Flour, oil and frankincense; God welcomes even the smallest gift
Cyril: …That the fine flour is a type of life, the oil a type of the cheerfulness that belongs to hope, and the frankincense a type of the fragrance that comes from good works, upright deeds and a life fully in keeping with the law, we have explained at length already. So the law says that those who choose to make the God of all rejoice in them must by all means dedicate and consecrate their own life to him, without being gloomy over the sweat that virtue costs (‘Do not grumble,’ says the inspired Paul, 1 Corinthians 10:10), a life filled full of spiritual fragrance; for then the priest will offer up its memorial portion to God (Leviticus 2:2). For we shall draw near to God the Father in Christ through spiritual sacrifice, and gain this as well: to be kept in his remembrance. By the very things through which we are used to winning approval, we shall show that we are worthy of remembrance and that we have come to be known by God in Christ.
Palladius: That was very finely said.
Cyril: To this the law adds: ‘If you bring as a gift a sacrifice baked in an oven, a gift to the Lord of fine flour: unleavened loaves kneaded with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil. If his gift is a sacrifice from the pan, it shall be fine flour kneaded with oil, unleavened; and you shall break them into pieces and pour oil on them; it is a sacrifice to the Lord. If your gift is a sacrifice from the grill, it shall be made of fine flour with oil (Leviticus 2:4–7). If you bring a sacrifice of firstfruits to the Lord, new groats, roasted and crushed, for the Lord, you shall bring the sacrifice of the firstfruits and put frankincense on them; it is a sacrifice. And the priest shall offer up its memorial portion from the groats with the oil, and all its frankincense; it is an offering to the Lord’ (Leviticus 2:14–16).
Palladius: How deep a thing the law is! Tell me, then, how we may turn our minds even to such fine details as these without straying from the mark.
Cyril: What deserves our attention here, I think, is the law’s forethought and great skill. You will certainly see it: it accepts what is very small indeed, and to that too it grants, in every case, fragrance and cheerfulness. For you have surely heard Christ himself say: ‘And whoever gives one of these brothers, the little ones, a cup of cold water to drink, only in the name of a disciple, truly I tell you, he will not lose his reward’ (Matthew 10:42). We must reason in some such way here too, and applaud the Lawgiver’s kindness with the praises that befit him. For, as I said, he accepts the offering even if someone chooses to fulfill what is prescribed with the very cheapest things. For whether it is a loaf, the law says, or a single wafer, whether from the oven or from the pan or indeed from the grill, and even if it is not of wheat at all but groats and crushed grain, that is, meal made from pulse, let what is brought be moistened with oil, and let it in turn have frankincense lavished on it. And in these very details the passage seems somehow to hint to us at the approval the saints win through fiery trial and toil, and indeed through being crushed.
