Glaphyra in Pentateuchum

When you enter the land into which I am bringing you there, it shall be, when you eat of the bread of the land, that you shall set apart a heave-offering, a separated portion to the Lord, the first-fruits of your dough; you shall heave it as a heave-offering, as a heave-offering from the threshing-floor; so shall you separate it, the first-fruits of your dough, and you shall give a heave-offering to the Lord throughout your generations. But when you transgress, and do not do all these commandments which the Lord spoke to Moses, just as the Lord your God commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day on which the Lord commanded you, and beyond, throughout your generations; it shall be, if it be done unintentionally, away from the eyes of the congregation, then all the congregation shall offer one young bull from the herd, without blemish, as a whole burnt-offering, for a sweet savour to the Lord, and its sacrifice and its drink-offering, according to its ordinance, and one kid of the goats for a sin-offering. And the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them, because it is unintentional; and they themselves have brought their gift, an offering to the Lord, for their sin before the Lord, for their unintentional sins. And it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and to the proselyte who comes over to you, because it is unintentional for all the people. But if one soul sins unintentionally, he shall bring one she-goat of a year old for a sin-offering. And the priest shall make atonement for the soul that was unintentionally led astray and sinned unintentionally before the Lord, to make atonement for him. And it shall be forgiven him, the native among the sons of Israel, and the proselyte who is joined among them. One law shall be for them, whoever does it unintentionally.

And these things are in Numbers; but in Leviticus the mystery is shaped differently, though the contemplations are not very far from dissimilarity. Come then, having mentioned those things too, since they are exceedingly necessary for knowledge, let us weave, as it were, one account for both. And it is written thus again: And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them: When you enter into the land which I give to you, and you reap its harvest, you shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest to the priest. And he shall offer the sheaf before the Lord, acceptable for you; on the day after the first, the priest shall offer it. And you shall make on the day on which you bring the sheaf, a blameless year-old sheep as a whole burnt-offering to the Lord. And its sacrifice of two tenths of fine flour mixed with oil, a sacrifice to the Lord for a sweet-smelling savour to the Lord, and its drink-offering, the fourth part of wine and bread. And you shall not eat new parched pulse, until this very day, until you bring the gifts of your God. An eternal statute for your generations, in all your dwelling-places. 2. A sheaf, then, is the first-fruits of the harvest, and a symbol of new fruitfulness. And bread is of grain already gathered, and heaped up for the threshing-floor, and perhaps also carried into the storehouses themselves. And He commanded those who already inhabit the land of the promise to make these things as an offering to God, so that through both Christ might be understood: bread from heaven and life-giving, and the first-fruits of the dough of those renewed in Him unto newness of life.

For Adam was the firstfruits of the older lump; but since he disregarded the commandment that was given and slipped away into transgression, he was immediately accursed, and the human race in him was condemned to death and corruption. But Christ is the firstfruits of the second lump, who also escaped the curse—clearly because of him who became a curse for us. And he passes beyond the power of corruption—again because of him who is free among the dead. For he rose again, having trampled death. And, so to speak, as a bright offering and gift-bearing sacrifice, and as a kind of firstfruits of humanity, made new into incorruption, he ascended to the Father. Therefore the bread being carried in the holy tabernacle and laid up for God in the Holy of Holies would hint at the ascent of Emmanuel into the heavens, and very reasonably so. For he ascended not into something made with hands, nor yet into the copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us, according to what is written. And that he is also the life-giving bread from heaven and from above, and that in addition to this he removes sins and frees those on earth from ignorances, offering himself to God and the Father for them as a sweet-smelling savour, you will understand very well with the eyes of your mind, beholding him as a calf wholly burned in sacrifice, slain, and as a kid for the ignorances of the people. For who will understand his transgressions? according to what is written. Observe then how the lawgiver called the cleansing through Christ incomparably superior to the worship under the law, clearly.

For he says, if you transgress the things of Moses and disregard the commandment of the legal worship, some things were despised; then, then you will find the forgetfulness confirmed for you through blood, when a calf is sacrificed and a goat is offered. But this was for a type of Christ. Therefore the law indeed condemns the punishment of transgressors; but the precious blood of Christ releases from judgment and frees from the charges arising from ignorance. For he laid down his soul for us, in order that he might destroy the sin of the world. Therefore Christ may be understood as in bread, as life and life-giving; as in a calf again, being wholly burnt and offering himself to God and the Father as a sweet-smelling savor; and as in the form of a goat, having become sin for us, and being slain for sins. And a sheaf, in turn, may be understood in another way. And what this is also, as far as possible, will be stated. One might compare the human race to the stalks in a field, rising up as it were in some way from the earth, and awaiting its proper fulfillment, and being cut down in time by reaping death. Thus also Christ himself said to his holy disciples: Do you not say that there are still four months, and the harvest comes? Behold, I say to you: lift up your eyes, and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already. And the reaper receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life. Therefore, as I said just now, those on the earth must be compared very much to the crops in a field. But Christ has become for us, rising up like a stalk from the holy Virgin. Since indeed he also called himself a grain of wheat to us, saying: Amen, amen I say to you:

Unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. And it has become, as it were, an offering for us to the Father, and in the order of a sheaf, as the firstfruits of the earth, which by the things it has brought forth is testified to for fruitfulness. Understood indeed as one ear of grain, just as

we ourselves are, it is not brought forward as one ear, but as a sheaf, that is, from many ears, one bundle. And the matter is something necessary for benefit, and fulfills the type of a mystery. For one is Jesus Christ, yet as in the form of a sheaf he is understood and is manifold, because he has all the believers in himself, through unity, clearly the spiritual unity. Since in what way does the blessed Paul write: We have been raised together with him, and we have sat together in the heavenly places. And because he is according to us, we have become members of his body, and we have been enriched with unity toward him through the body. For this reason we say that we are all in him. And indeed he himself somewhere says to the Father and God in the heavens: I desire that, just as I and you are one, so also they may be in us. So that he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. A sheaf, therefore, as having all in himself, and offered on behalf of all, and the firstfruits of humanity perfected in faith and now due to be carried up to the treasures above and in heaven. And he says that the sheaf must be brought on the day after the first, which is the third. For he rose again from the dead on the third day, and he himself has ascended into heaven, into the true tabernacle, and into the Holy of Holies.

But just as He was signified as bread in the understanding, both in the calf for whole burnt offering and for a sweet savour, and indeed also in the kid set forth for ignorances, so again, even if He be understood perhaps as a sheaf, yet He Himself is the year-old lamb, that is, the perfect one. For Christ is all-perfect and without need in His own nature. And besides this He is also wholly without blemish. For He knew no sin, nor is there guile in His mouth. He Himself is the fine white flour, and mixed with oil, that is, the life as it were in fatness and cheerfulness. For we live rejoicing in Him because of the hope laid up for us, and are watered by the grace of the Holy Spirit, according to that word in the Psalms where we say: You have anointed my head with oil. For we have become objects of mercy through faith in Christ, to whom in a certain manner we are also offered as incense, having the second rank, just as indeed the so-called pulse-meal is compared to His fine flour. For we say that pulse-meal is the flour made from legumes. For that even if He became as we are by economy, Christ would reasonably be understood as above us, no one would doubt. Therefore His life is incomparably more precious. For it is wholly holy and without blemish. But the things that pertain to us are in lesser and lower things, and as it were in the rank of pulse-meal, as compared, I say, to the fine flour from wheat. And the fine flour is a type of life. Nevertheless the pulse-meal is offered up together with the fine flour to the altar. For we are offered as incense together with Christ, as I said, and we all give forth a sweet savour to Him, and we are acceptable with Him to God and the Father. And those who do not have Christ are not at all fit for sacrifice. For without me, He says, you can do nothing.

