God decreed that there should be something woven like a tunic and reach the Persians; Worn over the lowest garments, which were close to the body and extended to the feet, shining with the splendor of gold and purple, it presented to the eyes of the spectators a majestic and sacred wonder. He called it a shoulder jacket because, I think, it was a short garment and barely spread over both ramens. On this shoulder plate He clearly commanded that two stones, which were smaragds, should be fastened very well together with thin threads, and on them the names of the tribes of Israel were to be very skillfully carved, so that six tribes were written on each stone. And what is the meaning of this, He Himself explained to us, saying: "And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on both his shoulders for remembrance" (28:12).

P. But what are we to understand by stones, and by that which has been engraved on them?

K. Listen. The stone of the smaragd is pale in color, but in the depths of it there is something radiant, and as if the light is mixed with darkness, and both strive to retain the victory. Thus, Palladius, and our bodily eye, looking up and on high, and stretching to the depths to the ether and heaven, does not it meet with some of the same sight? For even the highest ether is pale in color, and in its depths it is as if gloomy and mixed with moderate light.

P. So.

K. So the Holy Scriptures make this stone an image of heaven. But do not be surprised if it also likens it to a sapphire: for sapphire is also pale in color and does not look far from smaragdus. It is written in the book of Exodus: "Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet something like a work of pure sapphire, and as clear as the heavens themselves" (Exodus 24:9-10). Since the Israelites who were in Egypt served the creature and called the heavens God, the God of all things appeared to them with profit, and moreover walking in the very firmament, so that they might know that He has all things under His feet, and that He is the Lord of the very heavens as the Creator. Do you now understand that the Holy Scriptures make a stone pale with moderate light as a reflection of heaven, since it is by nature light blue?

P. Excellently, you said.

K. Thus the sign of heaven is the smaragd, having Israel written on him by the tribes, and having received a place on the shoulder plate, by which it can be understood that those who are written in heaven will in any case fully rest in Christ, who almost has on shoulders, and considers good children instead of children. Something similar was said by the divine Moses, adorning Israel with the protection of God: "As an eagle makes its nest, it flies over its young, it spreads out its wings, takes them up, and wears them on its feathers" (Deuteronomy 32:11). But David also sings nowhere to every saint and who lives in the help of the Most High: "He will overshadow you with His feathers," he says (Psalm 90:4). "Feathers," I think, means the neck parts and the ramen, and not the whole back. In this way, according to the words of the prophet, they will be lifted up on the shoulders and taken up on the arm, like the ancient Ephraim (Hosea 11:3), written in heaven in a record, which the Saviour Himself revealed to His holy disciples with glorious, wondrous and surpassing all the Divine gifts, thus saying: "But rejoice not that the spirits obey you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:10). 20). And let this inscription on the stones be, it is said, "in remembrance of the son of Israel before the Lord," as if looking upon them in the person of Aaron: God and the Father also receives us in remembrance in the person of Christ, and in Him we have become known to God, worthy of His watch, and as if inscribed in the book of God.

P. You are right.

K. To this he commands that another ornament be added, saying: "And make nests of gold; and two chains of pure gold, twist them into a plaiting work, and fasten the twisted chains to the sockets. Make the breastplate of judgment a skilful workmanship; Thou shalt make it the same work as the ephod: of gold, of blue, purple, and scarlet [wool], and of fine woven linen, thou shalt make it; it must be quadrangular, double, a span long and a span wide; and thou shalt put in it the set stones in four rows; next to it: ruby, topaz, emerald, these are one row" (Exodus 28:13-17). Then, having arranged the names of the stones themselves, he adds more: "These stones shall be twelve, according to [the number of the children of Israel], according to their names; on each, as on a seal, one name from among the twelve tribes should be carved" (28, 21). And a little later: "And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel on the breastplate of judgment near his heart, when he enters the sanctuary, for constant remembrance before the Lord" (28:29).

P. How dark is this object — the word (judgment); The image of its structure also seems completely incomprehensible to me.

K. Therefore we must proceed to explain this as close as possible to the truth, although the difficulty of the subject may not permit us to fully reach it: to see what is very obscure, even as in a mirror, I think, is better than the opposite, I mean not to understand it at all. So, I will tell you as much as I can and make sense. He ordered two shields to be made of pure gold, wider than the circumference of the coin, but of the same appearance, since the coin has a round shape. Then there were "two chains of pure gold": there were chains that looked speckled with paints. These were: linen, purple, gold threads, blue color and scarlet twist. And, besides, what is woven, he says, must be quadrangular, like a cube, in one span and with equal sides on every side. Twelve stones were to be sewn on it, it was wisely said, arranged three in a row, so that in all four rows all the tribes (of Israel) were carved by name on them (stones). So, hanging from the shoulder on gold chains of various colors, the shields were slightly raised, so that they seemed to be a little higher, on the very shoulders; but they touched the persians and hung down to the breasts; and from the shields the word judgment, very well attached by other chains, hung on the persians, and the chains hung down. And this thing was wondrous for the audience, shining with stones and gold and excellently decorated with the beautiful colors of other materials. And this, it is said, "Let him be in remembrance the son of Israel before the Lord," when Aaron enters the Holy Place. Is not the image of these artifices at last as clear to you as possible?

P. Very much. But why is this product given a name: the word of judgment?

K. Did we not say earlier, on the basis of the wording, that the armpiece was so called because it was placed on both ramen?

P. Yes. So what of it?