"The Heavenly Tabernacle"
"170. What then is that tabernacle not made with hands which was
shown to Moses on the mountain and to which he was commanded to
look as to an archetype so that he might reproduce in a handmade
structure that marvel not made with hands? God says, See that you
make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.
[Exodus 25:40.]. There were gold pillars supported by silver bases and
decorated with similar silver capitals; then, there were other pillars
whose capitals were of bronze but whose shafts were of silver. The
core of all the pillars was wood that does not rot. [Isaiah 40:20.]. But
all around shone the brightness of these precious metals.
"171. Likewise, there was an ark made of wood that does not rot,
overlaid with gleaming pure gold. In addition, there was a candlestick
with a single base, divided at its top into seven branches, each support-
ing a lamp. The candlestick was made of solid gold and not of wood
overlaid with gold. There was, moreover, an altar and the throne of
mercy and the so-called cherubim whose wings overshadowed the
ark. [Hebrews 9:5.]. All these were gold, not merely presenting a
superficial appearance of gold but gold through and through.
"172. Furthermore, there were curtains artistically woven of diverse
colors; these brilliant colors were woven together to make a beautiful
fabric. The curtains divided the tabernacle into two parts: the one
visible and accessible to certain of the priests and the other secret and
inaccessible. The name of the front part was the Holy Place and that
of the hidden part was the Holy of Holies. In addition, there were
lavers and braziers and hangings around the outer court and the
curtains of hair and skins died red and all the other things he describes
in the text. What words could accurately describe it all?
"173. Of what things not made with hands are these an imitation? And
what benefit does the material imitation of those things Moses saw
there to convey to those who look at it? It seems good to me to leave
the precise meaning of these things to those who have by the Spirit the
power to search the depths of God [1 Cor. 2:10.], to someone who
may be able,. as the Apostle says, in the Spirit to speak about
mysterious things [1 Cor. 14:2.]. We shall leave what we say
conjecturally and by supposition on the thought at hand to the
judgment of our readers. Their critical intelligence must decide
whether it should be rejected or accepted.
"174. Taking a hind from what has been said by Paul, who partially
uncovered the mystery of these things, we say that Moses was earlier
instructed by a type in the mystery of the tabernacle which
encompasses the universe. This tabernacle would be Christ who is the
power and the wisdom of God, [1 Cor. 1:24.] who in his own nature
was not made with hands, yet capable of being made when it became
necessary for this tabernacle to be erected among us. Thus, the same
tabernacle is in a way both unfashioned and fashioned, uncreated in
preexistence but created in having received this material composition.
"175. What we say is of course not obscure to those who have
accurately received the mystery of our faith. For there is one thing out
of all others which both existed before the ages and came into being
at the end of the ages. [Colossians 1:17.]. It did not need a temporal
beginning (for how could what was before all times and ages be in
need of a temporal origin?), but for our sakes, who had lost our
existence through our thoughtlessness, it consented to be born like us
so that it might bring that which had left reality back again to reality.
This one is the Only Begotten God, who encompasses everything in
himself but who also pitched his own tabernacle among us. [John
1:14.].
"176. But if we name such a God "tabernacle", the person who loves
Christ should not be disturbed at all on the grounds that the suggestion
involved in the phrase diminished the magnificence of the nature of
God. For neither is any other name worthy of the nature thus signified,
but all names have equally fallen short of accurate description, both
those recognized as insignificant as well as those by which some great
insight is indicated.
"177. But just as all the other names, in keeping with what is being
specified, are each used piously to express the divine power -- as, for
example, physician, shepherd, protector, bread, vine, way, door,
mansion, water, rock, spring, and whatever other designations are
used of him [Jesus Christ] -- in the same way he is given the predicate
"tabernacle" in accord with a signification fitting to God. For the power
which encompasses the universe, in which lives the fullness of divinity,
[Colossians 2:9.] the common protector of all, who encompasses
everything within himself, is rightly called "tabernacle".
"178. The vision must correspond to the name "tabernacle", so that
each thing seen leads to the contemplation of a concept appropriate to
God. Now the great Apostle says that the curtain of the lower
tabernacle is the flesh of Christ, ...." [Hebrews 10:20.] ...."
[pages 97-99: Gregory of Nyssa, THE LIFE OF MOSES, Translation,
Introduction and Notes by Abraham J. Malherbe and Everett
Ferguson. Preface by John Meyendorff. New York: Paulist Press,
Copyright 1978.].
God save us in Christ our Saviour. AMEN.
