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And the house of Israel resembles a leprous house, from which those who transgressed were often removed, just like certain leprous stones, sometimes by the Assyrians, sometimes by the Babylonians, and at other times by the Macedonians. But since they had a persistent leprosy, the lawgiver ordered the house to be completely destroyed. Therefore, those who enter their synagogues are unclean, as those entering a leprous house. XIX What do the two little birds offered for the leper being cleansed signify? It contains the type of the saving passion. For just as one of these was sacrificed, and the other, dipped in the blood of the sacrificed one, was set free, so for leprous humanity the Lord Christ was crucified, his flesh receiving death, while his divinity made the suffering of his humanity its own. And just as the leper, sprinkled with the blood of the slain little bird mixed with clean water by means of cedar wood and hyssop and spun scarlet, was shown to be bright and clean; so he who believes in Christ the Savior, and is cleansed by the water of all-holy baptism, casts off the stains of sins. The cedar wood is a symbol of the impassible divinity; for this wood is incorruptible. The spun scarlet, of the humanity made of soul and body; and the hyssop, of the warmth and fragrance of the all-holy Spirit. For through these, those who are baptized are freed from the leprosy of the soul. And the kotyle of oil is significant of the spiritual 171 ointment. And the oil smeared on the right earlobe and on the right hand and on the right foot signifies, that hearing is to be set apart for right words, and the hand and foot for right actions; and being applied to the head, it signifies the consecration of the rational faculty. However, the one who remained a leper lived outside the camp; just as one who sins unrepentantly is cast out of the church. XX Why does he name the one with a discharge unclean? And I have already said that through natural things he instructs on moral matters and teaches through these how difficult those are. For if the discharge that occurs according to nature is unclean, much more is unlawful lust. And again it teaches us to flee the company of such people. For he said that one who approaches a person with a discharge is unclean. But that nothing that happens according to nature is truly unclean, the law itself shows. For if the one with a discharge touches an earthenware vessel, it commands this to be broken; but if of bronze or wood, to be wiped clean with water. And these should have been broken similarly to the earthenware ones, if indeed the one to whom this affliction happened was truly unclean. So too it says that the one who has a nocturnal emission is unclean, and those joined by the law of marriage; and yet he himself established the law concerning marriage and as the first law. "For this reason," he says, "a man will leave his father and his mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." How then does he call unclean one who unites according to the law? But it is clear that it teaches moderation 172 even in union according to the law and commands that the union be for the sake of procreation, but not for the love of pleasure. For this reason it calls those who unite unclean; and it commands them to be cleansed, so that preoccupation with cleansing might prevent continuous intercourse. But the divine apostle writes to the perfect: "Marriage is honorable, and the marriage bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge." XXI Why does he name unclean the woman who discharges the excess of blood according to nature? We have spoken concerning the one with a discharge, and we say the same things concerning her. In addition to these things, so that no one might have intercourse with such women. For some say that from such intercourse both deformity and leprosy are engendered, with that excess matter harming the bodies being formed. For this reason he says that one who has intercourse with such a woman is unclean. And he taught the reasons for such laws concisely, having said: "And you shall make the sons of Israel wary of their uncleannesses, and they will not die because of their uncleanness, in defiling

