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that it was written in the Hebrew language and letters. The Hebrew language, therefore, pronounces 'heaven' and 'heavens' with one and the same utterance, so that it makes no difference in this regard, and the singular is found added to the plural and the plural to the singular, as when it says: 'Praise him, you heavens of heavens,' instead of saying 'the heaven of the heaven'; for it adds: 'And the water that is above the heavens,' so as to say 'of this visible heaven,' that is, of the firmament; for according to the hierophant Moses, the waters are above the firmament alone. 7.7 Similarly, it says: 'The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork,' beginning in the plural but ending in the singular, so that by either it might signify the same thing, that the very sight of the heaven, that is, of this visible firmament, proclaims both the glory and the creation of God through the order and magnificence within it; similarly again: 'The heaven of heaven is the Lord's, but the earth he has given to the sons of men,' calling the first and higher heaven 'heaven of heaven,' which is the heaven of this visible heaven, lying above it, just as this visible heaven is our heaven, lying above us. 7.8 Similarly again the great Moses says: 'Behold, to the Lord your God belong the heaven and the heaven of heaven,' as if to say this heaven visible to us and its heaven, that is, the one above it. And Paul also uses this idiom, crying out: 'But our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we await a Savior'; having begun in the plural, he ended in the singular, instead of saying 'from which' [plural], he said 'from which' [singular]. For since there were two heavens made by God, as the blessed Moses relates, and they are bound to each other, sometimes the divine Scripture speaks of them in the plural, and sometimes in the singular, as has been said, because of the idiom of the language; and it has been said that they are in some way joined to each other, being bound together, and are completed as one. 7.9 Do not, then, fall into error hearing of the blessed Paul being caught up 'to the third heaven'; for there are not three heavens, nor more, nor does he wish to say this, nor does he contradict Moses, but that he says he was caught up from the earth the whole distance of the height of heaven except for a third of it, so as to say: I was lifted up so far from the earth that a third of the distance of the height of heaven remained for me. 7.10 Since these things are so, it is now time for us to say how all the divine Scripture proclaims it, or them, to be indissoluble. The divine Apostle, therefore, speaks thus: 'For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,' in order to show that the earthly state here is dissolved, but the one to come, which is also heavenly, is indissoluble and eternal; and again: 'We have such a high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man,' so as to say that the Lord Christ was taken up into the heavens, into the true tabernacle, that is, the one that is always permanent and indissoluble. For by saying 'true' he signified that it is indissoluble, since the one constructed by Moses was dissolved; this one, as indissoluble, in contrast to that one, he called 'true,' as if permanent and firm and indissoluble. 7.11 And again he says: 'But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.' What he says is this: Since God commanded Moses to make the tabernacle in imitation of the whole world, he made it, dividing it down the middle with the veil and making the one tabernacle into two, an outer and an inner, just as

