The eleventh covering and the court that widens
Cyril: …is stretched to a measure of about twenty cubits. That is why he says, ‘And you shall fold over the sixth covering at the front of the tent’ (Exodus 26:9), so that the part stretched out too far would not spoil the beauty of the court. In this one, then, set between the others as an eleventh, the holy and divine vessels were placed, which in themselves portray Emmanuel in many different ways. And perhaps the number also points to this: that in the last times of the age, at the eleventh hour, as it were (Matthew 20:6), Christ appears, and so does the tent that holds Christ, that is, the Church.
Palladius: There seems to be nothing unlikely in thinking that your account of this point is sound as well.
Cyril: After the words and types concerning the tent, he says: ‘And you shall make a court for the tent. On the side toward the southwest, hangings for the court of fine twisted linen, a hundred cubits long for the one side; and their pillars twenty, and their bases twenty, of bronze; and their rings and their bands of silver. So also on the side toward the east, hangings a hundred cubits long; and their pillars twenty, and their bases twenty, of bronze; and the rings and the bands of the pillars, and their bases, overlaid with silver. And the width of the court on the side toward the sea, hangings of fifty cubits; their pillars ten, and their bases ten’ (Exodus 27:9–12). Notice, then, that the first curtains were narrow, and their length ran to somewhere between twenty and thirty cubits, for they were four cubits wide and twenty-eight long. But those that came after them were broad and long indeed: a hundred cubits matched by a hundred, and fifty by fifty, one running toward the east, the other toward the west and the southwest.
Palladius: Then what does the riddle mean?
Cyril: Is it not plainly what was promised long ago through the voice of Isaiah to the Church revealed in the last times: ‘Enlarge the place of your tent and the coverings of your curtains. Fix them; do not hold back; spread out still further to the right and to the left’ (Isaiah 54:2–3)? For the Church of Christ, confined at the beginning, afterward widens to east and west, to north and south, and reaches every place.
Palladius: True.
Cyril: Notice too that all the other pillars, those of the ten curtains and of the one in the middle, he said must be overlaid with gold (Exodus 26:29) and set on double bases made of silver (Exodus 26:19). What this means has already been explained, I think. But the pillars of the long and broad curtains he adorns in a different way. He says they must be made richly splendid with silver from head to foot, and set in turn on bases of bronze overlaid with silver (Exodus 27:10–11, 17). This too would be a figure…
Greek
δὲ αὖται), πρὸς τὸ εἰκοσάπηχύ[ν] που διατετάν[ν]υσται μέτρον. Διὰ τοῦτό φησι· Καὶ ἐπιδιπλώσεις τὴν δέῤῥιν τὴν ἕκτην κατὰ πρόσωπον τῆς σκηνῆς, ἵνα μὴ τὸ περιττῶς ἐκτεταμένον τῷ τῆς αὐλῆς κάλλει διαλυμαίνοιτο. Ἐν ταύτῃ δὴ οὖν τῇ μεταξὺ τῶν ἄλλων καὶ ὡς ἑνδεκάτῃ τὰ ἱερά τε καὶ θεῖα τετάχατο σκεύη, διαμορφοῦντα ποικίλως ἔν γε δὴ σφίσιν αὐτοῖς τὸν Ἐμμανουήλ· τάχα που τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ καὶ τόδε κατασημαίνοντος, ὡς ἐν τελευταίοις τοῦ αἰῶνος καιροῖς, καὶ ὡς ἐν ὥρᾳ τῇ ἑνδεκάτῃ τυχὸν ἀναφαίνεται Χριστὸς, καὶ ἡ Χριστὸν ἔχουσα σκηνὴ, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ἡ Ἐκκλησία.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐδὲν, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἀπεικὸς ἐννοεῖν εὖ ἔχειν καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ τῷδε λόγον.
