2 February 2024
After His circumcision, she next waits for the time of her purification.
And when the days were fulfilled, and the fortieth was the full time, God the
Word, who sits by the Father’s side, is carried up to Jerusalem and brought
into the Father’s presence in human nature like ours and by the shadow of the
law is numbered among the firstborn. For even before the incarnation the
firstborn were holy and consecrated to God, being sacrificed to Him according
to the law. O how great and wonderful is the plan of salvation! “O the depth of
the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” He who is in the bosom of
the Father, the Son who shares His throne and is coeternal with Him, by whom
all things are divinely brought into existence, submitted nevertheless to the
measure of human nature and even offered a sacrifice to His own Father, though
adored by all and glorified with Him. And what did He offer? As the firstborn
and a male a pair of turtles, or two young doves, according to what the law
prescribed. But what do the turtle and the dove signify? Come, then, and let us
examine this. The one, then, is the most noisy of the birds of the field, but
the other is a mild and gentle creature. And such did the Savior of all become
toward us, showing the most perfect gentleness, and like a turtle moreover
soothing the world and filling His own vineyard, even us who believe in Him,
with the sweet sound of His voice. For it is written in the Song of Songs, “The
voice of the turtle has been heard in our land.” For Christ has spoken to us
the divine message of the Gospel, which is for the salvation of the whole
world.
Cyril of Alexandria
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