The ark as a type of Christ; its gold as his Godhead
Cyril: …the testimonies, and what need there was for wood that does not rot. But if he should perhaps pry closely into what the gold on the ark is meant to show, and into the things put together for the time being for use and ornament, I mean the mouldings, the twisted work, the rings and the carrying poles (Exodus 25:11–14), he will find the matter hard. Unable to fit a mystical sense to them, he will probably say more than is needed and pile a mass of idle words on the ears of those keener to learn. And what I say holds true, perhaps, not of the ark alone; I would add that it holds also of the other things he commanded to be made.
Palladius: Your thinking and your words seem to me not unconvincing. So set aside what concerns, as you say, proportion and use, that is, the ornament of the finished works, and hurry straight to what our contemplation needs: explain without hesitation in what way Christ himself is signified to us by the things shown as a pattern, that is, the things that were built.
Cyril: Well then, I will try, as far as one can speak and understand. But if I miss the truth, and reach less than I ought toward the height of these thoughts, be forgiving. For seeing in a mirror and in a riddle (1 Corinthians 13:12) can at times trip up even a precise and sensible mind.
Palladius: Well said.
Cyril: The ark, Palladius, would be for us a type and image of Christ. For when we look closely at the manner in which the Only-begotten became man, we shall see the Word who is from God the Father dwelling, as in an ark, in the temple that is from the Virgin. For ‘all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily’ (Colossians 2:9), as the Scriptures say. And the testimonies in the ark were the Word of God. Its wood did not rot, and it was adorned inside and out with pure and thoroughly tested gold (Exodus 25:10–11). For the body of Christ is incorruptible: it is held fast in incorruption, as by a kind of gold, by the power and radiance of the Word who dwells in it, and by the nature and life-giving working of the Holy Spirit. That is why Christ is also said to give life. For the Word who is from God the Father, being Life by nature, himself brought his own temple back to life by the power of his own Spirit, setting it above corruption. For ‘his flesh knows no corruption,’ in the words of holy Paul (Acts 13:37; Acts 2:31). And he also told the Jews somewhere, speaking of his own body, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up’ (John 2:19); and Peter, too, says that he was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit (1 Peter 3:18). So the gold is a symbol of the surpassingly bright Godhead, laid over the holy body, as it were, and instilling in it, beyond telling, his own brightness and incorruption, in a way known only to the divine nature itself, which is beyond understanding. For if ‘the righteous in due…
Greek
