The oracle on the heart: right judgment and the armor of God
Cyril: …in the heart and the inward parts has been named the oracle (logion) of judgments. For the heart and the inward parts are, so to speak, the dwelling place of the reason (logikon) within us. And firmly set, and as it were naturally fixed, in the reason within us is also right and blameless judgment about each thing to be done, that is, just judgment, and what befits each case. Or is it not some power of reason in us that weighs the nature of the things to be done, and separates what is unpleasant and unprofitable from what is better?
Palladius: Certainly.
Cyril: It is the custom of the divinely inspired Scripture to call uprightness and just judgment ‘judgment’. So the divine David sings: ‘Blessed are those who keep judgment and do righteousness at all times’ (Psalm 106:3). And again he said somewhere: ‘And the honor of the king loves judgment’ (Psalm 99:4). For the honor and glory of a king is splendid when it loves righteousness. So, then, the piece laid upon the heart and breast is the oracle of judgment, because it lies, as it were, in the place of the reason, where uprightness in righteousness is found. On it are twelve stones set round with gold, bearing an inscription: the tribes. They would be a type of holy men, who are splendid and precious, like choice stones, lying, as it were, in the mind and heart of Christ. And they are truly worthy of remembrance, because of the brightness of their virtue and the worth of their sanctification. Golden fringes also hang from the oracle of judgments. The thing indicates, I think, that the great and countless host of noble deeds done by the multitude of the saints is seen, as it were, hanging from it. And indeed the blessed David says that the adornment of the Church is in fringes (Psalm 45:13).
Palladius: The account is convincing.
Cyril: From the oracle of judgments, gripped by golden clasps, a many-colored and bright chain climbs upward, as we were saying, and passing through both little shields, it reaches the very top of the ephod, where the stones of the enrollment are. Is it not worth seeing what this, too, might mean? To me the riddle seems again to point to something like this: that the precious stones, which are in the knowledge and the memory of Christ, as they run toward the enrollment above, gain it through the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left (2 Corinthians 6:7); for so the divine Paul plainly writes. And elsewhere he also says: ‘Put on the whole armor of God’ (Ephesians 6:11). A king’s weapons are golden, and golden likewise are the little shields, which hint, as in a riddle, at the whole armor of God. So we shall be in God’s memory and enrollment in no other way than by taking up the weapons of righteousness and making our way by them in action. And its being fastened to the ephod…
Greek
ἐν καρδίᾳ τε καὶ σπλάγχνοις ἀποτεθειμένον λόγιον τῶν κρίσεων ὠνομάσθαι φαμέν. Ἐνδιαίτημα γὰρ ὥσπερ τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν λογικοῦ καρδία καὶ σπλάγχνα. Ἐρήρεισται δὲ ὥσπερ καὶ ἐγκαταπέπηκται φυσικῶς τῷ ἐν ἡμῖν λογικῷ καὶ ἡ ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν πρακτέων ὀρθή τε καὶ ἀδιάβλητος κρίσις, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ἡ δικαιοκρισία, καὶ τὸ ἑκάστῳ πρέπον· ἢ γὰρ οὐχὶ λογική τις ἐν ἡμῖν τὰς τῶν πρακτέων ταλαντεύει φύσεις, καὶ ἀποκρίνει τῶν ἀμεινόνων τὸ ἄχαρί τε καὶ ἀλυσιτελές;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ πάνυ.
