How the oracle of judgments was made
Cyril: …stones, in four rows’ (Exodus 28:17). Then, after setting out the names of the stones, he adds again: ‘And let the stones be twelve, according to the names of the sons of Israel, according to their names; let them be engravings of seals, each according to their names, for the twelve tribes’ (Exodus 28:21). And next, a little further on, he says: ‘And Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the oracle of judgment, on his breast, when he goes into the Holy Place, a remembrance before the Lord God’ (Exodus 28:29).
Palladius: How deep a matter the oracle is! Even the way it was made seems to me very hard to grasp.
Cyril: We must approach it, then, and come as near the truth as we can, even if the steep climb perhaps does not allow us to reach it entirely. For to see very obscure things even in a mirror (1 Corinthians 13:12) is, I would say, better than the alternative, I mean, than not to have grasped them at all. I will speak, then, as far as possible, and as I am able to understand it. He commanded that two little shields be made of pure gold, wider than the round of a coin but of the same shape, for a coin is round; then two fringes of pure gold, mingled with flowers. By the fringes we mean chains, whose appearance is richly varied, as with colors, for by ‘flowers’ he meant colors. These colors, then, were fine linen and purple, and gold thread, and blue as well, and the scarlet yarn. Besides this, he says that a square woven piece must be made, shaped, as it were, like a cube, a span in size and equal on every side. And he says that the twelve stones must be woven very firmly into it, set three by three, in four rows in all, with the names of the tribes engraved on them. So the little shields hung from the ephod by golden chains of many kinds, though they sat a little lower than the height of the shoulders themselves. They touched the chest and hung right over the breasts. And from the little shields, by other chains, the oracle of judgments, firmly attached, rested lightly on the chest, with the fringes hanging down. To those who saw it the thing was no small marvel, bright with stones and gold, and gloriously worked in the fine colors of the other materials. This too, he says, will again be a remembrance for the sons of Israel before the Lord, when Aaron goes into the Holy Place (Exodus 28:29). Is the shape of these works now as clear to you as it can be?
Palladius: Very clear. But why is the name ‘the oracle of judgments’ given to this work?
Cyril: Did we not say, explaining the word’s origin, that the upper piece was called the ephod, the shoulder piece, because it is stretched over both shoulders?
Palladius: Yes. What of it?
Cyril: That, again, by true derivation and by analogy, we say that the piece laid up, as it were…
Greek
