56

he places in the middle of the tabernacle, dividing it into two spaces. 5.36 And in the inner space was the ark of the mercy seat, placed and covered by the veil and not seen by anyone. And the mercy seat was a type of the Lord Christ according to the flesh, as the Apostle says: "Whom God put forward as a mercy seat in his own blood." And again the high priest was himself also a type of the Lord Christ. For just as, he says, the high priest enters once a year into the inner tabernacle, so also Christ "entered once into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption." And I remember having said these things many times. And the diagram of the ark of the mercy seat is thus. Drawing 5.37 Zacharias and Abijah, then, were both priests, one after another, entering year by year to make remission. It fell by lot, therefore, at the time of the Lord’s conception, for Zacharias to serve as priest, and having entered, as Luke writes, he saw a vision of an angel, who also said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, because your prayer has been heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John," intimating to him this: You entered here indeed to ask for the people to receive remission of sins, behold, therefore, I bring you good news that the things of your prayer are fulfilled; for a son is born to you from Elizabeth, who happens to be the forerunner of the one who grants complete remission to the world. 5.38 Indeed John himself, pointing to the Lord Christ, cried out: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world," that is to say: He who takes away and removes mortality and corruption and change, and makes us immortal and incorruptible and unchangeable, no longer capable of sinning. The covered tabernacle 5.39 And the court of the tabernacle, one hundred cubits in length, having twenty pillars, and fifty cubits in width, having ten pillars. And for the width on the east side of the tabernacle, he commands that there be three pillars on one side and three on the other, and the hangings, as it were garments, of fine linen only, fifteen cubits long, stretched upon the three and three pillars, and that the other four pillars should be for the gate of the entrance to the court, the hangings of which he commands to be of embroidered work of the four colors; but all the hangings of the court were of fine linen only; and their height was five cubits. And he commands rings and pegs and ropes, by which both the covering of the tabernacle and the hangings of the court were stretched out, all around the tabernacle and the court. And the sight of the whole tabernacle was awesome and splendid. 5.40 It is possible, then, to draw these things also thus, in the manner of the so-called pavilions. Here we have drawn the court and the tabernacle in the middle, covered and stretched out with the ropes to the pegs, and the entrance of the court on the east having its hangings of the four colors, but the entire court of fine linen only. Drawing 5.41 Perhaps someone will say again: Why did Moses command that the entrance of the tabernacle be on the east, and the inner tabernacle, that is the Holy of Holies, on the west? Such a person will hear most concisely: Since he was commanded by God to make the entire tabernacle as a model of the whole universe, according to the pattern shown to him on the mountain, so he also made it, and at the same time he also wrote that God, having formed man, made the beginning of his entrance into the world in the east, and thus commands him by progression, increasing and multiplying, to extend and fill all the earth to the west; for this reason the door of the tabernacle was on the east, and the inner tabernacle, that is the Holy of Holies, was on the west. 5.42 Since again it was also a model of the heavenly dwellings, and in the last times it was appointed to be revealed through the high priest and universal king and our Lord Jesus Christ, so it was afterwards toward the west. Since the world of men began to be from the east and by progression toward the west

