Christ sheaf / firstborn dead; third-day type; new dough; wait for offering
Palladius: ‘…the harvest already, and the reaper receives a wage and gathers.’ For he likens our affairs to ears and wheat. (Jn 4:36)
Cyril: So Christ is understood as a kind of firstfruit of the ears and a new fruit in the form of a sheaf — the firstborn from the dead, the way of the resurrection for us, the one who remakes all things toward newness and strips away oldness. ‘For the old things have passed away,’ he says; ‘behold, they have become new; and if anyone is in Christ — a new creation,’ according to the Scriptures. (Col 1:18; 2 Cor 5:17)
And the sheaf was brought up before the Lord; for Emmanuel, raised from the dead — the new fruit of humanity and as in incorruption — has gone up into heaven, that he might now appear for us before the face of God and Father. (Heb 9:24; Lev 23:11)
The third-day type and the new dough follow: we wait for the offering until the firstfruit is presented, then we become a fresh lump.
Greek
θερισμὸν ἤδη, καὶ ὁ θερίζων μισθὸν λαμβάνει καὶ ὁ συνάγων.» Ἀστάχυσι γὰρ καὶ πυροῖς παρεικάζει τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν, ἀσταχύων οἵα τις ἀπαρχὴ καὶ νέος ὥσπερ καρπὸς ἐν εἴδει δράγματος νοεῖται Χριστὸς, ὁ πρωτότοκος ἐκ νεκρῶν, ἡ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἡμῖν ὁδὸς, ὁ πάντα πρὸς καινότητα μεταστοιχειῶν, καὶ παλαιότητα ἀπαλλάττων· «Τὰ γὰρ ἀρχαῖα παρῆλθε,» φησὶν, «ἰδοὺ γέγονε τὰ πάντα καινὰ, καὶ εἴ τις ἐν Χριστῷ καινὴ κτίσις» κατὰ τὰς Γραφάς. Ἀνεκομίζετο δὲ τὸ δράγμα ἔναντι Κυρίου· ἐγηγερμένος γὰρ ἐκ νεκρῶν ὁ Ἐμμανουὴλ ὁ νέος τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος καὶ ὡς ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ καρπὸς, ἀναβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, ἵν' ἐμφανισθῇ νῦν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τῷ προσώπῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς, καὶ οὐχὶ δὴ πάντως ἑαυτὸν εἰς ὄψιν ἄγων αὐτοῦ· σύνεστι γὰρ ἀϊδίως, καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἀπολιμπάνοιτο τοῦ Πατρὸς, ὡς Θεὸς, ὡς ἐν ἑαυτῷ δὲ μᾶλλον, εἰς ὄψιν ἄγων ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἔξω προσώπου, καὶ ἐν ὀργῇ διὰ τὴν ἐν Ἀδὰμ παράβασιν, καὶ τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν τυραννήσασαν ἁμαρτίαν. Οὐκοῦν ἐν Χριστῷ κερδαίνομεν τὸ καὶ ἐν προσώπῳ τυχὸν γενέσθαι Θεοῦ. Ἀξιοῖ γὰρ ἡμᾶς ἐποπτείας ἤδη λοιπὸν, ὡς ἡγιασμένους. Ὅρα δὲ ὅπως ἡμῖν ὁ νόμος, καὶ τὸν τῇ ἀναστάσει πρέποντα προανετύπου καιρὸν, τουτέστι, τὴν τρίτην ἡμέραν. Τῇ γὰρ ἐπαύριον τῆς πρώτης, φησὶν, ἀνοίσει τὸ δράγμα ὁ ἱερεὺς, ἔναντι Κυρίου. Τρίτη δὲ πάντως ἡ ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης, οὐκ αὔριον, ἀλλ' ἐπαύριον· ἀνεβίω δὲ ὁ Χριστὸς κατὰ τὴν τρίτην.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀληθές.
{ΚΥΡ.} Συνανακομίζεται δὲ τῷ δράγματι, καὶ πρόβατον ἄμωμον, δύο δεκάτων αὐτῷ σεμιδάλεως ἐπενηνεγμένων ἀναμὶξ ἐλαίῳ πάλιν. Ὁ γὰρ ὡς ἐν δράγματί τε καὶ ἀπαρχῇ καρπῶν οἱονεὶ ζωγραφούμενος, καὶ ὡς ἐξ ἀγέλης ἀπαρχὴ λαμβάνεται, ἀγέλης δὲ ζώσης ὡς ἐν πιότητι χάριτος, καὶ ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ πνεύματος. Ταύτῃ τοι συναναφέρεσθαι δεῖν τῷ προβάτῳ φησὶ τὴν σεμίδαλιν, ἔλαιόν τε καὶ οἶνον· καὶ σεμίδαλις μὲν σημεῖον ἂν γένοιτο ζωῆς, καθὰ πλειστάκις εἰρήκαμεν· πιότητος δὲ τὸ ἔλαιον, εὐφρασίας δὲ, οἶνος. Προσάγεται δὲ καὶ ὡς ἐν ἄρτῳ πάλιν, καὶ ἐν χίδροις πεφρυγμένοις· χίδρα δὲ τὰ ὄσπρια, φησὶ, διὰ τὸ, οἶμαι, τριβόμενα τοῖς ἀλοοῦσιν αὐτὰ περιχεῖσθαι μύλοις. Νοοῖτο δ' ἂν ἡμῖν καὶ διὰ τούτου Χριστὸς, νέον φύραμα, πρὸς ὃν ἡμεῖς μεμορφώμεθα, προστετάγμεθά τε τελεῖν ἑορτὰς, ἐκκαθάραντες τὴν παλαιὰν ζύμην, ἵνα καὶ ἡμεῖς νέον φύραμα χρηματίζωμεν, καθ' ὁμοιότητα τοῦ πᾶσαν ἡμῖν τὴν εἰς καινότητα πολιτείας ἐγκαινίσαντος ὁδὸν, τουτέστι Χριστοῦ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εὖ λέγεις.
{ΚΥΡ.} Προσεπιτάττει δὲ δεῖν καρπῶν ἀπέχεσθαι νέων, καὶ ἐδώδιμον ἀπ' αὐτῶν ποιεῖσθαι μηδὲν, τὴν τοῦ δράγματος ἀνάθεσιν περιμένοντας. Νέα γὰρ οὐ
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 17 of a seventeen-book dialogue — the final book of the series.
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 17 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 17 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 17)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 17)
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.