Ephod emerald stones = Israel on Christ’s shoulders; heaven-colored memorial
Cyril: …shoulder-pieces, which is upon it according to the making, from it will be from gold and hyacinth and purple and scarlet spun-through and spun linen.’ And having given the material already said beforehand to the weaves, at once he adds: ‘And you will take the two stones, emerald stones, and you will engrave in them the names of the sons of Israel, six names about the one stone, and the six remaining names upon the second stone, according to their births, a work of stone-working craft; an engraving of a seal you will engrave the stones upon the names of the sons of Israel. And you will set the two stones upon the shoulders of the shoulder-piece; stones of memorial are they for the sons of Israel.’ (Exodus 28:9–12)
Palladius: Deep, as it seems, is the word in the contemplations; and try first to say that, what is the matter of the so-called shoulder-piece, or what manner of construction it would have.
Cyril: He has ordered some weave as in form of a tunic and reaching as far as the chest to come to be, as having been brought upon the garments themselves inward and as on skin and as far as feet, and flashing the ray from gold and purple, it would birth for the eyes of those watching a solemn and priest-fitting marvel. This he has called shoulder-piece, through, I think, the short of the craft-work, and the barely stretching upon both shoulders. So then in this shoulder-piece two stones—and these of emerald—well bound with thin threads he was clearly typing must be fixed, with the tribes having been dug-in artfully by name, so that six be written in one stone. And what is the word of this, he himself was clarifying for us saying: ‘And Aaron will take the names of the sons of Israel opposite Lord upon his two shoulders, a memorial concerning them.’ (Exodus 24:9–10)
Palladius: And what again through the stones and the things in them will we think to be hinted?
Cyril: Hear then; pale is the emerald stone. And the ray-formed is swimming in it in depth, and as it were light has been mixed with dark; each dragging the conquering toward itself. So then, O Palladius, looking toward the high and above, the eye of the body, and straining unto the deep toward aether and heaven, will it not cast forward some such contemplation? for pale somehow and as in depth black, and mixed with moderate light, is the uppermost aether.
Palladius: Thus it holds.
Cyril: So then an image of heaven the sacred Letter makes the stone. And do not marvel when also with sapphire it likens it again. For pale is the sapphire, and not far from the sight in emerald. And it has been written thus in the Exodus, ‘And Moses and Aaron went up, and Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the eldership of Israel. And they saw the place where the God of Israel had stood; and the things under his feet, as a work of sapphire stone, and as form of firmament of the heaven, in the cleanness.’ (Exodus 24:10)
Greek