56

τίθησι διὰ μέσου τῆς σκηνῆς διαιρῶν αὐτὴν εἰς δύο χώρους. 5.36 Εἰς τὸν δὲ ἐσώτερον χῶρον ἡ κιβωτὸς τοῦ ἱλαστηρίου ἦν κειμένη καὶ καλυπτομένη ὑπὸ τοῦ καταπετάσματος καὶ μὴ ὁρωμένη ὑπό τινος. Τύπος δὲ ἦν τὸ ἱλαστήριον τοῦ ∆εσπότου Χριστοῦ κατὰ σάρκα, καθά φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος· "Ὃν προέθετο ὁ Θεὸς ἱλαστήριον ἐν τῷ αὐτοῦ αἵματι." Καὶ πάλιν ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς τύπος ἦν καὶ αὐτὸς τοῦ ∆εσπότου Χριστοῦ. Ὥσπερ γάρ, φησίν, ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς ἅπαξ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ εἰσέρχεται εἰς τὴν ἐσωτέραν σκηνήν, οὕτως καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς "ἅπαξ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὰ Ἅγια αἰωνίαν λύτρωσιν εὑράμενος." Ταῦτα δὲ μέμνημαι πολλάκις εἰρηκώς. Ἐστὶ δὲ ἡ διαγραφὴ τῆς κιβωτοῦ τοῦ ἱλαστηρίου οὕτως. Παραγραφή 5.37 Ζαχαρίας τοίνυν καὶ Ἀβιὰ ἱερεῖς ἦσαν ἀμφότεροι, εἷς παρὰ εἷς, κατ' ἐνιαυτὸν εἰσερχόμενοι τὴν ἄφεσιν ποιήσασθαι. Ἔλαχεν οὖν κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ συλληφθῆναι τὸν Κύριον ἱερατεύειν τῷ Ζαχαρίᾳ, καὶ εἰσελθών, καθὰ γράφει ὁ Λουκᾶς, εἶδεν ὀπτασίαν ἀγγέλου, ὃς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· "Μὴ φοβοῦ, Ζαχαρία, ὅτι εἰσηκούσθη ἡ δέησίς σου καὶ ἡ γυνή σου Ἐλισάβετ γεννήσει σοι υἱὸν καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἰωάννην", τοῦτο αὐτῷ αἰνιττόμενος ὅτι· Εἰσῆλθες μὲν ἐνταῦθα παρακαλῶν ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν λαβεῖν τῷ λαῷ, ἰδοὺ οὖν εὐαγγελίζομαί σοι ὅτι πληροῦται τὰ τῆς σῆς προσευχῆς· γεννᾶται γάρ σοι υἱὸς ἐκ τῆς Ἐλισάβετ, ὅστις πρόδρομος τυγχάνει τοῦ τὴν παντελῆ ἄφεσιν τῷ κόσμῳ χαριζομένου. 5.38 Ἀμέλει αὐτὸς ὁ Ἰωάννης δακτυλοδεικτῶν τὸν ∆εσπότην Χριστὸν ἐβόα· "Ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου", ἵνα εἴπῃ· Ὁ τὴν θνητότητα καὶ τὴν φθορὰν καὶ τὴν τροπὴν ἀναιρῶν καὶ ἐξαφανίζων καὶ ποιῶν ἡμᾶς ἀθανάτους καὶ ἀφθάρτους καὶ ἀτρέπτους, μὴ ἐπιδεχομένους ἔτι ἁμαρτεῖν. Ἡ σκηνὴ κατακεκαλυμμένη 5.39 Ἡ δὲ αὐλὴ τῆς σκηνῆς μῆκος πηχῶν ἑκατόν, στύλους ἔχουσα εἴκοσι, καὶ πλάτος πηχῶν πεντήκοντα, ἔχουσα στύλους δέκα. Καὶ τὸ πλάτος τὸ πρὸς ἀνατολὰς τῆς σκηνῆς τρεῖς καὶ τρεῖς στύλους ἔνθεν κἀκεῖθεν προστάττει γενέσθαι, καὶ τὰ ἱστία, ὡσανεὶ τὰ ἱμάτια, ἐκ βύσσου μόνης πρὸς δεκαπέντε πηχῶν ἐκτεινόμενα ἐπὶ τοὺς τρεῖς καὶ τρεῖς στύλους, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τέσσαρας στύλους εἰς πύλην γίνεσθαι εἰσόδου τῆς αὐλῆς, ἧς τὰ ἱστία ἐκ τῶν τεσσάρων χρωμάτων προστάττει ἔσεσθαι ποικίλα· ὅλα δὲ τὰ ἱστία τῆς αὐλῆς ἐκ βύσσου καὶ μόνης· τὸ δὲ ὕψος αὐτῶν πήχεις πέντε. Κρίκους δὲ καὶ πασσάλους καὶ σχοινία, ἐν οἷς ἀπετείνοντο ἥ τε σκέπη τῆς σκηνῆς καὶ τὰ ἱστία τῆς αὐλῆς, κελεύει κύκλῳ τῆς τε σκηνῆς καὶ τῆς αὐλῆς. Καὶ ἦν φοβερὸν καὶ ἐνάρετον θέαμα πάσης τῆς σκηνῆς. 5.40 Ἔστιν οὖν διαγράψαι κατὰ τὸ ἐνδεχόμενον καὶ ταῦτα οὕτως, ὡς ἐν τάξει τῶν λεγομένων παπυλιώνων. Ἐνταῦθα τὴν αὐλὴν καὶ μέσην τὴν σκηνὴν διεγράψαμεν, ἐσκεπασμένην καὶ ἀποτεταμένην τοῖς κάλοις εἰς τοὺς πασσάλους, καὶ τὴν εἴσοδον τῆς αὐλῆς κατὰ ἀνατολὰς ἐκ τῶν τεσσάρων χρωμάτων ἔχουσαν τὰ ἱστία, τῆς δὲ ὅλης αὐλῆς ἀπὸ βύσσου καὶ μόνης. Παραγραφή 5.41 Ἴσως ἐρεῖ τις πάλιν· ∆ιατί ἐν τῇ ἀνατολῇ προσέταξεν ὁ Μωϋσῆς γενέσθαι τὴν εἴσοδον τῆς σκηνῆς καὶ τὴν ἐσωτέραν σκηνήν, τουτέστι τὰ Ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων, ἐν τῇ δύσει; Ἀκούσεται ὁ τοιοῦτος συντομώτατα· Ἐπειδήπερ ἐκμαγεῖον τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου τὴν ὅλην σκηνὴν προσετάγη ποιῆσαι παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ κατὰ τὸν τύπον τὸν δειχθέντα αὐτῷ ἐν τῷ ὄρει, οὕτως καὶ πεποίηκεν, ἅμα δὲ καὶ συνέγραψεν ὡς πλάσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὁ Θεὸς τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς εἰσόδου αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ εἰς ἀνατολὴν ἐποιήσατο, καὶ οὕτως κελεύει κατὰ πρόσβασιν αὐξανόμενον καὶ πληθυνόμενον ἐπεκτείνεσθαι καὶ πληροῦν πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἕως δυσμῶν· διὰ τοῦτο ἡ θύρα τῆς σκηνῆς ἐξ ἀνατολῶν ἐγένετο, ἡ δὲ ἐσωτέρα σκηνή, τουτέστι τὰ Ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων, ἐν τῇ δύσει ἐγένετο. 5.42 Ἐπειδὴ πάλιν καὶ αὐτὴ ἐκμαγεῖον ἦν τῶν οὐρανίων μονῶν, ἐπ' ἐσχάτου δὲ τῶν χρόνων ὡρίσθη ἀναδείκνυσθαι διὰ τοῦ ἀρχιερέως καὶ παμβασιλέως καὶ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὡς ὕστερα ἐπὶ δυσμὰς ἐγένετο. Ἐπειδὴ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀνατολῆς ἤρξατο γίνεσθαι ὁ κόσμος τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ κατὰ πρόσβασιν ἐπὶ δυσμὰς