But you shall not eat new grain, it says, until this very day, until you bring the sheaf. For neither the time of the law, nor indeed the choir of the holy prophets, had the new food, that is, the teachings that come through Christ, nor indeed the renewal itself of human nature, except perhaps in name alone. But since our Lord Jesus Christ has now risen again, and, as it were in the order of a sheaf, has presented Himself to God the Father as the firstfruits of humanity, then indeed, then we too are transformed, as it were, into a new life. For we live according to the gospel, not in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of the Spirit; through whom and with whom be glory to God the Father, with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen. Concerning the red heifer, which was burned outside the camp. 1. But indeed the inspired David also says somewhere: What shall I render to the Lord for all that He has rendered to me? And such a utterance would be most fitting for us as well. For what will there be on our part that is of equal weight to God the Father? For He gave His own Son for our sake, so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life; all but sparing even the affection that befits Him. For He gave

...himself to our sins, according to the Scriptures, and we have been saved; but he was made weak for our sins, and he suffers pain for us, and he himself endured the death of the flesh; not so that he might be seen remaining with us among the dead, but so that, running up together with him and through him into life, and running back into incorruption, we might say with joy: Where is your victory, death? Where is your sting, Hades? What path, then, leads us to this? The grace that comes through baptism, through which, wiping away every stain, we are shown to be partakers of the divine nature, since the Spirit of Christ dwells in us. For then, then—having our conscience sprinkled from dead works, as the blessed Paul writes, and having become partakers of the mystical blessing, and filling our own mind with the grace from above—we are seen to be zealous and admired, and what indeed are we not seen to be among such things? And you would see that what I said is true, if you understand the things ordained concerning the heifer. And the Lord spoke, it says, to Moses and Aaron, saying: This is the distinction of the law, as many things as the Lord commanded, saying: Speak to the sons of Israel, and let them take to you a red heifer, without blemish, which has no blemish in it, and upon which no yoke has been laid. And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and they shall bring it outside the camp to a clean place, and they shall slaughter it before him. And Eleazar shall take from its blood, and shall sprinkle opposite the face of the tent of witness, from its blood seven times.

And they shall burn it before him, and its skin, and its flesh, and its blood with its dung shall be burned. And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the burning of the heifer. And the priest shall wash his garments, and bathe his body in water, and after these things the priest shall enter into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until evening. And he who burns it shall wash his garments, and bathe his body in water, and shall be unclean until evening. And a clean man shall gather the ashes of the heifer. And in what follows: And it shall be for the sons of Israel and for the proselytes who are set before you in your midst, an everlasting ordinance. And the lawgiver adds to these things, that touching one who is dead defiles certain persons and makes them profane. And he who has suffered this shall be unclean for whole days, seven in number. But he shall be cleansed by the ashes of the heifer mixed with water, having been sprinkled with the blood on the third day, and indeed also on the seventh. But if he does not do this, he says, he shall have his uncleanness unwashed away. And he shall also pay the penalty, because he defiled the tabernacle of the Lord. His soul shall be blotted out, he says, from Israel, because the water of sprinkling was not sprinkled upon him. But if it happens, he says, that someone has died in a house, then let both the dwelling itself and all things in it be declared unclean—I mean the vessels—the charge of uncleanness. And if some of the vessels lie empty of covers, let these also be defiled.

But the one who has touched in the field, he says, is no less profane—whether it be a slain man, or perhaps a dead man's bone, or a grave. We shall therefore state, as far as possible, by what means such things are commanded to be wiped away, skillfully unfolding the obscurity of the Scripture with fitting reasonings. 2. The heifer, then, wholly without blemish and utterly free from all stain, and not knowing how to transgress, is our Lord Jesus Christ. For he dared to say: "The ruler of this world comes, and he will find nothing in me." And indeed to the Jews: "Which of you will convict me of sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe me?" But observe this too: sometimes it is named a calf, sometimes a heifer in the sacred words, so that by the male it may be signified as a leader, and by the female as in a lesser and subordinate position. For God is the leader of all things, and the dominion over all things is attached with God the Father; for he became willingly under the law, and he kept the things of Moses, as of one who excels, even if he was a servant. And it is no wonder that also

he has been called a prophet, and he has appeared in the form of a slave, although he is Lord and God of the prophets. And the heifer is red; for the mystery of the incarnation has been accomplished in blood, if indeed it is true that he became obedient to the Father unto death, even death on a cross, and has come saving those under heaven by his own blood. And the redness would be a sign of blood, very clearly indeed. But even if he became obedient to the Father, and was with us under the law by economy as a man, even if he has been called a slave, he did not dishonor the flesh of the flesh he assumed; but he was and is even so free, because he is also God by nature, and he is by no means subjected to the yoke of slavery, yet not entirely inexperienced in this. For he comes from above, and is above all things, having sprung from the very free essence of God and the Father. For this reason he said that the heifer must be brought, both red and without blemish, and inexperienced in the labors of the yoke. For if the Only-begotten emptied himself and willingly sits in the form of a slave, how or from where would it be doubtful that the descent will certainly be from heights, and the emptying from fullness? And again, the descent is from innate and older freedom, that is, as I say, in the form of the slave. The heifer, therefore, is on account of that which is in subjection and under the law as a leader; and red, because the manner of the economy has come about in blood for us and on our behalf. And without blemish, because of his sinlessness; for he knew no sin. And inexperienced in work and yoke, because of the freedom in divinity, and the unfamiliarity of slavery, even if he became according to us and in the form of a slave.

But, he says, they shall give the heifer to Eleazar the priest, and they shall bring it outside the camp to a clean place, and they shall slaughter it before him. And the priest would be a type of those who are sacred and sanctified and anointed with the Holy Spirit; for indeed it has been said somewhere to us who have believed through a holy voice: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. To us, then, who are sacred, the chosen race, and the holy nation, Christ has been given by God and the Father—sanctification and redemption, wisdom and righteousness, Savior and Redeemer—and, as the divine Paul writes, he suffered outside the gate. Where he also said that we must go, bearing his reproach, that is, our own cross. This the Savior himself also said: If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. And that it is most fitting and proper for those who are sacred and sanctified, for their benefit, to have the dead Christ, so to speak, even before their eyes, he has hinted by legislating that the heifer must be slaughtered as in the sight of the priest. But when we remember Christ who died for us and on our behalf, then indeed, then all the more do we marvel at the divine Paul who speaks to us concerning him: For one died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for us. And again: For I through the law died to the law, so that I might live to God; I have been crucified with Christ. And I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

But what I live in the flesh, I live in faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for us. Therefore let him lie, in a manner of speaking, before the eyes of our mind, enduring the slaughter on our behalf. For thus we shall live no longer for ourselves, but rather for God, as those bought with the blood of Christ, who gave himself for us, according to the Scriptures. Indeed, he commanded the hand of the priest to sprinkle the holy tabernacle with the blood, and that seven times; and the heifer to be burned up entire, with nothing at all of all that belongs to it cast out, but together with the flesh and the dung, the hide and the rest of the body. For Christ sanctifies with his own blood the truer tabernacle, that is, the Church; and he sanctifies perfectly, that is, richly. For this, I think, is what it means for the tabernacle to be sprinkled with blood seven times. And the sign of perfection is the number that extends as far as seven. But that the heifer is burned up with fire after the slaughter seems to hint at the

the testing which Christ endured on our behalf. For silver is tested in fire, as it is hymned in the Psalms: You tested us, O God, you refined us as silver is refined. And that Christ has been tested, in a manner of speaking, through obedience unto death, that passage, I think, would show not indistinctly. For he said somewhere through the voice of Zechariah the prophet, perhaps to those justified in faith, that is, those for whom he died: And I will say to them, If it is good in your sight, give me my wages, or refuse. Then the prophet says: And they set my wages, thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me: Cast them into the furnace, and see whether it is genuine, in the manner in which I was tested on their behalf. Therefore, as I said, it would hint at Christ being tested unto death—the heifer being burned with fire after the slaughter. Yet nothing of it is to be rejected. For Christ is wholly holy, both the flesh and the skin, that is, both the hidden things and the visible and manifest things. For he was God by nature, having become as we are, yet without knowing sin. And cedar wood, and indeed hyssop, and scarlet thread are cast into the ashes—the cedar, elegantly hinting to us the incorruptibility (for cedar is better than decay); the hyssop, the purification (for the herb is cleansing, and naturally dissolves the impurities in the inward parts); and the scarlet thread, well and truly signifying the union of the Word with flesh.

