On the Inscription of the Titles

1It is clear, then, that he assumes two kinds of pillars. For he would not have accepted Jacob's pillar with approval while rebuking those of his opponents as impiously erected. Those pillars imprint demonic phantoms of idolatry with impious belief, but the pillar of the forefather Jacob does not display the same activity as those. For the righteous man, having been inspired by the Holy Spirit, first sees the very bodily form of Christ being vividly pre-painted beforehand, which is visible and subject to local circumscription. Second, he also depicts the victory-bearing trophy of the cross, likened in a manner resembling a ladder. For by this it was also firmly set on high, drawing all people to himself.

2So if we think about it, we can see that some people sometimes call the very sufferings of temptations by the name of steep rugged ascents and descents, paths with cliffs on both sides. Yet in shape the ladder does in some small way resemble the cross, fitted together with upright and crosswise timbers. When Jacob had beheld this vision, he took the stone on which he had reclined his head and rested, and he set it up as a pillar as a memorial of the event. He also made it an image characterizing the person who had appeared to him, and in it he established a renewal of remembrance. By calling it the house of God, he was hinting at the temple of God's Word, as the Son of the Almighty himself declared: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19). He also named the same stone the gate of heaven, because through the temple-building of Christ we are cleansed in body and soul, and so we are able to approach the divine nature.

4Then he says: The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples will be separated from your body; one people will surpass the other, and the greater will serve the lesser” (Genesis 25:23). For there are many nations and many peoples, but these two in particular are called peoples, because they were deemed worthy to be entrusted with the teaching of piety. He makes no mention of schisms or heresies or those that would be numbered. Rather, there are two peoples stretched out across much of the earth: Christians and Jews. The greater, boasting in its antiquity, is left behind in virtue and will serve the younger; for, as Scripture says, “the fool will serve the wise”. From this, then, he prefigured him sitting upon the throne of the Holy One, showing that he has been demonstrated to be enthroned together with the most divine Spirit because God dwells in him continually.