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ἑβραίᾳ γλώττῃ καὶ γράμμασιν αὐτὴν γεγράφθαι. Ἡ γλῶττα οὖν ἡ ἑβραία τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς μιᾷ ἐκφωνήσει ὁμοίως ἐκφωνεῖ, ὥστε καὶ ἀδιαφορεῖν περὶ τούτου, εὑρίσκεσθαι δὲ τὸ ἑνικὸν ἐπιφερόμενον πληθυντικῷ καὶ τὸ πληθυντικὸν ἑνικῷ, ὡς ὅταν λέγῃ· "Αἰνεῖτε αὐτόν, οἱ οὐρανοὶ τῶν οὐρανῶν", ἀντὶ τοῦ εἰπεῖν "ὁ οὐρανὸς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ"· ἐπιφέρει γάρ· "Καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ὑπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν", ἵνα εἴπῃ "τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τούτου τοῦ ὁρωμένου", τουτέστι τοῦ στερεώματος· ἐπάνω γὰρ μόνου τοῦ στερεώματός εἰσι τὰ ὕδατα κατὰ τὸν ἱεροφάντην Μωϋσέα. 7.7 Ὁμοίως λέγει· "Οἱ οὐρανοὶ διηγοῦνται δόξαν Θεοῦ, ποίησιν δὲ χειρῶν αὐτοῦ ἀναγγέλλει τὸ στερέωμα", πληθυντικῶς μὲν ἀρξάμενος, ἑνικῶς δὲ καταλήξας, ἵνα δι' ἑκατέρου τὸ αὐτὸ σημάνῃ, ὅτι αὐτὴ ἡ πρόσοψις τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, τουτέστι τούτου τοῦ ὁρωμένου στερεώματος, καὶ τὴν δόξαν καὶ τὴν δημιουργίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐξαγγέλλει διὰ τῆς ἐνούσης αὐτῷ τάξεως καὶ μεγαλοπρεπείας· ὁμοίως πάλιν· "Ὁ οὐρανὸς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ, τὴν δὲ γῆν ἔδωκε τοῖς υἱοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων", "οὐρανὸν οὐρανοῦ" καλέσας τὸν πρῶτον καὶ ἀνώτερον οὐρανόν, ὃς οὐρανός ἐστι τούτου τοῦ ὁρωμένου οὐρανοῦ ὑπεράνω αὐτοῦ κείμενος, ὥσπερ ἡμῶν οὐρανός ἐστιν οὗτος ὁ ὁρώμενος ὑπεράνω ἡμῶν κείμενος. 7.8 Ὁμοίως πάλιν ὁ μέγας Μωϋσῆς φησιν· "Ἰδοὺ Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ σου ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ", ὡσανεὶ οὗτος ὁ ὁρώμενος ἡμῖν οὐρανὸς καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς αὐτοῦ, τουτέστιν ὁ ὑπεράνω αὐτοῦ. Κέχρηται δὲ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος τούτῳ τῷ ἰδιώματι βοῶν· "Ἡμῶν δὲ τὸ πολίτευμα ἐν οὐρανοῖς ὑπάρχει, ἐξ οὗ καὶ Σωτῆρα ἀπεκδεχόμεθα"· ἀρξάμενος μὲν δυϊκῶς, ἑνικῶς δὲ καταλήξας, ἀντὶ τοῦ εἰπεῖν "ἐξ ὧν", "ἐξ οὗ" εἴρηκε. ∆ύο γὰρ οὐρανῶν γενομένων παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὡς διηγεῖται ὁ μακαρίτης Μωϋσῆς, καὶ συνδουμένων ἀλλήλοις, ποτὲ μὲν πληθυντικῶς ἡ θεία Γραφὴ περὶ αὐτῶν ποιεῖ τὸν λόγον, ποτὲ δὲ ἑνικῶς, καθὰ εἴρηται, διὰ τὸ ἰδίωμα τῆς γλώττης· καὶ ὅτι κατά τι συνάπτονται ἀλλήλοις συνδούμενοι, καὶ ὡς εἷς ἀποτελοῦνται, λέλεκται. 7.9 Μὴ οὖν πλάνην ὑπομείνῃς ἀκούων τοῦ μακαρίου Παύλου ἡρπάχθαι "ἕως τρίτου οὐρανοῦ"· οὐκ εἰσὶ γὰρ τρεῖς οὐρανοί, οὔτε πλείους, οὔτε τοῦτο βούλεται λέγειν, οὔτε ἐναντιοῦται τῷ Μωϋσῇ, ἀλλ' ὅτι ἡρπάχθαι λέγει ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ὅλον τὸ διάστημα τοῦ ὕψους τοῦ οὐρανοῦ παρὰ τὸ τρίτον αὐτοῦ, ἵνα εἴπῃ· Τοσοῦτον ἐπήρθην ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, ὡς περιλείπεσθαί μοι τὸ τρίτον τοῦ διαστήματος τοῦ ὕψους τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. 7.10 Τούτων οὖν οὕτως ἐχόντων καιρὸς νῦν ἡμᾶς εἰπεῖν ὡς ἀδιάλυτον αὐτόν, ἤτοι αὐτούς, κηρύττει πᾶσα ἡ θεία Γραφή. Λέγει τοίνυν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος οὕτως· "Οἴδαμεν γὰρ ὅτι, ἐὰν ἡ ἐπίγειος ἡμῶν οἰκία τοῦ σκήνους καταλυθῇ, οἰκοδομὴν ἔχομεν ἐκ Θεοῦ, οἰκίαν ἀχειροποίητον αἰώνιον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς", ἵνα δηλώσῃ τὴν ἐνταῦθα μὲν ἐπίγειον κατάστασιν καταλυομένην, τὴν δὲ μέλλουσαν, ἥτις καὶ οὐράνιός ἐστιν, ἀκατάλυτον καὶ αἰώνιον· καὶ πάλιν· "Τοιοῦτον ἔχομεν ἀρχιερέα, ὃς ἐκάθισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ θρόνου τῆς μεγαλωσύνης ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, τῶν ἁγίων λειτουργὸς καὶ τῆς σκηνῆς τῆς ἀληθινῆς, ἣν ἔπηξεν ὁ Κύριος καὶ οὐκ ἄνθρωπος", ἵνα εἴπῃ τὸν ∆εσπότην Χριστὸν ἀναληφθέντα ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ τῇ ἀληθινῇ, τουτέστι τῇ ἀεὶ μονίμῃ καὶ ἀκαταλύτῳ. Τῷ γὰρ εἰπεῖν "ἀληθινὴν" ἐσήμανεν ὡς ἀκατάλυτός ἐστιν, ἐπειδήπερ ἡ διὰ Μωϋσέως κατασκευασθεῖσα κατελύθη· ταύτην ὡς ἀκατάλυτον κατὰ ἀντιδιαστολὴν ἐκείνης "ἀληθινὴν" ἐξεῖπεν, ὡσανεὶ μονίμην καὶ βεβαίαν καὶ ἀκατάλυτον. 7.11 Καὶ πάλιν λέγει· "Χριστὸς δὲ παραγενόμενος ἀρχιερεὺς τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν, διὰ τῆς μείζονος καὶ τελειοτέρας σκηνῆς, οὐ χειροποιήτου, τουτέστιν οὐ ταύτης τῆς κτίσεως, οὔτε δι' αἵματος τράγων καὶ μόσχων, διὰ δὲ τοῦ ἰδίου αἵματος εἰσῆλθεν ἐφάπαξ εἰς τὰ ἅγια αἰωνίαν λύτρωσιν εὑράμενος." Ὃ δὲ λέγει τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Ἐπειδήπερ ὁ Θεὸς τῷ Μωϋσῇ προσέταξε ποιῆσαι τὴν σκηνὴν κατὰ μίμησιν παντὸς τοῦ κόσμου, ἐποίησέ τε αὐτὴν διελὼν καταμεσόθεν τῷ καταπετάσματι καὶ ποιήσας τὴν μίαν σκηνὴν εἰς δύο, ἐξωτέραν καὶ ἐσωτέραν, ὥσπερ