One in Father/Son; Levites purified; ash-water = baptism / Christ’s death
Cyril: …walk, in whom and through whom we have been shown sharers of divine nature, with Christ stringing us unto unity; for somewhere he said toward the Father: ‘I wish that just as I and you are one, so also they in us may be one.’ (John 17:21) ‘For one body at least we all are in Christ,’ (1 Corinthians 6:17) and: ‘The one being glued to the Lord is one spirit,’ (John 12:32) according to the Scripture. And that, with God and Father as it were lifting his own face—that is, glorifying the Son—we have been enriched with the peace toward him, he himself will clarify saying: ‘When I am lifted up from the earth, I will drag all toward myself.’ (Ephesians 2:14)
Palladius: You think uprightly. ‘For he himself is our peace, and through him we have had the approach in spirit toward the Father.’ (Hebrews 9:13–14)
Cyril: So then concerning priests and the showing-forth upon them these things the law toward us. And that the Levitical must be sanctified very well he says, and having been pre-purified with the fitting manners, then to take part in the liturgy distributed to them. And he says thus in the Numbers… having written thus: ‘For if the blood of goats and bulls, and ash of a heifer sprinkling those who have been shared sanctifies toward the cleanness of the flesh, by how much more the blood of Christ’ (Numbers 8:5–7); and true is the word. For if in the types is the benefiting, and the shadow saving, how would not rather the true—that is, the blood of Christ? So then water of purification the mixed with the ash of the heifer of the so-called putting-to-death of Christ a (Hebrews 9:13) (2 Peter 1:4)
Greek
τεῖν, ἐν ᾧ καὶ δι' οὗ θείας φύσεως ἀναδεδείγμεθα κοινωνοὶ, συνείροντος ἡμᾶς εἰς ἑνότητα τοῦ Χριστοῦ· ἔφη γάρ που πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα· «Θέλω ἵνα ὥσπερ ἐγὼ καὶ σὺ ἕν ἐσμεν, οὕτω καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἡμῖν ἒν ὦσιν.» –»Ἒν γὰρ δὴ σῶμα οἱ πάντες ἐσμὲν ἐν Χριστῷ,» καί· «Ὁ κολλώμενος τῷ Κυρίῳ ἓν πνεῦμά ἐστι,» κατὰ τὴν Γραφήν. Ὅτι, δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς τὸ ἴδιον ὥσπερ ἐπαίροντος πρόσωπον, τοῦτ' ἔστι, δοξάζοντος τὸν Υἱὸν, τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰρήνην πεπλουτήκαμεν, σαφηνιεῖ λέγων αὐτός· «Ὅταν ὑψωθῶ ἐκ τῆς γῆς, πάντας ἑλκύσω πρὸς ἐμαυτόν.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὀρθῶς διανοῇ. «Αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν ἡ εἰρήνη ἡμῶν, καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ τὴν προσαγωγὴν ἐσχήκαμεν ἐν πνεύματι πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα.»
