Flour=life oil=hope frankincense=works; small gifts received
Cyril: …and of life on the one hand unto a type the fine-flour, and of cheerfulness the as in hope, the oil, and frankincense at least, of a sweet-fragrance the as in works and right-doings, and a life most-lawful, much for us has clarified a word. And needing then therefore very well says the law, those who ever would choose to delight-well in themselves the of the wholes God, to dedicate-up and to consecrate for him the own life, not upon the sweats the over virtue gloomying; (‘For do not grumble,’ says the all-divine Paul), (Philippians 2:14) and of a sweet-fragrance the intelligible having been filled-out; for then will bring-up the memorial of it the priest to God. For we will approach in Christ to the God and Father through the spiritual sacrifice, the also in a memory to lie the beside him gaining. For through what things we have been accustomed to well-repute, through these
Palladius: Most-elegantly you spoke.
Cyril: And he joins-on for these: ‘And if you should bring-forward a gift, a sacrifice having been pressed in an oven, a gift for Lord from fine-flour, breads unleavened having been mixed in oil, and thin-cakes unleavened having been smeared-through in oil. And if a sacrifice from a frying-pan his gift, fine-flour having been mixed in oil, unleavened it will be; and you will break-through them fragments, and you will pour upon them oil, a sacrifice it is for Lord. And if a sacrifice from a hearth your gift, fine-flour with oil will be made. And if you should bring-forward a sacrifice of the first-births to the Lord, new having been roasted bruised-grains crushed for the Lord, and you will bring-forward the sacrifice of the first-births, and you will put upon them frankincense; a sacrifice it is. And the priest will bring-up the memorial of it from the bruised-grains with the oil, and all the frankincense’ (Leviticus 2:4-16)
Palladius: How deep the matter of the law! Phrase then therefore, how also with the here fine the mind sending-in, not from a mark we will walk.
Cyril: That, I think somewhere, worthy, the of the law forethought and very well-artful; for you will know then through a manner every, and he receives on the one hand the short altogether, and he gifts also for it everywhere the sweet-smelling and cheerful; for you learned-through somewhere also of him saying of the Christ: ‘And who ever should give-to-drink one of these brothers the small a cup of cold, only unto a name of a disciple, amen I say to you, he will not lose his wage.’ (Matthew 10:42) Something such also here to reckon-through is necessary, and the of the lawgiver kindness with the for him fitting to clap-down praises. For he receives, as I said, even if someone should choose also with the very most-cheap to fulfill the having-been-customed. For whether a bread it should be, he says, or also a thin-cake one, or then from an oven and from a frying-pan, and indeed also a hearth
Greek
