The ark below and the mercy seat above
Cyril: …the blind (Psalm 146:8). He says that an ark was to be made of wood that does not decay and of pure gold, and the law was in it, that is, the divine word, or the testimonies (Exodus 25:10–11, 16). For the thing was a type of the Word who was born of God, who dwelt among us (John 1:14) and came in the likeness of flesh (Romans 8:3; Philippians 2:7), according to the Scriptures. Then he said that a veil stretched on four pillars must hang before the ark (Exodus 26:31–33). And the name given to the veil is the mercy seat. This too is Christ. ‘For he is the propitiation for our sins’ (1 John 2:2), ‘and a mercy seat through faith’ (Romans 3:25); for so Paul named him. The cherubim, too, were depicted, as it were, around the mercy seat (Exodus 25:18–20). They signify very well that the highest powers serve under God, for the Word is God (John 1:1); that they are very near, and indeed that they stand in attendance as ministers. Then God said to Moses: ‘And I will make myself known to you from there, and I will speak to you from above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony’ (Exodus 25:22). Now the ark, as I said, was Christ, God the Word in an incorruptible body; but the ark was set on the ground, and the Only-begotten entered the low and humble state that is ours. For he took on the form of a slave and emptied himself (Philippians 2:7). Yet he himself is also the mercy seat, which lies on high and is escorted by the powers above. For the Son is made known to us not only by the ways in which he emptied himself, but also by all that makes him God and Lord of all. Even though he humbled himself on account of his humanity (Philippians 2:8), coming down, in the divine plan, into our condition, still ‘God has highly exalted him and given him the name that is above every name’ (Philippians 2:9). And this too has its type: the mercy seat was set on high, with the cherubim depicted on its right and its left. For where the service fit for God alone is seen, there surely must also be the glory of the Godhead and a dignity supreme beyond words. ‘And from above the cherubim I will make myself known to you’ (Exodus 25:22), says the Master of all. He commands that the ineffable nature be sought not among created things, but wholly beyond whatever has been called into being. For the most fitting way to think of God’s nature, and the most fitting place for it, is what lies beyond and above everything that has come into being. So the place above the cherubim, even in visible form in the holy tent, all but shows us the divine nature. That is why he commanded that the golden altar, made as a type of Christ, be set opposite the one who gives his oracles from above the cherubim and is understood to be there (Exodus 30:6). This signifies, I think, that in Christ our affairs came, as it were, into God’s sight and before the eyes of the Father. For man had turned away and had offended God by the transgression and by much sin, and Christ set him again before the face of the Father, in himself, as the first. ‘For as a forerunner he has entered heaven on our behalf (Hebrews 6:20), now to appear in the presence of God for us’ (Hebrews 9:24), as the wise Paul writes to us. For he who always exists with his own…
Greek
