Christ the compound and fine incense
Cyril: …Father, is said ‘now to appear,’ because in himself, as the first, he sets human nature in the Father’s sight and removes that ancient turning away. ‘For he is our peace’ (Ephesians 2:14), as the Scriptures say.
Palladius: So it is settled that the golden altar is again an image of Christ.
Cyril: And besides this, he himself may fittingly be understood as the compound and fine incense. For he himself is the high priest: ‘For Aaron,’ he says, ‘shall burn on it compound, fine incense’ (Exodus 30:7). The incense is compound, for the Word, being God, became flesh (John 1:14). Emmanuel is in a way compounded for us, divine nature and humanity being brought together, beyond words, into a unity beyond understanding. And it is fine, because it has nothing of the coarseness of worship under the law. ‘For sacrifices and offering you did not desire; in burnt offering and sin offering you took no pleasure. But a body you prepared for me,’ he says; ‘then I said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God’ (Hebrews 10:5–7; Psalm 40:6–8). And what this will of the Father is, he himself has taught us in the Gospels, saying: ‘I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that of all that he has given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day’ (John 6:38–39). For he offered himself for us as a fragrant aroma, and for this reason he was also named high priest. So he himself is the high priest, and he himself is the compound and fine incense. Paul will bear witness, saying: ‘But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us reveals the fragrance of the knowledge of him in every place. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing: to some a fragrance from death to death, to others a fragrance of life to life’ (2 Corinthians 2:14–16). And he called to us as well: ‘Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma’ (Ephesians 5:1–2). He also fixed a clear time for burning incense, laying down that everything must be done in order and with propriety, and by means that would make plain to us the force of the insights that point inward. ‘In the morning,’ he says, ‘and in the evening, when the lamps are lit and shaded’ (Exodus 30:7–8). The evening and the morning show what is unceasing and continual. The need to burn incense by lamplight perhaps hints very well at this: when we are lit by the divine light, it is then, truly then, that we are richly filled with the fragrance of Christ, and so we come to perceive the good things within the tent, that is, the distribution of the divine gifts of grace that Christ holds out to the worthy. So if anyone has not yet come into the light through faith, he surely has no share in the spiritual fragrance either, since he does not yet know the mystery of Christ.
Greek