For the Word was entangled, as it were, with flesh and blood, and for our sake he was tested through fire and even unto death, just as I said a moment ago. But his suffering, and the manner of his becoming human, became for us a source of incorruption and purification. For we have been justified in him, having turned away the defilement that is in soul and inward parts, if indeed the saving baptism is truly the appeal of a good conscience to God—not the removal of the filth of the flesh but of the power—through which the forgiveness of sins would come about; grace follows without fail upon the confessions of faith. And that Christ's dying for us has become a way to incorruption and life is in no way doubtful. But the one who burns the heifer and mixes the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet with the ashes, and indeed the one who gathers the ashes, are unclean, he says, until evening, even though they are cleansed in their garments and are clean—the law perhaps demonstrating the weakness of human nature, and that if our affairs were examined finely and precisely, no one at all of those appointed to the ministry would be beyond reproach—clearly the divine and sacred ministry—but even if someone happened to be among those who have chosen to live the best life, and is as pure as possible, he will not have a blameless ministry. For no one is worthy to touch the mysteries of our Savior. And this is no wonder; for the sacred Word will persuade us, speaking thus: The stars are not clean in his sight. Therefore, if our affairs were compared with the purity of Christ, they are unclean and defiled, and will be subject to the divine judgment.

One might well marvel, and very reasonably, at the divine Melodist when he says: If you observe iniquities, Lord, who will stand? For with you there is propitiation. So then even the one who seems to be clean is reproved. For, as I said, the complete freedom from fault, and the purity that is in us drawing near to Christ, is far better than human nature allows. But he said that the water of purification must be poured out outside the camp, and not rather within the camp itself. For the purification in Christ is, as it were, outside the Synagogue of the Jews. For he departed from it most completely when he said: Behold, your house is left to you desolate. And the cleansing grace has now been transferred, as it were, to the Gentiles; and as Paul says: Those who were far off have become near. For they have been called through faith, and have grown rich in the righteousness that is in Christ, while those of Israel chose to disobey. And that the water of purification would wash away every kind of uncleanness, and very easily, he made clear when he said: If anyone touches a dead body, he will be defiled; but he would not otherwise be released from what has happened to him unless he were sprinkled with the water of purification on the third and seventh day. And deadness is the corruption of bodies, and a symbol of uncleanness. But the sprinkling of water, with the ashes of the heifer and the other things mixed in it, would be a type of holy baptism. Therefore the one who is entangled in dead works and in defilements that lead to corruption—and we say that the works of deadness are the unholy and profane passions of the flesh: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire—

The clean thing could not be otherwise unless it were purified and washed away its defilement through holy baptism, according to the third and the seventh. And the third signifies the time of the resurrection, the last and, as it were, finally at the end, at which the Only-Begotten became man. But if, he says, a house should be defiled by someone dead in it, those who enter it are unclean. And every vessel and container not covered over is abominable; yet these too are cleansed by the water of purification in the same manner, on the third and the seventh day. The defiled house, and the vessels in it, and the container not covered over, the lawgiver seems to us in these things to hint at the synagogue of the Jews, which killed the Lord—perhaps, taken as a whole, conceived as all of them in one house, and individually, as it were, through the vessels. For man is a vessel upon the earth. That their mind is not secure, but very ready for defilements, and for receiving anything at all of the things that are accustomed to do wrong, he hints somehow through the containers not covered over, into which it is easy for those who wish to slip down, whether lizards or some other of the creatures that live in houses. But the mind of those who have been justified in faith is not so. For it is secure and covered over, and not catchable by those accustomed to do wrong. But even if, he says, someone touches either a wounded man, or a dead bone, or a tomb, even so let him be defiled. And we say that the wounded man is the one whose heart is not healthy, but as it were wounded, either by worldly desires, or by worldly wills, or indeed by fleshly ones.

We would accept a bone of the dead as a remnant of uncleanness; and a tomb, in turn, as a kind of reminder even of uncleanness that has died. For Satan sometimes strikes the heart. And when we are defeated in part by the passions of the flesh, we too are sick, not entirely, with respect to any sin whatever, but standing still in its remnants, we continue in the world. What I mean is this: someone is eager to master anger, or love of money, but does not entirely escape the excess. This, I think, is what it means for some to be in the remnants of uncleanness, of which the bone of the dead would be a sign. But also, when a passion has already been conquered, we sometimes set our mind toward its remembrance, and coming near to buried pleasure, we sin not a little. But we are released from such charges, since Christ wipes us clean and purifies us thoroughly by his own passion. For he died for us, and by his wound we were healed. And he himself takes away our sins, and is an advocate with the Father concerning sins—not concerning ours only, but also concerning the whole world, as the divine John has written to certain people. In him, then, is all purification, all justification, sanctification, redemption; with him and through him be glory to God and the Father, with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen. Concerning the bronze serpent. 1. God did not make death, nor does he delight in the destruction of the living, according to what is written. For he created all things to be, and the generations of the world are saving.

Since the firstfruits of the race, that is Adam, had grown sick through disobedience, and having disregarded the divine commandment had struck against God the Creator, for this reason he slipped down into corruption; and the nature of man became accursed, and the race fell under judgment. But we wretches, although we had been made in incorruption, thereafter, like shadows and like the grass of the field, having returned but briefly and with difficulty, fall unexpectedly as

upon our mother the earth. Hence the saints have cried out in various ways, lamenting our condition. One may hear the blessed David crying out openly: Man was likened to vanity; and again Isaiah: All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. For we have come down, as I said, to such a depth of wretchedness and misery that one could not reasonably compare our condition to anything, even though the Spirit-bearers are very wise. But the Maker did not overlook us when we were in this state; rather he deemed us worthy of both sparing and regard, and he set us free from death and corruption in Christ. How, or in what manner? This is clear to all, even if one should perhaps not say it; yet one may also behold the power of the mystery in the older Scriptures themselves. It stands thus in Numbers: And having set out from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, they encircled the land of Edom; and the people grew faint-hearted in the way; and the people spoke against God and against Moses, saying: Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us in the wilderness? For there is no bread, nor water. And our soul has been vexed at this empty bread.

And the Lord sent among the people the serpents that kill, and they bit the people. And a great multitude of the sons of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray therefore to the Lord, and let him take away the serpent from us." And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, "Make for yourself a serpent, and set it upon a signal-pole. And it shall be that if a serpent bites a man, everyone who has been bitten, when he looks upon it, shall live." And Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it upon a signal-pole. And it came to pass that when the serpent bit a man, and he looked upon the bronze serpent, he lived. For they were serving as slaves in Egypt, and having been weighed down by unbearable slavery, they were redeemed by God, many and wondrous signs having taken place there. For the water was changed into blood, and frogs and gnats, and indeed dog-flies, and the visitations of hail all but made war upon the land of the Egyptians; and they were punished also by darkness, and the death of the firstborn relentlessly afflicted those who had chosen to take advantage, while God wondrously saved those of Israel. Then, passing through the midst of the sea as on dry land, they beheld the Egyptians miserably destroyed. They received bread from heaven; for God rained down the manna for them. And there followed Christ, understood as in the rock; and unexpectedly he had mercy on them when they thirsted with streams. For the Divine is all-powerful, and abundantly grants the life-sustaining gifts to those who are devoted to him. But those who enjoyed such excellent goods are reproved by a few troubles.

