No other incense than Christ; the false fragrance of the Antichrist
Cyril: ‘For if you do not believe, neither will you understand,’ (Isaiah 7:9) he says. For faith is the first approach that leads on to understanding, and it opens the mind, as it were, to receive the divine light. He calls the incense ‘perpetual’ (Exodus 30:8), for there is no time when Christ does not give off his fragrance in the holy tent, that is, in the Church. And he altogether forbids any drink offering to be poured out on it, or any burnt offering to be offered up on it (Exodus 30:9), meaning, clearly, on the altar, which is Christ. For in Christ the things of the law have been abolished, and the shadows are drawing to their end. That, I think, is what the drink offering and the burnt offering stand for. The prophet bears witness when he says, ‘Sacrifice and drink offering have been taken away from the house of the Lord’ (Joel 1:9). For now that worship and service in spirit and truth (John 4:23–24) have been revealed, the shadows are in a sense superfluous, and whatever is done in types is futile and wholly useless; for in Christ there is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). For those who would be justified in the law after the truth has been revealed have fallen away from grace (Galatians 5:4). ‘You shall not offer,’ he says, ‘other incense on the altar’ (Exodus 30:9). For in Christ we will accept no other whatever. We will call no one at all ‘Rabbi,’ for we have one Teacher and Master (Matthew 23:8–10), and to him alone we will hold fast, saying, ‘Your name is perfume poured out; therefore the maidens have loved you. They drew me; they ran after you toward the fragrance of your perfumes’ (Song of Songs 1:3–4). Or is this not what is meant by ‘You shall not offer other incense on it’ (Exodus 30:9)? For to those who are truly sensible, the fragrance of Christ alone in the Church would be enough; they long for no other scent, whereas the wretched Jews certainly do. For in their folly they heap insults on the compounded and finely ground incense, that is, on Christ. They have remained without any share in this sacred, or rather truly divine, fragrance; but they will receive another in his place, the son of lawlessness, ‘who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God,’ as it is written, ‘proclaiming himself to be God’ (2 Thessalonians 2:3–4). He also defiles the divine tent, since he is foreign smoke and, if I may put it so, a devilish stench. ‘For his coming,’ it says, ‘will be by the working of Satan’ (2 Thessalonians 2:9).
Palladius: I understand what you mean, for the argument is plain.
Cyril: Further, he commands Aaron to make atonement on the altar of incense once a year, smearing the tips of its horns with the blood of the purification of sins. ‘For it is,’ he says, ‘holy of holies’ (Exodus 30:10). The inspired Paul will make this clear to you when he says: ‘But when Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, not through the blood of goats and bulls but through his own blood, he entered once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption’ (Hebrews 9:11–12).
Greek
«Ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ πιστεύσητε, οὐδ' οὐ μὴ συνῆτε, φησί. Προσβολὴ γὰρ ἡ πίστις, εἰς σύνεσιν ἀποφέρουσα, καὶ οἱονεὶ πρὸς παραδοχὴν τοῦ θείου φωτὸς ἁπλοῦσα τὸν νοῦν. Ἐνδελεχισμοῦ δὲ ὀνομάζει τὸ θυμίαμα. Καιρὸς γὰρ οὐδεὶς, καθ' ὃν οὐκ εὐωδιάζει Χριστὸς ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ σκηνῇ, τουτέστιν, ἐν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ. Ἀποφάσκει δὲ παντελῶς, τὸ δεῖν ἐπ' αὐτοῦ, δῆλον δὲ ὅτι τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τοῦ Χριστοῦ, σπονδὴν κατακεῖσθαι, καὶ ἀναφέ[ρε]σθαι κάρπωμα. Κατήργηται γὰρ ἐν Χριστῷ τὰ ἐν νόμῳ, καὶ εἰς τέλος ἕρπουσιν αἱ σκιαί. Τοῦτο, οἶμαι, ἔστι σπονδὴ καὶ κάρπωμα. Καὶ μαρτυρεῖ λέγων ὁ προφήτης· «Ἐξῆρται ἐξ οἴκου Κυρίου θυσία καὶ σπονδή.» Ἀναδεδειγμένης γὰρ ἤδη τῆς ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ προσκυνήσεως καὶ λατρείας, περιτταί πως αἱ σκιαὶ, καὶ τὸ ἐν τύποις εἰκαῖον καὶ ἀνόνητον παντελῶς· καινὴ γὰρ κτίσις ἐν Χριστῷ. Τῆς γὰρ χάριτος ἐκπεπτώκασιν οἱ ἐν νόμω δικαιούμενοι μετὰ τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας ἀνάδειξιν. «Οὐκ ἀνοίσεις δὲ,» φησὶν, «ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον θυμίαμα ἕτερον.» Παραδεξόμεθα γὰρ ἐν Χριστῷ ἕτερον παντελῶς οὐδένα. Ῥαββὶ δὲ τῶν ὄντων ἐροῦμεν οὐδενί. Εἷς γὰρ ἡμῶν διδάσκαλος καὶ καθηγητὴς, καὶ αὐτῷ δὴ μόνῳ προσκεισόμεθα, λέγοντες, «Μῦρον ἐκκενωθὲν ὄνομά σου. Διὰ τοῦτο νεάνιδες ἠγάπησάν σε. Εἵλκυσάν με, ὀπίσω σου εἰς ὀσμὴν μύρων σου δραμοῦσαι.» Ἢ οὐχὶ τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ, «Οὐκ ἀνοίσεις ἐπ' αὐτὸ θυμίαμα ἕτερον;» Μόνου γὰρ Χριστοῦ τὸ εὐῶδες ἐν Ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῖς γε ἀληθῶς ἐχέφροσιν ἐξαρκοίη ἂν, ἑτέρας ὀσμῆς οὐκ ἐφιεμένοις· καθάπερ ἀμέλει καὶ οἱ τάλανες Ἰουδαῖοι. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ θυμίαμα τὸ σύνθετον καὶ λεπτὸν, τουτέστι, Χριστὸν, ταῖς ἀπονοίαις περιυβρίζουσιν. Καὶ ἀμέτοχοι μὲν τῆς ἱερᾶς ταύτης ἢ καὶ θείας ἀληθῶς μεμενήκασιν εὐωδίας· ἕτερον δὲ ἀντ' αὐτοῦ παραδέξονται, τὸν τῆς ἀνομίας υἱὸν, «τὸν ἀντικείμενον καὶ ὑπεραιρόμενον ἐπὶ πάντα λεγόμενον Θεὸν ἢ σέβασμα, ὥστε αὐτὸν εἰς τὸν ναὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, καθίσαι, ἀποδεικνύοντα ἑαυτὸν ὅτι ἐστὶ Θεὸς,» ὃς καὶ τὴν θείαν σκηνὴν καταμιαίνει, καπνὸς ὢν ἀλλότριος, καὶ ἵν' οὕτως εἴπω, κακοσμία διαβολική· «Ἔσται γὰρ αὐτοῦ,» φησὶν, «ἡ παρουσία κατ' ἐνέργειαν τοῦ Σατανᾶ.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Συνίημι ὃ φής. Καὶ γάρ ἐστιν ἐναργὴς ὁ λόγος.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἐξιλάσασθαί γε μὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τοῦ θυμιάματος, προστάττει τῷ Ἀαρὼν ἅπαξ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ καταχρίοντι τῷ αἵματι τοῦ καθαρισμοῦ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν, τὰς τῶν κεράτων ἀρχάς. «Ἅγιον γὰρ,» φησὶ, «τῶν ἁγίων ἐστί.» Καὶ τοῦτό σοι σαφὲς καταστήσει, λέγων, ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος· «Χριστὸς δὲ παραγενόμενος ἀρχιερεὺς τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν, διὰ τῆς μείζονος καὶ τελεωτέρας σκηνῆς, οὐ χειροποιήτου, τουτέστιν, οὐ ταύτης τῆς κτίσεως· οὐδὲ δι' αἵματος τράγων καὶ μόσχων, διὰ δὲ τοῦ ἰδίου αἵματος εἰσῆλθεν ἐφάπαξ εἰς τὰ ἅγια, αἰωνίαν λύτρωσιν εὑ