The mirrors of the fasting women, and the tent itself
Cyril: …chosen out above all the others and initiated into the rites, were barely counted worthy of such an honor, or rather of such an outrage, for that is the better and truer word. So some women of Israel’s blood found among their own belongings these remnants of the worship in Egypt, and they brought these very mirrors as an offering, and the mirrors were made over into the laver (Exodus 38:8). When the holy tent had been set up, they fasted, sitting somewhere by its doors and living purely in everything (Exodus 38:8). The event hints, I think, at this: once the truer tent had been revealed, that is, the Church, which the Lord pitched, and not man, as the inspired Paul writes (Hebrews 8:2), it is now, in a way, time for those once devoted to the glory of the herd of demons to be remade into holy vessels, fit to receive holy baptism, so that they too could shine with glories beyond the law. For this, I think, is what it means that the bronze laver was fashioned out of pagan mirrors, that is, out of the devil’s treasures. In it is the water that cleansed even Moses himself (Exodus 40:31) and served the priesthood under the law for washing (Exodus 30:19–21), a washing plainly to be understood spiritually. Or would you not say yourself, Palladius, that those who have gone astray and worshipped demons are vessels of the devil?
Palladius: How could I not?
Cyril: The women fasted beside the doors of the holy tent. This too would be a fine and wise riddle. It shows that those who have been justified in Christ do not hurry into the churches by means of blood, but are distinguished rather by spiritual sacrifices, and bring to God, as a kind of gift, their self-control, which is, so to speak, a putting to death of the flesh. For he says: ‘Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable worship’ (Romans 12:1). And again: ‘Glorify God in your body’ (1 Corinthians 6:20). So the women who fasted when the holy tent had been set up stand as an image of souls that are no longer schooled by the commandments of Moses, but have already shown forth a spiritual and gospel way of life. Such souls tread down earthly pleasures, not without sweat, and are being thoroughly reshaped toward a beauty without stain, because they will not bear to fall into the foul and profane offences of love of the flesh. Or is this not the manner of life for us who have been called in Christ to sanctification and spiritual leanness?
Palladius: It certainly is.
Cyril: Let this be enough for now about the holy vessels. Come, if you agree, let us also look closely at the tent itself, how it was placed and how it was built. The matter is deep and beyond our measure. Yet I think there is no harm at all in our being eager to gather from every side what makes for our profit, and in reaching, as far as we can, toward things that lie far above us.