Because they were also forgetful of the things that come from God, and least of all steadfast in believing him, but reckless and easily shaken and ready for faint-heartedness, and had unreasonably ignored the things by which they had been honored. For they call the bread from heaven empty, and they blamed the scarcity of waters—although they had learned that nothing is unaccomplishable to the divine and ineffable nature, or that he had set before them the sheer rock as a mother of river streams. And making their denunciation against God without excuse, they were punished by the bites of serpents. Then, coming to remembrance of their own transgression, they weep thereafter, and confess their offenses, and beseech the mediator—I mean Moses—to establish God as merciful and gentle toward them. And he, falling down, kept entreating; and yielding to the noddings from above, he fashioned a bronze serpent and set it on high, and commanded those who were struck to look intently at it; and doing this, they were saved. 2. But what is the meaning, and what is the great and wise mystery, it is fitting to investigate. For the letter will not suffice for the more discerning, but the mysteries have been, as it were, buried in the types. Come then, let us say that from the type again to the universal and more general, and what is true

reshaping the narrative. For being displeased with the good things that come from God and from above, and going recklessly after what is pleasant rather than what is beneficial, and thrusting aside the exercises of virtue, but clinging to the most shameful things, we have grieved the Benefactor, we have offended the Creator in no single way. It is for this reason that we have fallen under the bites of serpents—and by serpents I mean the intelligible ones, which, striking us through every sin, subject us to the bonds of death. And as it were the leader of the multitude of venomous beasts is the apostate dragon, that is, Satan, by whose bites man perished in the beginning and at the first, that is, Adam. And the evil creeps like from a root even to us, who have come from it. But we have been saved in a certain way. For we have looked upon the serpent, that is, Christ. How then is the good God a serpent by nature, or rather Goodness itself? Because he became like us, who are evil by choice: He became in the likeness of sinful flesh; and, He was reckoned among the unrighteous. And that we are evil, having become so not thus from God, but having drifted into this baseness, on account of the sin that tyrannized over us, Christ himself also makes clear, saying: If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him? So then Christ is a serpent, who is in the likeness of evil, because he became man. But if one should behold him intelligibly, he will be better than corruption, and he will leap over death, and he will disregard bites, and he will not care for the multitude of venomous beasts.

We shall see Christ, rightly understanding the mystery concerning him. And firmly believing that, being God by nature, he became man; but even if he was in the likeness of evil, he has nonetheless remained good. For he became like us, not so that he might be seen as evil among us, but so that he might make us good, transforming us by the Holy Spirit into every form of virtue. Moreover, the serpent was on a sign. For Christ was lifted up on the precious cross, and this he himself addressed to the Jews, saying: When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am. And that it is a type looking to his mystery, you would learn from him saying clearly: For just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And the serpent was of bronze, because of the melodiousness and most beautiful sound of the divine and evangelical proclamation. For no one is unhearing of the oracles given through Christ, but to all the region under heaven the mystery concerning him is spoken, and to him every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS CYRIL, ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA, GLAPHYRA ON THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. Concerning the heifer whose neck is broken in the valley. 1. God, who in former times spoke in many and various ways to the fathers in the prophets, in these last days spoke to us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the ages. But those who rightly understand that he who is God by nature stooped to emptying, because he became flesh and dwelt among us, according to the Scriptures, have richly gained the divine and precious grace. For as many as received him, he gave them authority to become children of God, it says. But those who truly thrust away the divine and saving word have slipped from hope, and being evil have perished miserably, insolently outraging the Savior and Redeemer of all things. And these would be the wretched Jews, over whom the prophet Jeremiah himself also laments, saying: Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes, and I will weep for the people day and night? For those who might have been radiant and enviable, and are deprived of the prosperity that was in them, how would they not deserve henceforth to be counted equal to the dead? Over whom one might fittingly wail and drop a tear from love and mutual affection. So then they have become destitute of every good, and from its very foundations, as it were, Israel was shaken, being driven out. For Christ has passed over to the Gentiles; and the slow-to-learn Jew is saved, and even then barely, as in a small remnant. And this, I think, is what is prophetically sung through the voice of Isaiah:

And unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we would have become as Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah. Come then, if it seems good, let us also behold from the very words of Moses the power of the mystery. For it is written thus in Deuteronomy: But if one slain be found in the land which the Lord your God gives you to inherit, fallen in the field, and they do not know who struck him, your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure to the cities round about the slain man. And the city that is near the slain man shall be, and the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd which has not worked, and which has not drawn a yoke; and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer into a rough ravine, which has not been worked, nor is sown. And they shall break the neck of the heifer in the ravine, and the priests and the Levites shall come near, because the Lord your God has chosen them to stand before him, and to bless in his name, and in their mouth shall be every dispute and every touch. And all the elders of that city, those who are near the slain man, shall wash their hands over the head of the heifer whose neck was broken in the ravine, and answering they shall say: Our hands have not poured out this blood, and our eyes have not seen it. Be propitious to your people Israel, O Lord, whom you redeemed out of the land of Egypt, that innocent blood may not be among your people Israel. And the blood shall be atoned for them. But you shall take away the innocent blood from among us.

But if you do what is good and pleasing before the Lord your God. 2. Emmanuel, then, has been wounded fourfold for our sake, for he has been weakened because of our sins, according to the Scriptures. And this he suffered in the land of the Jews, and outside the gate of Jerusalem. Yet they did not know who struck him, nor how or in what manner. What then does the law say? And yet we say that the audacious acts against Christ are the work of the Jews' impiety. For they themselves brought him to Pilate; they themselves, having cried out, would be guilty: Take him away, take him away, crucify him. And again: If you do not kill this man, you are not a friend of Caesar. And the divine disciples also plainly accused them of their perversity, to God the Father in the heavens, saying thus: For truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy child Jesus Christ, whom you anointed—Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel. And most clearly and openly the blessed Peter rebukes the peoples of the Jews, saying at one time, You killed the Author of life, and at another, You denied the holy and righteous one, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you. What then does the law say, that they do not know who struck him? The word is mystical, and not simply set forth for all; but perhaps it is known only to those who rightly understand the mystery of Christ.

For the teachers of the Jews, and those who shared in their unholy designs, thought that they had prevailed, and, not attributing the matter to Christ's willingness and to their own perversity, they rejoiced as though they had conquered, and did not know that he suffered willingly, and, following the Father's nod, gave himself up for us. And indeed he says clearly to Pilate: You had no authority at all against me, unless it had been given to you from above. Therefore the Father gave the Son, and, so to speak, he himself is said to have struck Emmanuel. And indeed in the book of Psalms the person of Christ is introduced, speaking concerning the unholiness of the Jews to the Father and God in the heavens, that Those whom you struck, they persecuted, and to the pain of my wounds they added. Let not the murderer of the Lord therefore think highly of himself any longer; for they have not prevailed at once, as though Christ were weak, but let them learn the truth through Moses. For they do not know who struck him. See, then, the fourfold-wounded Emmanuel in the land of the Jews. But the mystery concerning him is in no way fulfilled among them; rather it is mystically celebrated in the region and land of the Gentiles. For if, it says, the wounded man be found, they shall take a heifer of the yoke and unacquainted with toils; and having brought it down into a rough and unplowed ravine, let them break its neck through those appointed for the sacred rite. And having washed their hands over it, let them say, that Our hands did not shed this blood. The heifer, then, is as in a type of Christ, just as we have already said.

The heifer, why is it also unyoked and under the yoke as a man, and yet outside the yoke, because it is God by nature. For the Divine is free, and subject to none of existing things; but rather it prevails over all things, and holds the whole creation under its hands. But the Son, being free by nature as God, became with us as a man, and under the yoke. Therefore with us he inscribed the Father as God. But we are subjected to the authority of the Godhead. So then the heifer is under the yoke as far as pertains to nature, but outside the yoke because of the glory of the Godhead, and entirely free. But observe the heifer being carried off into a rough and unplowed ravine. For after the precious cross, when Christ was found wounded, he departed from the land of the Jews, and has now transferred to the land of the Gentiles, which has not been worked nor sown. For before Christ shone also upon the Gentiles themselves, they continued in the world like some dry and unplowed land, and destitute of the good fruit according to God. And indeed the prophet Isaiah says concerning it, Rejoice, O wilderness, and its villages. Let the wilderness exult, and blossom as a lily. Therefore the land of the Gentiles, that is the multitude, must be very well likened to some rough and unworked and utterly unfruitful earth. There, through the divine priests, I said that the heifer must be hamstrung. For, as I said, the mystery of Christ is accomplished by us for those of the Gentiles, and confessing his passion and his resurrection from the dead, we approach the mystical blessings. This, I think, is the hamstringing of the heifer.