{ΚΥΡ.} Κρίσιν δὲ ὀνομάζειν ἔθος τῇ θεοπνεύστῳ Γραφῇ τὴν ὀρθότητα καὶ δικαιοκρισίαν. Καὶ γοῦν ὁ θεσπέσιος ψάλλει Δαβίδ· «Μακάριοι οἱ φυλάσσοντες κρίσιν, καὶ ποιοῦντες δικαιοσύνην ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ.» Ἔφη δέ που πάλιν· «Καὶ τιμὴ βασιλέως, κρίσιν ἀγαπᾷν. Λαμπρὰ γὰρ ἡ βασιλέως τιμή τε καὶ δόξα, φιλοῦσα δικαιοσύνην. Λόγιον οὖν ἄρα κρίσεως τὸ καρδίᾳ καὶ στέρνοις ἐπεῤῥιμμένον, διὰ τὸ ὥσπερ ἐν τόπῳ κεῖσθαι τοῦ λογικοῦ, ἐν ᾧ ἡ ὀρθότης ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ. Ἐν αὐτῷ δὲ τούτῳ λίθοι δυοκαίδεκα χρυσίῳ περισχετοὶ, γραφὴν ἔχοντες, τὰς φυλάς. Εἶεν δ' ἂν τύπος ἀνδρῶν ἁγίων, οἳ λαμπροί τέ εἰσι καὶ τίμιοι, καὶ οἷά τινες ἀπόλεκτοι λίθοι, μονονουχὶ καὶ εἰς νοῦν καὶ καρδίαν κείμενοι τοῦ Χριστοῦ· καὶ γάρ εἰσιν ἀληθῶς μνήμης ἄξιοι, διά γε τὸ ἐν ἀρετῇ διαφανὲς, καὶ τὸ ὡς ἐν ἁγιασμῷ τίμιον. Ἀποκρέμανται δὲ τοῦ λογίου τῶν κρίσεων καὶ κρωσσοὶ χρυσοῖ, παραδηλοῦντος, οἶμαι, τοῦ πράγματος, ὅτι τῆς τῶν ἁγίων πληθύος ὁ πολύς τε καὶ ἀναρίθμητος τῶν ἀνδραγαθημάτων ἐσμὸς μονονουχὶ καὶ ἀπηρτημένος ὁρᾶται. Καὶ γοῦν ὁ μακάριος Δαβὶδ καὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τὸν κόσμον ἐν κροσσωτοῖς εἶναί φησιν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πιθανὸς ὁ λόγος.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀπὸ δέ γε τοῦ λογίου τῶν κρίσεων χρυσοῖς δακτύλοις ἐνειλημμένη ποικίλη τε καὶ εὔχρως ἀνέρπει σειρὰ, καθάπερ ἐλέγομεν, καὶ δι' ἀμφοῖν ἰοῦσα ταῖν ἀσπιδίσκαιν, ἐπ' αὐτὸ διήκει τῆς ἐπωμίδος τὸ ἄκρον, ἐφ' ᾗ τῆς ἀπογραφῆς αἱ λίθοι. Τί δ' ἂν εἴη καὶ τόδε, πῶς οὐκ ἄξιον ἰδεῖν; Δοκεῖ δὴ οὖν μοι παραδηλοῦν τὸ αἴνιγμα τοιουτονί τι πάλιν· Ὡς γὰρ οἱ λίθοι οἱ τίμιοι καὶ ἐν γνώσει τε καὶ ἐν μνήμῃ Χριστοῦ, πρὸς τὴν ἄνω τρέχοντες ἀπογραφὴν, τὸ χρῆμα κερδαίνουσι διὰ τῶν ὅπλων τῆς δικαιοσύνης τῶν δεξιῶν καὶ ἀριστερῶν· γράφει γὰρ ὧδε σαφῶς ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος. Καὶ μὴν καὶ ἑτέρωθί φησιν· «Ἐνδύσασθε τὴν πανοπλίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ.» Χρυσᾶ δὲ τὰ βασιλέως ὅπλα, χρυσαῖ δὲ ὁμοίως αἱ ἀσπιδίσκαι, καὶ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ πανοπλίαν αἰνιγματωδῶς ὑποφαίνουσαι. Ἐσόμεθα δὴ οὖν οὐχ ἑτέρως ἐν μνήμῃ τε καὶ ἀπογραφῇ Θεοῦ, μὴ οὐχὶ τῶν ὅπλων τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἁψάμενοι, καὶ δι' αὐτῶν ἰόντες πρακτικῶς. Τὸ δὲ δὴ τῆς ἐπωμίδος ἀνῆφθαι