P. Yes, you speak correctly: for "I," He says, "am the living bread, which came down from heaven, and givest life to the world" (John 6:51 and 33).

K. But about the lamp and what is on it, this time what has been said will be enough for us. Let our word now pass to the brass altar, which is very common in the service according to the law; For it is said, "And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide, so that it shall be quadrangular, and three cubits high. And thou shalt make horns at the four corners thereof, so that the horns may come out of it; and you shall overlay it with brass. And thou shalt make pots for them to pour ashes into them, and spatulas, and bowls, and forks, and coals; all utensils thou shalt make of brass" (Exodus 27:1-3). Therefore the altar was five cubits wide and long: for it was very necessary for it to be in size, and very extensive: for it was supposed to cut into pieces and offer up the severed parts of oxen, and burnt offerings, and offerings of sheep and goats consecrated to God. Wherefore the grate, and the brazier, and the forks, and the vials, and all the vessels thereof, are of brass, so that, while benefiting the rightful sacrifices, they may not be corrupted by the admixture of the all-consuming fire. And the crown and the horns at the corners we attribute to the beauty of the appearance: for there is nothing unattractive in the all-wise God. However, directing diligent attention to what is commanded about each object, let us also say that He commanded that the altar should be made befitting and befitting the lawful sacrifices, but there was nothing golden in it, as, for example, it was seen in the kivot, the lampstand, and the table and its utensils.

P. So why is that?

K. Have we not said, Palladius, that gold very well signifies the superiority over everything and the incomparable brightness, I mean mentally, of the Divine and immortal nature?

P. Yes.

K. See, then, that the altar of ministry was utterly devoid of gold by the law, God divinatively but very plainly points out to us, that the law was the least able to communicate the Holy Ghost to us, and that the power of the transformative ministry was not honored by such grace, for there was a spirit of bondage in Israel; but this gift was communicated to us through Christ after His Resurrection from the dead: for He breathed, saying: "Receive ye the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22). For this reason Paul also declared to those who believed: "You have not received the spirit of bondage, [that] you may again [live] in fear, but have received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father!'" (Romans 8:15). And that the power of ministry according to the law did not possess the communion of the Holy Spirit, but He is given to those who are justified by faith, this is affirmed by the all-wise John, saying: "For the Holy Spirit was not yet upon them, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:39); — for Christ has not yet come to life: for only then is man's nature gilded by the Spirit and communion with Him. For this reason, I think, He commanded that the altar should be without gold. But to omit the explanation of the copper of which it was made does not seem to be harmless to the inquisitive: for the investigation may perhaps produce something useful, according to the wise saying, "In all that is troublesome there is profit."

P. So what else have you to say about this?

K. Listen: The Holy Scriptures say that by a decision from above the divine Aaron was chosen to be priest and leader. But Korah and Dathan and a wild crowd of like-minded people, very brazenly resisting the decision from above and rebelling against the Divine laws, brought censers, uninvited and willfully going to this and admiring the honor not intended for them, opposing, and very fervently, their madness and audacity to the highest and chosen priest of all others (Num. 16). And through this future folly of the Jews against Christ was written: for He is our Bishop, introduced into this rank by the decision of the Father. But they were punished for such shameful enterprises; and after them will also be borne the Jews, who have been made guilty of the same crimes. God then said to Saint Moses, and also to Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest: "Let him gather up the censers of those who have been burned, and cast the fire out; For the censers of these sinners have been sanctified by their death, and they shall break them into sheets to cover the altar, for they have offered them before the Lord, and they have been made sanctified. and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel" (Num. 16:37-38). God said it then. In the book of Exodus it is written about Bezalel, who was of the father of Uriah, and of the tribe of Dan and the leader of all the order: "This altar of brass was made of censers of brass, which was a man who was disheveled with the assembly of Korah" (Exodus 38).

P. So what is it?

K. This will be of great benefit, if we consider that the kivot, which was a type of Christ, and also the other, I mean the lamp, and the purgatory, and the golden table, were all made of what the people offered, and each one dedicated to God from what was in his hands: for they that bear fruit unto Christ, and bring spiritual gifts, are very pleasing to the glory of God and the Father; of which they were images and dreams. The altar of service according to the law mysteriously and prudently signifies, as it were, a reminder and a foreshadowing of irritation and reproach and, so to speak, of a conspiracy against the high priest. Is the image clear to you? For Aaron is the image of Christ. The Jews also disputed the glory of Christ, and the lawful altar serves as the cause of their dispute: for the service has ceased as in the canopy, and in Christ we already burn to the Father a mental fragrance. And this He again foreshadowed to us, as it were in the vestibule, saying: "And thou shalt make an altar for the offering of incense, and of shittim wood thou shalt make it: a cubit shall be long, and a cubit shall be broad; it must be quadrangular; and his height is two cubits; His horns shall come out of it; thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and its sides round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make a crown of gold round about it" (Exodus 30:1-3). And having put to it the poles, the rings, and the like, he said: "And set him before the veil that is before the ark of the testimony, against the mercy seat that is on the [ark] of the testimony, where I will reveal myself to you. On it Aaron will smoke incense; every morning, when he prepares lamps, he will smoke with them; and when Aaron lights the lamps in the evening, he shall burn them: [this] is the everlasting incense before the Lord throughout your generations. You shall not offer any other incense on it, nor burnt offerings, nor bread offerings, nor shall you pour drink offerings on it. And Aaron shall make atonement for his horns once a year; With the blood of the cleansing [sacrifice] for sin, he will make atonement for it once a year in your generations. This is a great holiness with the Lord" (30:6-10).