For proclaiming, as I said, his death, and indeed also his resurrection, we accomplish the august mystery. But all who depart far from the impiety of the Jews, leaving behind the city in which he was wounded fourfold and found to have suffered, coming to the rough and unplowed ravine, there they shall wash their hands upon Christ himself. For they shall be washed, being baptized into his death; for this, I think, is the meaning of "They shall wash their hands upon him." And confessing that they have become partakers of the impiety of the Jews, they shall receive forgiveness. For the Jews, having raged insolently against Christ, inscribe the impiety upon their own heads, saying, "His blood be upon us and upon our children." But those who long for the grace that comes from him, and seek the purification through the Holy Spirit, by the means they have learned to honor, have all but cried out, saying, "Our hands did not shed this blood." In Christ, then, is the purification. And if anyone of the Jews should choose to think rightly—which indeed they have done, and before others the divine disciples, and those who believed through them, to whom one might reasonably also assign the role of the council of elders; for they are honored and chosen, rejecting the impiety of Israel through faith in Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to God and the Father with the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen. Concerning the captive woman who is shaved, and

being scratched with nails. 1. The God of all things brought the children of Israel out of the house of bondage, and as it were out of an iron furnace, having all but made war on the Egyptians with a mighty hand and an uplifted arm, as it is written; and by his wonders he contended against the folly of those who oppressed them. For signs and wonders were wrought, and he commanded them to go through the midst of the sea as on dry land. As the divine David said: He carried them like a nurse in the wilderness, and gave them bread from heaven. Man ate the bread of angels. He opened springs of waters. And what of the things that are greatly marveled at was not wondrously accomplished? Therefore, as the divine Moses writes: As an eagle covers its nest, he received them, and took them up on his back. But they had come to such a depth of evil counsel and perversity of thoughts, and of savage undertakings, that they even put to death the Redeemer who was present in the flesh, disobeying him. And why do I say this, passing over things still worse? For they killed him with hot and savage boldness, being led by now to the utmost impiety. For this reason, rightly, the Jerusalem that killed the Lord is sent away, and having been shown to be henceforth destitute of kinship with God, it has departed to every kind of evil, as it were self-invited holding judgment upon its own head. To which the Emmanuel himself also cried out, saying: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one killing the prophets, and stoning those sent to her; how often I wished to gather your children, in the manner a bird gathers its nestlings under its wings, and you did not wish it. Behold, your house is left desolate.

For the Synagogue of the Jews, having become detestable to Christ, was going to endure that so terrible and hard-to-bear penalty, and the Law itself would also show this to us in riddling fashion. For it reads thus: If you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands, and you take spoil from their spoil, and you see among the spoil a woman beautiful in appearance, and you desire her, and take her as a wife for yourself; and you bring her into your house within, and shave her head, and pare her nails, and remove from her the garments of her captivity, and she shall sit in your house, and shall weep for her father and her mother for a month of days. And after these things you shall go in to her, and live with her, and she shall be your wife. And it shall be, if you do not want her, you shall send her away free, and she shall not be sold for silver; you shall not treat her treacherously, because you humbled her. Now to busy oneself overmuch with the narrative's literal sense, and to wish to make a craft of testing the things in shadows, is, I think, futile in every way; for nothing is hard to attain; but the meaning of the things divinely ordained is very bare, and grasped with sweat. One must therefore proceed to the investigation of spiritual things. 2. For who at all, or against whom, would the war be understood to have been made? And who is the woman beautiful in appearance and most comely? And what again is the shaving of the hair from her head? And the removal of her nails, and of the garments of her captivity? Therefore, just as I have already said, the Synagogue of the Jews served the Egyptians like some captive.

For the fathers settled in Egypt in the beginning, when a famine drove them down. But when a long time had run its course, it made them thereafter numerous, sturdy, and most courageous, and beyond number, so that the Egyptians were greatly afraid, lest, emboldened by their multitude, they might march against them and bring under their hand those who had once been their masters. From this, Israel was sorely afflicted with toils of brickmaking. Yet God had mercy. For he has fought, as I said, against the Egyptians' bonds, which they laid on them unbearably in their greed; he delivered them and conquered. He saw in his foreknowledge Jerusalem that was to be taken captive, that is, the multitude of the Jews, shining with the beauty of their ancestral nobility; for she was fair and worthy of admiration because of the fathers. And when he had beheld her and desired her—that is, made her worthy of love—and, so to speak, willed even to dwell with her and to show her a mother of good endeavors, he brought her into his own house. And what is this? He pitched the holy tabernacle in the wilderness, so that, being trained by the sacrifices according to the law and by the services in type, she might learn little by little the mystery of Christ. For the law is a tutor leading to Christ, as the blessed Paul said. Having taken her in, he also shaved her and removed her nails and the garments of captivity. The head, then, is the sacred Letter, which somehow disposes one to make known the meaning; and the hairs on it he likens to the thoughts that lead to understanding. Therefore the shaving of the hairs clearly signifies the putting away of thoughts; and this the ancient Israel, having been redeemed, was commanded to fulfill, God speaking plainly through the all-wise Moses.

You shall have no other gods besides me. And again: You shall not do so to the Lord your God. For the abominations which the Lord hated, they made for their own gods. For while they were making their sojourn in Egypt, they held other notions, supposing the gods to be ten thousand, and kindling the worship due to the Creator for the creation; and they ascribed the glory to wood and stone. But since they have been called through Moses to the knowledge of the God who is by nature true and alone, how is it possible to doubt that the time brought in for them a newness of other notions altogether and in every way? This the divine Paul has also commanded us to accomplish eagerly, saying: Be not conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the will of God, the good and acceptable and perfect. Now the mere shaving of the head would surely in every way suggest these things. But the removal of long nails indicates the casting off of filth and uncleanness. For those who are exceedingly filthy have delighted, I know not how, in having their nails rather long. Israel, having been deemed worthy of kinship with God, ought to have departed from these things, as no one would doubt, since the law has cried out clearly: You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor; and all that has been joined to these. And the garments of captivity, I would say, are the form of slavery, and they record the types of a way of life in baseness.

For she had been subjugated to the devil's wills and, bearing her neck under his greed, she received fleshly-mindedness like some torn and filthy garment. But when she had been redeemed by the law and had been trained to think and do the better things, she stripped off the accusations of her ancient depravity, and, putting around herself the education through the law like some bright tunic, she continued thereafter. And this, I think, is what the inspired Paul also persuades us ourselves to do, saying thus: Having stripped off the old man with his deeds, and having put on the new man, which is being renewed according to the image of the one who created him. And we are stripped bare also in holy baptism, all but throwing back to Satan the garments of captivity. And thus thereafter, having put on Emmanuel himself, we render thanks to God and the Father, saying: Let my soul rejoice in the Lord; for he has clothed me with a garment of salvation, and a tunic of gladness. And Paul, being a lawgiver, said again: Put on our Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for lust. You see how, being stripped of the garments of the flesh as of captivity, we have as our bright and divine covering Christ. For he himself is the tunic of gladness and the garment of salvation. So then, she who has had her hair shorn and removed, he says, and her nails that are filthy and long, and the garments of captivity—then, then he will dwell in your chamber, and he will be brought to dwell in it as in the rank of a married woman.

Except she shall weep for her father and mother for a month of days, that is, she shall call to mind those at home. And after this you shall go in to her, and she shall be your wife. For I think it is necessary that those who have been called into kinship with God, having freed their mind from improper thoughts and vain imaginations—especially, I say, in matters of being led astray—and from all filth, and, as the inspired Paul writes, having put off the old man who is corrupted according to the desires of deceit, should attend undistractedly to the God who has kept them and received them into paternal kinship. For attending undistractedly would perhaps indicate, I think, sitting in your house. And indeed the blessed David, knowing the matter to be truly excellent and profitable, says, One thing I have asked from the Lord, this I will seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the delight of the Lord and to visit his holy temple. And a very clear sign of the mind being firmly fixed and filled with love toward God would be the belief that one must always linger in the divine courts. Except the Creator did not fail to know the measure of human understanding. For how or from where could he? Since he is truthful who says, He himself knew our frame. For when we depart from the life in the world and withdraw our mind from the passions of the love of the flesh, we are not accustomed to do this entirely without blame. But we are somehow weak in the beginnings, and the mind is carried along by pleasures toward what is base. And it will easily slip into remembrance of the distractions in the world.

