God speaks from heaven; the altar of earth is Emmanuel
Palladius: Then would you like us to say a few things about the holy tent and about the priesthood under the law, letting our discussion examine closely what was reverently decreed about both?
Cyril: It is no easy matter. It will take, I think, long labor and sweat on our part, Palladius, both to be able to understand these things and to explain them as well. Still, if you agree, let us go through them trusting in God; for you have learned that he says plainly, ‘Who gave a mouth to man? And who made the hard of hearing and the deaf, the seeing and the blind? Is it not I, the Lord God? And now go, and I will open your mouth’ (Exodus 4:11–12).
Palladius: Go on, then, and make the Giver of wisdom your helper in this as well.
Cyril: Then I will go on, and I will speak, having gathered with care what the sacred Scriptures say. God, the Maker of all things, came down in the form of fire upon Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:18), and laid down laws by which each thing that was to be done might be brought to what is upright and genuine. Then, drawing them away from their former error and setting them as far as possible from the false worship of Egypt, he spoke to Moses, who was then acting as mediator. ‘Thus you shall say,’ he says, ‘to the house of Jacob, and declare to the sons of Israel: You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven. You shall not make gods of silver for yourselves, and gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves’ (Exodus 20:22–23). He did not allow them to serve gods falsely so called. Instead he commands that they must hold fast to him alone who came from above and from heaven, who by his very being holds power over all things, and whose glory lies not in the fine colors of material things but in showing that heaven is his own. But it was in some way necessary that those who had been commanded to depart from their ancient impiety and profane worship should pass at once to another custom, and come, as it were, under a yoke: the worship of him who is God by nature. For a mind left slack is unrestrained and all too ready to be carried off into anything whatever, even the most outlandish; but when fear and anxious care hang over it, it darts quite readily toward what is right and inclines toward what is profitable. And since we come to the Father through the Son, for ‘no one comes to the Father,’ he says, ‘except through me’ (John 14:6), he therefore, as was necessary, laid down in law the types of our approach through the Son and of the offering made in him, saying: ‘You shall make me an altar of earth, and on it you shall sacrifice your whole burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your sheep and your oxen, in every place where I cause my name to be named; and I will come to you and bless you. And if you make me an altar of stones, you shall not build them of hewn stones; for you have put your chisel to it, and it is defiled’ (Exodus 20:24–25). By the altar of earth he means Emmanuel, ‘for the Word became flesh’ (John 1:14); and the nature of the flesh is earth from earth.