P. So shall we take this also into the image of Christ?

To.. Quite so, Palladius; that this is truly, His most glorious and profound mystery can very easily show it to those who have decided to investigate such subjects accurately and ingeniously; namely, the incense altar was made of wood that did not rot and was all covered with gold: for the Body of Christ is incorruptible and in itself abounds in the Divine nature, because "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). And our firstfruits and the root of our race, which is recreated to incorruption through union with God, is Christ, although in Him this is thought of predominantly. The horns at the altar, spread like arms, foreshadow the appearance of the honorable cross. And if anyone says that there were four horns, then this does not in the least prevent the inquisitive from understanding the matter correctly: for the altar is quadrangular and everywhere equilateral, and the appearance of the horns is equal everywhere. What's the point of that? — He that in every place Christ is known, and moreover He is crucified: and this is a bright praise for those who believe in Him. In the same way, the divine Paul says: "I do not wish to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14). A twisted crown is added to a work of art, which relates to adornment: for Immanuel is truly "more beautiful than the sons of men" (Psalm 44:3). And the things that serve for his benefit were added: she also wore the rest: for the Divine altar had to be properly carried at the time of departing. The Divine disciples also did this, decently and in order carrying Christ through preaching, as "ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God" (1 Corinthians 4:1). "And set him," it is said, "before the veil that is before the ark of revelation, against the mercy seat that is on [the ark] of revelation, where I will be revealed to you" (Exodus 30:6).

P. But what was the necessity, I think, that his very place was determined?

K. How profound and very obscure is the meaning of this! However, I will say as much as possible, trusting in God, who makes even the blind wise. The kivot was made, it is said, of undecaying wood and pure gold (Exodus 25:10-11), and in it was the law, that is, the Divine word, or "witnesses" (25:16): for this was an image of the Word born of God, who dwelt in us and was "in the likeness of flesh," according to the Scriptures (John 1:14 and Romans 8:3). Then He commanded that the kivot be covered with a certain curtain, spread out on four pillars (Exodus 26:31-34). And the name of the veil is purgatory. And this means Christ: for He is "the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 2:2) and "cleansing through faith": this is what Paul called Him (Romans 3:25). And the Cherubim were depicted as if around the purgatory, and by their nearness and service presence, they very well signified the slavish submission of the highest powers to God ("and the Word was God" — John 1:1). Then God said to Moses: "There I will reveal myself to you, and speak to you over the mercy seat, in the midst of the two cherubim that are over the ark of revelation" (Exodus 25:22). And the kivot was, as I said, Christ, as in an incorruptible body, God the Word; but only the nobility was set on the ground: but the Only-begotten was in humility and humiliation like us, for He took upon Himself a servile image, and exhausted Himself (Phil. 2:7). And He is again also a purgatory, lying on high and lance-bearing (guarded) by the powers above: for it is not only from the kinds of exhaustion that the Son is known to us, but also from that which is God and Lord of all: for although He "humbled Himself" through human things, having prudently descended to our state, yet "God exalted Him, and gave Him a name that is above every name" (Fl. 2, 8-9). And this was the way in which the purgatory was placed on top, with the Cherubim depicted on the right and to the left: for where there is a service befitting the one God, there, of course, there is also the glory of the Godhead and the superiority of the virtues that surpass the word. "From above" the Cherubim "I will be known unto thee," says the Lord of all (Exodus 25:22), commanding that the ineffable nature be sought not where the creature is, but much higher than that which is called into existence: for the most befitting relation and place for the nature of God is to be beyond and above all that is produced. Thus, the place above the Cherubim in the holy tabernacle is almost shown to us by the sensual nature of the Divine. For this reason he commanded that the golden altar, which was the image of Christ, be placed against Him Who gave revelation and thought above the cherubim, thus indicating our bringing in Christ to the sight of God and the eyes of the Father: for Christ who was far off (disgusted) and offended God through the transgression and many sins of man, Christ in Himself and first again placed before the face of the Father: for He "entered into heaven for us as a forerunner, that he may now stand before the face of God for us," as the wise Paul writes to us (Hebrews 6:20; 9:24); for, being always with His Father, "now," it is said, appears as in Himself, and first placing before the eyes of the Father man and removing that ancient aversion: "For He is our peace," according to the Scriptures (Ephesians 2:14).