Christ the garment of glory; the colors of the robe show the Word
Cyril: …honor and glory, in truth, for the sacred and holy race is Christ, a splendid adornment, beyond this world, for the souls of the saints. ‘For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ’ (Galatians 3:27), he says, and the saying is true. But the law adorns Aaron as in shadows, referring to Christ the glory that comes from his richly varied robes. For a mystical and exact meaning is found all but woven into the making of these works of craft, hinting in riddles at the glory of the Savior. See how he says that the makers of the garments were filled with understanding from God (Exodus 28:3), since God was leading them to richly colored embroidery and writing the glory of Christ into the vestments. The pieces to be made were the breastpiece and the ephod, the full-length robe and the fringed tunic, the turban and the sash (Exodus 28:4): these, and others besides, which we will discuss one by one as far as we can. He spoke, then, of the materials taken for the work: ‘And they shall take the gold, and the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and fine linen’ (Exodus 28:5). Now once more, please, bring a keen mind to what lies before us, and first of all observe this.
Palladius: What do you mean?
Cyril: Were not all the things in the tabernacle made of gold and fine linen, and also of purple and spun scarlet, and of blue? And were they not a type of Christ?
Palladius: That is so.
Cyril: See, then, that the robe of the one who holds first place in the priesthood was made of the same materials, again laboring, as in an image and in types, to bring forth the glory of Christ. For the same meanings, and no different knowledge, point to the beauty of Christ. He is known as God in the gold; as having royal dignity in the purple; as the fine and bodiless Word in the fine linen; in the scarlet, because of the flesh; and in the blue, which looks like the sky (for that is the color of hyacinth), because he is from above and from heaven. Or is not the Word who is from God the Father both God and King at once?
Palladius: How could he not be?
Cyril: And though he is the fine and bodiless Word of the Father, did he not come to be in flesh? And is he not from above?
Palladius: True.
Cyril: So, to careful contemplation, the materials of the garments are exactly the same as those of the things made in the holy tabernacle. So much for that. Now it is time to speak of the things woven in many colors for Aaron’s honor and glory. So he says (Exodus 28:6–8): ‘And they shall make the ephod of spun fine linen, the woven work of an embroiderer. It shall have two shoulder pieces joined to each other, fastened at its two edges. And the woven work of the
Greek
τιμὴν καὶ δόξαν ἀληθῶς τῷ ἱερῷ καὶ ἁγίῳ γένει, Χριστὸς, κόσμημά τε λαμπρὸν καὶ ὑπερκόσμιον ταῖς τῶν ἁγίων ψυχαῖς. «Ὅσοι γὰρ εἰς Χριστὸν ἐβαπτίσθητε, Χριστὸν ἐνεδύσασθε,» φησὶ, καὶ ἀληθὴς ὁ λόγος. Ὡς ἐν σκιαῖς δὲ ὁ νόμος κατακαλλύνει τὸν Ἀαρὼν, εἰς Χριστὸν ἀναφέρων τὴν ἐκ τοῦ ποικίλως ἐστάλθαι δόξαν. Μονονουχὶ γὰρ καὶ συνυφασμένος τῇ τῶν τεχνημάτων κατασκευῇ μυστικός τε καὶ ἀκριβὴς εὑρίσκεται λόγος, αἰνιγματωδῶς ὑποφαίνων τοῦ Σωτῆρος τὴν δόξαν. Θέα γὰρ ὅπως τῆς συνέσεως τῆς παρὰ Θεοῦ τῶν ἐσθημάτων τοὺς τεχνουργοὺς ἀναπεπλῆσθαί φησιν, εἰς εὐανθῆ ποικιλουργίαν ἀποκομίζοντος, καὶ τὴν Χριστοῦ τοῖς ἀμφίοις ἐγγράφοντος δόξαν. Περιστήθιον δὲ καὶ ἐπωμὶς, καὶ ποδήρης, καὶ χιτὼν ὁ κοσυμβωτὸς, κίδαρίς τε καὶ ζώνη, τὰ τεχνουργούμενα, αὐτά τε καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἕτερα, ἃ καὶ ἀνὰ μέρος ἡμῖν, ὡς ἔνι, λελέξεται. Ἔφη τοίνυν περὶ τῶν εἰς ἔργα παρειλημμένων, «Καὶ αὐτοὶ λήψονται τὸ χρυσίον, καὶ τὴν ὑάκινθον, καὶ τὴν πορφύραν, καὶ τὸ κόκκινον, καὶ βύσσον.» Καί μοι πάλιν λεπτὸν ἐνιεὶς τοῖς προκειμένοις τὸν νοῦν, καὶ πρό γε δὴ τῶν ἄλλων ἄθρει δὴ τόδε.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τὸ ποῖον τί φής;
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐ γὰρ χρυσίου καὶ βύσσου, καὶ μὴν καὶ πορφύρας καὶ κοκκίνου κεκλωσμένου, ὑακίνθου τε αὖ πάντα πεποίηνται τὰ ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ, καὶ ἦν εἰς τύπον Χριστοῦ;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὧδε ἔχει.
{ΚΥΡ.} Θέα δὲ δὴ ὅτι διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν καὶ ἡ τοῦ προὔχοντος ἐν ἱερωσύνῃ διεσκευάσθη στολὴ, τὴν Χριστοῦ δόξαν ὡς ἐν εἰκόνι δὴ πάλιν καὶ τύποις ὠδίνουσα· λόγοι γὰρ οἱ αὐτοὶ, γνῶσις δὲ οὐχ ἑτέρα, τὸ Χριστοῦ κάλλος κατασημαίνουσι. Γινώσκεται γὰρ ὡς ἐν χρυσῷ μὲν Θεὸς, ὡς ἐν πορφύρᾳ τὸ βασίλειον ἔχων ἀξίωμα, καὶ ὡς ἐν βύσσῳ λεπτῇ λόγος ἰσχνὸς καὶ ἀσώματος, ὡς ἐν κοκκίνῳ διὰ τὴν σάρκα· ἐν ὑακίνθῳ γε μὴν ἀεροφανεῖ, τοιουτόχρως γὰρ ὑάκινθος, διὰ τὸ ἄνωθεν καὶ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ. Ἢ γὰρ οὐχὶ Θεός τε ἅμα καὶ βασιλεὺς ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς Λόγος;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πῶς γὰρ οὕ;
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐχὶ δὲ Λόγος ὢν τοῦ Πατρὸς λεπτὸς καὶ ἀσώματος, γέγονεν ἐν σαρκὶ καὶ ἔστιν ἄνωθεν;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀληθές.
{ΚΥΡ.} Αἱ αὐταὶ τοιγαροῦν ἀπαραλλάκτως καὶ ὡς ἐν θεωρίᾳ λεπτῇ τῶν ἐσθημάτων αἱ ὕλαι, καὶ μέντοι καὶ τῶν κατεσκευασμένων ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ σκηνῆ. Καὶ ταυτὶ μὲν ὧδε, τὰ δὲ εἰς τιμὴν καὶ δόξαν τῷ Ἀαρὼν ποικίλως ἐξυφασμένα καιρὸς ἤδη λέγειν. Οὐκοῦν, «Καὶ ποιήσουσι, φησὶ, τὴν ἐπωμίδα ἐκ βύσσου κεκλωσμένης, ἔργον ὑφαντὸν ποικιλτοῦ, δύο ἐπωμίδες συνέχουσαι ἔσονται αὐτῷ, ἑτέρα τὴν ἑτέραν ἐπὶ τοῖς δύο μέρεσιν ἐξηρτημένα. Καὶ τὸ ὕφασμα τῶν