And he all but warmly embraces intimacy with him; even if perhaps the law drags us down, and God, as it were, draws us back again, transferring us to a more excellent and incomparably better life. For since virtue is uphill, while the path that carries us off to what is base is, as it were, very smooth, for this reason, thrusting aside toil, we go easily along the other. What then does the law say? She shall weep for her father and mother for a month of days; that is, she will not immediately make it desirable to dwell in your house, but she remembers those at home for a little while. And this happens to those who fall into captivity, who, even if they should perhaps be held in honor among their captors, even if luxury should abundantly lie at their disposal, nevertheless long again for their home and kindred and their own city, and are none the less mindful of their own people, and sometimes weep, pain and grief infecting their own mind, because they have been deprived of the one who bore them. This the flocks of the Jews suffered. For they had been redeemed from Egypt and rescued from bitter slavery, and had been called by God to the freedom that came to them from above and from their fathers, but even so they were mindful of the things in Egypt, and wept, saying: Would that we had died, struck down by the Lord in the land of Egypt. And they kept murmuring against Moses, saying: Why did you bring us out into this wilderness? Since, then, it is necessary that those departing from accursed love of the flesh and from the life that is in the world are at first hard to tear away, and sometimes seek the things in it, the lawgiver hints this to us obliquely, saying: She shall weep for her father and mother for a month of days.

And we do not say anywhere that he commanded them to weep; rather he permits it, and bears with those who are weak. And he said that the charges must be relaxed for those who have suffered this, precisely because they have not yet acquired the capacity for suffering. And indeed he conceded the passion to the Synagogue of the Jews in the wilderness, and did not utterly destroy those who had sinned, even if he was justly indignant. For that he has not always permitted us to be weak, and to receive memories of the ancient intimacy—I mean that which is in the world—he showed clearly, allotting no long times for weeping; for a month of days, that is, a brief and compressed period of time. Some such meaning the divine Melodist has also introduced for us, saying to the Church from the Gentiles: Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father's house; for the king will desire your beauty. Having wept, then, he says, for your father and mother a month of days, then shall you be a woman. For when we depart, as I said, from the life in the world, then, then we are joined to God, by union, clearly, that is spiritual. For he who is joined

to the Lord, is one spirit. But it shall be, he says, If you do not wish her, you shall send her away free, and she shall not be sold for silver. For when the Synagogue of the Jews had acted impiously, and having laid its hands upon Christ himself, because it had raged madly against its own Master, then it was hated, and became unwanted; and it was all but sent out from the divine and sacred hearth. Nevertheless it was not handed over to slavery, nor, as it were, sold to Satan, nor wholly subjected to his wills; for it has not served idols, although Israel slipped away from its kinship with Christ. But it has remained, confessing and worshipping the one God by nature, and it has kept its love for Moses and the law; for the God of all did not set it aside, because it was once deemed worthy of kinship with him. For this is what he teaches us, saying: You shall not set her aside, because you humbled her. For here he calls the defloration a humbling, that is, the manner of the spiritual union, and it is clear that it is the union in Christ; through whom and with whom be glory to God and the Father with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen. Concerning the one who wars against the enemies. Take up weapons and a shield, the prophet Isaiah has addressed to certain people. And Paul, the most wise: Put on, he says, the whole armor of God.

For those who are known to God, and lovers of virtue, and reared in all-noble gentleness, campaign most of all and universally against every profane and fleshly pleasure, and set out in opposition, as it were, against the perversities of the devil: the thing established in faith, the unshaken in endurance, the steadfast in toils, and the eager for love of labor—namely, in all things that have been admired. But no one, I think, would ever reach such a measure of spiritual vigor as even to capture the glory so manifest and beyond all wonder, unless he has Christ as his champion. And he will surely strive together with, and be present eagerly with, those who have chosen to think the things that are his, and who have richly obtained the purification that comes through him, and who have taken care to make their boast of his reproach. And indeed the divinely inspired Psalmist says: He who dwells in the help of the Most High shall lodge in the shelter of the God of heaven. He shall say to the Lord: You are my helper, and my refuge, my God, my helper, and I will hope in him. For he himself shall deliver me from the snare of the hunters, and from the troublesome word. For we shall be better than our enemies, God preserving us; he himself will be faithful, saying: Because he has come to me, I will also deliver him. He cried out to me, and I will hear him; I am with him in affliction; I will rescue him, and I will glorify him. But observe the matter, and it is written by the all-wise Moses himself. For he said: But if you go out to draw near to battle against your enemies, and you keep yourself from every evil word:

If there is among you a man who is not clean by reason of his nocturnal emission, he shall go outside the camp, and he shall not enter the camp. And it shall be that toward evening he shall wash his body in water, and when the sun has set, he shall enter the camp. And there shall be a place for you outside the camp, and you shall go out there outside; and you shall have a peg on your belt. And it shall be, when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it, and having turned aside you shall cover your shame with it. Because the Lord your God walks about in your camp, to deliver you and to give your enemy into your hands. And your camp shall be holy, and no shameful thing shall be seen among you, and he will turn away from you. Do you hear that those who wish to triumph over their enemies and to be held in good repute must be free from every defilement? For our wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of the darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places, which closely inspect the life of man and busy themselves with the manner of each person's life. It is necessary, then, that we make our conduct blameless and irreproachable, so that it may not be carried away by their accusations. For he is both an enemy and an avenger, the

the father of sin. Those in this world, then, who are roused by the law of war and battle against their enemies, either receive blows to the body, perhaps, or inflict them on others. But we are not so; for our weapons are not carnal, according to what is written. Therefore neither are we struck in the flesh, but in mind and heart, receiving desires, and falling into the passions of the love of the flesh. We must, then, be fitted out with the full spiritual armor, and be fenced about by the grace from above, and, as far as possible, keep the mind beyond every intelligible dart. For in this way we shall prevail over those who oppose us, and, passing beyond every passion, we shall keep the beauty of the soul undamaged for God. Thus indeed the law says: If you go out to set yourself in battle against your enemies, and keep yourself from every evil word—that is, keep yourself far removed from every cause of blame, so that no true word may be against you in any shameful and disreputable matter; decline the accusation that is brought, and let every evil word against you be idle. And that we must also unload the charges of fleshly uncleanness, he indicated enigmatically, commanding the one defiled by his emission to go outside the camp and to wash with water toward evening, and thus afterward to return home, and, if he wished, even to the camp itself. Then what the matter is, and what the meaning of such things would be, I shall attempt to explain.

For if some human defilement should occur, when the mind has inclined but slightly toward necessity and has yielded an entrance to desires for what is base, the Master has judged that, as far as this is concerned, one ought to be separated from the multitude of the saints, and He does not permit the clean to dwell together with the unclean. For He by no means lets the corrupting sin among us go unrebuked. But we shall find purification in Christ, being cleansed with water—according, I mean, to the words, Wash yourselves, become clean. We do this toward evening, that is, in the last times of the age; and one may observe this very thing fulfilled in the flocks of the saints. For those who have been defiled by outlandish love of the flesh, who once remained outside the multitude and camp of the saints, who were far away from the sacred flock, having gained the purification that comes through holy baptism, have become near—those who were far off—having been shown to be partakers with the saints, and henceforth fellow citizens and sharers of the hope, at the time, clearly, of the visitation that has come, so to speak, in the evening and at the very settings of the present age. He said, then, that it is necessary for those who obtain purification in Christ to love to thrust away the accusations that come from love of the flesh. But there shall be, He says, a place for you also outside the camp, and you shall go out there outside, and a peg shall be on your belt. And it shall be, when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it; and having brought it, you shall cover your shame with it. Because the Lord your God walks about in your camp, to deliver you and to give your enemy into your hands.

