For it was on behalf of those who made them and who wore them foremost that, by the grace of the good God, He clothed Himself with them, so that, having tasted death on behalf of all, He might set outside of death those on whose behalf He tasted it, merely by touching and drawing near to death.
since it is because you were doing forbidden things that He clothes Himself in filthy raiment; therefore, having repented of the sinful deeds you were committing, set Him outside the filth of sins.
Likewise He is clothed in filthy raiment whenever He becomes a curse on behalf of us all, that we might obtain the blessing; which raiment He puts off whenever we receive back the blessing, for which He took up the curse in order that it might be bestowed, despising the shame, that we might live according to God.
When the filthy garments have been removed, being High Priest, great and true, He puts on the priestly tunic called the ankle-length robe, and a clean turban is placed upon Him, and He is wrapped by us with a garment, namely the body of man.
For all the tabernacle and its vessels and the adornment which the High Priest wears were fashioned according to the pattern shown on the mountain to the hierophant.
and perhaps the turban is the chief point of the theology concerning Christ, having nothing material or defiling, while the ankle-length robe is the contemplation concerning His incarnation.
If you walk in my ways and keep my ordinances. Now the ways of the Lord are the virtues, accomplished through the keeping of His ordinances, concerning which the holy one says to God:
Make known to me your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths. He who walks and treads them by continually setting foot upon them will attain divine recompense, receiving from the Lord the power to judge His house and to keep guard over His divine court.
If I tarry, that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And this house is judged by Jesus, who sets in the Church apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints.
For it is not as it may chance, but with much discernment and distinction, that one is set in the rank of an apostle, another in the place of a prophet, and others to shepherd the flock of Christ and to labour at the divine instruction of others, for the saints who have been made ready for learning.
God stood in the congregation of gods, and in the midst He judges gods. The house of God, so designated, according to another understanding is the body of Christ, composed and fitted together out of many members;
its eyes, then, are those who have chosen the contemplative life, just as its hands are the practical ones, who work the works of virtue, while the ears of this body are called the understanding hearers, each of whom will say:
Following upon judging the house of the Lord, there is also the judging of the divine body, so that, as has been said before, one may be an eye, another an active hand, doing what is good to perform and bring to completion.
In like manner to judging the house of God, he also keeps guard over His divine court, concerning which the Holy Spirit cries out to those who are eager to dwell in it:
And I will give you men who move about in the midst of these who stand here. Those who stand are shown to be they who are firmly established in holiness, having received a permanent standing according to faith, to whom the Apostle, addressing them, writes:
Among these men, who are truly according to the image and likeness of God, Jesus—who received them from the Father—dwelt and consorted, appearing on the earth in order that He might live among men, providing a pattern and an example to those who have resolved to imitate Him.
According to a second sense, you will say that those shown to be standing are the angels who dance in chorus, gathered in thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads, praising the all-royal Saviour and ministering to Him.
Into the midst of these attendants of their own Creator, to move about, are given those who after the resurrection become equal to the angels, no longer marrying nor being given in marriage, no longer able to die, since the succession of marriage and childbearing has ceased, inasmuch as their corruptible has put on incorruption and their mortal has put on immortality.
For how does he who succeeds in celibacy not move about in the midst of the immortal angels who stand and of the other divine powers—he who is concerned with the things of the Lord, being always without distraction a good attendant, who has chosen to serve in priestly fashion, purposing, if I may so put it, to be a noble servant to Him?
Likewise also the virgin, being holy in spirit and body, without distraction pleases the divine Bridegroom, not enduring to be separated from Him in even the smallest degree.
And, to speak comprehensively, all who draw near to the Saviour by partaking of Him move about in the midst of those who always and perpetually stand in holiness.
and let also your neighbours and those who sit before your face hear—men who are observers of portents—that I call my servant the Dawn, that upon the stone which I have set before the face of Jesus there are His seven eyes.
Jesus the great priest has been expounded in the foregoing as the one who exercises priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek, concerning whom the Apostle, writing to the Hebrews, says:
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus, who is faithful to Him who appointed Him. And observe that those who are able to consider how He is faithful to Him who appointed Him—namely the Apostle and High Priest of our confession—are holy ones, sharers in the heavenly calling.
For it is not for everyone to contemplate how the Apostle and priest Jesus is faithful to Him who appointed Him, but only for him—indeed for every one—who is able to speak wisdom among the perfect, who is able to say:
Indeed, those who do not partake of the heavenly calling deceive others out of this very passage, being themselves already deceived, saying that the Son of God is a creature and a thing made.
But these foolish men err senselessly, taking the phrase 'Him who appointed Him' as referring to a creation and a bringing into being, though the one who wrote the epistle does not intend this.
for Jesus is not always Apostle and priest, but from the time that there exist those to whom He is sent and on whose behalf He exercises priesthood—those for whom and on account of whom the descent hither came to pass, of Him who was sent by the Father, when, having bowed the heavens, He came down to those to whom He was sent and of whom He is priest.
