High priest judges relapse; head/beard leprosy = mind passions
Cyril: …Christ, the great our high priest, and most-straight then very much will bring-out the judgment. For if then until alone of reasonings arrives, he says, the disease, not-unrebukable on the one hand the one having suffered nowhere, for he will be separated, yet not cast-away entirely, nor indeed altogether having been deadened. And if then of reasonings and of desire itself the passion should pierce-through, having suffered already somehow the altogether unto the worse change, to the from defilements just-things he will place-under the again having been weak. So then one must guard most of all the already having been calmed not to awaken of the passions, nor indeed to renew the unto mind wounds, and to run-back unto the in beginnings. And if not, also we will hear of a holy one crying-through: ‘It has become for them the of the true proverb’ (2 Peter 2:22)
Palladius: Rightly to me you seem and very fitting to say.
Cyril: So then about leprosy and the in scars and in wounds, these toward us the law. And he brings-on then also and says: ‘And for a man or a woman if there should become in them a touch of leprosy in the head, or in the beard, and the priest will see the head. And if on the one hand there should be some hollowness,’ he says, ‘in it, of the skin wasting and settling-under, and indeed also of hair unto whiteness a change, leprous such a one and unclean he will be,’ he says, ‘confessedly. And if then of such things there should become nothing, let him shave the head or the beard,’ he says, ‘the one the whiteness having endured. And having been stripped thus of the hair, let him approach the priest, and let him be tested then. For of the signaling or of the white not spreading’ (Leviticus 13:29-37)
Palladius: What then would be also of these the mind?
Cyril: Twofold in us the defilement, O Palladius, of flesh and of spirit. (2 Corinthians 7:1) And it stains-down on the one hand the flesh the of it outlandish and unholy passions, and soul and mind; most on the one hand then of the others the from rightness the dogmatic unto the worse carrying-aside, and of the healthy faith the corruption; and further also deceits and frauds, false-oaths, whisperings, puffings, strifes, jealousies, and as many as to these near and brotherly, and having equal-share the unto badness outcry. So then the law seems for us in these of soul somehow to have remembered passions, and as many as to happen is custom according to mind weaknesses, these to wish to make-clear; for the head also, a type of mind; and indeed also a beard, of a mindful thinking
Greek