And your camp shall be holy, and no shameful thing shall be seen in you. For, as I said, to reject every form of uncleanness especially befits those who desire to play the man against the enemies of things intelligible. But since we all stumble in many things, and human nature is sick with a tendency to slip easily into wrongdoing, and no one understands his transgressions, according to the voice of the Psalmist—but if it should happen, he says, that by one of the uncleannesses innate and within us one is, so to speak, bruised all round and is caught having fallen sick in some of the things outside the law and a life becoming to holiness; for the law of sin dwells in the members of the flesh—first, let not the stumbling-blocks arising from weakness lie plainly and uncovered, nor in the sight of many; but as it were outside and secretly, and as far as possible at the outskirts of the camp; then let them be covered by the corrections of these things, he says; for the wise shall hide their own shame, according to what is written. And coming to the end of our transgressions, and by our inclinations toward the better in some way reconstituting the mind, so as to choose what is necessary

…we remove the unseemly from our midst, out of what has already been committed beforehand, and having conquered foul-smelling sin by the fragrances of what follows, we shall enter again into the camp of the saints, that is, into the Church of the firstborn. And in Christ this too is accomplished. And in what manner? If we take up our own cross, according to his voice, employing a swift and well-girded resolve. For our having a peg upon the belt, that is, the wood, this perhaps hints to us obliquely. The law, then, is spiritual, and bodily things are wont to furnish the outline of things intelligible. For we are not in uncleannesses—God having done this in the eyes of men—when we go out to the privy and relieve ourselves of the residues from the belly. But, as I said just now, the things that lie in the realm of sense would also be types and images of things intelligible. We must therefore bury our uncleannesses, because the Lord God walks in the camp. For Christ dwells in us and walks about in us; and if he sees a shameful and unseemly thing in us, he rises up at once, for a Holy Spirit of wisdom will flee deceit, as it is written, and will withdraw from senseless reasonings. But if he finds us pure and sifted, and better than passions and defilements, he will dwell in us eagerly, and will deliver us from the hand of enemies. Therefore he says: You shall be holy, because I am holy. And again: Come out from there, and do not touch the unclean thing, and I will receive you, says the Lord. For our Lord Jesus Christ will receive those thus purified with joy.

…through whom and with whom be the glory to God and the Father, with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen. Concerning the plastered stones. 1. The inspired Paul was exceedingly wise when he said that the more ancient were led by the writings of Moses to the mystery of Christ. For the matter stands thus, and the account is true. For when we turn the things divinely spoken through Moses toward the truth, we shall find the contemplation in them most beautiful. And having, as it were, laid hold of the letter with our very hands, and no longer clinging to the things that are in types, we shall hear the prophet saying: You have gone very deep in sitting. For we shall find nothing awakened and truly profitable in the shadows; but we shall declare the commandment wholly blameless. For this reason the inspired Moses also placed a veil over his face, signifying, I think, to the more discerning, that the law is twofold; and the truth is innermost; but the shadow has been spread over it like a face, and the things visible on the outside are a superfluous covering for the things hidden. Moses therefore teaches us in Deuteronomy that the initiates of the new covenant in Christ will speak the word through him at the proper times, and will lead us as a pedagogue to the truth, and will make the narration clearer than the letter, interpreting it more spiritually. And it is written thus: And Moses commanded and the elders of Israel, saying: Keep all these commandments which I command you today.

And it shall be, on the day when you cross the Jordan into the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall set up for yourself great stones, and you shall plaster them with plaster, and you shall write on the stones all the words of this law, when you cross the Jordan, when you enter into the land which the Lord the God of your fathers gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord the God of your fathers spoke to you. And it shall be, if you cross the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, on Mount Gaibal; and you shall plaster them with plaster; and you shall build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; you shall not put iron upon them. With whole stones you shall build the altar to the Lord your God. And you shall offer on them burnt offerings to the Lord your God, and you shall sacrifice a sacrifice of salvation, and you shall eat, and you shall be filled and you shall be glad before the Lord your God. And you shall write on these stones all this law. Consider again, then, that to make

He has commanded that the words concerning the things that will come from him be not treated as a side matter, but be deemed worthy of the greatest possible care. And these were the words from the holy apostles. I will try very well to clarify each part as far as possible. 2. For if it should happen, he says, that we cross the Jordan and enter also into the thrice-desired land of the promise, then, then, having set great stones on high, you shall plaster them and write on them all this law very clearly. The great stones, then, set on high, signify to us the choir of the holy apostles, who are great and lofty and truly conspicuous. For as far as virtue is concerned, and the boasts of the conduct of life in Christ, nothing is equal to them. For we find those of our own time standing in pre-eminences, and very greatly surpassing. For who, tell me, being of sound mind, will strive for equality with those sacred and renowned men, whom Christ even called his own friends? For no longer, he says, do I call you servants; you are my friends. And he called them the light of the world and the salt of the earth, and he commanded that they be seen adorned with the dignities befitting themselves and him; he set them as benefactors and showed them to be physicians of the whole world, saying: Heal the sick, cast out demons, cleanse lepers, raise the dead; freely you received, freely give. Great, then, are the stones, and as it were lying on a mountain. For the conspicuousness of glory and the prominence in good repute makes them appear as lying very high and as it were on a mountain.

But who might be those who set up the stones? Those who cross the Jordan. Those who have believed in holy Christ and enrich themselves with the grace that comes through holy baptism. These certainly set up over themselves teachers and guides into the mysteries, the disciples of our Savior, the truly holy and chosen stones, concerning which the prophetic oracle said to us: "For holy stones are rolled upon the earth." For almost literally the divinely inspired disciples were rolled throughout the world under heaven, going about the inhabited world and showing everywhere the beauty of the piety that was in them, and proclaiming the true pearl, the one precious stone, that is, Christ. And the stones, having been plastered, have a writing, the law, very clearly. For in the holy apostles we shall find the contemplations in the law brightly and openly, no longer overshadowed by the letter, nor having the shadow as a faint covering, but bright and clear. For the instruction of the saints is spiritual. They therefore speak the law brightly. And this, I think, is what it means to inscribe it very clearly on plastered stones, according to what is written. And when the stones on which the law was were set up, he said that an altar had to be built from other whole stones, that is, uncut, and not damaged by blows of iron. And what would be the meaning of this too? For Christ is the precious Cornerstone; and he has been laid also for the foundations of Zion. For we are established upon him, having received him as a kind of safe and unshakable foundation.

And we too, as living stones, are built up, a spiritual house, into a holy temple, into a dwelling-place of God in the Spirit. But none the less are we also, as it were, a kind of altar, gathered together in spiritual unity and giving forth the sweet savour of faith in Christ, bringing to God and the Father through him, as it were in the order of the most fragrant incenses, the boasts that come from virtues. And indeed the inspired Paul writes to us: Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing to God, your reasonable service. So then we too are stones, but whole and unwrought. For those who, as I said, give forth the sweet savour of Christ himself make the consecration of their mind complete; not divided toward the things in the world, nor yet still bearing the wounds of profane and abominable sin; but just as Christ is undivided, so also are they single-minded and true; cleaving to God alone, and refusing to seem to be divided among the things of the flesh and the world. Thus consecrating himself, the sacred Paul writes: For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But it is necessary to remember that he proclaimed to us the same law in other words, saying thus: And if you make me an altar of stones, you shall not build them hewn, for you have laid your knife upon it, and it is defiled. So then the stones are whole and unwrought, at least in the ways just mentioned by us. But you shall eat, it says, and be filled there, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God.

For those who have now reached such glory as to be able to spread the fragrance of Christ, it would be fitting, and very reasonably so, both to be filled with the sacred and divine food and truly to rejoice spiritually in the eyes of God. And this too is accomplished by the mystical blessings used in the Churches by those who have believed in our Lord Jesus Christ; through whom and with whom be glory to God and the Father, with the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Concerning the election of Jesus. 1. Rightly indeed did the wise John understand both the mystery of Christ and the measure of Moses' ministry, when he declared: The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. But the law was ready for wrath, and upon transgressors it straightway and without delay imposed bitter penalties; it simply accused wickedness and made denunciation of sin. For sin, he says, is not reckoned when there is no law. And again: I would not have known sin except through the law. But Christ releases us from our offenses. For he justifies by grace, and sanctifies those who have believed, and brings to fulfillment the things long ago promised to the fathers. That both are true Paul will again make clear, having written thus: The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. For he calls the shadow in the law "letter," and again "Spirit" the worship in spirit and truth, I mean the evangelical worship, which Christ has renewed for those throughout the whole inhabited world.

