The loaves of the presence, the firstfruits of dough, and the golden lampstand
Cyril: …it shall be set before the Lord continually, before the sons of Israel, as an everlasting covenant. And it shall belong to Aaron and to his sons, and they shall eat them in a holy place; for this is most holy for them, from the offerings made to the Lord, a perpetual ordinance’ (Leviticus 24:8–9). In Numbers, again, he showed us the bread that is from heaven and also from us as one bread, for the Word, though God by nature, became like us and dwelt among us (John 1:14). He showed this when he said to Moses, the revealer of sacred rites: ‘Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: When you go into the land into which I am bringing you, then, when you eat of the bread of the land, you shall take off a portion set apart for the Lord, the firstfruits of your dough. You shall set apart a loaf as an offering; as an offering is taken from the threshing floor, so you shall take off the firstfruits of your dough, and you shall give an offering to the Lord throughout your generations’ (Numbers 15:18–21). Through these words one could see the mystery of the truth without effort. It will be discussed by us in detail and with precision at its proper time, when our discourse has passed on to another labor of writing. For the present, though, Palladius, there is one thing, I think, that anyone would marvel at.
Palladius: What do you mean?
Cyril: That in setting Emmanuel before our eyes in many forms, he portrays him once more through yet another passage. For he says to Moses: ‘And you shall make a lampstand of pure gold; you shall make the lampstand finely wrought. Its shaft and its branches, its cups, its knobs and its lilies shall be of one piece with it. Six branches from the second side’ (Exodus 25:31–32). Then, after adding the parts that serve the work’s beauty and use, I mean the lilies, the knobs and the almond ornaments (Exodus 25:33–35), he declared again: ‘All of it finely wrought, from one piece of pure gold. And you shall make its seven lamps, and you shall set up its lamps, and they shall shine from the one front. And its oil vessel and its trays you shall make of pure gold; you shall make all these vessels from a talent of pure gold. See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain’ (Exodus 25:36–40). So the lampstand, which stands as a type of Christ, is of gold. For the Son is God by nature and in truth, and the divine splendor and preeminence must be likened to gold, as we also laid down earlier. It is finely wrought because Emmanuel is beautiful beyond all words in the beauty of form that the mind perceives. For it is written, ‘Fairer in beauty than the sons of men’ (Psalm 45:2). So the finely wrought shape of the lampstand would show Emmanuel’s surpassing beauty of form very well, and plainly this is the beauty that befits God. He says that branches grow out to the right and to the left, as from a tree, and spring up together with the central shaft, rising to an equal height (Exodus 25:32). For the Only-begotten, though he is one by nature and, as God, simple in essence, seems to be many in his various activities; yet there is nothing brought in or foreign…