{ΚΥΡ.} Μετὰ δέ γε τοὺς ἐπὶ τῇ σκηνῇ λόγους τε καὶ τύπους, «Καὶ ποιήσεις, φησὶν, αὐλὴν τῇ σκηνῇ, εἰς τὸ κλίτος τὸ πρὸς λίβα, καὶ ἱστία τῆς αὐλῆς ἐκ βύσσου κεκλωσμένης· μῆκος ἑκατὸν πήχεων τῷ ἑνὶ κλίτει· καὶ οἱ στύλοι αὐτῶν εἴκοσι, καὶ αἱ βάσεις αὐτῶν εἴκοσι χαλκαῖ· καὶ οἱ κρίκοι αὐτῶν, καὶ αἱ ψαλίδες ἀργυραῖ. Οὕτως τῷ κλίτει τῷ πρὸς ἀπηλιώτην ἱστία ἑκατὸν πήχεων μῆκος· καὶ οἱ στύλοι αὐτῶν εἴκοσι, καὶ αἱ βάσεις αὐτῶν εἴκοσι χαλκαῖ· καὶ οἱ κρίκοι καὶ αἱ ψαλίδες τῶν στύλων, καὶ αἱ βάσεις αὐτῶν περιηργυρωμέναι ἀργυρίῳ. Τὸ δὲ εὖρος τῆς αὐλῆς τὸ κατὰ θάλασσαν, ἱστία πεντήκοντα πήχεων, στύλοι αὐτῶν δέκα, καὶ βάσεις αὐτῶν δέκα.» Ἄθρει δὴ οὖν, ὅτι στεναὶ μὲν αἱ πρῶται γεγόνασιν αὐλαὶ, καὶ εἰς τρίτην διήκουσαι δεκάδα πήχεων. Εὖρος μὲν γὰρ αὐταῖς τέσσαρες, μῆκος δὲ ὀκτὼ καὶ εἴκοσι· αἱ δὲ μετ' ἐκείνας, εὐρεῖαί τε οὕτω καὶ μακραί· ἑκατὸν γὰρ ἐφ' ἑκατὸν, καὶ πεντήκοντα ἐπὶ πεντήκοντα, τρέχουσαί τε ἡ μὲν εἰς ἠῶ, ἡ δὲ εἰς ἑσπέραν τε καὶ λίβα.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εἶτα τί τὸ αἴνιγμα;
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐχὶ δὴ τοῦτό ἐστιν ἐναργῶς, τὸ πάλαι διεπηγγελμένον διὰ φωνῆς Ἡσαΐου πρὸς τὴν ἐν ἐσχάτοις καιροῖς ἀναδεδειγμένην Ἐκκλησίαν· «Πλάτυνον τὸν τόπον τῆς σκηνῆς σου, καὶ τὰς δέῤῥεις τῶν αὐλαιῶν σου. Πῆξον, μὴ φείσῃ ἔτι εἰς τὰ δεξιὰ, καὶ εἰς τὰ ἀριστερὰ ἐκπέτασον.» Στενουμένη γὰρ ἐν ἀρχαῖς ἡ Ἐκκλησία Χριστοῦ, λοιπὸν εἰς ἠῶ τε καὶ δύσιν, καὶ βοῤῥᾶν τε καὶ νότον ἐξευρύνεται, καὶ διὰ παντὸς ἥκει τόπου.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀληθές.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἐπιτήρει δὲ ὅτι τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους ἅπαντας στύλους τῶν δέκα αὐλαιῶν, καὶ τῆς ἀνὰ μέσον, χρυσῷ μὲν ἔφη διαπάττεσθαι δεῖν, βάσεσί γε μὴν ἐπερηρεῖσθαι διπλαῖς, ἀργύρου πεποιημέναις. Καὶ τίς ὁ τοῦδε λόγος, εἴρηται, καθάπερ ἐγᾦμαι· τῶν δὲ μακρῶν καὶ πλατειῶν αὐλαιῶν τοὺς στύλους, ἑτέρῳ διαποικίλλει λόγῳ. Ἀργύρῳ μὲν ἐκ κεφαλῆς εἰς πόδας καταγλαΐζεσθαι δεῖν εὖ μάλα φησὶ, βάσεσι δὲ αὖ ἐπερηρεῖσθαι χαλκαῖς καὶ περιαργύροις. Τύπος