For since the first was not blameless, for this reason necessarily the place of the second was also sought. And God contended with the one, promising a new one. But when Moses, so to speak, had been withdrawn and had now passed from the midst, Christ sprang up in a manner and was shown forth as our leader, through whom and in whom, having been brought into the kingdom of the heavens, we shall receive the prosperity that runs together with the boundless ages, living out the pure and holy life, freed from every accusation. The very things divinely ordained of old through Moses have also trained us to be disposed and to think thus. For it is written as follows: And Moses called Joshua and said to him before all Israel: Be strong and courageous. For you shall enter before the face of this people into the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give them, and you shall inherit it for them. And the Lord shall be he who journeys together with you. He will not fail you, nor indeed will he forsake you. Do not fear, nor be cowardly. When the all-excellent Moses was about to depart from affairs and now to be translated to the mansions above, the divine Joshua rises up in a manner and succeeds to the leadership. For when the old and ancient letter was, as it were, coming to an end and the worship in the law, as I have already said, was all but withdrawn, the Only-begotten came down to us from heaven and became in the form of what is ours. And God, who has authority over all things, as one who holds the brilliant dignity of the elder as his own, usefully pretends, on account of his likeness to us, to be called to the beginnings of a kingdom.

Therefore he also said: "But I have been established king by him"—clearly by God and the Father—"on Zion, his holy mountain," declaring the commandment of the Lord. So then, let no one bring Moses back into the middle, since he has yielded to the glory of Christ; let the types no longer prevail, nor let the shadow be stirred up again by anyone. The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. But if anyone should choose to do this, let him know that he is dishonoring the divine economy, and forcing what seems good to God, and dissolving the venerable and great mystery. For he who still clings to the types after the manifestation of Jesus will be placed as far as possible from the sacred registers; and he will be shown to be wholly excluded and without a share in the gifts that come through Christ. The divinely inspired Paul clearly reproves certain of the Galatians who suffered this, writing: "O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed as crucified. This alone I wish to learn from you: did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being perfected in the flesh?" Then he adds to these things again: "You have been alienated from Christ, you who are justified by the law. You have fallen from grace. For we, through faith, await the hope of righteousness." For truly faithful, and among the most distinguished, was the great Moses. But he was a servant, and this was his measure—a mediator and minister of the law that condemns. But his Master has come, and has brought in to us the grace that justifies.

Let the law, then, be silent—the law that accuses of sin, the ministry of condemnation, through which God shut up all things under sin, in order that he might have mercy on all, according to what is written. But what did the great Moses say to Jesus? "Be courageous and strong. For you shall go in before the face of this people into the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give them, and you shall inherit it for them." See, then, the fore proclamation of the law. Moses did not fail to recognize the glory of the Savior—the glory that admits no comparison, the preeminence over every saint, or rather over all rational creation. He knew the invincible hand, the all-powerful and unconquerable authority; and he was, so to speak, struck with wonder as he saw enemies falling, death growing weak, Satan fleeing, and the beast once invincible and hard to overcome now terrified and defeated, the mouth of sin stopped up, lepers cleansed, demons in dread, and the sea raging yet calmed by a single word. He did not fail to recognize that the law through him had justified no one; for it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. But our Lord Jesus Christ will release the inhabited world from the ancient charges, and since he is himself the truth and the holy one by nature, he sanctifies those who have believed by his own blood, and makes them better than death and corruption, and will bring them even into the very kingdom of the heavens—the truly lovely and holy land of the dwelling above, the fair city in heaven, the Church of the firstborn, whose craftsman and creator is God.

That God and the Father will contend together and cooperate in everything with the Son who has become as we are, Moses establishes clearly by adding: And the Lord who goes with you will not leave you nor forsake you. The Son, then, is all-powerful and has invincible authority, since he is God by nature. But he is said to be aided by the Father because of the human element—the statement being fitting, and the matter itself, to the form of servitude, and also to the very manner of the economy with the flesh. And indeed the Son, in order that he may be believed to have become as we are, also feigns the weakness befitting a man, saying to the Father and God in the heavens: For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will you give your Holy One to see corruption. 3. That the instruction through the law was perhaps known to no one of those before the coming, understood spiritually, but has been marveled at now that Christ has shone forth, and has been placed almost before the eyes of small and great, since the Holy Spirit has descended upon us, through whom we understand also the depths of God—this too is clear from what follows. For it reads thus: And Moses wrote all the words of this law in a book, and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to the elders of the sons of Israel. And

Moses commanded them on that day, saying: After seven years, in the time of the year of release, at the feast of Tabernacles, when all Israel comes together to appear before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord shall choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, the men and the women and the children, and the stranger who is in your cities, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord their God, and that they may hear to do all the words of this law. You hear that he wrote the law; and he enjoins also on the chosen priests—I mean both priests and elders—that when the seventh year has passed, in the time of the release, at the feast of Tabernacles, they are to assemble all, young and old, women and children, and then read it to those gathered together. For that many and not easily numbered times would ride past, until Christ should shine forth and the time of the incarnation be revealed, one would learn through the requirement to make the reading every seven years. For the number seven is significant of abundance in the divine Scripture, according to that saying, I suppose: But the barren woman has borne seven. And again: Do not trust your enemy forever; for there are seven wickednesses in his heart. And the writer of Proverbs said somewhere: Seven times the righteous man shall fall, and shall rise again. Observe that in the seven years before the release, that is, in the times before the visitation, the law was not read.

For it is the same thing to read it not at all, and to be able to understand nothing, even if someone happens to read it. But it became known, as I said, at that time to small and great, when the time of release also arrived. For the law commanded the more ancient, saying: After seven years you shall make a release, and thus you shall make it. Release every own debt which your neighbor owes you. And again: If you acquire a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve you; but in the seventh year you shall release him free from you. But our Lord Jesus Christ at the end of the ages, and almost as it were seven years, released the debts, and set free those who had sinned, and granted pardon to those who were debtors, according to the gospel parable, who were slaves of sin and yoked under Satan, and made them bright and glorious by the Spirit of freedom. And the time of the release was shown forth in the time of Tabernacles, which also signifies the mystery of the resurrection, when the tabernacle of each of those lying in the earth, that is the body, is dissolved. For since Christ rose again from the dead, having trampled death and despoiled Hades, and having said to those in bonds: Come out, and to those in darkness, Be revealed, then, adorning human nature with the Holy Spirit, as in the firstfruits of the race, and of those being renewed unto sanctification, he breathed upon the holy apostles, saying: Receive the Holy Spirit. Then also the eyes of our mind were opened. Then we were enlightened, and we understood the law that had long been hidden and perhaps known to none of the more ancient.

Then we were gathered together also from the ends of the earth, to the place which he chose, that is, the Church, and when we were there, the chosen and sacred mystagogues and teachers interpreted for us the law that is in shadows and types. And indeed the wondrous Paul, thoroughly transforming the types into spiritual contemplation, writes and says: For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the purity of the flesh, how much more the blood of Christ? And when those from Israel were slaughtering the lamb and attending to the shadows, referring the type of the mystery to Christ, he said again: For Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. And he writes also to others: Tell me, you who wish to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one from the slave woman and one from the free woman. But the one from the slave woman was born according to the flesh, and the one from the free woman through promise; which things are allegorized. For these are two covenants: one from Mount Sinai, giving birth into slavery, which is Hagar. For Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother. Therefore, being initiated spiritually, we receive the divine law, fear, into ourselves. And that the power of the worship in types and shadow was going to be brought to an end in due seasons, Moses again indicated enigmatically.

For it is written that when Moses had finished writing all the words of this law in a book, to the very end, he commanded the Levites who bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying: Taking this book, you shall place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord our God. Understand, then, that he ordered the law to be laid up in one part of the ark, and not in its very midst; as though the new ordinances of Christ were about to be present before long, to which the older commandment had necessarily to yield—one might almost say to give place, or even to withdraw from the midst, so that what was newly brought in might be introduced. For it is not cast out of the holy ark—for the law given through Moses is acceptable in the Churches—but it is not placed in the first position; it has been drawn back, as it were, and has remained at the side, yielding, as I said, to those incomparably superior, that is, to the divine and evangelical ordinances, through which Christ has trained us for the knowledge of God and for every form of knowledge of virtue; through whom and with whom be glory to God and the Father with the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen.