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he has placed the week upon it, signifying; and the lamps signify all the luminaries. 3.53 And after the veil, the second tabernacle, called the Holy of Holies, and the ark of the testimony and the mercy seat and above it the Cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, is a type, according to the Apostle, of the heavenly things from the firmament to the higher heaven, just as from the veil to the wall of the inner tabernacle making the inner space. 3.54 Therefore, having been made wise by God, and having received letters and the genesis of all things by sight from a revelation, and having been glorified in his face, being unable to be seen by his kinsmen without a veil, then, as the first of men, being trustworthy and glorified by God, he writes the book of Genesis, saying: "In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth," declaring a beginning of the genesis of the world coming from God, as they contain all things and within them are all the rest of the created things, which he made along with them and those which he made in part after them; then, having begun from the first and finished by the sixth day, all things that are within heaven and earth, and having said that God rested on the seventh day and did no work because all creation was fulfilled and nothing was lacking in the most beautiful harmony of the cosmos, then again he adds: "This is the book of the generation of heaven and earth," considering it sufficient that all things are signified as being within heaven and earth. 3.55 And again elsewhere: "For in six days God made the heaven and the earth and all that is in them, and on the seventh day he rested from all his works, which God began to do," through all these things having expressed the same mind, that all things are within heaven and earth, and that before those seven days he had made nothing at all, but both began on the first day and finished on the sixth, and on the seventh he rested, having made nothing else, and that he made only two heavens, the first together with the earth and placing the second in the middle and making the two states, this one and the one to come, just as also in the tabernacle he commanded that there be two spaces in imitation of the cosmos. "According to the type," it says, "which was shown to you on the mountain"; which the Apostle, interpreting it, writing to the Hebrews, said the outer tabernacle was a type of this world and the inner of the heavenly things. 3.56 When such a great and divine cosmographer as Moses is testified to and glorified, in the Old Covenant by God, and in the New by Christ, and other God-bearing prophets and apostles bear witness with him concerning all things, both concerning the figures of the whole creation, as we set forth in the preceding discourse, and concerning creation itself, and they agree with him in every respect, who is so clumsy and foolish and feigned, especially one calling himself a Christian, as to disbelieve so great a truth and sacred testimony, and will not rather, bowing to the ground, be ashamed at the crowd of testimonies, the election, the revelations, the wisdom, the glory, the predictions, the paradoxical signs, the great wonders, the outcomes of the prophecies, the testimony of God Himself speaking as a friend to a friend face to face and in his presence, and in the New Covenant the testimony of the Lord Christ to him many times? Indeed, that I may also speak more fervently, unless one were a God-fighter, he will not be able to contradict this; for repenting, he will say again: "The finger of God is in him," and he will confess his defeat, just as the Egyptian enchanters and sorcerers, Jannes and Jambres, said concerning him. 3.57 According, then, to the great and divine cosmographer Moses and according to the most divine Paul, the teacher of the Church who has the Lord Christ speaking in him, since only two heavens were made by God, and not seven or eight or nine, how is it possible to pay attention to those outside who discourse from conjectures and sophistries and jaws and myths

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ἐπ' αὐτῆς τέθεικε τὴν ἑβδομάδα σημαίνων· οἱ δὲ λύχνοι τοὺς φωστῆρας πάντας σημαίνουσι. 3.53 Μετὰ δὲ τὸ καταπέτασμα ἡ δευτέρα σκηνή, ἡ λεγομένη Ἅγια ἁγίων, καὶ ἡ κιβωτὸς τοῦ μαρτυρίου καὶ τὸ ἱλαστήριον καὶ ὑπεράνω Χερουβὶμ δόξης κατασκιάζοντα τὸ ἱλαστήριον, τύπος ἐστὶ κατὰ τὸν Ἀπόστολον τῶν οὐρανίων ἀπὸ τοῦ στερεώματος ἐπὶ τὸν ἀνώτερον οὐρανόν, ὥσπερ ἀπὸ τοῦ καταπετάσματος ἕως τοῦ τοίχου τῆς ἐσωτέρας σκηνῆς ποιοῦσα τὸν ἐσώτερον χῶρον. 3.54 Σοφισθεὶς οὖν ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ γράμματά τε καὶ τῶν πάντων τὴν γένεσιν αὐταῖς ὄψεσιν ἐξ ἀποκαλύψεως δεξάμενος καὶ δοξασθεὶς τὸ πρόσωπον, μὴ δυνάμενος ὁραθῆναι τοῖς συγγενεῦσιν ἄνευ καλύμματος, τότε πρῶτος ἀνθρώπων ὡς ἀξιόπιστος καὶ δεδοξασμένος ὑπὸ Θεοῦ συγγράφει τὴν βίβλον τῆς Γενέσεως λέγων· "Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν", ἀρχὴν γενέσεως κόσμου παρὰ Θεοῦ γινομένην, ὡς περιεκτικῶν πάντων ὑπαρχόντων καὶ ἔνδοθεν ὄντων πάντων τῶν λοιπῶν κτισμάτων, ὧνπερ ἅμα αὐτοῖς καὶ ὧν μετὰ ταῦτα κατὰ μέρος πεποίηκεν, ἀποφηνάμενος· εἶτα, ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης καὶ ἕως τῆς ἕκτης τελέσας, πάντα τὰ ἔνδον ὑπάρχοντα οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς, καὶ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ καταπαύσαντα τὸν Θεὸν εἰρηκὼς καὶ μηδὲν ἐργασάμενον διὰ τὸ πεπληρῶσθαι πᾶσαν τὴν κτίσιν καὶ μὴ λείπειν τι τῇ καλλίστῃ ἁρμονίᾳ τοῦ κόσμου, τότε πάλιν ἐπιφέρει· "Αὕτη ἡ βίβλος γενέσεως οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς", ἀρκετὸν ἡγησάμενος πάντα συσσημαίνεσθαι ἔσωθεν ὄντα οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς. 3.55 Καὶ πάλιν ἑτέρωθι· "Ἐν γὰρ ἓξ ἡμέραις ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς, καὶ τῇ ἑβδομῇ κατέπαυσεν ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ, ὧν ἤρξατο ὁ Θεὸς ποιῆσαι", διὰ πάντων τὸν αὐτὸν νοῦν εἰρηκὼς ὅτι καὶ ἔνδον εἰσὶ πάντα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς, καὶ ὅτι πρὸ τῶν ἑπτὰ ἡμερῶν ἐκείνων τίποτε τὸ σύνολον οὐ πεποιήκει, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἤρξατο ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης ἡμέρας καὶ ἐτέλεσε τῇ ἕκτῃ καὶ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ κατέπαυσε, μηδὲν ἕτερον ποιήσας, καὶ ὅτι δύο μόνους οὐρανοὺς πεποίηκε, τὸν πρῶτον ἅμα τῇ γῇ καὶ τὸν δεύτερον μέσον θέμενος καὶ ποιήσας τὰς δύο καταστάσεις, ταύτην τε καὶ τὴν μέλλουσαν, καθάπερ καὶ ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ προσέταξε γενέσθαι δύο χώρους κατὰ μίμησιν τοῦ κόσμου. "Κατὰ τὸν τύπον" γάρ, λέγει, "τὸν δειχθέντα σοι ἐν τῷ ὄρει"· ἣν ὁ Ἀπόστολος ἑρμηνεύων, πρὸς Ἑβραίους ἐπιστέλλων, ἔφη τύπον τοῦ κόσμου τούτου τὴν ἐξωτέραν σκηνὴν καὶ τὴν ἐσωτέραν τῶν οὐρανίων. 3.56 Τοῦ οὖν τοιούτου μεγάλου καὶ θείου κοσμογράφου Μωϋσέως μαρτυρουμένου καὶ δοξασθέντος, ἐν μὲν τῇ Παλαιᾷ ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐν δὲ τῇ Νέᾳ ὑπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ ἑτέρων δὲ θεοφόρων προφητῶν καὶ ἀποστόλων συμμαρτυρούντων αὐτῷ περὶ πάντων, περί τε τῶν σχημάτων τῆς κτίσεως ἁπάσης, καθάπερ ἐν τῷ πρὸ τούτου λόγῳ παρεθήκαμεν, καὶ περὶ αὐτῆς τῆς κτίσεως, καὶ κατὰ πάντα συμφωνούντων αὐτῷ, τίς οὕτω σκαιὸς καὶ ἠλίθιος καὶ πεπλασμένος, μάλιστα καὶ ὀνομάζων ἑαυτὸν χριστιανόν, ἀπιστήσειε τῇ τοσαύτῃ ἀληθείᾳ καὶ ἱερᾷ μαρτυρίᾳ, καὶ οὐχὶ μᾶλλον κύψας εἰς γῆν ἐντραπήσεται τὸν ὄχλον τῶν μαρτυριῶν, τὴν ἐκλογήν, τὰς ἀποκαλύψεις, τὴν σοφίαν, τὴν δόξαν, τὰς προρρήσεις, τὰ σημεῖα τὰ παράδοξα, τὰ μεγάλα θαύματα, τὰς ἐκβάσεις τῶν προφητειῶν, αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν μαρτυρίαν ὡς φίλος πρὸς φίλον κατὰ πρόσωπον ὁμιλοῦντος καὶ ἐνωπίως, καὶ ἐν τῇ Νέᾳ τοῦ ∆εσπότου Χριστοῦ πολλάκις αὐτῷ μαρτυρήσαντος; Ὄντως, ἵν' οὕτως κἀγὼ θερμότερον εἴπω, εἰ μή τις θεομάχος εἴη, τούτῳ ἀντειπεῖν οὐ δυνήσεται· μεταμελόμενος γὰρ πάλιν λέξει· "∆άκτυλος Θεοῦ ἐστιν ἐν αὐτῷ", καὶ τὴν ἧτταν ὁμολογήσει, καθάπερ οἱ αἰγύπτιοι ἐπαοιδοὶ καὶ φαρμακοί, Ἰαννῆς καὶ Ἰαμβρῆς, ἔλεγον περὶ αὐτοῦ. 3.57 Κατὰ τὸν μέγαν οὖν καὶ θεῖον κοσμογράφον Μωϋσέα καὶ κατὰ τὸν θειότατον καὶ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἔχοντα λαλοῦντα τὸν ∆εσπότην Χριστόν, τὸν διδάσκαλον τῆς Ἐκκλησίας Παῦλον, δύο καὶ μόνων οὐρανῶν γεγονότων παρὰ Θεοῦ, καὶ οὐχὶ ἑπτὰ ἢ ὀκτὼ ἢ ἐννέα, πῶς οἷόν τέ ἐστι τοῖς ἔξω προσέχειν ἐκ στοχασμῶν καὶ σοφισμάτων καὶ γνάθων διαλεγομένοις καὶ μύθους