Leave dead to bury dead; Nazirite corpse defilement reset
Cyril: …among disciples, saying: ‘Lord, permit me first to go-away, and to bury my father.’ And he, ‘Follow me,’ he says, ‘and leave the dead to bury their own dead;’ (Matthew 8:21-22) dead, I think, saying those the things in a world to think having chosen, and of the of the deadness works not having held-off.
Palladius: Thus it holds.
Cyril: For a manner on the one hand then of a citizenship the all-pure and having been excepted is this, according to the law, rather then as in spirit and truth; for a shadow the law. (Hebrews 10:1) But if it should become, he says, upon a dead to be defiled-down sometime the having-been-sanctified, let him be sheared then sometime, and let him be stripped the head, unholy having already somehow the hair. And on the day the eighth he will bring a yoke of turtle-doves, or two young of doves. And let him bring-forward, he says, also a lamb yearly; and the days the first unreckoned will be, because was defiled the head of his vow. (Numbers 6:9-12) For if it should become for the having-been-sanctified to be-slack about the fitting, and with the unto deadness to be defiled-down manners, having bent-away toward the of flesh, will follow somewhere altogether for him the to sell-away needing of the all-pure citizenship the boasts, and most-dishonored as it were he will work his own head. For somehow such under-hints the shaving. And vainly having toiled the having-passed time, the of the sweats he will mourn loss. For this, I think, is the, The days the first unreckoned will be. Something such says also through a voice of Ezekiel: ‘Righteousness of a righteous one will not deliver’ (Ezekiel 33:12)
Palladius: Most-excellently you spoke.
Cyril: And I at least think, little sending-in for the lying-before the mind, also another for us to be able to look-down depth of fine and having been hidden thoughts. For it whets unto at least this for us not uncarefully the law, about the the hair nourishing for God: ‘And if he should die suddenly, immediately will be defiled the head of his vow, and he will shave his head, on which ever day he should be cleansed, on the day the seventh he will be shaved, and on the day the eighth he will bring two turtle-doves, or two young of doves, toward the priest. And he will sanctify,’ he says, ‘his head in that day.’ (Numbers 6:9-11) And to bring-forward also a yearly lamb he was being ordered.
Palladius: And would puzzle reasonably the Christ-taught, what then would be thereafter the riddle; and toward what it looks for a learning one phrase.
Greek
ἐν μαθηταῖς, λέγων· «Κύριε, ἐπίτρεψόν μοι πρῶτον ἀπελθεῖν, καὶ θάψαι τὸν πατέρα μου.» Ὁ δὲ, «Ἀκολούθει μοι, φησὶ, καὶ ἄφες τοὺς νεκροὺς θάπτειν τοὺς ἑαυτῶν νεκρούς·» νεκροὺς, οἶμαι, λέγων τοὺς τὰ ἐν κόσμῳ φρονεῖν ἑλομένους, καὶ τῶν τῆς νεκρότητος ἔργων οὐκ ἀπεσχημένους.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὧδε ἔχει.
