Male unblemished = Christ; blind/crushed/tongue-cut manners
Cyril: …or dock-tailed you will make them slaughters for yourself; and unto your vow it will not be received. A crushed one and squeezed-out, and a eunuch, and pulled-apart, you will not bring them forward to the Lord, and upon your land you will not make. And from a hand of an alien-born you will not bring-forward the gifts of your God from all these, because corruptions are in them, and a blemish in them. These will not be received for you.’ (Leviticus 22:23-25) So then observe that the law enjoins clearly and openly, both for those from blood of Israel, and for those outside and having been judged-into unto peoples, I say the proselytes, the needing to blemish-inspect very well the sacred things. For he said needing to be brought-up by us the male and unblemished, that is, the well-strong, and above passions; for the softness, and mindset the female-fitting, and indeed also the being sick with the inward and intelligible defect at least unto mind, is altogether unacceptable to God, and rejectable. Or do you not say unholy is the one for whom these would appear present?
Palladius: For how not?
Cyril: So then rejectable on the one hand the strengthless, and the as it were relaxed, and acceptable the well-strong, as being painted in a nature of males, if it should have yoked-beside the unblemished. And such would be unto a clear type for us of Christ. For male together and unblemished is Emmanuel, if at least he is truly power of God (1 Corinthians 1:24), and not knowing sin. And male also otherwise; for always preeminent, and in better things than the other is the male; and toward this at least also most leadership-holding. And he has stood-before and is incomparably in better things, and leads the wholes, even if the Son has become according to us, and the shepherd has been reckoned among sheep usefully. And unholy and sendable-away of the victims, blind, and crushed, and indeed also tongue-cut, and warted, and mangy, and lichen… So then the word upon each, and what would become clarify again.
Cyril: So then I am somehow also very eagerly. So then blind seems to say the unwise and unintelligent, and not having divine light in himself that is, the enlightenment through Christ in Spirit, and altogether unholy, the still mindless and unfaithful; ‘For if you should not believe, you will not understand,’ he says. (Isaiah 7:9) And crushed
Greek
