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being dissolved? For he says: "A minister of the holy things, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man," expressly declaring it to be both true and indissoluble. 7.17 And again: "For men swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec"; and again: "Knowing that you have a better and an enduring substance." See again, O admirable one, that he calls that entrance which goes within the veil, that is, of the firmament, where Jesus has entered and where we are to enter, immutable and strong and sure and steadfast and enduring and perpetual and, like an anchor, holding us fast. 7.18 And again: "For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come," as if to say: We seek that one, the one that is ever-abiding and eternal, the Jerusalem above, which is free and the mother of all the faithful; for the one here, he says, is dissolved according to what is said: "For the fashion of this world passes away"; and again he says: "Set your affection on things above, where Christ is, sitting on the right hand of God, seek those things which are above, not things on the earth." The things above, I have told you—he says—where Christ is now sitting, seek those things, not the things here. 7.19 That he also calls it prepared from that place, you may hear again from Paul saying: "Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he has prepared for them a city," and again from the Lord himself saying: "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you"; and when was it prepared? He says: "From the foundation of the world," so that he might say: From that time, in the beginning of creation, at the same time as the heaven and the earth and the things produced with them were created, the place of the kingdom of the heavens was prepared, God having foreseen something better for us. 7.20 For again he says in the Gospel according to John: "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you, that I go to prepare a place for you"; by "my Father's house" he means the dwelling place, the one in the heavens; in this, therefore, he says, is your dwelling place, the one prepared for you by the Father. Then again he says: "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And whither I go, you know the way." 7.21 And again to the mother of James and John, who had asked for one to be on his right and one on his left in the kingdom, he answered saying: "This is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father." Those who are worthy, therefore, obtain these things even before I grant it, whether to your sons or to others who are worthy. But also the phrase "that where I am, there you may be also" wonderfully shows that place to be indissoluble and prepared from that place, and not, according to the wise, that another place is being introduced, in which we are to dwell when we rise, while this one in the heavens is being dissolved. And, to speak briefly, the uses in the divine Scripture which declare that the heaven, into which Christ has entered and we are to enter, is indissoluble, are almost innumerable. 7.22 And these things the Lord preached to his own disciples, but the apostle Paul wrote to those of the Hebrews who had believed in Christ, appropriately contrasting for them all the things of the tabernacle, both those of the outer one with this place, and those of the inner one with the higher and heavenly place. 7.23 But to those from

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καταλυομένην; Φησὶ γάρ· "Τῶν ἁγίων λειτουργὸς καὶ τῆς σκηνῆς τῆς ἀληθινῆς, ἣν ἔπηξεν ὁ Κύριος καὶ οὐκ ἄνθρωπος", διαρρήδην καὶ αὐτὴν ἀληθινὴν καὶ ἀκατάλυτον ἐξειπών. 