{ΚΥΡ.} Τρόπος μὲν γὰρ δὴ πολιτείας τῆς πανάγνου καὶ ἐξῃρημένης οὑτοσὶ, κατὰ τὸν νόμον, μᾶλλον δὲ ὡς ἐν πνεύματί τε καὶ ἀληθείᾳ· σκιὰ γὰρ ὁ νόμος. Ἀλλ' εἰ γένοιτο, φησὶν, ἐπὶ νεκρῷ καταμιανθῆναί ποτε τὸν ἡγιασμένον, ἀποκειρέσθω δή ποτε, καὶ ψιλούσθω τὴν κεφαλὴν, ἀνίερον ἔχων ἤδη πως τὴν κόμην. Καὶ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ὀγδόῃ οἴσει ζεῦγος τρυγόνων, ἢ δύο νεοσσοὺς περιστερῶν. Προσκομιζέτω δὲ, φησὶ, καὶ ἀμνὸν ἐνιαύσιον· καὶ αἱ ἡμέραι αἱ πρῶται ἄλογοι ἔσονται, ὅτι ἐμιάνθη ἡ κεφαλὴ εὐχῆς αὐτοῦ. Εἰ γὰρ γένοιτο τὸν ἡγιασμένον καταῤῥᾳθυμῆσαι τοῦ πρέποντος, καὶ τοῖς εἰς νεκρότητα καταμιανθῆναι τρόποις, ἀπονενευκότα πρὸς τὰ σαρκὸς, ἕψεταί που πάντως αὐτῷ τὸ ἀπεμπωλῆσαι δεῖν τῆς πανάγνου πολιτείας τὰ αὐχήματα, καὶ ἀτιμοτάτην ὥσπερ ἐργάσεται τὴν ἑαυτοῦ κεφαλήν. Ὑπαινίττεται γάρ τι τοιοῦτον ἡ ξύρησις. Εἰκῆ δὲ πεπονηκὼς τὸν παρῳχηκότα χρόνον, τὴν τῶν ἱδρώτων θρηνήσει ζημίαν. Τοῦτο γὰρ, οἶμαι, ἐστὶ τὸ, Αἱ ἡμέραι αἱ πρῶται ἄλογοι ἔσονται. Τοιοῦτόν τί φησι καὶ διὰ φωνῆς Ἐζεχιήλ· «Δικαιοσύνη δικαίου οὐ μὴ ἐξέληται αὐτὸν, ἐν ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ ἁμάρτῃ, καὶ ἀνομία ἀνόμου οὐ μὴ κακώσει αὐτὸν, ᾗ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ ἀποστρέψῃ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀνομίας αὐτοῦ.» Οὐκοῦν εἰ γένοιτο μεταξὺ καταμιαίνεσθαί πως τοὺς ἡγιασμένους, ζημίαν μὲν ὑποστήσονται τῶν ἤδη προειργασμένων, οὐ μὴν δυσδιάφυκτον τὴν ἐντεῦθεν νοσοῦσι ζημίαν· διασμήχονται γὰρ ἐν Χριστῷ, καθάπερ ἐν τάξει τρυγόνος καὶ περιστερᾶς, ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν προσάγοντος τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ, καὶ ὡς ἀμνοῦ καταθυομένου, καὶ δικαιοῦντος ἡμᾶς τῷ θανάτῳ τῆς ἰδίας σαρκός. Ταύτῃτοι προστέταχε, τὸν τὴν ξύρησιν ὑπομείναντα θυσίας προσάγειν ἐν τύπῳ Χριστοῦ, τοῦ δικαιοῦντος τὸν ἀσεβῆ, καὶ ῥωννύντος τὸ ἀσθενὲς, καὶ ἀνιστάντος τὸ πεπτωκὸς, καὶ ἐπιστρέφοντος τὸ πλανώμενον, καὶ ἀπονίζοντος τὸ μεμολυσμένον.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἄριστα ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οἶμαι δ' ἔγωγε, μικρὸν ἐνιέντας τοῖς προκειμένοις τὸν νοῦν, καὶ ἕτερον ἡμᾶς δύνασθαι καταθρῆσαι βάθος λεπτῶν τε καὶ κεκρυμμένων ἐννοιῶν. Παραθήγει γὰρ εἴς γε δὴ τοῦτο ἡμᾶς οὐκ ἀπερισκέπτως ὁ νόμος, περὶ τοῦ τὴν τρίχα τρέφοντος Θεῷ· «Ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ ἐξάπινα, παραχρῆμα μιανθήσεται ἡ κεφαλὴ εὐχῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ξυρήσεται τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ, ᾗ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ καθαρισθῇ, τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ ξυρηθήσεται, καὶ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ὀγδόῃ οἴσει δύο τρυγόνας, ἢ δύο νεοσσοὺς περιστερῶν, πρὸς τὸν ἱερέα. Καὶ ἁγιάσει, φησὶ, τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ ἐν ἐκείνῃ ἡμέρᾳ.» Προσάγειν δὲ καὶ ἐνιαύσιον ἀμνὸν ἐπετάττετο.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἐπαπορήσειε δ' ἂν εἰκότως ὁ χριστομαθὴς, τί δ' ἂν εἴη λοιπὸν τὸ αἴνιγμα· καὶ πρὸς τί βλέπει μαθητιῶντι φράσον.
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 16 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 16 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 16 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 16)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 16)
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.