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ἔοικε δὲ τῷ λεπρῶντι οἴκῳ ὁ οἶκος τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, οὗ πολλάκις μὲν ἐξῃρέθησαν, καθά περ λίθοι τινὲς λεπρῶντες, οἱ πλημμελήσαντες, πότε μὲν δι' ἀσσυρίων, ποτὲ δὲ διὰ βαβυλωνίων, ἄλλοτε δὲ διὰ μακεδόνων. ἐπειδὴ δὲ παγίαν ἔσχον τὴν λέπραν, ἄρδην καταλυθῆναι τὴν οἰκίαν ὁ νομοθέτης ἐκέλευσεν. ἀκάθαρτοι οὖν οἱ εἰς τὰς τούτων συναγωγὰς εἰσιόντες, ὡς εἰς λεπρῶσαν οἰκίαν εἰσιόντες. XIX Τί σημαίνει τὰ δύο ὀρνίθια τὰ ὑπὲρ τοῦ καθαριζομένου λεπροῦ προσ φερόμενα; Τοῦ σωτηρίου πάθους περιέχει τὸν τύπον. ὥσπερ γὰρ τούτων τὸ μὲν ἐθύετο, τὸ δὲ εἰς τὸ τοῦ τυθέντος αἷμα βαπτόμενον ἀπελύετο, οὕτως ὑπὲρ τῆς λεπρώσης ἀνθρωπότητος ὁ δεσπότης ἐσταυρώθη Χριστός, τῆς μὲν σαρκὸς δεξαμένης τὸν θάνατον, τῆς δὲ θεότητος οἰκειωσαμένης τὸ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος πάθος. καὶ καθάπερ ὕδατι καθαρῷ τοῦ σφαγέντος ὀρνιθίου τὸ αἷμα μιγνύμενον διὰ κεδρίνου ξύλου καὶ ὑσσώπου καὶ κοκ κίνου κεκλωσμένου περιραινόμενος ὁ λεπρὸς λαμπρός τε καὶ καθαρὸς ἀπε δείκνυτο· οὕτως ὁ τῷ σωτῆρι πιστεύων Χριστῷ, καὶ τῷ τοῦ παναγίου βαπτίσματος ὕδατι καθαιρόμενος, τὰς τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἀποβάλλει κηλίδας. σύμβολον δὲ τὸ μὲν κέδρινον ξύλον τῆς ἀπαθοῦς θεότητος· ἄσηπ τον γὰρ τόδε τὸ ξύλον. τὸ δὲ κόκκινον τὸ κλωστόν, τῆς ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος ἀνθρωπότητος· τὸ δὲ ὕσσωπον τῆς τοῦ παναγίου πνεύματος θερμότητός τε καὶ εὐοσμίας. διὰ τούτων γὰρ οἱ βαπτιζόμενοι τῆς ψυχι κῆς ἀπαλλάτονται λέπρας. καὶ ἡ κοτύλη δὲ τοῦ ἐλαίου, τοῦ πνευματικοῦ 171 μύρου σημαντική. δηλοῖ δὲ τὸ ἐπιχριόμενον ἔλαιον τῷ ὠτίῳ τῷ δεξιῷ καὶ τῇ δεξιᾷ χειρὶ καὶ τῷ δεξιῷ ποδί, τὸ τὴν μὲν ἀκοὴν τοῖς δεξιοῖς ἀφο ρίζεσθαι λόγοις, τὴν δὲ χεῖρα καὶ τὸν πόδα ταῖς δεξιαῖς πράξεσιν· ἐπι βαλλόμενον δὲ καὶ τῇ κεφαλῇ, δηλοῖ τὴν ἀφιέρωσιν τοῦ λογικοῦ. ὁ μέντοι διαμείνας λεπρός, ἔξω διῆγε τῆς παρεμβολῆς· ὡς ὁ ἀμεταμέλητα πταίων τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐκβάλλεται. XX ∆ιὰ τί τὸν γονορρυῆ ἀκάθαρτον ὀνομάζει; Καὶ ἤδη ἔφην, ὅτι διὰ τῶν φυσικῶν παιδεύει τὰ γνωμικὰ καὶ διδάσκει διὰ τούτων ὅπως ἐκεῖνα παγχάλεπα. εἰ γὰρ ἡ κατὰ φύσιν γινομένη ῥύ σις ἀκάθαρτος, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἡ λαγνεία παράνομος. διδάσκει δὲ πάλιν ἡμᾶς φεύγειν τῶν τοιούτων τὰς συνουσίας. ἔφη γὰρ ἀκάθαρτον εἶναι τὸν τῷ γονορρυεῖ προσπελάζοντα. ὅτι δὲ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν γιγνομένων οὐδὲν ἀληθῶς ἀκάθαρτον, αὐτὸς ὁ νόμος δηλοῖ. εἰ γὰρ ὀστρακίνου σκεύους ἅψαιτο ὁ γονορρυής, συντρίβεσθαι τοῦτο κελεύει· εἰ δὲ χαλκοῦ ἢ ξυλί νου, ὕδατι ἀποσμήχεσθαι. ἔδει δὲ καὶ ταῦτα παραπλησίας τοῖς ὀστρα κίνοις συντρίβεσθαι, εἴπερ ἄρα τῷ ὄντι ἀκάθαρτος ἦν ᾧ τόδε τὸ πάθος συνέβαινεν. οὕτω καὶ τὸν ὀνειρώττοντα ἀκάθαρτον εἶναί φησι, καὶ τοὺς νόμῳ γάμου συναπτομένους· καίτοι αὐτοῦ τὸν περὶ τοῦ γάμου τεθεικό τος νόμον καὶ πρῶτον νόμον. " ἀντὶ τούτου , γάρ φησιν, καταλείψει ἄνθρωπος τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ προσκολληθήσεται πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρ κα μίαν ". πῶς οὖν ἀκάθαρτον καλεῖ τὸν κατὰ νόμον μιγνύμε νον; ἀλλὰ δῆλόν ἐστιν, ὡς καὶ τῆς κατὰ νόμον μίξεως τὴν συμμετρίαν 172 διδάσκει καὶ κελεύει παιδογονίας χάριν, ἀλλ' οὐ φιληδονίας γίνεσθαι τὴν συνάφειαν. διὰ τοῦτο τοὺς μιγνυμένους ἀκαθάρτους καλεῖ· καὶ κε λεύει καθαίρεσθαι, ἵνα κωλύῃ τῆς συνουσίας τὸ συνεχὲς ἡ περὶ τὴν κά θαρσιν ἀσχολία. ὁ δὲ θεῖος ἀπόστολος τοῖς τελείοις γράφει· " τίμιος ὁ γάμος, καὶ ἡ κοίτη ἀμίαντος· πόρνους δὲ καὶ μοιχοὺς κρινεῖ ὁ Θεός ". XXI ∆ιὰ τί τὴν τὸ περιττὸν τοῦ αἵματος κατὰ φύσιν ἐκκρίνουσαν ἀκάθαρτον ὀνομάζει; Περὶ τοῦ γονορρυοῦς εἰρήκαμεν, ταῦτα καὶ περὶ ταύτης φαμέν. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις, ἵνα μηδεὶς ταῖς τοιαύτοις συνάπτηται. φασὶ γάρ τινες ἐκ τῆς τοιαύτης συναφείας καὶ λώβην καὶ λέπραν ἀπογεννᾶσθαι, τοῦ περιττώ ματος ἐκείνου τὰ διαπλαττόμενα πημαίνοντος σώματα. τούτου χάριν ἀκάθαρτον εἶναί φησι τὸν τῇ τοιαύτῃ συναπτόμενον. συντόμως δὲ τῶν τοιούτων νόμων τὰς αἰτίας ἐδίδαξεν εἰρηκώς· " καὶ εὐλαβεῖς ποιήσετε τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀκαθαρ σιῶν αὐτῶν, καὶ οὐκ ἀποθανοῦνται διὰ τὴν ἀκαθαρσίαν αὐτῶν, ἐν τῷ μιαίνειν