Christ the altar, the incense, the priest and the cleansing blood
Cyril: For, as he says again elsewhere, ‘Having died once, he dies no more; death will no longer have dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God’ (Romans 6:9–10). The revered Aaron, then, used to enter the Holy of Holies once a year with the blood of the purification of sins (Leviticus 16:34; Hebrews 9:7). See Christ again in these things, all but sprinkling his own cross with his own blood, the blood that is the salvation and life of all. For the horns are a figure of the cross, jutting out on this side and that, like arms stretched wide. Understand, then, that Christ died once, and that he is the Holy of Holies by nature, as God. For John speaks the truth when he says, ‘From his fullness we have all received’ (John 1:16). For all creation, visible and invisible, has its share in Christ. Angels and archangels, and the beings higher still, and even the Cherubim themselves, are holy in no other way than through Christ alone, in the Holy Spirit. So he himself is the altar; he is the incense and the High Priest; and he likewise is the blood of the purification of sins.
Palladius: Yes, you are right. But what the blood of the purification of sins actually is, I cannot clearly grasp.
Cyril: The law was sketching in advance the cleansing through blood and the holy victim, Christ I mean, through whom we have been saved, escaping the defilement that sin had worked deep into us. It speaks somewhat like this in Leviticus: ‘If the whole congregation of Israel errs unwittingly, and a matter escapes the eyes of the congregation, and they do any one of the things that the commandments of the Lord say must not be done, and so transgress, and the sin they have committed becomes known to them, then the congregation shall bring a young bull from the herd, without blemish, as a sin offering, and bring it to the doors of the tent of witness. And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the Lord, and they shall slaughter the bull before the Lord. And the anointed priest shall bring some of the bull’s blood into the tent of witness. The priest shall dip his finger in the bull’s blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord, in front of the veil of the sanctuary. And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of compounded incense, which is before the Lord in the tent of witness’ (Leviticus 4:13–18). We will speak about these things more fully in due course. But see Emmanuel again, slain for us as in the bull, freeing us from sin, taking us out of the reach of judgment and carrying us away from punishment, and passing through the greater and more perfect tent, not by bulls and goats but by his own blood (Hebrews 9:11–12), having tasted death once for all. For up on the wood, when his side was pierced with a spear, he poured out blood and water (John 19:34). And the projecting horns would be a figure of the cross, as we said before.
Greek
ράμενος.» Ὡς γὰρ αὐτός που πάλιν φησὶν, «Ἅπαξ ἀποθανὼν, οὐκέτι ἀποθνήσκει, θάνατος αὐτοῦ οὐκέτι κυριεύσει. Ὃ γὰρ ἀπέθανε, τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἀπέθανεν ἐφάπαξ· ὃ δὲ ζῇ, ζῇ τῷ Θεῷ.» Εἰσῄει τοίνυν ὁ θεσπέσιος Ἀαρὼν εἰς τὰ Ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων, ἅπαξ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ, δι' αἵματος τοῦ καθαρισμοῦ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν. Καὶ ὅρα Χριστὸν ἐν τουτοισὶ πάλιν, αἵματι τῷ ἰδίῳ τῆς ἁπάντων σωτηρίας καὶ ζωῆς, μονονουχὶ τὸν ἴδιον καταῤῥαίνοντα σταυρόν. Σταυροῦ γὰρ τύπος τὰ κέρατα, τῇδε κἀκεῖσε ὡς ἐν τάξει χειρῶν ἀποτάδην ἐκνενευκότα. Οὐκοῦν ἀποθανόντα μὲν ἅπαξ ἐννόει Χριστὸν, Ἅγιον δὲ τῶν ἁγίων ὄντα, κατὰ φύσιν, ὡς Θεόν. Καὶ γάρ ἐστιν ἀληθὴς Ἰωάννης, λέγων, ὅτι «Ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἐλάβομεν.» Χριστοῦ γὰρ μέτοχος ἡ πᾶσά ἐστι ὁρατὴ καὶ ἀόρατος κτίσις. Ἄγγελοί τε γὰρ καὶ ἀρχάγγελοι, καὶ τὰ ἔτι τούτων ἐπέκεινα, καὶ αὐτὰ δὲ τὰ Χερουβὶμ, οὐχ ἑτέρως ἅγια, πλὴν ὅτι διὰ μόνου Χριστοῦ, ἐν ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι. Αὐτὸς οὖν ἄρα ἐστὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον, αὐτὸς δὲ τὸ θυμίαμα, καὶ ἀρχιερεὺς, αὐτὸς δὲ ὁμοίως τὸ αἷμα τοῦ καθαρισμοῦ ἁμαρτιῶν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ναὶ λέγεις ὀρθῶς. Πλὴν ὅ τί ποτέ ἐστι τοῦ καθαρισμοῦ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν τὸ αἷμα, σαφῶς ἐννοεῖν οὐκ ἔχω.
{ΚΥΡ.} Προανατυπῶν ὁ νόμος τὴν δι' αἵματος ἀποκάθαρσιν καὶ τὸ θῦμα τὸ ἱερὸν, φημὶ δὴ Χριστὸν, δι' οὗ καὶ σεσώσμεθα, τὸν ἐξ ἁμαρτίας ἐντετηγμένον ἡμῖν διαδιδράσκοντες μολυσμὸν, ὧδέ πή φησιν ἐν τῷ Λευϊτικῷ· «Ἐὰν δὲ πᾶσα,» φησὶ, «συναγωγὴ Ἰσραὴλ ἀγνοήσῃ, καὶ λάθῃ ῥῆμα ἐξ ὀφθαλμῶν τῆς συναγωγῆς, καὶ ποιήσωσι μίαν ἀπὸ πασῶν τῶν ἐντολῶν Κυρίου, ἣ οὐ ποιηθήσεται, καὶ πλημμελήσωσι, καὶ γνωσθῇ αὐτοῖς ἡ ἁμαρτία, ἢν ἥμαρτον ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ προσάξει ἡ συναγωγὴ μόσχον ἐκ βοῶν ἄμωμον περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, καὶ προσάξει αὐτὸν παρὰ τὰς θύρας τοῦ μαρτυρίου τῆς σκηνῆς, καὶ ἐπιθήσουσιν οἱ πρεσβύτεροι τῆς συναγωγῆς τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ μόσχου ἔναντι Κυρίου, καὶ σφάξουσι μόσχον ἔναντι Κυρίου, καὶ εἰσοίσει ὁ ἱερεὺς χριστὸς ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ μόσχου εἰς τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ μαρτυρίου. Καὶ βάψει ὁ ἱερεὺς τὸν δάκτυλον ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ μόσχου, καὶ ῥανεῖ ἑπτάκις ἔναντι Κυρίου κατ' ἐνώπιον τοῦ καταπετάσματος τοῦ ἁγίου, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος ἐπιθήσει ὁ ἱερεὺς ἐπὶ τὰ κέρατα τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τῶν θυμιαμάτων τῆς συνθέσεως, ὅ ἐστιν ἐνώπιον Κυρίου, ὅ ἐστιν ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ τοῦ μαρτυρίου.» Καὶ πλατύτερον μὲν περί γε τούτων ἡμῖν κατὰ καιροὺς εἰρήσεται· ἄθρει δὲ ὡς ἐν μόσχῳ πάλιν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν σφαζόμενον τὸν Ἐμμανουὴλ, καὶ ἁμαρτίας ἡμᾶς ἀπαλλάττοντα, καὶ ἐξιστῶντα δίκης, καὶ ποινῆς ἀποφέροντα, καὶ διὰ τῆς μείζονος καὶ τελειοτέρας ἰόντα σκηνῆς, οὐ διὰ μόσχων καὶ τράγων, ἀλλὰ δι' αἵματος τοῦ ἰδίου, καὶ θανάτου προσάπαξ ἀπογευσάμενον. Ἐπὶ ξύλου γὰρ ἄνω λόγχῃ διανοιγεὶς τὴν πλευρὰν, αἷμά τε καὶ ὕδωρ ἐξέβλυσεν. Τύπος δ' ἂν εἶεν σταυροῦ, καθὰ καὶ φθάσαντες εἴπομεν, αἱ τῶν κεράτων ἐξοχαί.