THEOSISCyrill of Alexandria
If a person commits an unintentional act of murder, the law prescribes a punishment of perpetual exile, approaching the sentence with a measured sense of humanity, and wisely differentiating between involuntary and voluntary offenses. The directive includes the establishment of three cities of refuge (Deuteronomy 4:41 ff.), designated for those seeking sanctuary from inadvertent crimes. The law also stipulates a period of reprieve tied to the death of the high priest.
Read more (126 words)
As noted in the book of Numbers: “If he should push him unintentionally, without enmity, or should throw something on him without intent, or should drop some stone, from which one may die, without seeing it, on him so that he should die, but he was not his enemy and did not wish him harm, then the society shall judge between the murderer and the avenger of blood according to these decrees; And the company shall save the murderer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the company shall return him to the city of his refuge, where he fled, that he may dwell there until the death of the great priest, who is anointed with holy oil” (with further interpretation under Num. 35:28).