Χριστὸς, ὁ μέγας ἡμῶν ἀρχιερεὺς, ὀρθὸν δὲ δὴ λίαν ἐξοίσει τὸ κρίμα. Εἰ γὰρ δὴ μέχρι μόνων προήκει, φησὶ, λογισμῶν ἡ νόσος, ἀνεπιτίμητος μὲν ὁ παθὼν οὐδαμῶς, ἀφορισθήσεται γὰρ, πλὴν οὐκ ἀπόβλητος παντελῶς, οὔτε μὴν εἰσάπαν νενεκρωμένος. Εἰ δὲ δὴ λογισμῶν καὶ ἐπιθυμίας αὐτῆς διᾴττοι τὸ πάθος, πεπονθὸς ἤδη πως τὴν εἰσάπαν εἴς γε τὰ χείρω μεταβολὴν, ταῖς ἐκ μολυσμῶν ὑποθήσει δίκαις τὸν αὖθις ἠῤῥωστηκότα. Παραφυλακτέον δὴ οὖν ὅτι μάλιστά γε τὰ ἤδη κατηυνασμένα μὴ ἀφυπνίζειν τῶν παθῶν, μήτε μὴν ἀνανεοῦν τὰ εἰς νοῦν τραύματα, καὶ παλινδρομεῖν εἰς τὰ ἐν ἀρχαῖς. Εἰ δὲ μὴ, καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀκούσομεν διακεκραγότος ἁγίου· «Γέγονεν αὐτοῖς τὸ τῆς ἀληθοῦς παροιμίας, Κύων ἐπιστρέψας ἐπὶ τὸ ἴδιον ἐξέραμα, καὶ ὗς λουσαμένη εἰς κύλισμα βορβόρου.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὀρθῶς μοι δοκεῖς καὶ σφόδρα εἰκότα λέγειν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Λέπρας μὲν οὖν πέρι καὶ τῆς ἐν οὐλαῖς τε καὶ τραύμασι, ταυτὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὁ νόμος. Προσεπάγει δὲ δὴ καί φησι· «Καὶ ἀνδρὶ ἢ γυναικὶ ἐὰν γένηται ἐν αὐτοῖς ἁφὴ λέπρας ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ, ἢ ἐν τῷ πώγωνι, καὶ ὄψεται ὁ ἱερεὺς τὴν κεφαλήν. Καὶ εἰ μέν τις εἴη κοιλότης,» φησὶν, «ἐν αὐτῇ, τοῦ δέρματος τηκομένου καὶ ὑφιζάνοντος, καὶ μὴν καὶ τριχὸς εἰς λευκότητα μεταβολὴ, λεπρὸς ὁ τοιόσδε καὶ ἀκάθαρτος ἔσται,» φησὶν, «ὁμολογουμένως. Εἰ δὲ δὴ τῶν τοιούτων γένοιτο μηδὲν, ξυράσθω τὴν κεφαλὴν ἤτοι τὸν πώγωνα,» φησὶν, «ὁ τὴν λεύκην ὑπομεμενηκώς. Ἐψιλωμένος δὲ οὕτω τὴν τρίχα, προσίτω τῷ ἱερεῖ, καὶ δοκιμαζέσθω τότε. Τῆς μὲν γὰρ σημασίας ἤτοι τῆς λευκῆς οὐ διαχεομένης εἰς τὸ εὐρὺ, μενούσης δὲ ὥσπερ κατὰ χώραν, ἤγουν εἰς τὸ μεῖον ὑπενηνεγμένης, καθαρὸς ἔστω πάλιν. Οὐ γάρ τοι λέπρα τὸ πάθος, ὑποψία δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ δόκησις.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τίς οὖν ἂν εἴη καὶ τούτων ὁ νοῦς;
{ΚΥΡ.} Διττὸς ἐν ἡμῖν ὁ μολυσμὸς, ὦ Παλλάδιε, σαρκός τε καὶ πνεύματος. Καὶ κατασπιλοῖ μὲν τὴν σάρκα τὰ ταύτης ἔκτοπά τε καὶ ἀνόσια πάθη, ψυχήν τε καὶ νοῦν· μάλιστα μὲν οὖν τῶν ἄλλων ἡ ἐξ ὀρθότητος τῆς δογματικῆς ἐπὶ τὰ χείρω παραφορὰ, καὶ τῆς ὑγιοῦς πίστεως ἡ παραφθορά· καὶ προσέτι δὲ δόλοι καὶ ἀπάται, ψευδορκίαι, ψιθυρισμοὶ, φυσιώσεις, ἔριδες, ζῆλοι, καὶ ὅσα τούτοις ἀγχοῦ τε καὶ ἀδελφὰ, καὶ ἰσομοιροῦσαν ἔχει τὴν ἐπὶ φαυλότητα καταβοήν. Ἔοικε τοίνυν ὁ νόμος ἡμῖν ἐν τούτοις ψυχικῶν τάχα που διαμεμνῆσθαι παθῶν, καὶ ὅσα συμβαίνειν ἔθος κατὰ νοῦν ἀῤῥωστήματα, ταῦτα βούλεσθαι δηλοῦν· ἡ κεφαλή τε γὰρ, νοῦ τύπος· καὶ μὴν καὶ πώγων, διανοίας ἔμφρονος. Τελειότητος γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸ σημεῖον. Ἐποπτεύει τοίνυν τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς καὶ περιεργάζεται λεπτῶς ὁ πάντων ἀρχιερεὺς, τουτέστι Χριστὸς, καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἐμβλέψεται τὸν νοῦν, καὶ τὰ ἔσω τε, καὶ κεκρυμμένας δοκιμάσει φρένας· κἂν εἰ μέν τις γένοιτο καταφθορά τε καὶ μεταποίησις, ἢ ἀπό γε τοῦ πιστεύειν ὀρθῶς ἐπὶ τὸ μὴ οὕτως ἔχον, ἤγουν εἰς ἠθῶν φαυλότητα καὶ κακοβουλίαν τὴν αὐ
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 15 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 15 of seventeen. This is a reading translation for study, not a new critical edition of the Greek.
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- Copy-text Migne PG 68 De adoratione Book 15 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 15)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 15)
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.