Greek
προσθήσεται ἔναντι Κυρίου διαπαντὸς ἐνώπιον τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, διαθήκην αἰώνιον· καὶ ἔσται Ἀαρὼν καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτοῦ. Καὶ φάγονται αὐτὰ ἐν τόπῳ ἁγίῳ· ἔστι γὰρ Ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων τοῦτο αὐτῶν, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν θυσιαζομένων τῷ Κυρίῳ, νόμιμον αἰώνιον.» Ἐν δέ γε τοῖς Ἀριθμοῖς, ὡς ἕνα πάλιν ἄρτον ἡμῖν τὸν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἐξ ἡμῶν· γέγονε γὰρ Θεὸς ὢν φύσει καθ' ἡμᾶς ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, κατεδείκνυ λέγων πρὸς τὸν ἱεροφάντην Μωϋσέα· «Λάλησον τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἐρεῖς πρὸς αὐτούς· Ἐν τῷ πορεύεσθαι ὑμᾶς εἰς τὴν γῆν ἣν ἐγὼ εἰσάγω ὑμᾶς ἐκεῖ, καὶ ἔσται, ὅταν ἐσθίητε ὑμεῖς ἀπὸ τῶν ἄρτων τῆς γῆς, ἀφαιρεῖτε ἀφαίρεμα ἀφόρισμα Κυρίῳ ἀπαρχὴν φυράματος ὑμῶν· ἄρτον ἀφαίρεμα ἀφοριεῖτε αὐτὸ ὡς ἀφαίρεμα ἀπὸ ἅλωνος, οὕτως ἀφαιρήσετε ἀπαρχὴν φυράματος ὑμῶν, καὶ δώσετε τῷ Κυρίῳ ἀφαίρεμα εἰς τὰς γενεὰς ὑμῶν.» Καὶ ἀπονητὶ μὲν διὰ τούτων καταθεῷτό τις ἂν τὸ τῆς ἀληθείας μυστήριον. Λελέξεται δὲ πρὸς ἡμῶν ἐν ἰδίῳ καιρῷ λεπτῶς καὶ ἀπηκριβωμένως, εἰς ἕτερον ἡμῖν ἱδρῶτα συγγραφῆς μετεῤῥηκότος τοῦ λόγου. Πλὴν ἐκεῖνο, οἶμαί που, κατατεθήποι τις ἂν εἴς γε τὸ παρὸν ἡμῖν, ὦ Παλλάδιε.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τὸ ποῖόν τι φής;
{ΚΥΡ.} Πολυειδῶς γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐμφανῆ καθιστὰς τὸν Ἐμμανουὴλ, καὶ δι' ἑτέρου πάλιν αὐτὸν ἀναπλάττει λόγου. Πρὸς γάρ τοι Μωϋσέα φησί· «Καὶ ποιήσεις λυχνίαν ἐκ χρυσίου καθαροῦ, τορνευτὴν ποιήσεις τὴν λυχνίαν· ὁ καυλὸς αὐτῆς καὶ οἱ καλαμίσκοι, καὶ οἱ κρατῆρες, καὶ οἱ σφαιρωτῆρες, καὶ τὰ κρίνα ἐξ αὐτῆς ἔσται. Ἓξ καλαμίσκοι ἐκ τοῦ κλίτους τοῦ δευτέρου.» Καὶ αὖ ἐπὶ τούτοις τὰ εἰς κόσμον τε καὶ χρείαν τῷ τεχνήματι τελοῦντα προστεθεικὼς, κρίνα τέ φημι, καὶ σφαιρωτῆρας καὶ καρυίσκους, ἐπεφώνει πάλιν· «Ὅλη τορνευτὴ, ἐξ ἑνὸς χρυσίου καθαροῦ· καὶ ποιήσεις τοὺς λύχνους αὐτῆς ἑπτὰ, καὶ ἐπιθήσεις τοὺς λύχνους αὐτῆς. Καὶ φανοῦσιν ἐκ τοῦ ἑνὸς προσώπου. Καὶ τὸν ἐπαρυστῆρα αὐτῆς, καὶ τὰ ὑποθέματα αὐτῆς ἐκ χρυσίου καθαροῦ, ποιήσεις πάντα τὰ σκεύη ταῦτα ταλάντου χρυσίου καθαροῦ. Ὅρα, ποιήσεις κατὰ τὸν τύπον τὸν δειχθέντα σοι ἐν τῷ ὄρει.» Χρυσῆ μὲν οὖν ἡ λυχνία τύπον ἐπέχουσα τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Φύσει γὰρ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ Θεὸς ὁ Υἱός· χρυσῷ δὲ παρεικαστέον, καθὰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω διωριζόμεθα, τὴν θείαν λαμπρότητα καὶ ὑπεροχήν. Τορνευτὴ δὲ ὅτι περικαλλὴς καὶ πέρα λόγου παντὸς, τό γε ἧκον εἰς εὐμορφίαν τὴν νοητὴν, ὁ Ἐμμανουήλ. Γέγραπται γὰρ ὅτι «Ὡραῖος κάλλει παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων.» Οὐκοῦν τὸ ἐκτετορνεῦσθαι τὴν λυχνίαν, τὸ εἰς εἶδος ἐκπρεπὲς, δῆλον δὲ ὅτι τὸ θεοπρεπὲς, κατεδείκνυεν ἂν εὖ μάλα τοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ. Εἰς δεξιὸν δὲ καὶ εὐώνυμον, οἷάπερ ἐκ δένδρου καλαμίσκους ἐκπεφυκότας, συναναθρώσκειν δὲ τῷ μέσῳ καυλῷ, καὶ εἰς ὕψος αἴρεσθαί φησι τὸ ἰσοστατοῦν. Εἷς γὰρ ὢν κατὰ φύσιν ὁ Μονογενὴς, καὶ ἐν ἁπλότητι τῇ κατ' οὐσίαν, ὡς Θεὸς, διαφόροις ἐνεργείαις πολλοστὸς εἶναι δοκεῖ, ἀλλ' οὐδὲν εἰσκεκριμένον ἢ ὀθνεῖον