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Therefore, the all-praised Church of God is all-gold, pure and undefiled, spotless and unadulterated, and undiminished, and receptive of the true light. For they say that unadulterated gold is neither blackened when buried by any rust and corrupted, nor indeed is it diminished at all when tested by fire; and in addition, that it is both strengthening and renewing to the visual power of those gazing upon it, according to a certain natural energy. And such also is the all-glorious Church of God, being by nature, in very truth, according to the most pure nature of gold; unadulterated, on the one hand, as having nothing at all mixed in and foreign to the mystery of theology according to the faith; and pure, as being transparent and glorious in the splendor of the virtues; and undefiled, as being stained by no filth of the passions; and spotless, as untouched by all the evil spirits; nor indeed blackened [or, defiled] by any rust of wickedness through material circumstances; and undiminished and without loss, as not even when tested by fire in the furnace of persecutions from time to time, and tormented by the successive uprisings of heresies, does it endure any abatement in respect to reason or life, that is, faith and conduct, because of the weight of trials; wherefore also it is, according to grace, strengthening to every mind of those who piously contemplate it. For on the one hand, it calls the impious, providing the light of true knowledge; and on the other hand, it preserves those who love to contemplate its mysteries, (668) guarding the pupil of their mind without passion and unwavering. But those who have endured some agitation, it calls back, and by the word of exhortation it renews the mind that has suffered. Thus, in one view, through what has been said, we have understood the lampstand seen by the prophet to be of this kind.

But the lamp upon it is the paternal and true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world, our Lord Jesus Christ; on account of the assumption of our flesh from us, He was both born and called a lamp; that is, the Wisdom and Word of God and the Father according to nature; who is both preached in the Church of God according to the pious faith, and in the life according to virtue, through the keeping of the commandments, is exalted among the nations and shines forth; and shines for all who are in the house; I mean, in this world; as God the Word Himself somewhere says: No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house; that is, calling Himself a lamp, as being God by nature, and having become flesh by dispensation; as being light in essence, contained uncircumscribedly in the manner of a lamp by the earthen vessel of the flesh, through the medium of a soul, as fire through a wick; which I think the great David also understood, and called the Lord a lamp, saying: Your law is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths. For my Savior and God is a deliverer from the darkness of both ignorance and wickedness; wherefore He was also called a lamp by the Scripture. For `lychnos` (lamp) is so called from dispelling the night. And those who are zealous for letters call darkness `nychos`. Who alone indeed, as a lamp, having dispelled the gloom of ignorance and the darkness of wickedness, became for all a way of salvation; through virtue and knowledge bringing to the Father those who wish to travel Him as the way of righteousness through the divine commandments. And the holy Church is the lampstand, upon which the Word of God, shining by the proclamation, illuminates all those who happen to be in this world as in a house with the rays of truth, filling the minds of all with divine knowledge.

And the bushel, in the manner of symbolic representation, he has called the synagogue of the Jews; that is, the carnal worship of the law, which, by the grossness (669) of the symbols in the letter, has the light of true knowledge in its concepts completely undiscerned; under which bushel the Word does not wish to be restrained at all; wishing to be set on high, and on the magnitude of the beauty of the Church. For everyone, then,

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τοιγαροῦν ἐστιν ὁλόχρυσος, ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ πανεύφημος Ἐκκλησία, καθαρά καί ἀμίαντος, ἄχραντός τε καί ἀκίβδηλος, καί ἀμείωτος, καί τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτός δεκτική. Φασί γάρ τόν ἀκίβδηλον χρυσόν, μήτε μελένεσθαι καταχωννύμενον ἰῷ τινι καί διαφθείρεσθαι· μήτε μήν μειοῦσθαι παντελῶς ἐκπυρούμενον· πρός δέ, καί τῆς ὀπτικῆς τῶν ἐνατενιζόντων αὐτῷ δυνάμεως κατά τινα φυσικήν ἐνέργειαν εἶναι ῥωστικόν τε καί ἀνανεωτικόν. Τοιαύτη δέ καί ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ πανένδοξος Ἐκκλησία, δι᾿ αὐτῶν κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν τῶν πραγμάτων ὑπάρχουσα πέφυκε, κατά τοῦ χρυσοῦ καθαρωτάτην φύσιν· ἀκίβδηλος μέν, ὡς μηδέν ἔχουσα τό σύνολον τῷ κατά τήν πίστιν μυστηρίῳ τῆς θεολογίας ἐπίμικτον καί ἀλλότριον· καθαρά δέ, ὡς τῇ λαμπρότητι τῶν ἀρετῶν διαυγής καί ἐπίδοξος· ἀμίαντος δέ, ὡς μηδενί ῥύπῳ μολυνομένη παθῶν· ἄχραντος δέ,ὡς πᾶσι τοῖς πονηροῖς ἀνέπαφος πνεύμασι· μήτε μήν ταῖς ὑλικαῖς περιστάσεσιν ἰῷ τινι κακίας μελαινομένη [Fr. μολυνομένη]· ἀμείωτος δέ καί ἀνελάττωτος, ὡς μηδέ τῇ καμίνῳ τῶν κατά καιρούς διωγμῶν πυρουμένη, καί ταῖς ἀλλεπαλλήλοις τῶν αἱρέσεων ἐπαναστάσεσι βασανιζομένη, κατά λόγον ἤ βίον, ἤγουν πίστιν καί πολιτείαν, τήν οἱανοῦν ὕφεσιν διά τό βάρος τῶν πειρασμῶν ὑπομένουσα· διό καί πάσης κατά τήν χάριν ἐστί ῥωστική διανοίας, τῶν εὐσεβῶς αὐτήν κατανοούντων. Καλεῖ μέν γάρ τούς ἀσεβεῖς, παρεχομένη τό φῶς τῆς ἀληθοῦς γνώσεως· συντηρεῖ δέ τούς τῶν κατ᾿ αὐτήν μυστηρίων φιλοθεάμονας, ἀπαθῆ καί ἀρευμάτιστον τήν κόρην τῆς αὐτῶν διανοίας (668) φυλάττουσα. Τούς δέ κατά τι σάλον ὑπομεμενηκότας ἀνακαλεῖται, καί τῷ λόγῳ τῆς παρακλήσεως ἀνανεοῦται τήν παθοῦσαν διάνοιαν. Οὕτως μέν ἔχουσαν τήν ὁραθεῖσαν τῷ προφήτῃ λυχνίαν, κατά μίαν ἐπιβολήν διά τῶν εἰρημένων κατενοήσαμεν.

