Eleventh hour = Christ appears; court expands Isa 54; bronze bases
Cyril: …are these), toward the twenty-cubit measure somewhere. For this reason he says: And you will double the sixth hide according to the face of the tent, that the superfluously stretched may not damage the beauty of the court. So then in this between the others and as eleventh the holy and divine vessels were ordered, patterning Emmanuel in many ways in themselves; the number perhaps also marking this—that in last times of the age, and as in the eleventh hour somehow Christ appears, and the tent having Christ—that is, the Church.
Palladius: Nothing, as it seems, unlikely to think also the word upon this holds well.
Cyril: And after the words and types upon the tent, ‘And you will make,’ he says, ‘a court for the tent, unto the side toward the southwest… length a hundred cubits… twenty pillars… bronze bases…’ Look then already, that the first courts have become narrow, and reaching unto a third decade of cubits. For breadth for them four, and length eight and twenty; and those after those, both broad thus and long; for a hundred upon a hundred, and fifty upon fifty, running—the one unto dawn, and the other unto evening and southwest.
Palladius: Then what is the riddle?
Cyril: Is this not clearly the thing long ago promised through a voice of Isaiah toward the Church shown in last times: ‘Broaden the place of your tent, and the hides of your curtains. Fix, spare no longer; unto the right and unto the left spread out.’ For the Church of Christ, being narrowed in beginnings, thereafter is broadened unto dawn and setting, and north and south, and comes through every place.
Palladius: Truly.
Cyril: And observe that all the other pillars of the ten curtains, and of the one in the middle, he said must be sprinkled through with gold, yet fixed upon double bases made of silver. And what the word of this is has been said, as I at least think; and the pillars of the long and broad courts he variegates with another word. With silver from head unto feet he says they must be very well glorified, yet again fixed upon bronze and silver-around bases. And a type
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
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 9 of a seventeen-book dialogue — not the whole work.
English follows Migne PG 68 (Aubert reprint). The PDF and a cleaned text of the same print were checked against each other. This page is Book 9 of seventeen. This is a reading translation for study, not a new critical edition of the Greek.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Migne PG 68 De adoratione Book 5 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 9)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 9)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.