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἱερέων μὲν οὖν πέρι καὶ τῆς ἐπ' αὐτοῖς ἀναδείξεως ταυτὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὁ νόμος. Ἁγιάζεσθαι δὲ δεῖν εὖ μάλα φησὶ τὸ Λευιτικὸν, καὶ τοῖς καθήκουσι τρόποις προηγνισμένον, τῆς ἐκνεμηθείσης αὐτοῖς λειτουργίας μεταποιεῖσθαι τότε. Λέγει δὲ οὕτως ἐν τοῖς Ἀριθμοῖς· «Λάβε τοὺς Λευίτας ἐκ μέσου τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἀφαγνιεῖς αὐτοὺς, καὶ οὕτως ποιήσεις τὸν ἀφαγνισμὸν αὐτῶν· περιῤῥανεῖς αὐτοὺς ὕδωρ ἁγνισμοῦ, καὶ ἐπελεύσεται ξυρὸν ἐπὶ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα αὐτῶν, καὶ πλυνοῦσι τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτῶν, καὶ καθαροὶ ἔσονται, καὶ λήψονται μόσχον ἕνα ἐκ βοῶν, καὶ τούτου θυσίαν σεμίδαλιν ἀναπεποιημένην ἐν ἐλαίῳ, καὶ μόσχον ἕνα ἐνιαύσιον ἐκ βοῶν λήψῃ περὶ ἁμαρτίας, καὶ προσάξεις τοὺς Λευίτας ἔνδοσθεν τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου. Καὶ συνάξεις πᾶσαν συναγωγὴν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ προσάξεις τοὺς Λευίτας, καὶ ἀφορίσει Ἀαρὼν τοὺς Λευίτας, ἀπόδομα ἔναντι Κυρίου παρὰ τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἔσονται ὥστε ἐργάζεσθαι τὰ ἔργα Κυρίου. Οἱ δὲ Λευῖται ἐπιθήσουσι τὰς χεῖρας ἐπὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς τῶν μόσχων, καὶ ποιήσεις τὸν ἕνα περὶ ἁμαρτίας, καὶ τὸν ἕνα εἰς ὁλοκαύτωμα, καὶ ἐξιλάσασθαι περὶ αὐτῶν. Καὶ στήσεις τοὺς Λευίτας ἔναντι Κυρίου, καὶ ἐναντίον. Ἀαρὼν, καὶ ἐναντίον τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀποδώσεις αὐτοὺς, ἀπόδομα ἔναντι Κυρίου, καὶ διαστελεῖς τοὺς Λευίτας ἐκ μέσου τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἔσονται ἐμοὶ, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα εἰσελεύσονται οἱ Λευῖται ἐργάζεσθαι τὰ ἔργα τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Διασάφει δὴ οὖν εὖ μάλα, τίς ἂν νοοῖτο πρὸς ἡμῶν ὁ τοῦ ἁγνισμοῦ τρόπος, τοῦ τοῖς Λευίταις ἐπενηνεγμένου.
{ΚΥΡ.} Μυστικὸς μὲν οὖν, ὦ Παλλάδιε, καὶ ἐν Χριστῷ δὴ πάλιν· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἡμῶν ἡ ἀποκάθαρσις, καὶ ῥύπου παντὸς ἡ ἀπόνιψις, καὶ ἁγιασμοῦ δοτήρ. Περιῤῥανεῖς γὰρ αὐτοὺς ὕδωρ ἁγνισμοῦ, φησί. Τοῦτό τοι καὶ ὁ σοφὸς κατεδήλου Παῦλος, ὡδὶ γεγραφώς· «Εἰ γὰρ τὸ αἷμα τράγων καὶ ταύρων, καὶ σποδὸς δαμάλεως ῥαντίζουσα τοὺς κεκοινωμένους ἁγιάζει πρὸς τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς καθαρότητα, πόσῳ μᾶλλον τὸ αἷμα Χριστοῦ·» καὶ ἀληθὴς ὁ λόγος. Εἰ γὰρ ἔνεστι τοῖς τύποις τὸ ὠφελοῦν, καὶ ἡ σκιὰ σωτήριος, πῶς ἂν οὐχὶ μᾶλλον τὸ ἀληθὲς, τουτέστι, τὸ αἷμα Χριστοῦ· Ὕδωρ δὴ οὖν ἁγνισμοῦ τὸ ἀναμὶξ τῇ σποδῷ τῆς δαμάλεως τῆς λεγομένης νεκρώσεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ σύμ
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 11 of a seventeen-book dialogue — not the whole work.
English follows Migne PG 68 (Aubert reprint). The PDF and a cleaned text of the same print were checked against each other. This page is Book 11 of seventeen. This is a reading translation for study, not a new critical edition of the Greek.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Migne PG 68 De adoratione Book 11 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 11)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 11)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.