The colors and the pillars as figures of Christ
Cyril: …adorned in many colors’ (Psalm 45:9). Her adornment and beauty, in many forms, is Christ. He is one by nature, but he is understood through many different figures, for instance, as twisted linen. For the Word from God the Father, being fine and bodiless by nature, was in some way twisted through his interweaving, so to speak, with flesh. So he is twisted linen. He is also like blue, because he is not from the earth, but from above and from heaven; for the lofty, upper and ethereal body, which reaches even to the firmament itself, is in a way likened to blue. So he is like blue because he is from heaven, and purple because he is not a slave, as a creature is, but King from God and Lord of all. He is twisted scarlet: for, understood in his interweaving with flesh, as I said, and being truly the Word of God, he gave his own blood for us. Scarlet is a sign of blood. The figures of Cherubim on the coverings (Exodus 26:1) very well suggest, perhaps, that the things below have been joined to the things above, and that the Church on earth is now united to the powers in heaven. One should know that the most wise Solomon also carved Cherubim on the walls of the temple (1 Kings 6:29), and the design of the house shown through the voice of Ezekiel was made in this same way (Ezekiel 41:18–20). Over the curtains are coverings, fastened together with loops and rings (Exodus 26:7–11), and over these further coverings, blue skins and rams’ skins dyed red (Exodus 26:14). These hint at Christ, who shelters the Church: through the blue, again, as being from heaven and from above, and through the red color, as having come in flesh. For the color of flesh is something like that.
Palladius: I say this interpretation is not beyond reason.
Cyril: The curtains have pillars, a cubit and a half wide and ten cubits long, with their capitals and shafts covered all over with gold, and set on double bases of silver (Exodus 26:15–19; Exodus 26:29). Here again Christ is understood in each pillar: He is the support of the Church, the foundation of the truth, as Paul says (1 Timothy 3:15). He himself sets up and holds together all things. For through the cubit and a half it is indirectly suggested that he is perfect in the nature of Godhead, but lesser as one within the measures of humanity. It is not foolish to say that Christ is all-perfect, as in a whole cubit, since he is God by nature; but, as in half a cubit, lowered because of his humanity. For nothing among created things is perfect. Though he was rich, the Only-begotten became poor among us (2 Corinthians 8:9), and lowered himself into self-emptying (Philippians 2:7).
Palladius: True.
Cyril: So the humanity will not stand level with the surpassing heights of the Godhead; far from it. That is why he also said, as one who had become as we are and is understood as such:
Greek
