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an enclosure of curtains and coverings of hair and skins dyed red, and whatever else he arranges in the account, what account could comprehend with precision? 2.173 Of what things not made with hands are these the imitations? And what profit does the imitation through matter bring to those who see it, of the things seen there by Moses? But it seems good to me to leave the precise account of these things to those who have the power through the Spirit to search the depths of God, if indeed there is any such person, as to speak mysteries in the Spirit, as the Apostle says. But what is said by us conjecturing about the proposed meaning, this we will submit to the judgment of our readers, to be considered either rejected or accepted, however the mind of the one who undertakes to judge may reason. 2.174 We say, therefore, since Paul has partially uncovered the mystery in these things, taking a brief starting point from what has been said, that Moses was instructed beforehand in a type, the mystery concerning the tabernacle that contains all things. And this would be Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, who, being not made with hands according to His own nature, accepts being constructed when it is necessary for this tabernacle to be pitched in us, so that in a certain way the same one is both unconstructed and constructed, being uncreated by pre-existing, but having become created by accepting this material constitution. 2.175 Perhaps what is said is not unclear to those who have precisely accepted the mystery of our faith. For there is one from all, who both was before the ages and was born at the end of the ages, who did not need to be born in time (for how could that which is before times and ages need a temporal birth?), but for our sake, we who were corrupted from being by lack of counsel, He undertook to be born as we are, so that what had come to be outside of being He might lead back again to Being. And this is the Only-Begotten God, who in Himself indeed contains all things, but has also pitched His own tabernacle in us. 2.176 But if so great a good is called a tabernacle, let the lover of Christ not be disturbed at all, as though the implication inherent in the word belittles the majesty of the nature of God. For no other of the names is worthy of the nature of what is signified, but all alike have fallen short of the precise meaning, both those thought to be small and those in which some greatness of concepts is perceived by opinion. 2.177 But just as all other things, according to some significance, each is said piously for an indication of divine power, such as physician, shepherd, defender, bread, vine, way, door, dwelling, water, rock, spring, and whatever else is said about Him, so also according to some God-befitting meaning He is named by the word 'tabernacle'. For the power that contains all beings, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead, the common shelter of the universe, the one containing the universe in himself, is properly named 'tabernacle'. 2.178 And it is necessary for the vision to be appropriate to the name, with each of the things seen leading towards some contemplation of a God-befitting conception. Since, therefore, the great Apostle says that the veil of the lower tabernacle is the flesh, because, I think, it has its composition from the various four elements, perhaps he himself also, having been in a vision of the tabernacle in the super-celestial inner shrines, to whom the mysteries of paradise were revealed through the Spirit, it would be well, attending to the partial interpretation, to fit the whole contemplation of the tabernacle to the part. 2.179 And the clarity of the enigmas of the tabernacle might become clear to us through the very words of the Apostle. For he says somewhere concerning the Only-Begotten, whom we have understood as the tabernacle, that: in him all things were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or authorities or principalities or lordships or powers. Therefore the pillars shining with silver and overlaid with gold and poles and rings and those cherubim, that with their wings cover the ark, and all the other things, which the description of the tabernacle-making contains, if anyone to the things above

