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of the promises, if they had received the Master when he came to them; but since, when they saw him, they said to one another, "This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours," he cast them out of the 81.1232 vineyard and scattered them throughout the world, and gave the vineyard to other farmers, with whom he dwells forever, receiving the fruits from them at the proper time. Then he exhorts the prophet to show the people the building of the temple, so that, being put to shame by the greatness of the beneficence and the hope of recall, they might cease from transgressing and being impious. And he was commanded not only to sketch and draw the building for the people, but also to show its ordinances and its laws, so that by observing them they might serve the Master. And he says that he also saw the altar of incense, its height two cubits, its length a cubit, and its width the same. He also says he saw two mercy seats, not of equal measure, but one smaller and one larger. It is necessary to ask why, when the blessed Moses had made one mercy seat according to the divine command, here the prophet sees two. But I think that the small one is a type of the larger; for the Old Testament is a type of the New, and that mercy seat of our mercy seat; and Christ is our mercy seat, as the divine Apostle says, "Whom God put forward as a mercy seat in his own blood, to show his righteousness." And he says that between the two mercy seats there are four cubits, equal in number to the divine Gospels; for between the law and the good things hoped for, the grace of the Gospels was given to men. 10. And the Ariel, he says, is twelve cubits in length and of equal width. And Ariel in the Hebrew language means mountain of God, or according to another interpretation, light of God; and so he calls, as I think, the base of the mercy seat. And this number of cubits also corresponds to the holy apostles, who became the bases and foundations of divine grace, and the substructure and foundation of the Church; "For you are Peter," he says, "and on this rock I will build my Church," said the Lord. And again, "You are the light of the world." But the mercy seat itself, he says, is two cubits larger than the Ariel, both in length and in width; for not only in his divinity, but also in his assumed humanity, the Master is greater than his servants by an infinite measure. Then the God of all exhorts the prophet to teach the priests the laws concerning the sacrifices, and how one must both bring the bull for sin, and sacrifice it, and where it is fitting to lay it to rest, and how one must sprinkle the horns of the altar, and the corners of the mercy seat; then to bring the goats for sin, being free from all blemish; and again in the same way to sprinkle the altar with the blood. And so, he says, 81.1233 when these things are done, and the atonement for sin is completed, they will offer a bull and a sheep, they too free from blemish, and they will complete the sacrifice with salt. And the salt is a message of reason, and of discernment, and of a pious mind; for they will not do these things simply, nor as slaves to custom, but with some reason and a purpose choosing to be pious. And they will make, he says, such sacrifices for seven days; and from the eighth and beyond, such sacrifices, that I may not go through each one.

CHAPTER 44. And he showed me also the gate, the one turned toward the east,

closed, and he commanded that it be kept perpetually closed, and be assigned to the Master of all; not because he who is present everywhere and stands by all things needed a door, wishing to enter. For how could he have entered while this was closed, if he was by nature to enter through doors? But condescending to the weaker ones