Πατρὸς, νῦν ἐμφανισθῆναι λέγεται ὡς ἐν ἑαυτῷ γε καὶ πρώτῳ παρατιθεὶς ἐν ὄψει τοῦ Πατρὸς τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, καὶ τὴν ἀρχαίαν ἐκείνην ἀποστροφὴν μεθιστάς. «Αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν ἡ εἰρήνη ἡμῶν,» κατὰ τὰς Γραφάς.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἄραρεν οὖν ὅτι Χριστοῦ πάλιν εἰκὼν τὸ θυσιαστήριον τὸ χρυσοῦν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Καὶ πρός γε δὴ τούτῳ νοοῖτ' ἂν εἰκότως αὐτὸς ὁ θυμίαμα τὸ σύνθετον καὶ λεπτόν. Αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ ἀρχιερεύς· «Θυμιάσει γὰρ,» φησὶν, «ἐπ' αὐτοῦ Ἀαρὼν θυμίαμα σύνθετον, λεπτόν·» καὶ σύνθετον μὲν τὸ θυμίαμα· Θεὸς γὰρ ὢν ὁ Λόγος, γέγονε σάρξ. Καὶ συντέθειταί πως ἡμῖν ὁ Ἐμμανουὴλ, θείας φύσεώς τε καὶ ἀνθρωπότητος εἰς ἐνότητα τὴν ὑπὲρ νοῦν, ἀποῤῥήτως συνηνεγμένην. Λεπτὸν δὲ, ὅτι τὸ παχὺ τῆς κατὰ νόμον λατρείας οὐκ ἔχει. «Θυσίας γὰρ καὶ προσφορὰν οὐκ ἠθέλησας. Ὁλοκαύτωμα καὶ περὶ ἁμαρτίας οὐκ εὐδόκησας. Σῶμα δὲ κατηρτίσω μοι, φησί· τότε εἶπον, Ἰδοὺ ἥκω· τοῦ ποιῆσαι, ὁ Θεὸς, τὸ θέλημά σου.» Καὶ τί δὴ τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Πατρὸς, αὐτὸς ἡμᾶς ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις μεμυσταγώγηκε λέγων, ὅτι «Καταβέβηκα ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, οὐχ ἵνα ποιῶ τὸ θέλημα τὸ ἐμὸν, ἀλλὰ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πέμψαντός με. Τοῦτο δέ ἐστι τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πεμψαντός με, ἵνα πᾶν ὃ δέδωκέ μοι, μὴ ἀπολέσω ἐξ αὐτοῦ, ἀλλὰ ἀναστήσω αὐτὸ ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ.» Προσκεκόμικε γὰρ ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας, κεχρημάτικέ τε διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἀρχιερεύς. Οὐκοῦν αὐτὸς ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς, αὐτὸς τὸ θυμίαμα τὸ σύνθετόν τε καὶ λεπτόν· καὶ μαρτυρήσει λέγων ὁ Παῦλος· «Τῷ δὲ Θεῷ χάρις, τῷ πάντοτε θριαμβεύοντι ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ, καὶ τὴν ὀσμὴν τῆς γνώσεως αὐτοῦ φανεροῦντι δι' ἡμῶν ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ, ὅτι Χριστοῦ εὐωδία ἐσμὲν τῷ Θεῷ, ἐν τοῖς σωζομένοις, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις· οἷς μὲν ὀσμὴ ἐκ θανάτου εἰς θάνατον, οἷς δὲ ὀσμὴ ζωῆς εἰς ζωήν.» Προσεφώνει δὲ καὶ ἡμῖν· «Γίνεσθε οὖν μιμηταὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὡς τέκνα ἀγαπητὰ, καὶ περιπατεῖτε ἐν ἀγάπῃ, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς, καὶ παρέδωκεν ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν προσφορὰν καὶ θυσίαν τῷ Θεῷ εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας.» Καὶ τόν γε τοῦ θυμιᾷν ἐναργῆ καθίστη καιρὸν, ἅπαντα δὲ δεῖν ἐν τάξει τε καὶ εὐκοσμίᾳ πράττεσθαι νομοθετῶν, καὶ δι' ὧν ἂν ἡμῖν ἡ τῶν εἰς τὸ εἴσω θεωρημάτων εὖ ἔχοι δύναμις. «Τὸ πρωῒ» γὰρ, φησὶ, «καὶ τὸ ὀψὲ τῶν λύχνων ἐξαπτομένων καὶ ἐπισκιαζομένων,» τοῦ μὲν ὀψὲ καὶ πρωῒ, τὸ ἀδιάλειπτόν τε καὶ διηνεκὲς ἐμφαίνοντος, τοῦ δὲ ὑπὸ λύχνοις χρῆναι θυμιᾷν, ἐκεῖνό που τάχα παραδηλοῦντος εὖ μάλα, ὅτι φωτὶ τῷ θείῳ καταλαμπόμενοι, τότε δὴ, τότε τῆς εὐωδίας Χριστοῦ πλουσίως ἀναπιμπλάμεθα, ἴμεν τε οὕτω πρὸς αἴσθησιν τῶν ἔσω σκηνῆς ἀγαθῶν, ἤτοι τῆς τῶν θείων χαρισμάτων διανομῆς, ἣν τοῖς ἀξίοις ὀρέγει Χριστός· Ὥστε εἴ τις οὔπω γέγονεν ἐν φωτὶ διὰ πίστεως, ἔστι που πάντως καὶ τῆς νοητῆς εὐωδίας ἀμέτοχος, ἔτι τὸ Χριστοῦ μὴ εἰδὼς μυστήριον.