Greek
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Βούλει δὴ οὖν ὀλίγα ἄττα περί τε τῆς ἁγίας σκηνῆς, καὶ τῆς κατὰ νόμον ἱερωσύνης λέγωμεν, βασανίζοντος ἡμῖν τοῦ λόγου τὰ ἐπ' ἀμφοῖν ὁσίως τεθεσπισμένα;
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκ ἄτραχυ μὲν τὸ χρῆμα· πόνου γὰρ, οἶμαι, δεήσει μακροῦ, καὶ ἱδρῶτος ἡμῖν, ὦ Παλλάδιε, πρός τε τὸ δύνασθαι συνιέναι ταυτὶ, καὶ μὴν καὶ φράσαι. Ἀτὰρ, εἴτοι δοκεῖ, Θεῷ πίσυνοι διαστείχωμεν· διεπύθου γὰρ λέγοντος ἐναργῶς, «Τίς ἔδωκε στόμα ἀνθρώπῳ; καὶ τίς ἐποίησε δύσκωφον καὶ κωφὸν, βλέποντα καὶ τυφλόν; οὐκ ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ Θεός; καὶ νῦν πορεύου καὶ ἐγὼ ἀνοίξω τὸ στόμα σου.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἴθι δὴ οὖν, συλλήπτορα καὶ πρός γε τουτὶ τὸν τῆς σοφίας ποιούμενος χορηγόν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν εἶμί τοι, καὶ δὴ καὶ ἐρῶ, τὰ ἐξ ἱερῶν Γραμμάτων εὖ μάλα συνενεγκών. Κατέθορε μὲν γὰρ ἐν εἴδει πυρὸς ἐπὶ ὄρος τὸ Σινᾶ Θεὸς ὁ πάντων δημιουργὸς, καὶ νόμους ἐτίθει, καθ' οὓς ἦν ἕκαστα τῶν πρακτέων ἀποφέρεσθαι πρὸς τὸ εὐθὺ καὶ ἀκιβδήλως ἔχον. Εἶτα τῆς ἀρχαιοτέρας αὐτοὺς ἀποκομίζων πλάνης, καὶ τῆς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ψευδολατρείας ὡς ἀπωτάτω τιθεὶς, προσελάλει Μωσῇ τῷ τηνικάδε μεσιτεύοντι. «Τάδε ἐρεῖς,» φησὶ, «τῷ οἴκῳ Ἰακὼβ, καὶ ἀναγγελεῖς τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραήλ· Ὑμεῖςἑωράκατε, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ λελάληκα πρὸς ὑμᾶς, οὐ ποιήσετε ἑαυτοῖς θεοὺς ἀργυροῦς, καὶ θεοὺς χρυσοῦς οὐ ποιήσετε ὑμῖν ἑαυτοῖς.» Θεοῖς μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἠφίει τοῖς ψευδωνύμοις λατρεύειν. Προσκεῖσθαι δὲ δεῖν ἐπιτάττει μόνῳ τῷ ἄνωθεν ἥκοντι καὶ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ τῷ κατὰ πάντων οὐσιωδῶς ἀνημμένῳ τὸ κράτος, οὐκ ἐν εὐχροίαις ὑλῶν ἔχοντι τὸ περιφανὲς, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ δεικνύειν ἴδιον ὄντα τὸν οὐρανόν. Ἦν δέ πως ἀνάγκη, τοὺς τῆς ἀρχαίας ἀνοσιότητος καὶ βεβήλου λατρείας ἀποφοιτᾷν ἐπιτεταγμένους, ἐφ' ἑτέραν εὐθὺς μεταχωρῆσαι συνήθειαν, καὶ ὥσπερ τινὰ ζυγὸν ὑπελθεῖν τὴν ὑπὸ Θεῷ τῷ κατὰ φύσιν, λατρείαν. Ἀνειμένος γὰρ νοῦς, ἀκάθεκτος, καὶ πολὺ λίαν ἕτοιμος εἰς ἀποφορὰν, τὴν εἰς πᾶν ὁτιοῦν τῶν ἐκτοπωτάτων δειμάτων τε καὶ φροντίδος ἐπηρτημένων, ἀταλαιπώρως κομιδῆ διᾴττει πρὸς τὸ εὐθὺ, καὶ ἀπονεύει πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ δι' Υἱοῦ πρόσιμεν τῷ Πατρί· «Οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα,» φησὶν, «εἰ μὴ δι' ἐμοῦ.» Λοιπὸν ἀναγκαίως τὴν δι' Υἱοῦ πρόσοδον καὶ τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ καρποφορίας τοὺς τύπους, ἐθεσμοθέτει λέγων· «Θυσιαστήριον ἐκ γῆς ποιήσεις μοι, καὶ θύσετε ἐπ' αὐτῷ τὰ ὁλοκαυτώματα, καὶ τὰς θυσίας ὑμῶν, τὰ πρόβατα καὶ τοὺς βόας ὑμῶν, ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ ᾧ ἂν ἐπονομάσω τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐκεῖ· καὶ ἥξω πρὸς σὲ, καὶ εὐλογήσω σε. Ἐὰν δὲ ἐκ λίθων θυσιαστήριον ποιῇς μοι, οὐκ οἰκοδομήσεις αὐτοὺς τμητούς· τὸ γὰρ ἐγχειρίδιόν σου ἐπιβέβληκας ἐπ' αὐτὸ, καὶ μεμίανται.» Γήϊνον μὲν γὰρ ὀνομάζει θυσιαστήριον τὸν Ἐμμανουήλ· «Γέγονε γὰρ σὰρξ ὁ Λόγος.» Γῆ δὲ ἐκ γῆς ἡ σαρκός ἐστι