'I will raise up for myself a faithful priest' — these declare that which is firm and unchangeable; for the commandments of God that belong to the spiritual law are faithful because of their unchangeableness, while the commandments that belong to the shadow of the Law are transferred from the letter to the spirit, and from the shadow to the truth.
According to this contemplation, the things of the true David — of him who is mighty in hand — belong also to the Saviour as regards his humanity; his holy things are faithful in that they abide forever, since his words remain even though heaven and earth pass away.
'Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your neighbours who are priests in a spiritual sense, who are appointed under you who are chief priest' — to whom also in Isaiah it is said, since they are righteous:
'But you shall be called priests, ministers of God.' And they have this promise most of all who serve God through complete purity in a state of celibacy.
And these are they who in the regeneration, at the resurrection of the dead, sit before the face of the Saviour — who is judge and king — judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
being near him, and those who sit before his face are not infants nor children, but perfect men, having attained to a perfect man, to the fulness of the knowledge of the Son of God.
Wherefore they are also interpreters of wonders, wisely attending to the marvellous powers of the Lord, so as to comprehend the things signified through them.
And how is he not an interpreter of wonders who has received from God not merely the sight of the wonders and signs, but of the very words according to which these things are accomplished?
it was a sign and a wonder to bring to sight the man blind from birth, when his eyes had been anointed with clay, mud having been mingled from earth and from the spittle of the Benefactor.
For the people from among the nations, who formerly by no means saw, being overturned by godlessness and ignorance of God, is to be considered as blind from birth, who then received sight when, having known Christ according to the flesh, he was anointed on the eyes with the clay made from the spittle of Jesus, having received a proof of the incarnation of him who brought him to sight.
In addition to these, the woman with an issue of blood for a full twelve years came out from the flow of the unclean blood, on account of which she was hindered from bearing children, by touching the hem of Jesus' garment.
除此以外，那患血漏足足十二年的婦人，藉著摸耶穌的衣裳繸子，便脫離了那使她不能生育的不潔血漏。
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Παραδόξωςκαὶτεραστίωςἐπετελεῖτο·
This too was accomplished paradoxically and wondrously;
he who has received the knowledge of it is an interpreter of wonders, transferring that which happened wondrously in the case of the woman to the Church that has been cleansed from among the nations.
Having shown all the things contemplated in the passages set forth, 'I,' he says, 'the almighty Lord, bring forth my servant the Dayspring' — calling him his own servant who is of the seed of David according to the flesh, who took the form of a servant, having emptied himself while subsisting in the form of God.
'The Dayspring from on high, to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,' being none other than the true Light. And showing his servant, the Father says:
'To you who fear my name the Sun of righteousness shall arise, and healing shall be in his wings.' And rendering the reason why his servant is called the Dayspring, he says:
And who is this, but the Saviour who has sojourned among us, having the seven-fold power of a discerning nature? Accordingly it is said concerning him in Isaiah:
'A rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall spring up from the root, and the Spirit of God shall rest upon him — a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and might, a spirit of knowledge and godliness — and shall fill him with the spirit of the fear of God.' And behold indeed the seven eyes of the Lord upon one stone, of which the one is a spirit of wisdom, another of understanding.
For what eye is so full of light, surveying all things beautiful and great, as the spirit of wisdom, and likewise the spirit of understanding? He who is thus endowed with eyes, the spiritual stone, being himself counsel and might, contemplates all things deliberately and mightily, and, filled cognitively and reverently with the Spirit of God, was so most of all when he took on the form of the servant.
Immediately then he does not receive from outside the spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and might, of knowledge and godliness that rests upon him;
'Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and having been heard because of his reverence.' And he has reverence not in that he is God, but in that he is man.
'This is the stone which was despised by you the builders, which has become the head of the corner.' For how did he not join together and make into one corner the two walls — that which is built from the Jews who have come to the Gospel, and from those who have believed from among the nations?
For since the Church is composed of both Jews and Greeks, Christ having become its head made it into one corner, all thereafter agreeing according to one faith who are fitted together into one building — all the men who have received the divine Gospel from the two peoples being created into one new man.
This stone, thus proclaimed, being a cornerstone, chosen, precious, God laid in the foundations of Zion, so that no one should any longer be put to shame on account of sin, everyone who believes in him having been made pure.
Those who come to the immortally living Word, being themselves alive, are built up as unhewn stones, that a spiritual house may be established and an intelligible altar, upon which is offered the sacrifice of praise and all those sacrifices akin to it that are spiritual.
May we too become living, holy stones, rolling upon the earth of God, that being built up upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus, we may be completed as a temple and a spiritual house, that God may dwell in us.
'I dig,' says the Lord almighty, 'a pit, in order to make manifest all things hidden, in order to touch and search out all the iniquity of that land' — clearly of the land that is dug — 'in the one day that shines forth,' then most of all when the Lord God almighty illumines the hidden things of darkness and makes manifest the counsels of the hearts, in order to condemn those who have wrought all iniquity.
