴν τοῦ κτήνους σφαγὴν εὖ μάλα ποιούμενοι. Ἄθρει δὴ οὖν ὅπως ἡμῖν ἡ σκιὰ διαμορφοῖ τὴν ἀλήθειαν. Ἐσφάζετο μὲν γὰρ ὁ μόσχος ἔναντι Κυρίου, προσεχεῖτο δὲ τὸ αἷμα τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ. Τὸ γάρ τοι τεθνάναι τῷ κόσμῳ, καὶ τῶν σαρκικῶν ἡ νέκρωσις κινημάτων, ἥδιστον τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ τῆς ἄνωθεν ἐποπτείας ἄξιον· καὶ τάχα που ψάλλει τι τοιοῦτον ὁ θεῖος ἡμῖν Δαβὶδ, ὡδί πη λέγων· «Τίμιος ἐναντίον Κυρίου ὁ θάνατος τῶν ὁσίων αὐτοῦ.» Ἀνάθημα γὰρ ὥσπερ ἱερὸν ἔσται τῷ Θεῷ, τῶν ὁσίων ὁ θάνατος· καὶ οὔτι που πάντων τῶν κατὰ σάρκα, φημί· κατασημήνειεν δὲ μᾶλλον ὁ λόγος ἡμῖν, ὃν ὑπομένειν ἔθος αὐτοὺς, κόσμῳ μὲν ἀποθνήσκοντας, Θεῷ δὲ ζῶντας ἐν ὁσιότητι καὶ ἁγιασμῷ· ἀμήχανον γὰρ τὴν ἁγίαν ἡμᾶς κατορθῶσαι ζωὴν, μὴ οὐχὶ προεκτεθνεῶτας τῷ κόσμῳ. Γράφει γὰρ ὁ Πέτρος περὶ Χριστοῦ· «Ὃς τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν ἀνήνεγκεν ἐν τῷ σώματι αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τοῦ ξύλου, ἵνα ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ἀπογενόμενοι, τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ ζήσωμεν.» Οὐκοῦν ἡ τοῦ μόσχου σφαγὴ, καταδηλοῦν ἔοικε τὸ ἀπογενέσθαι ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις, καὶ τὸ ὑπομεῖναι θάνατον τὸν παρὰ Θεῷ τίμιον, ὃν καὶ ἐφορᾷν ἀξιοῖ. «Σφάξουσι γὰρ, φησὶ, τὸν μόσχον ἔναντι Κυρίου.» Ἡ δέ γε τοῦ αἵματος χύσις ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον, τὴν τῆς ζωῆς ἀφιέρωσιν καὶ ψυχῆς ἀνάθεσιν εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ κατασημήνειεν ἂν, οἶμαί που. Ἐκδέρεται δὲ τὸ θῦμα, καὶ τέμνεται κατὰ μέλος· τοῦ μὲν ἐκδέρεσθαι, τὴν οἱονεὶ γύμνωσίν τε καὶ ἀποκάλυψιν τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν ὑποφαίνοντος· τοῦ δὲ μελίζεσθαι, τὸ μέχρις ἁρμῶν τε καὶ μυελῶν τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καθικνεῖσθαι λόγον, εὖ μάλα παραδεικνύντος.