ἢ κολοβόκερκον σφάγια ποιήσεις αὐτὰ σεαυτῷ· εἰς δὲ εὐχήν σου οὐ δεχθήσεται. Θλαδίαν καὶ ἐκτεθλιμμένον, καὶ ἐκτομίαν, καὶ ἀπεσπασμένον, οὐ προσάξετε αὐτὰ τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὑμῶν οὐ ποιήσετε. Καὶ ἐκ χειρὸς ἀλλογενοῦς οὐ προσοίσετε τὰ δῶρα τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑμῶν ἀπὸ πάντων τούτων, ὅτι φθάρματά ἐστιν ἐν αὐτοῖς, καὶ μῶμος ἐν αὐτοῖς. Οὐ δεχθήσεται ταῦτα ὑμῖν.» Ἄθρει δὴ οὖν ὅτι παρεγγυᾷ σαφῶς καὶ ἀναφανδὸν ὁ νόμος, καὶ τοῖς ἐξ αἵματος Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ τοῖς ἔξωθέν τε καὶ εἰσκεκριμένοις εἰς λαοὺς, φημὶ δὴ τοῖς προσηλύτοις, τὸ χρῆναι μωμοσκοπεῖν εὖ μάλα τὰ ἱερά. Δεῖν γὰρ ἔφη προσκομίζεσθαι πρὸς ἡμῶν τὸ ἄρσεν τε καὶ ἄμωμον, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τὸ εὐσθενὲς, καὶ ἀνωτέρω παθῶν· ὁ γάρ τοι μαλακισμὸς, καὶ φρόνημα· τὸ θηλυπρεπὲς, καὶ μέν τοι καὶ τὸ νοσεῖν τὴν εἴς γε νοῦν ἔσω καὶ νοητὴν ἐμπηρίαν, ἀπαράδεκτον παντελῶς τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ἀπόβλητον. Ἢ οὐκ ἀνίερον εἶναι φὴς τὸν ᾧπερ ἂν φαίνοιτο προσόντα ταυτί;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πῶς γὰρ οὔ;
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν ἀπόβλητον μὲν τὸ ἄναλκι, καὶ τὸ οἱονεὶ παρειμένον, δεκτὸν δὲ τὸ εὐσθενὲς, ὡς ἐν ἀρσένων φύσει ζωγραφούμενον, εἰ παρεζευγμένον ἔχοι τὸ ἄμωμον. Εἶεν δι' ἂν εἰς τύπον ἡμῖν σαφῆ τὰ τοιάδε Χριστοῦ. Ἄρσην γὰρ ὁμοῦ καὶ ἄμωμος ὁ Ἐμμανουὴλ, εἴπερ ἐστὶν ἀληθῶς Θεοῦ δύναμις, καὶ οὐκ εἰδὼς ἁμαρτίαν. Ἄρσην δὲ καὶ ἑτέρως· προὖχον γὰρ ἀεὶ, καὶ ἐν ἀμείνοσι θατέρου τὸ ἄρσεν· καὶ πρός γε δὴ τούτῳ καὶ ἡγεμονικώτατον. Προέστηκε δὲ καὶ ἀσυγκρίτως ἐστὶν ἐν ἀμείνοσι, καὶ καθηγεῖται τῶν ὅλων, εἰ καὶ γέγονε καθ' ἡμᾶς ὁ Υἱὸς, καὶ ὁ ποιμὴν ἐν προβάτοις κατελογίσθη χρησίμως. Ἀνίερα δὲ καὶ ἀπόπεμπτα τῶν θυμάτων, τυφλὸν, καὶ συντετριμμένον, καὶ μὴν καὶ γλωσσότμητον, καὶ μυρμηκιῶν, καὶ ψωραγριῶν, καὶ λειχῆνας ἔχον, ὠτότμητόν τε καὶ κολοβόκερκον. Ἀλλὰ καὶ εἴ τῳ, φησὶ, καταθλασθείη τυχὸν τὰ ἀρσενικὰ, καὶ τὸ εἰς εὐνούχους ἤδη τελοῦν, ἀναγκαῖον ἔχοι πάθος. Τουτὶ γὰρ οἶμαι δηλοῦν, θλαδίαν καὶ ἐκτεθλιμμένον, ἐκτομίαν καὶ ἀπεσπασμένον.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἆρ' οὖν εἰς ἤθη καὶ τρόπους τοὺς καθ' ἡμᾶς μεταληπτέον ταυτί;
{ΚΥΡ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν· εἴη γὰρ ἂν οὐχ ἑτέρως ἢ οὕτως ἡμῖν πνευματικὸς ὁ νόμος. Γένοιτο δ' ἂν οὐδεὶς παρὰ Θεῷ λόγος τῆς ὡς ἐν σκιαῖς λατρείας, ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἂν ὡρίσατό ποτε τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ νόμους, μὴ οὐχὶ τῆς ἀληθείας προανατυπῶν ἐν αὐτῇ τὸ ἐκπρεπέστατον κάλλος.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εὖ λέγεις. Πέραινε δὴ οὖν τὸν ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ λόγον, καὶ τίς ἂν γένοιτο διασάφει πάλιν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν εἶμί τοι καὶ μάλα προθύμως. Τυφλὸν μὲν οὖν ἔοικε, τὸν ἄσοφόν τε καὶ ἀσύνετον λέγειν, καὶ φῶς οὐκ ἔχοντα θεῖον ἐν ἑαυτῷ τοῦτ' ἔστι, τὸν διὰ Χριστοῦ φωτισμὸν ἐν Πνεύματι, ἀνίερος δὲ παντελῶς, ὁ ἄνους τε καὶ ἄπιστος ἔτι· «Ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ πιστεύσητε, οὐ μὴ συνῆτε,» φησίν. Συντετριμμέ
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.
Witnesses
- 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.