Τό δέ λαμπάδιοντό ἐπάνω αὐτῆς ἐστι, τό πατρικόν φῶς καί ἀληθινόν, ὅ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τόν κόσμον, ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός· διά τήν πρόσληψιν τῆς ἐξ ἡμῶν καί ἡμετέρας σαρκός, λαμπάδιον καί γεγεννημένος καί προσηγορευμένος· ἤγουν ἡ κατά φύσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός Σοφία καί Λόγος· ὁ ἐν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ κηρυττόμενός τε κατά τήν εὐσεβῆ πίστιν, καί τῷ βίῳ τῷ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν διά τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν φυλακῆς ὑψούμενος ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι καί διαφαινόμενος· καί πᾶσι λάμπων τοῖς ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ· λέγω δή τῷδε τῷ κόσμῳ· καθά πού φησιν αὐτός ὁ Θεός καί Λόγος· Οὐδείς ἅπτει λύχνος, καί τίθησιν αὐτόν ὑπό τόν μόδιον· ἀλλ᾿ ἐπί τήν λυχνίαν, καί λάμπει πᾶσι τοῖς ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ· λύχνον ἑαυτόν δηλαδή λέγων, ὡς κατά φύσιν Θεός ὑπάρχων, καί σάρξ κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν γενόμενος· οἷα δή φῶς κατ᾿ οὐσίαν, λύχνου δίκην ἀπεριγράφως διά μέσης ψυχῆς, ὡς διά θρυαλλίδος τό πῦρ, τῷ τῆς σαρκός ὀστράκῳ κρατούμενος· ὅπερ οἶμαι νοήσας καί ὁ μέγας ∆αβίδ, λύχνον κέκληκε τόν Κύριον, φήσας· Λύχνος τοῖς ποσί μου ὁ νόμος σου, καί φῶς ταῖς τρίβοις μου. Σκότους γάρ ἀγνοίας τε καί πονηρίας λυτήριος ὁ ἐμός ὑπάρχει Σωτήρ καί Θεός· διό καί λύχνος τῇ Γραφῇ προσηγορεύθη. Λύχνος γάρ, παρά τό λύειν τό νύχος λέγεται. Νύχος δέ καλοῦσι τό σκότος οἱ περί λόγους σπουδάζοντες. Ὅς δή μόνος οἷα δή λύχνος τόν ζόφον τῆς ἀγνοίας καί τόν σκότον τῆς κακίας διαλύσας, πᾶσιν ὁδός γέγονε σωτηρίας· δι᾿ ἀρετῆς καί γνώσεως πρός τόν Πατέρα φέρων τούς αὐτόν ὡς δικαιοσύνης ὁδόν διά τῶν θείων ἐντολῶν ὁδεύειν βουλομένους. Λυχνίαν δέ τήν ἁγίαν Ἐκκλησίαν, ἐφ᾿ ἧς τῷ κηρύγματι λάμπων ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, πάντας τούς ἐν τῷδε τῷ κόσμῳ ὡς ἐν οἰκίᾳ τινί τυγχάνοντας καταφωτίζει ταῖς ἀκτῖσι τῆς ἀληθείας, τάς πάντων διανοίας θείας πληρῶν ἐπιγνώσεως.

Μόδιον δέ, τῷ τῆς συμβολικῆς διαπλάσεως τρόπῳ κέκληκε τήν συναγωγήν τῶν Ἰουδαίων· ἤγουν τήν σωματικήν τοῦ νόμου λατρείαν, τῷ παχεῖ (669) τῶν ἐν τῷ γράμματι συμβόλων παντελῶς ἀδιάγνωστον ἔχουσαν τό φῶς τῆς ἐν νοήμασιν ἀληθοῦς ἐπιγνώσεως· ὑφ᾿ ὅν μόδιον κρατεῖσθαι παντελῶς ὁ λόγος οὐ βούλεται· τό ὕψει ἐπικεῖσθαι θέλων, καί τῷ μεγέθει τοῦ κάλλους τῆς Ἐκκλησίας. Πάντας γάρ ἄν,