7.17 Καὶ πάλιν· "Ἄνθρωποι γὰρ κατὰ τοῦ μείζονος ὀμνύουσι, καὶ πάσης αὐτοῖς ἀντιλογίας πέρας εἰς βεβαίωσιν ὅρκος· ἐν ᾧ περισσότερον βουλόμενος ὁ Θεὸς ἐπιδεῖξαι τοῖς κληρονόμοις τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τὸ ἀμετάθετον τῆς βουλῆς αὐτοῦ ἐμεσίτευσεν ὅρκῳ, ἵνα διὰ δύο πραγμάτων ἀμεταθέτων, ἐν οἷς ἀδύνατον ψεύσασθαι Θεόν, ἰσχυρὰν παράκλησιν ἔχωμεν οἱ καταφυγόντες κρατῆσαι τῆς προκειμένης ἐλπίδος, ἣν ὡς ἄγκυραν ἔχομεν τῆς ψυχῆς, ἀσφαλῆ τε καὶ βεβαίαν καὶ εἰσερχομένην εἰς τὸ ἐσώτερον τοῦ καταπετάσματος, ὅπου πρόδρομος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν εἰσῆλθεν Ἰησοῦς κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισεδὲκ ἀρχιερεὺς γενόμενος εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα"· καὶ πάλιν· "Γινώσκοντες ἔχειν ὑμᾶς κρείττονα ὕπαρξιν καὶ μένουσαν." Ὅρα πάλιν, θαυμάσιε, ὅτι ἐκείνην τὴν εἴσοδον τὴν ἔσωθεν τοῦ καταπετάσματος εἰσερχομένην, τουτέστι τοῦ στερεώματος, ὅπου καὶ Ἰησοῦς εἰσελήλυθε καὶ ἡμεῖς μέλλομεν εἰσιέναι, ἀμετάθετον καὶ ἰσχυρὰν καὶ ἀσφαλῆ καὶ βεβαίαν καὶ μένουσαν καὶ διηνεκῆ καὶ δίκην ἀγκύρας περικρατοῦσαν ἡμᾶς λέγει. 7.18 Καὶ πάλιν· "Οὐ γὰρ ἔχομεν ὧδε μένουσαν πόλιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν μέλλουσαν ἐπιζητοῦμεν", ὡσανεί· Ἐκείνην ζητοῦμεν, τὴν ἀεὶ μονίμην καὶ αἰώνιον, τὴν ἄνω Ἱερουσαλήμ, ἥτις ἐστὶν ἐλευθέρα καὶ μήτηρ πάντων τῶν πιστῶν· ἡ γὰρ ἐνταῦθα, φησί, καταλύεται κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον· "Παράγει γὰρ τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ κόσμου τούτου"· καὶ πάλιν λέγει· "Τὰ ἄνω φρονεῖτε, οὗ ἐστιν ὁ Χριστὸς ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ Θεοῦ καθήμενος, τὰ ἄνω ζητεῖτε, μὴ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς." Τὰ ἄνω, εἶπον ὑμῖνφησίν, ἔνθα νῦν ἐστιν ὁ Χριστὸς καθήμενος, τὰ ἐκείνου ζητεῖτε, μὴ τὰ ἐνταῦθα. 7.19 Ὅτι δὲ καὶ ἡτοιμασμένην ἀπεντεῦθεν καλεῖ αὐτὴν ἐξόν σοι ἀκοῦσαι πάλιν τοῦ Παύλου λέγοντος· "∆ιὸ οὐκ ἐπαισχύνεται ὁ Θεός, Θεὸς ἐπικαλεῖσθαι αὐτῶν· ἡτοίμασε γὰρ αὐτοῖς πόλιν", καὶ πάλιν αὐτοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου λέγοντος· "∆εῦτε, οἱ εὐλογημένοι τοῦ Πατρός μου, κληρονομήσατε τὴν ἡτοιμασμένην ὑμῖν βασιλείαν"· καὶ πότε ἡτοιμάσθη; φησίν· "Ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου", ἵνα εἴπῃ· Ἔκτοτε ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ τῆς κτίσεως, ἅμα τῷ δημιουργεῖσθαι τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὰ παραχθέντα σὺν αὐτοῖς, ἡτοιμάσθη ὁ τόπος τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν, τοῦ Θεοῦ προβλεψαμένου κρεῖττόν τι περὶ ἡμῶν. 7.20 Ἔτι γὰρ πάλιν λέγει ἐν τῷ κατὰ Ἰωάννην Εὐαγγελίῳ· "Ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ τοῦ Πατρός μου μοναὶ πολλαί εἰσιν· εἰ δὲ μή, εἶπον ἂν ὑμῖν, ὅτι πορεύομαι ἑτοιμάσαι ὑμῖν τόπον"· "τὴν οἰκίαν τοῦ Πατρός μου" λέγει τὸ κατοικητήριον, τὸ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς· ἐν τούτῳ οὖν, φησίν, ἐστὶν ὑμῶν τὸ κατοικητήριον τὸ ἡτοιμασμένον ὑμῖν παρὰ τοῦ Πατρός. Εἶτα πάλιν λέγει· "Καὶ ἐὰν πορευθῶ καὶ ἑτοιμάσω ὑμῖν τόπον, πάλιν ἔρχομαι καὶ παραλήψομαι ὑμᾶς πρὸς ἐμαυτόν, ἵνα ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγὼ καὶ ὑμεῖς ἦτε· καὶ ὅπου ὑπάγω, οἴδατε τὴν ὁδόν." 7.21 Καὶ πάλιν πρὸς τὴν μητέρα Ἰακώβου καὶ Ἰωάννου αἰτησαμένην ἕνα ἐκ δεξιῶν αὐτοῦ εἶναι καὶ ἕνα ἐξ εὐωνύμων ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ ἀπεκρίνατο λέγων· "Οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμὸν τοῦτο δοῦναι, ἀλλ' οἷς ἡτοίμασται παρὰ τοῦ Πατρός μου." Οἱ ἄξιοι τοίνυν τούτων τυγχάνουσι καὶ πρὸ τοῦ ἐμὲ χαρίσασθαι, εἴτε τοῖς σοῖς υἱοῖς, εἴτε καὶ ἑτέροις ἀξίοις οὖσιν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ "ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγώ, ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς ἦτε" θαυμασίως παρίστησιν ἀκατάλυτον εἶναι τὸν τόπον ἐκεῖνον καὶ ἀπεντεῦθεν ἡτοιμασμένον, καὶ οὐ κατὰ τοὺς σοφοὺς ἕτερον εἶναι τὸν τόπον ἀντεισαγόμενον, ἐν ᾧ μέλλομεν ἀνιστάμενοι οἰκεῖν, τούτου τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καταλυομένου. Καὶ συντόμως εἰπεῖν, ἀναρίθμητοί εἰσι σχεδὸν αἱ χρήσεις ἐν τῇ θείᾳ Γραφῇ, ὅσαι δηλοῦσιν ὡς ἀκατάλυτός ἐστιν ὁ οὐρανός, ἐν ᾧ εἰσελήλυθεν ὁ Χριστὸς καὶ ἡμεῖς μέλλομεν εἰσιέναι. 7.22 Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ὁ Κύριος πρὸς τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ μαθητὰς ἐκήρυξεν, ὁ δὲ ἀπόστολος Παῦλος πρὸς τοὺς ἐκ τῶν Ἑβραίων πεπιστευκότας ἐπὶ Χριστὸν γεγράφηκεν ἀντιδιαστέλλων αὐτοῖς ἁρμοδίως τὰ τῆς σκηνῆς πάντα, τά τε τῆς ἐξωτέρας πρὸς τοῦτον τὸν χῶρον, τά τε τῆς ἐσωτέρας πρὸς τὸν ἀνώτερον καὶ οὐράνιον χῶρον. 7.23 Πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ἐκ