In Erie PA December 2011 AD Scott R. Harrington
"170. What then is that tabernacle not made with hands which was
shown to Moses on the mountain and to which he was commanded to
look as to an archetype so that he might reproduce in a handmade
structure that marvel not made with hands? God says, See that you
make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.
[Exodus 25:40.]. There were gold pillars supported by silver bases and
decorated with similar silver capitals; then, there were other pillars
whose capitals were of bronze but whose shafts were of silver. The
core of all the pillars was wood that does not rot. [Isaiah 40:20.]. But
all around shone the brightness of these precious metals.
"171. Likewise, there was an ark made of wood that does not rot,
overlaid with gleaming pure gold. In addition, there was a candlestick
with a single base, divided at its top into seven branches, each support-
ing a lamp. The candlestick was made of solid gold and not of wood
overlaid with gold. There was, moreover, an altar and the throne of
mercy and the so-called cherubim whose wings overshadowed the
ark. [Hebrews 9:5.]. All these were gold, not merely presenting a
superficial appearance of gold but gold through and through.
"172. Furthermore, there were curtains artistically woven of diverse
colors; these brilliant colors were woven together to make a beautiful
fabric. The curtains divided the tabernacle into two parts: the one
visible and accessible to certain of the priests and the other secret and
inaccessible. The name of the front part was the Holy Place and that
of the hidden part was the Holy of Holies. In addition, there were
lavers and braziers and hangings around the outer court and the
curtains of hair and skins died red and all the other things he describes
in the text. What words could accurately describe it all?
"173. Of what things not made with hands are these an imitation? And
what benefit does the material imitation of those things Moses saw
there to convey to those who look at it? It seems good to me to leave
the precise meaning of these things to those who have by the Spirit the
power to search the depths of God [1 Cor. 2:10.], to someone who
may be able,. as the Apostle says, in the Spirit to speak about
mysterious things [1 Cor. 14:2.]. We shall leave what we say
conjecturally and by supposition on the thought at hand to the
judgment of our readers. Their critical intelligence must decide
whether it should be rejected or accepted.
"174. Taking a hind from what has been said by Paul, who partially
uncovered the mystery of these things, we say that Moses was earlier
instructed by a type in the mystery of the tabernacle which
encompasses the universe. This tabernacle would be Christ who is the
power and the wisdom of God, [1 Cor. 1:24.] who in his own nature
was not made with hands, yet capable of being made when it became
necessary for this tabernacle to be erected among us. Thus, the same
tabernacle is in a way both unfashioned and fashioned, uncreated in
preexistence but created in having received this material composition.
"175. What we say is of course not obscure to those who have
accurately received the mystery of our faith. For there is one thing out
of all others which both existed before the ages and came into being
at the end of the ages. [Colossians 1:17.]. It did not need a temporal
beginning (for how could what was before all times and ages be in
need of a temporal origin?), but for our sakes, who had lost our
existence through our thoughtlessness, it consented to be born like us
so that it might bring that which had left reality back again to reality.
This one is the Only Begotten God, who encompasses everything in
himself but who also pitched his own tabernacle among us. [John
1:14.].
"176. But if we name such a God "tabernacle", the person who loves
Christ should not be disturbed at all on the grounds that the suggestion
involved in the phrase diminished the magnificence of the nature of
God. For neither is any other name worthy of the nature thus signified,
but all names have equally fallen short of accurate description, both
those recognized as insignificant as well as those by which some great
insight is indicated.
"177. But just as all the other names, in keeping with what is being
specified, are each used piously to express the divine power -- as, for
example, physician, shepherd, protector, bread, vine, way, door,
mansion, water, rock, spring, and whatever other designations are
used of him [Jesus Christ] -- in the same way he is given the predicate
"tabernacle" in accord with a signification fitting to God. For the power
which encompasses the universe, in which lives the fullness of divinity,
[Colossians 2:9.] the common protector of all, who encompasses
everything within himself, is rightly called "tabernacle".
"178. The vision must correspond to the name "tabernacle", so that
each thing seen leads to the contemplation of a concept appropriate to
God. Now the great Apostle says that the curtain of the lower
tabernacle is the flesh of Christ, ...." [Hebrews 10:20.] ...."
[pages 97-99: Gregory of Nyssa, THE LIFE OF MOSES, Translation,
Introduction and Notes by Abraham J. Malherbe and Everett
Ferguson. Preface by John Meyendorff. New York: Paulist Press,
Copyright 1978.].
God save us in Christ our Saviour. AMEN.
In Erie PA December 2011 AD Scott R. Harrington