Greek
δὲ ζωῆς μὲν εἰς τύπον ἡ σεμίδαλις, ἱλαρότητος δὲ τῆς ὡς ἐν ἐλπίδι, τὸ ἔλαιον, λίβανός γε μὴν, εὐωδίας τῆς ὡς ἐν ἔργοις καὶ κατορθώμασιν, καὶ βίῳ συννομωτάτῳ, πολὺς ἡμῖν διεσάφησε λόγος. Χρῆναι δὲ οὖν εὖ μάλα φησὶν ὁ νόμος, τοὺς οἵπερ ἂν ἕλοιντο κατευφραίνειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεὸν, ἀνατιθέναι τε καὶ ἀφιεροῦν αὐτῷ τὴν οἰκείαν ζωὴν, οὐκ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἱδρῶσι τοῖς ὑπὲρ ἀρετῆς στυγνάζοντας· («Μὴ γὰρ δὴ γογγύζετε,» φησὶν ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος), εὐωδίας δὲ τῆς νοητῆς ἐκμεμεστωμένην· ἀνοίσει γὰρ τότε τὸ μνημόσυνον αὐτῆς ὁ ἱερεὺς τῷ Θεῷ. Προσελευσόμεθα γὰρ ἐν Χριστῷ τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ διὰ τῆς πνευματικῆς θυσίας, τὸ καὶ ἐν μνήμῃ κεῖσθαι τῇ παρ' αὐτῷ κερδαίνοντες. Δι' ὧν γὰρ εὐδοκιμεῖν εἰθίσμεθα, διὰ τούτων αὐτῶν ἀποφανούμεθα, ὅτι καὶ μνήμης ἄξιοι, καὶ ἐν γνώσει Θεοῦ γεγόναμεν ἐν Χριστῷ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀστειότατα ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἐπισυνάπτει δὲ τούτοις· «Ἐὰν δὲ προσφέρῃς δῶρον, θυσίαν πεπιλημένην ἐν κλιβάνῳ, δῶρον Κυρίῳ ἐκ σεμιδάλεως, ἄρτους ἀζύμους πεφυραμένους ἐν ἐλαίῳ, καὶ λάγανα ἄζυμα διακεχρισμένα ἐν ἐλαίῳ. Ἐὰν δὲ θυσία ἀπὸ τηγάνου τὸ δῶρον αὐτοῦ, σεμίδαλις πεφυραμένη ἐν ἐλαίῳ, ἄζυμα ἔσται· καὶ διαθρύψεις αὐτὰ κλάσματα, καὶ ἐπιχεεῖς ἐπ' αὐτὰ ἔλαιον, θυσία ἐστὶ Κυρίῳ. Ἐὰν δὲ θυσία ἀπὸ ἐσχάρας τὸ δῶρόν σου, σεμίδαλις ἐλαίῳ ποιηθήσεται. Ἐὰν δὲ προσφέρῃς θυσίαν τῶν πρωτογεννημάτων τῷ Κυρίῳ, νέα πεφρυγμένα χίδρα ἐρικτὰ τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ προσοίσεις τὴν θυσίαν τῶν πρωτογεννημάτων, καὶ ἐπιθήσεις ἐπ' αὐτὰ λίβανον· θυσία ἐστί. Καὶ ἀνοίσει ὁ ἱερεὺς τὸ μνημόσυνον αὐτῆς ἀπὸ τῶν χίδρων σὺν τῷ ἐλαίῳ, καὶ πάντα τὸν λίβανον αὐτῆς· κάρπωμά ἐστι τῷ Κυρίῳ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὡς βαθὺ τὸ χρῆμα τοῦ νόμου! Φράζε δὴ οὖν, ὅπως καὶ τοῖς ὧδε λεπτοῖς τὸν νοῦν ἐνιέντες, οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ βαδιούμεθα.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἐκεῖνο, οἶμαί που, ἄξιον, τὸ τοῦ νόμου προμηθὲς καὶ λίαν εὐτεχνές· εἴσῃ γὰρ δὴ διὰ τρόπου παντὸς, καὶ προσίεται μὲν τὸ βραχὺ κομιδῇ, χαρίζεται δὲ καὶ αὐτῷ πανταχῆ τὸ εὐῶδες καὶ ἱλαρόν· διεπύθου γάρ που καὶ αὐτοῦ λέγοντος τοῦ Χριστοῦ· «Καὶ ὃς ἂν ποτίσῃ ἕνα τῶν ἀδελφῶν τούτων τῶν μικρῶν ποτήριον ψυχροῦ, μόνον εἰς ὄνομα μαθητοῦ, ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐ μὴ ἀπολέσῃ τὸν μισθὸν αὐτοῦ.» Τοιουτονί τι κἀνθάδε διαλογίζεσθαι χρὴ, καὶ τὴν τοῦ νομοθέτου χρηστότητα ταῖς αὐτῷ πρεπούσαις κατακροτεῖν εὐφημίαις. Προσίεται γὰρ, ὡς ἔφην, κἂν εἰ ἕλοιτό τις καὶ τοῖς ἄγαν εὐτελεστάτοις πληροῦν τὰ νενομισμένα. Εἴτε γὰρ ἄρτος εἴη, φησὶν, εἴτε καὶ λάγανον ἓν, εἴτ' οὖν ἐκ κλιβάνου καὶ ἀπὸ τηγάνου, καὶ μὴν καὶ ἐσχάρας, καὶ ἥκιστα μὲν ἐκ πυρῶν, χίδρα δὲ εἴη καὶ ἐρικτὰ, τουτέστιν, ἐξ ὀσπρίων ἄλευρον, ἐλαίῳ δεδεύσθω τὸ προσκομισθὲν, καὶ καταπλουτείτω πάλιν ἐφ' ἑαυτῷ τὸν λίβανον. Ἔοικε δέ πως ἔν γε δὴ τούτοις ὁ λόγος, τὰς διὰ πυρώσεώς τε καὶ πόνων καὶ μέντοι καὶ συντριβῆς εὐδοκιμήσεις