ἐπωμίδων, ὅ ἐστιν ἐπ' αὐτῷ κατὰ τὴν ποίησιν, ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἔσται ἐκ χρυσοῦ καὶ ὑακίνθου καὶ πορφύρας καὶ κοκκίνου διανενησμένου καὶ βύσσου κεκλωσμένης.» Ὕλην δὲ τοῖς ὑφάσμασι δοὺς τὴν ἤδη προειρημένην, εὐθὺς ἐπιφέρει· «Καὶ λήψῃ τοὺς δύο λίθους, λίθους σμαράγδους, καὶ γλύψεις ἐν αὐτοῖς τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, ἓξ ὀνόματα περὶ τὸν λίθον τὸν ἕνα, καὶ τὰ ἓξ ὀνόματα τὰ λοιπὰ ἐπὶ τὸν λίθον τὸν δεύτερον, κατὰ τὰς γενέσεις αὐτῶν, ἔργον λιθουργικῆς τέχνης· γλύμμα σφραγίδος διαγλύψεις τοὺς λίθους ἐπὶ τοῖς ὀνόμασι τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ. Καὶ θήσεις τοὺς δύο λίθους ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων τῆς ἐπωμίδος· λίθοι μνημόσυνόν εἰσι τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραήλ.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Βαθὺς μὲν, ὡς ἔοικεν, ὁ ἐν τοῖς θεωρήμασι λόγος· πειρῶ δὲ πρότερον ἐκεῖνο εἰπεῖν, τί τὸ χρῆμα τῆς ἐπίκλην ἐπωμίδος, ἢ ποῖον ἂν ἔχοι τῆς κατασκευῆς τὸν τρόπον.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ὕφασμά τι χιτῶνος ὡς ἐν εἴδει καὶ μέχρι στέρνου διῆκον γενέσθαι προστέταχεν, ὡς αὐτοῖς ἔσω τε καὶ ὡς ἐν χρῷ καὶ μέχρι ποδῶν ἐσθήμασιν ἐπενηνεγμένου, καὶ τὴν ἐκ χρυσοῦ καὶ πορφύρας ἀπαστράπτων αὐγὴν, τοῖς τῶν θεωμένων ὀφθαλμοῖς σεπτόν τε καὶ ἱεροπρεπὲς ἐντέκοι τὸ θαῦμα. Τοῦτο κέκληκεν ἐπωμίδα, διὰ τὸ, οἶμαι, βραχὺ τοῦ τεχνήματος, καὶ τὸ ἀμφοῖν δὴ μόλις ἐπιτάννυσθαι τοῖν ὤμοιν. Ἐν ταύτῃ δὴ οὖν τῇ ἐπωμίδι δύο λίθους, σμαράγδου δὲ αὗται, κλώσμασιν ἰσχνοῖς εὖ μάλα διεσφιγμένας ἐνερείδεσθαι δεῖν διετύπου σαφῶς, ἐνορωρυγμένων εὐτέχνως ὀνομαστὶ τῶν φυλῶν, ὡς ἓξ ἐν μιᾷ γράφεσθαι λίθῳ. Καὶ τίς ὁ τοῦδε λόγος, αὐτὸς ἡμῖν διεσάφει λέγων· «Καὶ λήψεται Ἀαρὼν τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ ἔναντι Κυρίου ἐπὶ τῶν δύο ὤμων αὐτοῦ, μνημόσυνον περὶ αὐτῶν.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Νομιοῦμεν δὲ τί διά τε τῶν λίθων καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς ὑποδηλοῦσθαι πάλιν;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἄκουε δή· ὠχρὰ μὲν λίθος ἡ σμάραγδος. Ἐννήχεται δὲ αὐτῇ τὸ αὐγοειδὲς ἐν βάθει, καὶ οἱονεὶ σκότῳ συγκέκραται φῶς· ἑκατέρου πρὸς ἑαυτὸ τὸ νικᾷν ἀνθέλκοντος. Ἆρ' οὖν, ὦ Παλλάδιε, πρὸς τὸ ὑψοῦ τε καὶ ἄνω βλέπων ὁ τοῦ σώματος ὀφθαλμὸς, καὶ κατατείνας εἰς τὸ βαθὺ πρὸς αἰθέρα καὶ οὐρανὸν, οὐχὶ τοιᾷδέ τινι προβαλεῖ θεωρίᾳ; ὠχρὸς γάρ που καὶ ὡς ἐν βάθει μέλας, καὶ φωτὶ μετρίῳ συμμιγὴς, ὁ ἀνωτάτω λίαν αἰθήρ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὧδε ἔχει.
{ΚΥΡ.} Εἰκόνα δὴ οὖν οὐρανοῦ τὴν λίθον ποιεῖται τὸ Γράμμα τὸ ἱερόν. Καὶ μή τοι θαυμάσῃς ὅτε καὶ σαπφείρῳ παρεικάζει πάλιν αὐτόν. Ὠχρὰ γὰρ ἡ σάπφειρος, καὶ τῆς ἐν σμαράγδῳ θέας οὐ μακράν. Γέγραπται δὲ οὕτως ἐν τῇ Ἐξόδῳ, «Καὶ ἀνέβη Μωσῆς καὶ Ἀαρὼν, καὶ Ναδὰβ, καὶ Ἀβιοὺδ, καὶἑβδομήκοντα τῆς γερουσίας Ἰσραήλ. Καὶ εἶδον τὸν τόπον οὗ εἱστήκει ὁ Θεὸς Ἰσραήλ· καὶ τὰ ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ, ὡσεὶ ἔργον λίθου σαπφείρου, καὶ ὥσπερ εἶδος στερεώματος τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, τῇ καθαρότητι.»
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 11 of a seventeen-book dialogue — not the whole work.
English follows Migne PG 68 (Aubert reprint). The PDF and a cleaned text of the same print were checked against each other. This page is Book 11 of seventeen. This is a reading translation for study, not a new critical edition of the Greek.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Migne PG 68 De adoratione Book 11 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 11)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 11)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.