δὲ ζωῆς μὲν εἰς τύπον ἡ σεμίδαλις, ἱλαρότητος δὲ τῆς ὡς ἐν ἐλπίδι, τὸ ἔλαιον, λίβανός γε μὴν, εὐωδίας τῆς ὡς ἐν ἔργοις καὶ κατορθώμασιν, καὶ βίῳ συννομωτάτῳ, πολὺς ἡμῖν διεσάφησε λόγος. Χρῆναι δὲ οὖν εὖ μάλα φησὶν ὁ νόμος, τοὺς οἵπερ ἂν ἕλοιντο κατευφραίνειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεὸν, ἀνατιθέναι τε καὶ ἀφιεροῦν αὐτῷ τὴν οἰκείαν ζωὴν, οὐκ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἱδρῶσι τοῖς ὑπὲρ ἀρετῆς στυγνάζοντας· («Μὴ γὰρ δὴ γογγύζετε,» φησὶν ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος), εὐωδίας δὲ τῆς νοητῆς ἐκμεμεστωμένην· ἀνοίσει γὰρ τότε τὸ μνημόσυνον αὐτῆς ὁ ἱερεὺς τῷ Θεῷ. Προσελευσόμεθα γὰρ ἐν Χριστῷ τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ διὰ τῆς πνευματικῆς θυσίας, τὸ καὶ ἐν μνήμῃ κεῖσθαι τῇ παρ' αὐτῷ κερδαίνοντες. Δι' ὧν γὰρ εὐδοκιμεῖν εἰθίσμεθα, διὰ τούτων αὐτῶν ἀποφανούμεθα, ὅτι καὶ μνήμης ἄξιοι, καὶ ἐν γνώσει Θεοῦ γεγόναμεν ἐν Χριστῷ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀστειότατα ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἐπισυνάπτει δὲ τούτοις· «Ἐὰν δὲ προσφέρῃς δῶρον, θυσίαν πεπιλημένην ἐν κλιβάνῳ, δῶρον Κυρίῳ ἐκ σεμιδάλεως, ἄρτους ἀζύμους πεφυραμένους ἐν ἐλαίῳ, καὶ λάγανα ἄζυμα διακεχρισμένα ἐν ἐλαίῳ. Ἐὰν δὲ θυσία ἀπὸ τηγάνου τὸ δῶρον αὐτοῦ, σεμίδαλις πεφυραμένη ἐν ἐλαίῳ, ἄζυμα ἔσται· καὶ διαθρύψεις αὐτὰ κλάσματα, καὶ ἐπιχεεῖς ἐπ' αὐτὰ ἔλαιον, θυσία ἐστὶ Κυρίῳ. Ἐὰν δὲ θυσία ἀπὸ ἐσχάρας τὸ δῶρόν σου, σεμίδαλις ἐλαίῳ ποιηθήσεται. Ἐὰν δὲ προσφέρῃς θυσίαν τῶν πρωτογεννημάτων τῷ Κυρίῳ, νέα πεφρυγμένα χίδρα ἐρικτὰ τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ προσοίσεις τὴν θυσίαν τῶν πρωτογεννημάτων, καὶ ἐπιθήσεις ἐπ' αὐτὰ λίβανον· θυσία ἐστί. Καὶ ἀνοίσει ὁ ἱερεὺς τὸ μνημόσυνον αὐτῆς ἀπὸ τῶν χίδρων σὺν τῷ ἐλαίῳ, καὶ πάντα τὸν λίβανον αὐτῆς· κάρπωμά ἐστι τῷ Κυρίῳ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὡς βαθὺ τὸ χρῆμα τοῦ νόμου! Φράζε δὴ οὖν, ὅπως καὶ τοῖς ὧδε λεπτοῖς τὸν νοῦν ἐνιέντες, οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ βαδιούμεθα.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἐκεῖνο, οἶμαί που, ἄξιον, τὸ τοῦ νόμου προμηθὲς καὶ λίαν εὐτεχνές· εἴσῃ γὰρ δὴ διὰ τρόπου παντὸς, καὶ προσίεται μὲν τὸ βραχὺ κομιδῇ, χαρίζεται δὲ καὶ αὐτῷ πανταχῆ τὸ εὐῶδες καὶ ἱλαρόν· διεπύθου γάρ που καὶ αὐτοῦ λέγοντος τοῦ Χριστοῦ· «Καὶ ὃς ἂν ποτίσῃ ἕνα τῶν ἀδελφῶν τούτων τῶν μικρῶν ποτήριον ψυχροῦ, μόνον εἰς ὄνομα μαθητοῦ, ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐ μὴ ἀπολέσῃ τὸν μισθὸν αὐτοῦ.» Τοιουτονί τι κἀνθάδε διαλογίζεσθαι χρὴ, καὶ τὴν τοῦ νομοθέτου χρηστότητα ταῖς αὐτῷ πρεπούσαις κατακροτεῖν εὐφημίαις. Προσίεται γὰρ, ὡς ἔφην, κἂν εἰ ἕλοιτό τις καὶ τοῖς ἄγαν εὐτελεστάτοις πληροῦν τὰ νενομισμένα. Εἴτε γὰρ ἄρτος εἴη, φησὶν, εἴτε καὶ λάγανον ἓν, εἴτ' οὖν ἐκ κλιβάνου καὶ ἀπὸ τηγάνου, καὶ μὴν καὶ ἐσχάρας, καὶ ἥκιστα μὲν ἐκ πυρῶν, χίδρα δὲ εἴη καὶ ἐρικτὰ, τουτέστιν, ἐξ ὀσπρίων ἄλευρον, ἐλαίῳ δεδεύσθω τὸ προσκομισθὲν, καὶ καταπλουτείτω πάλιν ἐφ' ἑαυτῷ τὸν λίβανον. Ἔοικε δέ πως ἔν γε δὴ τούτοις ὁ λόγος, τὰς διὰ πυρώσεώς τε καὶ πόνων καὶ μέντοι καὶ συντριβῆς εὐδοκιμήσεις
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.