μαρτύρια, καὶ τίς ἡ ξύλων ἀσήπτων γέγονε χρεία. Τί δ' ἂν βούλοιτο δηλοῦν, καὶ τῇ κιβωτῷ τὸ χρυσίον, τὰ τέως ἐν τάξει χρείας τε καὶ κόσμου συντεθειμένα, κυμάτια δὴ λέγω, στρεπτὰ, κρίκους τε καὶ ἀναφορέας, εἰ περιεργάζοιτο τυχὸν, σκληρὸν εὑρήσει τὸ χρῆμα. Καὶ λόγον αὐτοῖς ἐφαρμόσαι τὸν μυστικὸν οὐκ ἔχων, περιττοεπήσει τάχα που, καὶ ὄχλον εἰκαίων ἐπισωρεύσει ῥημάτων, ταῖς τῶν φιλομαθεστέρων ἀκοαῖς. Ἀληθὴς δὲ ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος οὐκ ἐπί τοι μόνης τῆς κιβωτοῦ τυχὸν, προσθείην δ' ἂν ὅτι καὶ ἐπί γε τῶν ἄλλων, ἃ δὴ γενέσθαι προστέταχεν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐκ ἀπίθανά μοι δοκεῖς διανοεῖσθαί τε καὶ λέγειν. Τοιγάρτοι μεθεὶς τό γε ἧκον, ὡς φὴς, εἰς συμμετρίαν. τε καὶ χρείαν, ἤγουν εἰς κόσμον τῶν ἀποτελεσμάτων, ἐπ' αὐτὸ διᾴττειν ἐπείγου τὸ τοῖς θεωρήμασιν, ἀναγκαῖον, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τίνα τρόπον αὐτὸς ἡμῖν ὁ Χριστὸς σημαίνεται διὰ τῶν παραδεδειγμένων, ἤτοι κατεσκευασμένων, ἀμελητὶ διασάφει.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν, ἐγὼ μὲν, ὡς ἔνι φράσαι τε καὶ νοεῖν, πειράσομαι. Διαμαρτάνοντι δέ τ' ἀληθοῦς, καὶ μεῖον ἢ χρὴ τῇ τῶν νοημάτων ὑπεροχῇ προσβάλλοντι, συγγνώμων ἔσο. Τὸ γὰρ ἐν ἐσόπτρῳ τε καὶ αἰνίγματι βλέπειν, ἀποσφήλειεν ἂν ἔσθ' ὅτε καὶ τὸν ἀκριβῆ τε καὶ ἔμφρονα νοῦν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εὖ λέγεις.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἡ κιβωτὸς ἡμῖν, ὦ Παλλάδιε, τύπος ἂν εἴη καὶ εἰκὼν τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Τὸν γὰρ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἀνασκοπούμενοι τρόπον, καθάπερ ἐν κιβωτῷ τῷ ἐκ Παρθένου ναῷ τὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς Λόγον ἐνηυλισμένον ὀψόμεθα. «Κατῴκησε γὰρ ἐν αὐτῷ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς,» κατὰ τὰς Γραφάς. Λόγος δὲ ἦν Θεοῦ, τὰ ἐν τῇ κιβωτῷ μαρτύρια. Καὶ ἄσηπτα μὲν ἦν αὐτῆς τὰ ξύλα, χρυσῷ δὲ τῷ καθαρῷ καὶ δοκιμωτάτῳ κατεκαλλύνετο, ἔσωθέν τε καὶ ἔξωθεν. Ἄφθαρτον γὰρ τὸ σῶμα Χριστοῦ, καθάπερ τινὶ χρυσῷ, τῇ τοῦ ἐνοικοῦντος Λόγου δυνάμει καὶ λαμπρότητι, καὶ τῇ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος φύσει καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ ζωοποιῷ, πρὸς ἀφθαρσίαν διακρατούμενον. Διὰ γάρ τοι τοῦτο καὶ ζωοποιεῖν λέγεται Χριστός. Ζωὴ γὰρ ὢν κατὰ φύσιν ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς Λόγος, τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ ἰδίου πνεύματος τὸν ἴδιον αὐτὸς ἀνεζωοποίει ναὸν, φθορᾶς ἀνωτέρω τιθείς. «Ἡ γὰρ σὰρξ αὐτοῦ οὐκ οἶδε διαφθορὰν,» κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ἁγίου Παύλου φωνήν. Προσεφώνει δέ που καὶ Ἰουδαίοις, περὶ τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος· «Λύσατε τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον, καὶ ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγερῶ αὐτόν·» καὶ μὴν καὶ ὁ Πέτρος τεθανατῶσθαι μὲν σαρκὶ, φησὶν, αὐτὸν, ἐζωοποιῆσθαι δὲ πνεύματι. Σύμβολον οὖν ἄρα τῆς ὑπερλάμπρου θεότητος, ὁ χρυσὸς, ἐπαληλειμμένης ὥσπερ τῷ ἁγίῳ σώματι, καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν αὐτοῦ λαμπρότητά τε καὶ ἀφθαρσίαν ἐνιείσης ἀποῤῥήτως, καὶ ὡς αὐτή που μόνη καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἡ θεία τε καὶ ὑπὲρ νοῦν ἐπίσταται φύσις. Εἰ γὰρ «Οἱ δίκαιοι κατὰ