πεποικιλμένη.» Κόσμημα δὲ καὶ ὡραϊσμὸς ἐν αὐτῇ πολυειδὴς, ὁ Χριστὸς, εἷς μὲν κατὰ φύσιν ὑπάρχων, αἰνίγμασι δὲ πολλοῖς καὶ διαφόροις νοούμενος, οἷον, φέρε εἰπεῖν, καὶ βύσσος κεκλωσμένη. Ἰσχνὸς γὰρ ὢν καὶ ἀσώματος κατὰ φύσιν ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ τοῦ Πατρὸς Λόγος, κέκλωσται τρόπον τινὰ διὰ τῆς οἱονεὶ πρὸς σάρκα συμπλοκῆς. Οὐκοῦν καὶ βύσσος κεκλωσμένη, καὶ μὴν, καὶ ὡς ὑάκινθος, ὅτι μὴ ἐκ γῆς, ἀλλ' ἄνωθεν καὶ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ· ὑακίνθῳ γάρ πως παρεικάζεται τὸ ὑψοῦ τε καὶ ἄνω καὶ αἰθέριον σῶμα, τὸ καὶ μέχρις αὐτοῦ διῆκον τοῦ στερεώματος. Οὐκοῦν ὡς ὑάκινθος διὰ τὸ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, πορφύρα δὲ, ὅτι μὴ δοῦλος, ὡς γενητὸς, ἀλλ' ἐκ Θεοῦ βασιλεὺς, καὶ τῶν ὅλων Κύριος. Κεκλωσμένον δὲ κόκκινον· ἐν συμπλοκῇ γὰρ, ὡς ἔφην, τῇ πρὸς σάρκα νοούμενος, καὶ ὑπάρχων ἀληθῶς ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, τὸ ἴδιον αἷμα δέδωκεν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν. Αἵματος γὰρ σημεῖον, τὸ κόκκινον· Χερουβὶμ δὲ, τῶν δειρέων ἡ γραφὴ, τὸ συνῆφθαι τάχα που τοῖς ἄνω τὰ κάτω, καὶ ταῖς ἐν οὐρανῷ δυνάμεσι τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς Ἐκκλησίαν ἡνῶσθαι λοιπὸν καταδηλοῦντος τοῦ πράγματος εὖ μάλα. Ἰστέον δὲ ὅτι καὶ ὁ σοφώτατος Σολομὼν, ἐνεκόλαψε τοῖς τείχεσι τοῦ ναοῦ τὰ Χερουβίμ. Ἐκπεποίηται δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν τουτονὶ τρόπον καὶ ἡ διατύπωσις τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ σημαινομένου διὰ φωνῆς Ἰεζεκιήλ. Καλύμματα δὲ ταῖς αὐλαίαις δέῤῥεις, ἀγκύλαις τε καὶ κρίκοις συνεσφιγμέναι. Καὶ μὴν καὶ ἐπικαλύμματα, δέρματα ὑακίνθινα, καὶ δέρματα κριῶν, ἠρυθροδανωμένα, τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τὸν σκεπαστὴν Χριστὸν ὑπεμφαίνοντα, διὰ μὲν τοῦ ὑακίνθου πάλιν, ὡς ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἄνωθεν. διὰ δέ γε τοῦ ἐρυθροῦ χρώματος, ὡς ἐν σαρκὶ γέγονεν. Τοιουτονὶ γάρ πώς ἐστι τὸ τῆς σαρκὸς χρῶμα.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐκ ἔξω λόγου ταυτὶ τεθεωρῆσθαί φημι.
{ΚΥΡ.} Στύλοι δὲ ταῖς αὐλαίαις, εὖρος μὲν εἰς πῆχυν ἰόντες ἕνα τε καὶ ἥμισυ. Μῆκος δέ γε μὴν εἰς δέκα, κεφαλὰς μὲν καὶ σώματα χρυσῷ διαπεπασμένοι, βάσεσι δὲ διπλαῖς καὶ ἀργυραῖς ἐπερηρεισμένοι. Νοεῖται δὲ πάλιν ὡς ἐν ἑκάστῳ στύλῳ Χριστὸς, τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τὸ ἔρεισμα, τὸ τῆς ἀληθείας ἑδραίωμα, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Παύλου φωνήν. Ἵστησι δὲ καὶ συνέχει τὰ πάντα αὐτός. Διὰ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ ἑνός τε καὶ ἡμίσους πήχεως, ὡς τέλειος κατὰ φύσιν θεότητος, μείων δὲ αὖ, ὡς ἐν ἀνθρωπότητος μέτροις, πλαγίως ὑποσημαίνεται. Οὐκ εὔηθες δὲ εἰπεῖν, ὅτι παντέλειος μὲν, ὡς ἐν ὁλοκλήρῳ πήχει Χριστὸς, ἐπεί τοι Θεός ἐστι κατὰ φύσιν. Ὡς δὲ ἐν ἡμίσει πήχεως, ὑφειμένος διὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον. Τέλειον γὰρ ἐν γενητοῖς οὐδέν. Πλούσιος δὲ ὢν, ἐπτώχευσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ καθῆκεν ἑαυτὸν εἰς κένωσιν ὁ Μονογενής.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀληθές.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν οὐκ ἰσοστατήσει ταῖς τῆς θεότητος ὑπεροχαῖς τὸ ἀνθρώπινον· πολλοῦ γε καὶ δεῖ. Τοιγάρτοι καὶ ἔφασκεν, ὡς καθ' ἡμᾶς γεγονὼς καὶ νοού