The time of the sojourning of our Saviour can be called one day, in which the Benefactor who has shone forth, being at once also judge, searches out all the iniquity of the land that is shown, taking away the sin of the world;
and this being accomplished, the mother of all sedition and of all war of iniquity being done away, there shall be deep peace, so that no one shall any longer be afraid, the demons that stir up seditions and wars being destroyed, and the other opposing powers which are called the world-rulers of this darkness, so that thereafter each may live without fear and call his neighbour beneath the fig tree and the vine.
'Each shall call his neighbour and his brother beneath his fig tree and vine, there being none to make them afraid.' For how shall there any longer be one to make afraid, when all who stir up seditions and wars have been destroyed? And what do the plants mentioned hint at — I mean the vine and the fig tree — but the contemplative and the active life? The vine bearing the knowledgeable and scientific fruit that produces gladness, and the fig tree the active fruit, being something austere and rough on account of the labours and sweat expended for the acquisition of virtue.
for many who have planted a perceptible fig tree neither plucked nor ate its fruits, either being hindered by death, or being removed far from the plant they planted, whereas everyone eats the fruits of the spiritual tree which he alone planted.
'Every branch that abides in me bears more fruit.' Those who have cultivated the trees mentioned, being lovers of comrades and lovers of brethren, call one another peacefully beneath the vine and the fig tree, in order to live in delight.
Whenever, then, you see the knowledgeable man hastening to bring his neighbours under the wise contemplation of God and of his doctrines and thoughts, consider how he has called those whom he loves as a neighbour as himself beneath his own vine, that they may feast and rejoice together.
Likewise he who is a doer of good works leads his friends beneath the fig tree of active virtue which he has planted, that together they may find repose, having entered into the joy of their own Lord.
'I have looked, and behold a lampstand all of gold, and the lamp-holder above it, and seven lamps upon it, and seven oil-funnels for the lamps that are upon it.'
The angel who spoke in me returned from one revelation to another vision, which, that I might behold it, he roused me, raising me up as a man who sleeps out of slumber, and he says to me:
'I have looked, and behold a lampstand all of gold, and a lamp-holder above it, and seven lamps and an equal number of oil-funnels channelling oil to the lamps.'
'The angel that spoke to me roused me up,' says the holy one, the angel who turned back to me and spoke within me continually and repeatedly — perhaps being none other than the Angel of the Great Counsel.
'I awoke, for the Lord will help me.' This utterance refers to the Saviour who was raised from the dead, having fallen asleep inasmuch as He became man.
For how was He not awakened from sleep when He rose from the dead, after spending three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, having benefited also the souls in Hades, gladdening them and filling them with such delight as is possible there?
'I gave drink to every thirsting soul, and I filled every hungry soul,' providing the wine that gladdens the heart of man and the bread that strengthens the ruling faculty of him who is nourished.
'I see a lampstand all of gold.' By saying that the lampstand is all of gold, he shows that it is wholly and entirely filled with lights, intelligible and incorporeal.
Perhaps, then, the intelligible lampstand is the spiritual house and temple of God, as is said in the Revelation of John, when he who shows the revelation says to the one being initiated:
'The seven churches which you saw with the eye of the soul are seven lampstands.' Upon the wholly golden lampstand, above it, there is a lamp-bowl — the luminous discourse concerning the Trinity.
and having themselves given light — the light of knowledge — partaking of the light of God, in which there is no darkness of evil or ignorance, and partaking too of the true light, and having become partakers of the Holy Spirit, they dance in procession bearing their torches.
And just as the lamp-bowl was seen above the lampstand that has been interpreted, so also seven lamps appeared above that same lampstand, being a sevenfold illumination.
For in the same manner that the perfect and luminous understanding is called seven eyes, and seven pillars support the house of wisdom, so also the seven lamps rest upon the lampstand — which in another manner is that soul and flesh which the Saviour took up at His sojourning among us.
For how is this lampstand not all of gold — it which committed no sin nor even knew it — upon which rest the seven lamps: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of divine counsel, and of might, and of knowledge, and of godliness, and of the fear of God?
This sevenfold-shining power of the seven lamps above the lampstand is nourished and increased, oil being channelled through the seven funnels that pour in the oil which nourishes and preserves the light.
In addition to all that has been contemplated concerning the lampstand and the lamp-bowl and the seven funnels and the equal number of lamps, there were also seen two olive trees above the lampstand, of which the one lay on the right and the other on the left of the lamp-bowl.
And consider whether the practice concerning intelligible things and the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the oil pressed from the olive tree on the right, while the practice concerning the world and its constitution and the providence that comes from God is pressed from the olive tree on the left.
According to another contemplation, some think that the olive tree on the right of the lamp-bowl signifies the contemplation concerning the Only-begotten Son of God, while the one lying on the left nourishes the discourse concerning the Incarnation.
I once heard a teacher who presided over the catholic Church expounding the present passage, saying that the lamp-bowl above the lampstand is the illumination concerning the Father, while the olive trees on His right and left are the discourses concerning the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Since the present contemplation concerns a lampstand not perceptible to the senses but intelligible, consider whether this is the very one which Moses saw on the mountain according to the pattern shown to him — which is none other than the so-called Idea;
for it was after the pattern of the invisible and intelligible lampstand that the perceptible one was fashioned, according to the direction of the hierophant Moses.