THEOSISCyrill of Alexandria
Palladius. That is well articulated; now please clarify this: the law prohibits the consumption of blood, and rightly so; but what is the interpretation of this commandment? Cyril. If it pleases you, let us also consider what is prescribed in the book of Leviticus; it states: "If any man from the house of Israel, or any stranger living among you, eats any blood, I will set My face against the person who eats blood and will cut him off from his people; for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.
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Therefore I said to the Israelites, ‘None of you may eat blood, nor may any foreigner living among you eat blood.’ If any of the Israelites or any foreigner living among you hunts down an animal or bird that may be eaten, he must drain out the blood and cover it with earth, for the life of every creature is its blood; that is why I said to the Israelites, ‘You must not eat the blood of any creature because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off.’" (Lev. 17:10-14). Observe how clearly blood symbolizes the soul. Palladius. I comprehend it. Cyril. Thus the law distinguishes and separates the blood from the bodies of those being nourished, affirming the true doctrine, which we embrace by faith and honor in our congregations, that the rational soul of humanity is to be regarded as eternal. It does not perish in conjunction with earthly bodies through death; rather, it is severed, liberated, and freed from suffering by the Creator, allowing it to partake in everlasting life: "for in the beginning man was created ‘a living being,’ as God breathed into him ‘the breath of life,’ as recorded (Gen. 2:7). We would be unjustly charging the life that animates all creation with weakness if we claim that what it produces for life ceases with the mortal form. On the contrary, we will adorn ourselves with a crown of wisdom by affirming the immortality of the soul, as it is pleasing to the Creator of all, by whom "we... live and move and exist" (Acts 17:28). Such, I believe, is the essence of the law's command regarding it.