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αὐλαίων περιβολὴ καὶ δέρρεις ἐκ τριχῶν καὶ δέρματα πεφοινιγμένα τῷ ἐρυθήματι, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα διασκευάζει τῷ λόγῳ, τίς ἂν δι' ἀκριβείας λόγος κατανοήσειε; 2.173 Ποίων ἀχειροποιήτων ἐστὶ ταῦτα μιμήματα; Καὶ τί φέρει τοῖς ὁρῶσι κέρδος τῶν ἐκεῖ ὀφθέντων ὑπὸ τοῦ Μωϋσέως ἡ διὰ τῆς ὕλης μίμησις; Ἀλλ' ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ καλῶς ἔχειν τὸν μὲν ἀκριβῆ περὶ τούτων λόγον καταλιπεῖν ἐκείνοις οἳ διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος τὰ βάθη τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐρευνᾶν δύναμιν ἔχουσιν, εἰ δή τις τοιοῦτός ἐστιν, ὡς Πνεύματι λαλεῖν μυστήρια, καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος. Ὃ δὲ παρ' ἡμῶν στοχαστικῶς ὑπονοούντων περὶ τοῦ προκειμένου νοήματος λέγεται, τοῦτο ἐπὶ τῇ κρίσει τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων ποιήσομεν, ὡς ἢ ἀπόβλητον ἢ ἀποδεκτὸν νομισθῆναι, ὅπως ἂν ἡ διάνοια τοῦ κρίνειν ἐπεσκεμμένου λογίσηται. 2.174 Φαμὲν τοίνυν, ἐν μέρει τὸ ἐν τούτοις μυστήριον τοῦ Παύλου παραγυμνώσαντος βραχεῖαν ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων ἀφορμὴν λαβόντες, ὅτι ἐν τύπῳ προεπαι δεύθη Μωϋσῆς τὸ περὶ τῆς σκηνῆς τῆς τὸ πᾶν περιεχούσης μυστήριον. Αὕτη δ' ἂν εἴη Χριστός, ἡ Θεοῦ δύναμις καὶ Θεοῦ σοφία, ἥ, ἀχειροποίητος οὖσα κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν φύσιν, δέχεται τὸ κατασκευασθῆναι, ὅταν ἐν ἡμῖν δέῃ τὴν σκηνὴν ταύτην παγῆναι, ὥστε τὴν αὐτὴν τρόπον τινὰ καὶ ἀκατάσ κευον καὶ κατεσκευασμένην εἶναι, τῷ μὲν προϋπάρχειν ἄκτιστον, τῷ δὲ ὑλικὴν ταύτην δέξασθαι σύστασιν κτίστην γενομένην. 2.175 Τάχα οὐκ ἀσαφὲς τὸ λεγόμενον τοῖς παραδεξαμένοις ἀκριβῶς τὸ τῆς πίστεως ἡμῶν μυστήριον. Ἓν γάρ ἐστιν ἐκ πάντων, ὃ καὶ πρὸ αἰώνων ἦν καὶ ἐπ' ἐσχάτων τῶν αἰώνων ἐγένετο, ὃ τοῦ μὲν γενέσθαι χρονικῶς οὐκ ἐδέετο (πῶς γὰρ ἂν τὸ πρὸ χρόνων καὶ αἰώνων δεηθείη χρονικῆς γενέσεως;), δι' ἡμᾶς δὲ τοὺς ἐξ ἀβουλίας τοῦ εἶναι παραφθαρέντας ἀνεδέξατο τὸ καθ' ἡμᾶς γενέσθαι, ἵνα τὸ ἔξω τοῦ ὄντος γενόμενον εἰς τὸ ὂν πάλιν ἐπαναγάγῃ. Τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν ὁ Μονογενὴς Θεός, ὁ ἐν αὐτῷ μὲν περιέχων τὸ πᾶν, πηξάμενος δὲ καὶ ἐν ἡμῖν τὴν ἰδίαν σκηνήν. 2.176 Εἰ δὲ σκηνὴ τὸ τοσοῦτον ἀγαθὸν ὀνομάζεται, ταρασσέσθω μηδὲν ὁ φιλόχριστος, ὡς κατασμικρυνούσης τὸ μεγαλεῖον τῆς φύσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ τῆς ἐγκειμένης τῇ λέξει ἐμφάσεως. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἄλλο τι τῶν ὀνομάτων ἄξιον τῆς φύσεως τοῦ σημαινομένου ἐστίν, ἀλλὰ πάντα ὁμοίως ἀποπέπτωκε τῆς ἀκριβοῦς σημασίας, τά τε μικρὰ νομιζόμενα καὶ οἷς τι μέγεθος νοημάτων ἐξ ὑπολήψεως ἐνορᾶται. 2.177 Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα, κατά τι σημαι νόμενον, ἕκαστον εὐσεβῶς πρὸς ἔνδειξιν τῆς θείας δυνάμεως λέγεται, οἷον ὁ ἰατρός, ὁ ποιμήν, ὁ ὑπερασπιστής, ὁ ἄρτος, ἡ ἄμπελος, ἡ ὁδός, ἡ θύρα, ἡ μονή, τὸ ὕδωρ, ἡ πέτρα, ἡ πηγὴ καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα περὶ αὐτοῦ λέγεται, οὕτω κατά τινα θεοπρεπῆ σημασίαν καὶ τῷ τῆς σκηνῆς κατονομάζεται ῥήματι. Ἡ γὰρ περιεκτικὴ τῶν ὄντων δύναμις ἐν ᾗ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος, ἡ κοινὴ τοῦ παντὸς σκέπη, ὁ ἐν αὐτῷ τὸ πᾶν περιέχων, σκηνὴ κυρίως κατονομάζεται. 2.178 Ἀνάγκη δὲ πρόσφορον εἶναι τῷ ὀνόματι τὴν ὀπτασίαν, ἑκάστου τῶν ὀφθέντων πρός τινα θεοπρεποῦς ὑπολήψεως θεωρίαν χειραγωγοῦντος. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ὁ μέγας Ἀπόστολος τὸ καταπέτασμα τῆς κάτω σκηνῆς τὴν σάρκα φησὶν εἶναι, διὰ τὸ ἐκ ποικίλων, οἶμαι, τῶν τεσσάρων στοιχείων ἔχειν τὴν σύστασιν, ταχὰ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν ὀπτασίᾳ τῆς σκηνῆς γενόμενος, ἐν τοῖς ὑπερουρανίοις ἀδύτοις, ᾧ διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἀπεκα λύφθη τὰ τοῦ παραδείσου μυστήρια, καλῶς ἂν ἔχοι, τῇ μερικῇ προσέχοντας ἑρμηνείᾳ, πᾶσαν τὴν τῆς σκηνῆς θεωρίαν συναρμόζειν τῷ μέρει. 2.179 Γένοιτο δ' ἂν ἡμῖν δι' αὐτῶν τῶν τοῦ Ἀποστόλου λόγων ἡ τῶν τῆς σκηνῆς αἰνιγμάτων σαφήνεια. Φησὶ γάρ που περὶ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς, ὃν ἀντὶ τῆς σκηνῆς νενοήκαμεν, ὅτι· ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκτίσθη τὰ πάντα, τὰ ὁρατά τε καὶ τὰ ἀόρατα, εἴτε θρόνοι, εἴτε ἐξουσίαι, εἴτε ἀρχαί, εἴτε κυριότητες, εἴτε δυνάμεις. Οὐκοῦν στύλοι ἀργυρολαμπεῖς καὶ χρυσήλατοι καὶ ἀναφορεῖς καὶ δακτύλιοι καὶ τὰ χερουβὶμ ἐκεῖνα, τὰ ταῖς πτέρυξι τὴν κιβωτὸν ἐπικρύπτοντα, καὶ τἄλλα πάντα, ὅσα ἡ τῆς σκηνοπηγίας ὑπογραφὴ περιέχει, εἰ μέν τις πρὸς τὰ ἄνω