τοὺς τυφλούς. Κιβωτὸν γενέσθαι ἐκ ξύλων ἀσήπτων καὶ χρυσίου καθαροῦ, φησὶ, καὶ ἦν ὁ νόμος ἐν αὐτῇ, τουτέστιν, ὁ θεῖος λόγος, ἤτοι τὰ μαρτύρια. Τύπος γὰρ ἦν τὸ χρῆμα, τοῦ ἐκ Θεοῦ φύντος Λόγου, κατοικήσαντος ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ σαρκὸς ἐν ὁμοιώματι γεγονότος, κατὰ τὰς Γραφάς. Εἶτα καταπέτασμά τι τέσσαρσι στύλοις ἐπιτετανυσμένον, ἀπαιωρεῖσθαι τῇ κιβωτῷ δεῖν ἔφη. Ὄνομα δὲ τῷ καταπετάσματι, τὸ ἱλαστήριον. Χριστὸς δὲ καὶ τοῦτο. «Ἱλασμὸς γάρ ἐστιν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν, καὶ ἱλαστήριον διὰ πίστεως.» Ὠνόμαζε γὰρ οὕτως ὁ Παῦλος αὐτόν· γεγράφατο δὲ καὶ οἱονεί πως ἐν κύκλῳ τοῦ ἱλαστηρίου τὰ Χερουβὶμ, τῶν ἀνωτάτω δυνάμεων τὴν ὑπὸ Θεῷ δουλείαν· Θεὸς γὰρ ὁ Λόγος· καὶ τὸ ἀγχοῦ δὴ μάλα, καὶ μὴν καὶ τὸ παρεστάναι λειτουργικῶς, εὖ μάλα σημαίνοντα. Εἶτα Θεὸς ἔφη πρὸς Μωσέα· «Καὶ γνωσθήσομαί σοι ἐκεῖθεν, καὶ λαλήσω σοι ἄνωθεν τοῦ ἱλαστηρίου ἀναμέσον τῶν δύο Χερουβὶμ τῶν ὄντων ἐπὶ τῆς κιβωτοῦ τοῦ μαρτυρίου.» Ἦν δὲ, ὡς ἔφην, ἡ κιβωτὸς ὁ Χριστὸς, ὡς ἐν ἀφθάρτῳ σώματι Θεὸς Λόγος, πλὴν εἰς γῆν ἡ κιβωτός· γέγονε δὲ καὶ ἐν ὑφέσει καὶ ἐν χθαμαλότητι τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς ὁ Μονογενής. Μορφὴν γὰρ ὑπέδυ τὴν δουλοπρεπῆ, καὶ κεκένωκεν ἑαυτόν. Αὐτὸς δὲ πάλιν ἐστὶ τὸ ἱλαστήριον, τὸ ὑψοῦ κείμενον, καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἄνω Δυνάμεων δορυφορούμενον. Οὐ γὰρ ἐκ μόνων ἡμῖν τῶν τῆς κενώσεως τρόπων γνώριμος ὁ Υἱὸς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξ ὧν ἐστι Θεὸς καὶ τῶν ὅλων Κύριος. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τεταπείνωκεν ἑαυτὸν διὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, ἐν τοῖς καθ' ἡμᾶς οἰκονομικῶς καταβεβηκὼς, ἀλλ' «Ὁ Θεὸς αὐτὸν ὑπερύψωσε καὶ ἐχαρίσατο αὐτῷ ὄνομα, τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα.» Τύπος δ' ἂν εἴη καὶ τοῦδε, τὸ ὑψοῦ τεθεῖσθαι τὸ ἱλαστήριον εἰς δεξιὸν καὶ εὐώνυμον ἀναγεγραμμένων τῶν Χερουβίμ. Ἔνθα γὰρ ἂν ἡ Θεῷ πρέπουσα μόνῳ φαίνοιτο λειτουργία, ἐκεῖ δήπου εἴη ἂν πάντως καὶ ἡ τῆς θεότητος δόξα, καὶ τῶν ὑπὲρ λόγον ἀξιωμάτων ἡ ὑπεροχή. «Ἄνωθεν δὲ τῶν Χερουβὶμ, γνωσθήσομαί σοι,» φησὶν, ὁ πάντων Δεσπότης, τὴν ἄῤῥητον φύσιν μὴ ἐν οἷς ἡ κτίσις ζῃτεῖσθαι προστάττων, ἀλλ' ἐπέκεινα πάντως τοῦ κεκλημένου πρὸς ὕπαρξιν· Θεοῦ γὰρ φύσει λόγος τε καὶ τόπος ὁ πρεπωδέστατος, τὸ πέρα τε καὶ ἄνω παντὸς γενητοῦ. Οὐκοῦν ὁ ὑπεράνω τῶν Χερουβὶμ τόπος, καὶ αἰσθητῶς ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ σκηνῇ μονονουχὶ τὴν θείαν ἡμῖν καταδηλοῖ φύσιν· ταύτῃτοι τὸ χρυσοῦν θυσιαστήριον εἰς τύπον Χριστοῦ γεγονὸς, ἀποκεῖσθαι προστέταχεν ἀπέναντι τοῦ ὑπεράνω τῶν Χερουβὶμ χρηματίζοντός τε καὶ νοουμένου τοῦ οἱονεί πως εἰς ὄψιν Θεοῦ καὶ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐν Χριστῷ γενέσθαι τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς τοῦτό που σημαίνοντος. Ἐν ἀποστροφῇ γὰρ ὄντα τὸν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ προσκεκρουκότα Θεῷ διὰ τὴν παράβασιν καὶ πολλὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἔστησε πάλιν ἐν προσώπῳ τοῦ Πατρὸς ὡς ἐν ἑαυτῷ καὶ πρώτῳ Χριστός. «Πρόδρομος γὰρ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν εἰσβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, νῦν ἐμφανισθῆναι τῷ προσώπῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν,» καθὰ γράφει Παῦλος ἡμῖν ὁ σοφός. Ὁ γὰρ ὑπάρχων ἀεὶ μετὰ τοῦ ἰδίου