Names written in heaven, carried on Christ’s shoulders
Cyril: For since the Israelites, while they lived in Egypt, had served the creation (Romans 1:25) and called heaven a god, the Lord of all appeared to them, for their good, standing upon the firmament itself, so that they might know that he has all things under his feet and is master of the heavens themselves, as their Creator. Do you see, then, that holy Scripture makes the stone, with its pallor as of a moderate light, a kind of type and image of heaven? For by nature it gleams dark blue.
Palladius: Very well said.
Cyril: The emerald, then, is a sign of heaven. It has Israel written on it, family by family, and it has been given the ephod as its place. From this we may understand that those who have been granted enrollment in heaven will surely, and in every way, rest upon Christ, who all but carries them on his shoulders and counts the good in the rank of children. The divine Moses said something like this when he adorned Israel with the tender care that comes from God: ‘As an eagle would shelter its nest, and yearned over its young, spreading its wings it received them, and took them up on its back’ (Deuteronomy 32:11). David too sings to every holy one who has made his dwelling in the help of the Most High (Psalm 91:1): ‘He will overshadow you upon his back,’ he says (Psalm 91:4). By ‘back’ I take him to mean the parts just below the neck, the region, as it were, of the shoulders, and not the back as a whole. So, in the words of the prophet, they will be lifted up on shoulders (Isaiah 60:4; Isaiah 66:12), and, as with Ephraim of old, they will be taken up on the arm (Hosea 11:3): those who have been granted the enrollment above. The Savior himself declared that enrollment glorious and admirable, surpassing even the beauty of the divine gifts, when he said somewhere to the holy disciples: ‘Do not rejoice that the demons are subject to you, but rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven’ (Luke 10:20). And he says that the enrollment on the stones will be a remembrance for the sons of Israel before the Lord (Exodus 28:12), who all but fixes his gaze on them, as they are in Aaron. For God the Father receives us into remembrance in Christ, and in him we have become known to God and worthy of his watchful care, as though written in God’s book.
Palladius: Rightly said.
Cyril: He commands that yet another ornament be added to it, saying: ‘And you shall make little shields of pure gold, of mingled work, and you shall make two fringes of pure gold, mingled with flowers, a plaited work; and you shall put the plaited fringes on the little shields and on their shoulder straps at the front. And you shall make the oracle of judgments, the work of a weaver, after the design of the ephod; you shall make it of gold and blue and purple and twisted scarlet and twisted fine linen. You shall make it square; it shall be double, a span its length and a span its breadth’ (Exodus 28:13–16), ‘and you shall weave into it a woven work set with…
Greek
Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ γεγονότες οἱ ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ λελατρεύκασι τῇ κτίσει, καὶ θεὸν ἐκάλουν τὸν οὐρανὸν, χρησίμως αὐτοῖς ὁ τῶν ὅλων Κύριος καὶ ἐπ' αὐτοῦ βεβηκὼς ἐφαίνετο τοῦ στερεώματος, ἵν' εἰδεῖεν ὅτι πάντα ὑπὸ πόδας ἔχει, καὶ αὐτῶν ἐστι τῶν οὐρανῶν δεσπότης, ὡς δημιουργός. Συνίης οὖν ὅτι τύπον ὥσπερ τινὰ καὶ εἰκονισμὸν οὐρανοῦ τὸ Γράμμα ποιεῖται τὸ ἱερὸν, τὴν ὡς ἐν μετρίῳ φωτὶ κατωχριῶσαν λίθον; κυαναυγὴς γὰρ φύσει.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἄριστα ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐρανοῦ δὴ οὖν σημεῖον ἡ σμάραγδος, γεγραμμένον ἔχουσα κατὰ γένος τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ τόπον λαχοῦσα τὴν ἐπωμίδα, δι' οὗ παρέσται νοεῖν, ὡς, οἵπερ ἂν εἶεν τὴν ἀπογραφὴν λαχόντες ἐν οὐρανῷ, οὗτοι πάντη τε καὶ πάντως ἐπαναπαύσονται τῷ Χριστῷ, μονονουχὶ καὶ ἐπ' ὤμων ἔχοντι, καὶ ὡς ἐν τάξει τέκνων ποιουμένῳ τοὺς ἀγαθούς. Τοιοῦτον δὲ καὶ ὁ θεῖος ἔφη Μωσῆς, φειδοῖ τῇ παρὰ Θεοῦ κατακαλλύνων τὸν Ἰσραήλ· «Ὡς ἀετὸς σκεπάσαι νοσσιὰν ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς νεοσσοῖς αὐτοῦ ἐπεπόθησε, διεὶς τὰς πτέρυγας αὐτοῦ ἐδέξατο αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἀνέλαβεν αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν μεταφρένων αὐτοῦ.» Ἀλλὰ δή που καὶ ὁ Δαβὶδ ἀναμελῳδεῖ ἁγίῳ παντὶ, καὶ ἐν βοηθείᾳ τοῦ Ὑψίστου κατῳκηκότι, «Ἐπὶ τῶν μεταφρένων αὐτοῦ ἐπισκιάσει σοι,» φησί. Μετάφρενά που καθάπερ ἐγᾦμαι τὰ ὑπαυχένια μέρη, καὶ τὰ ὡς ἐν ὤμοις ὑποδηλῶν, καὶ οὐχὶ δὴ πάντως τὰ νῶτα. Ἐπ' ὤμων δὴ οὖν ἀρθήσονται, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ προφήτου φωνὴν, καὶ ἐπὶ βραχίονος ἀναληφθήσονται κατὰ τὸν ἀρχαῖον Ἐφραῒμ, οἱ τὴν ἄνω λαχόντες ἀπογραφὴν, ἣν εὐκλεᾶ τε καὶ ἀξιάγαστον καὶ τῶν θείων χαρισμάτων τὸ κάλλος ὑπερκειμένην αὐτὸς ἀπέφηνεν ὁ Σωτὴρ, τοῖς ἁγίοις μαθηταῖς ὡδίπη λέγων· «Μὴ χαίρετε ὅτι τὰ δαιμόνια ὑποτάσσεται ὑμῖν, χαίρετε δὲ μᾶλλον, ὅτι τὰ ὀνόματα ὑμῶν ἐγγέγραπται ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς.» Μνημόσυνον δὲ τὴν ἔν γε τοῖς λίθοις ἀπογραφὴν ἔσεσθαί φησι τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ ἔναντι Κυρίου, μονονουχὶ καὶ ἐνατενίζοντος, ὡς ἐν Ἀαρών· εἰσδέχεται γὰρ ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεὸς καὶ Πατὴρ εἰς ἀνάμνησιν ἐν Χριστῷ, καὶ γεγόναμεν ἐν αὐτῷ γνώριμοί τε καὶ ἐποπτείας ἄξιοι, καὶ ὡς ἐν βίβλῳ Θεοῦ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὀρθῶς ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Κόσμημα δὲ τούτῳ καὶ ἕτερον προσεπάγεσθαι δεῖν ἐπιτάττει λέγων, «Καὶ ποιήσεις ἀσπιδίσκας ἐκ χρυσοῦ καθαροῦ καταμεμιγμένας, καὶ ποιήσεις δύο κροσσωτὰ ἐκ χρυσίου καθαροῦ καταμεμιγμένα ἐν ἄνθεσιν ἔργον πλοκῆς, καὶ ἐπιθήσεις τὰ κροσσωτὰ τὰ πεπλεγμένα ἐπὶ τὰς ἀσπιδίσκας καὶ τὰς παρωμίδας αὐτῶν ἐκ τῶν ἐμπροσθίων. Καὶ ποιήσεις λόγιον τῶν κρίσεων, ἔργον ὑφάντου κατὰ τὸν ῥυθμὸν τῆς ἐπωμίδος, ποιήσεις αὐτὸ ἐκ χρυσίου καὶ ὑακίνθου, καὶ πορφύρας καὶ κοκκίνου κεκλωσμένου, καὶ βύσσου κεκλωσμένης, ποιήσεις αὐτὸ τετράγωνον, ἔσται διπλοῦν σπιθαμῆς τὸ μῆκος καὶ σπιθαμῆς τὸ εὖρος, Καὶ καθυφανεῖς ἐν αὐτῷ ὕφασμα κατὰ τὸν