λίθον τετράστιχον.» Εἶτα τῶν λίθων συνθεὶς τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν, προσεπάγει πάλιν, «Καὶ οἱ λίθοι ἔστωσαν ἐκ τῶν ὀνομάτων τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ δώδεκα, κατὰ τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν, γλυφαὶ σφραγίδων ἑκάστου κατὰ τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν ἔστωσαν εἰς τὰς δώδεκα φυλάς.» Καὶ ἑξῆς μετ' ὀλίγα· «Καὶ λήψεται,» φησὶν, «Ἀαρὼν τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ ἐπὶ τοῦ λογίου τῆς κρίσεως, ἐπὶ τοῦ στήθους εἰσιόντι εἰς τὸ Ἅγιον, μνημόσυνον ἔναντι Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὡς βαθὺ τοῦ λογίου τὸ χρῆμα, δυσέφικτός τε κομιδῆ καὶ αὐτὸς εἶναί μοι δοκεῖ τῆς κατασκευῆς ὁ τρόπος.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἰτέον δὴ οὖν ἐπ' αὐτὰ, καὶ ὡς ἀγχοῦ δὴ μάλα τῆς ἀληθείας, εἰ καὶ μὴ εἰσάπαν αὐτῆς ἐφικέσθαι τυχὸν ἐπιτρέπει τὸ ἄναντες. Τὰ γάρτοι λίαν ἀσυμφανῆ κἂν γοῦν ἐν ἐσόπτρῳ βλέπειν, φαίην ἂν ἔγωγε θατέρου διενεγκεῖν, τοῦ μηδ' ὅλως ἐννενοῆσθαι λέγω. Ἐρῶ δὴ οὖν, ὡς οἷόν τε καὶ ὡς ἂν ἔχοιμι κατὰ νοῦν. Ἀσπιδίσκας δύο προστέταχε γενέσθαι ἐκ χρυσίου δὴ καθαροῦ, εὐρυτέρας μὲν ἢ κατὰ νομίσματος κύκλον, ἐν εἴδει γε μὴν τῷ αὐτῷ· κυκλοτερὲς γὰρ τὸ νόμισμα· εἶτα δύο κροσσωτὰ μεμιγμένα ἐν ἄνθεσιν ἐκ χρυσίου καθαροῦ. Σειρὰς δὲ εἶναί φαμεν τὰ κροσσωτὰ, ἐκπεποικιλμένην ἐχούσας τὴν ὡς ἐν χρώμασιν ὄψιν. Ἄνθη γὰρ ἔφη τὰ χρώματα. Βύσσος δὲ ἦν ἄρα καὶ πορφύρα ταυτὶ, καὶ νῆμα χρυσοῦν, καὶ μὴν καὶ ὑάκινθος, καὶ κλῶσμα τὸ κόκκινον. Καὶ πρός γε δὴ τούτῳ χρῆναι γενέσθαι φησὶ τετράγωνον ὕφασμα, καὶ ὡς ἐν εἴδει κύβου, σπιθαμιαῖον, ἰσόπλευρον πανταχῆ. Ἐνυφαίνεσθαι δὲ δεῖν αὐτῷ τὰς δυοκαίδεκα λίθους εὖ μάλα φησὶ, καὶ ἀνὰ τρεῖς κειμένας, ὡς ἐν τέσσαρσιν ὅλοις στίχοις ἐντετορευμένων αὐταῖς ὀνομαστὶ τῶν φυλῶν. Οὐκοῦν ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς ἐπωμίδος, χρυσαῖς καὶ πολυειδέσιν αἱ ἀσπιδίσκαι σειραῖς ἐκκεκρεμασμέναι ὑπεκάθηντο μέντοι ἠρέμα, τὸ ὑψοῦ τε δοκεῖν καὶ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς εἶναι τοῖς ὤμοις. Ἥπτοντο δὲ τῶν στέρνων καὶ αὐτοῖς ἤδη ἐπῃώρηντο τοῖς μαστοῖς· ἀπὸ δέ γε τῶν ἀσπιδισκῶν σειραῖς ἑτέραις τὸ τῶν κρίσεων λόγιον εὖ μάλα προσηρτημένον ἐπενήχετο τῷ στέρνῳ, κροσσωτῶν ἐκκεκρεμασμένων. Καὶ ἦν οὐκ ἀθαύμαστον τοῖς ὁρῶσι τὸ χρῆμα, λίθοις καὶ χρυσῷ διαφανὲς καὶ ταῖς τῶν ἑτέρων ὑλῶν εὐχροίαις πανδόξως ἐξειργασμένον. Ἔσεσθαι δὲ καὶ τοῦτο πάλιν εἰς ἀνάμνησιν τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ, ἔναντι Κυρίου εἰσιόντος Ἀαρὼν εἰς τὸ Ἅγιον. Ἆρά σοι σαφὲς ὡς ἔνι λοιπὸν τῶν τεχνημάτων τὸ σχῆμα;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ μάλα. Ἀνθ' ὅτου δὲ δὴ τὸ λόγιον τῶν κρίσεων ὄνομα τῷ τεχνήματι;
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐ γὰρ δὴ καὶ ἐπωμίδα κεκλῆσθαι τὸ ἀνωτέρω, διὰ τὸ ἀμφοῖν ἐπιτετᾶσθαι τοῖν ὤμοιν, ἐτυμολογοῦντες εἰρήκαμεν;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ναί. Τί οὖν τοῦτό γε;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ὅτι πάλιν ἐτύμως τε καὶ ἀναλόγως τὸ ὡς