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ὑποσχέσεων, εἰ παραγενόμενον πρὸς αὐτοὺς τὸν ∆εσπότην ἐδέξαντο· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἰδόντες αὐτὸν ἔφασαν πρὸς ἀλλήλους· "Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ κληρονόμος, δεῦτε, ἀποκτείνωμεν αὐτὸν, καὶ ἡμῶν ἔσται ἡ κληρονομία," ἐκείνους μὲν ἐκ τοῦ 81.1232 ἀμπελῶνος ἐκβαλὼν εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην διέσπειρε, τὸν δὲ ἀμπελῶνα ἐξέδοτο ἄλλοις γεωργοῖς, μεθ' ὧν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα κατασκηνοῖ, εἰς καιρὸν παρ' αὐτῶν τοὺς καρποὺς κομιζόμενος. Εἶτα παρακελεύεται τῷ προφήτῃ δεῖξαι τῷ λαῷ τοῦ νεὼ τὴν οἰκοδομίαν, ἵνα διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς εὐεργεσίας καὶ τῆς ἐλπίδος τῆς ἀνακλήσεως ἐντραπέντες, τοῦ πλημμελεῖν καὶ δυσ σεβεῖν παύσωνται. Οὐ μόνον δὲ σκαριφεῦσαι καὶ διαγράψαι τὴν οἰκοδομίαν τῷ λαῷ προσετάχθη, ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτου καὶ δικαιώματα καὶ τὰ νόμιμα ὑποδεῖξαι, ἵνα τῇ τούτων φυλακῇ θεραπεύσωσι τὸν ∆εσπότην. Λέγει δὲ τεθεᾶσθαι καὶ τὸ τῶν θυμιαμάτων θυσια στήριον, τὸ μὲν ὕψος δύο πήχεων, τὸ δὲ μῆκος πή χεως, ἰσόμετρον δὲ εὖρος. Λέγει καὶ δύο τεθεᾶσθαι ἱλαστήρια, οὐκ ἰσόμετρα, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ἔλαττον, τὸ δὲ μεῖζον. Ἀναγκαῖον ζητῆσαι, τί δήποτε τοῦ μα καρίου Μωσέως ἓν ἱλαστήριον κατὰ τὴν θείαν ἐντολὴν πεποιηκότος, ἐνταῦθα δύο θεωρεῖ ὁ προφήτης. Ἡγοῦ μαι δὲ ὡς τὸ βραχὺ τύπος τοῦ μείζονος· τύπος γὰρ ἡ Παλαιὰ τῆς Νέας ∆ιαθήκης, καὶ τὸ ἱλαστήριον ἐκεῖνο τοῦ ἡμετέρου ἱλαστηρίου· Χριστὸς δέ ἐστι τὸ ἡμέτερον ἱλαστήριον, ᾗ φησιν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος, "Ὃν προέθετο ὁ Θεὸς ἱλαστήριον ἐν τῷ αὐτοῦ αἵματι, εἰς ἔνδειξιν τῆς δικαιοσύνης αὑτοῦ." Λέγει δὲ καὶ με ταξὺ τῶν δύο ἱλαστηρίων πήχεις εἶναι τέσσαρας, τοῖς θείοις Εὐαγγελίοις ἰσαρίθμους· μεταξὺ γὰρ τοῦ νό μου καὶ τῶν ἐλπιζομένων ἀγαθῶν, τῶν Εὐαγγελίων ἡ χάρις τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐδόθη. ιʹ. Καὶ τὸ Ἀριὴλ, φησὶ, πηχῶν δώδεκα τὸ μῆ κος καὶ τὸ πλάτος ἰσόμετρον. Τὸ δὲ Ἀριὴλ σημαίνει τῇ Ἑβραίων φωνῇ ὄρος Θεοῦ, ἢ κατ' ἄλλην ἑρμηνείαν, φῶς Θεοῦ· καλεῖ δὲ οὕτως, ὡς ἡγοῦμαι, τοῦ ἱλαστηρίου τὴν βάσιν. Συμβαίνει δὲ καὶ οὗτος τῶν πήχεων ὁ ἀριθμὸς τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἀποστό λοις, οἳ βάσεις καὶ ἐπιβάσεις τῆς θείας ἐγένοντο χάριτος, καὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ὑποβάθρα καὶ κρηπίς· "Σὺ γὰρ εἶ Πέτρος, φησὶ, καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ οἰκοδομήσω μου τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν," ὁ Κύριος ἔφη. Καὶ πάλιν· "Ὑμεῖς ἐστε τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου." Αὐτὸ δὲ τὸ ἱλαστήριον δύο πήχεσι λέγει μεῖζον εἶναι τοῦ Ἀριὴλ, καὶ κατὰ τὸ μῆκος, καὶ κατὰ τὸ εὖρος· οὐ γὰρ μόνῃ τῇ θεότητι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ προσληφθείσῃ ἀνθρωπότητι, ἀπείρῳ τῷ μέτρῳ μείζων ὁ ∆εσπότης τῶν δούλων. Εἶτα παρακελεύεται τῷ προφήτῃ ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς, τοὺς περὶ τῶν θυσιῶν νόμους διδάξαι τοὺς ἱερέας, καὶ ὅπως δεῖ τὸν περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας μόσχον καὶ προσαγαγεῖν, καὶ θῦσαι, καὶ ἔνθα προσήκει καταπαῦσαι, καὶ ὅπως δεῖ περιῤῥᾶναι τοῦ τε θυσια στηρίου τὰ κέρατα, καὶ τοῦ ἱλαστηρίου τὰς γωνίας· εἶτα τοὺς περὶ ἁμαρτίας ἐρίφους μώμου παντὸς ἐλευ θέρους ὄντας προσαγαγεῖν· καὶ πάλιν ὡσαύτως τῷ αἵματι περιῤῥᾶναι τὸ θυσιαστήριον. Οὕτω δὲ, φησὶ, 81.1233 τούτων γινομένων, καὶ τοῦ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἱλα σμοῦ πληρωθέντος, προσοίσουσι μόσχον καὶ πρόβα τον, μώμου καὶ αὐτὰ ἀπηλλαγμένα, καὶ μετὰ ἁλῶν τὴν θυσίαν ἐπιτελέσουσιν. Μήνυμα δὲ οἱ ἅλες λο γισμοῦ, καὶ διακρίσεως, καὶ φρονήματος εὐσεβοῦς· οὐχ ἁπλῶς γὰρ, οὔτε ὡς ἔθει δουλεύοντες, ταῦτα ποιήσουσιν, ἀλλὰ μετά τινος λόγου καὶ σκοποῦ εὐ σεβεῖν προαιρουμένου. Ποιήσουσι δὲ, φησὶν, ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας τὰς τοιάσδε θυσίας· ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς ὀγδόης καὶ ἐπέκεινα, τοιάσδε θυσίας, ἵνα μὴ καθ' ἕκαστον διεξίω.

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Μ∆ʹ. Ὑπέδειξε δέ μοι καὶ τὴν πύλην, τὴν πρὸς ἀνατολὰς τετραμμένην,

κεκλεισμένην, καὶ παρηγγύησε δι ηνεκῶς ταύτην κεκλεῖσθαι, καὶ ἀπονεμηθῆναι αὐτῷ τῷ τῶν ὅλων ∆εσπότῃ· οὐκ ἐπειδὴ θύρας ἔχρῃζεν εἰσ ιέναι βουλόμενος ὁ πανταχοῦ παρὼν καὶ τοῖς πᾶσι παριστάμενος. Πῶς γὰρ ἂν καὶ εἰσῆλθε ταύτης κε κλεισμένης, εἴπερ εἰσιέναι διὰ θυρῶν ἐπεφύκει; Ἀλλὰ ταῖς ἀσθενεστέραις συγκατιὼν