Greek
μάλιστα τῶν ἄλλων ἐξειλεγμέναι καὶ ἱερομύστιδες, τῆς τοιαύτης μόλις ἠξιοῦντο τιμῆς, ὕβρεως μὲν οὖν· ὧδε γὰρ ἄμεινόν τε καὶ ἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν. Γύναια δὴ οὖν τῶν ἐξ αἵματος Ἰσραὴλ, λείψανα τῆς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ λατρείας ἐν ἰδίοις σκεύεσιν εὑρηκότα, ταυτὶ δὴ τὰ κάτοπτρα προσεκόμισαν εἰς καρποφορίαν, ἃ καὶ εἰς τὸ τοῦ λουτῆρος μετεσκευάσθη χρῆμα. Σκηνῆς δὲ τῆς ἁγίας ἐγηγερμένης νενηστεύκασι προσιζήσαντά που ταῖς θύραις, καὶ πάντα ἁγνῶς διαιτώμενα, ὑποδηλοῦντος, οἶμαι, τοῦ πράγματος, ὅτι τῆς ἀληθεστέρας ἀναδεδειγμένης σκηνῆς, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἣν ἔπηξεν ὁ Κύριος, καὶ οὐκ ἄνθρωπος, ὡς ὁ θεσπέσιος γράφει Παῦλος, καιρὸς ἤδη πως τοὺς ἀνακειμένους εἰς δόξαν ποτὲ τῆς τῶν δαιμονίων ἀγέλης, εἰς ἱερὰ μεταπλάττεσθαι σκεύη, καὶ ἐπιτηδείως ἔχοντα πρὸς παραδοχὴν τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος, ὡς καὶ διαπρέπειν δύνασθαι τοῖς ὑπὲρ νόμον αὐχήμασιν. Τουτὶ γὰρ, οἶμαι, ἔστι τὸ ἐκ κατόπτρων Ἑλληνικῶν, ἤτοι κειμηλίων διαβολικῶν, τὸν λουτῆρα πλάττεσθαι τὸν χαλκοῦν, ἐν ᾧ δὴ καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ, τὸ καὶ αὐτὸν ἀποκαθαῖρον Μωσέα, καὶ τῇ κατὰ νόμον ἱερωσύνῃ χρήσιμον εἰς ἀπόνιψιν, δῆλον δὲ ὅτι τὴν νοητήν. Ἢ γὰρ, οὐχὶ σκεύη διαβολικὰ, τοὺς πεπλανημένους καὶ τοῖς δαιμονίοις λελατρευκότας φαίης ἂν εἶναι καὶ αὐτὸς, ὦ Παλλάδιε;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πῶς γὰρ οὔ;
{ΚΥΡ.} Νενηστεύκασι δὲ τὰ γύναια παρὰ τὰς θύρας τῆς σκηνῆς τῆς ἁγίας. Εἴη δ' ἂν καὶ τάδε καλὸν αἴνιγμα καὶ σοφὸν, τοῦ μὴ δι' αἱμάτων εἰστρέχειν ἐν ἐκκλησίαις τοὺς ἐν Χριστῷ δεδικαιωμένους, θυσίαις δὲ μᾶλλον πνευματικαῖς ἐκπρέποντας, καὶ δωροφορίαν ὥσπερ τινὰ προσκομίζοντας τῷ Θεῷ τὴν ἐγκράτειαν, τὴν οἱονεὶ νέκρωσιν τῆς σαρκός. «Παραστήσατε γὰρ,» φησὶ, «τὰ σώματα ὑμῶν, θυσίαν ζῶσαν, ἁγίαν, εὐάρεστον τῷ Θεῷ, τὴν λογικὴν λατρείαν ὑμῶν.» Καὶ πάλιν· «Δοξάσατε δὴ τὸν Θεὸν ἐν τῷ σώματι ὑμῶν.» Οὐκοῦν αἱ νηστεύσασαι τῆς ἁγίας ἐγηγερμένης σκηνῆς, εἰς εἰκόνα τελοῦσι ψυχῶν, οὐ Μωσαϊκοῖς ἐντάλμασι παιδαγωγουμένων ἔτι, πνευματικὴν δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ εὐαγγελικὴν ἀναδεδειγμένων τὴν πολιτείαν ἤδη, καὶ πατουσῶν οὐκ ἀνιδρωτὶ τὰς ἐπιγείους ἡδονὰς, καὶ ἀναμορφουμένων εὖ μάλα πρὸς τὸ ἀκήρατον κάλλος, διὰ τὸ μὴ ἀνέχεσθαι παθεῖν τὰ μυσαρά τε καὶ βέβηλα τῆς φιλοσαρκίας ἐγκλήματα. Ἢ οὐχ οὕτως ἡμῖν ὁ τοῦ βίου τρόπος τοῖς ἐν Χριστῷ κεκλημένοις εἰς ἁγιασμὸν καὶ ἰσχνότητα τὴν πνευματικήν;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀλλὰ ταυτὶ μὲν εἰς τὸ παρὸν σκευῶν ἱερῶν εἰρήσθω πέρι. Φέρε δὲ, εἰ δοκεῖ, καὶ αὐτὴν ἡμῖν ὅπως ἔχει θέσεώς τε καὶ κατασκευῆς κατασκεπτώμεθα τὴν σκηνήν. Καὶ βαθὺ μὲν τὸ χρῆμα, καὶ τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐπέκεινα μέτρων, βλάβος δὲ οἶμαι τὸ σύμπαν οὐδὲν, πανταχόθεν ἡμᾶς ἐρανίζεσθαι φιλεῖν τὸ τελοῦν εἰς ὄνησιν, καὶ τοῖς ἄγαν ὑπερκειμένοις ὡς ἔνι προσβάλλοντας.