As for the cherubim, the Scriptures, having said that they cover with their wings the sacraments laid down in the tabernacle, confirms the view of the tabernacle that we have presented: for we know that this name is used of those powers that are beheld around the nature of God, which Isaiah and Ezekiel saw with their minds. And let not the kivot of the covenant, covered with wings, seem strange to the ear; for in Isaiah we learn a similar thing, which the Prophet said mysteriously about wings.

Here a nod is mentioned, and there a face, but by both one being is understood, which, it seems to me, makes it clear to us that the view of the ineffable is inaccessible. And if you hear of lamps held separately on one candlestick, so that the light that shines everywhere may be rich and abundant; then you will not sin in reasoning that this tabernacle is fitting for the manifold illumination of the Spirit, as Isaiah says, distinguishing the seven brightness of the Spirit (Isaiah 11:2).

And the purgatory, I think, does not require interpretation, since its hidden meaning is revealed by the Apostle, who says: "Whom God hath offered as a propitiation in His blood through faith" (Rom. 3:25) of our souls. Hearing about the altar and the altar of incense, I imagine in my mind the unceasing worship of the most heavenly powers performed in this tabernacle; for it is said that the tongue, not only of the earthly and the underworld, but also of the heavenly, sends up praise to the Beginning of all: and this is a sacrifice pleasing to God, "the fruit of the lips," as the Apostle says (Heb. 13:15), and the fragrance of prayers.

If, however, we see dyed skin and hair tissues among the transformations, then the indissoluble integrity of the gaze is not violated. The prophetic eye, having come to the vision of the Divine, sees in it a predestined salvific suffering, which is signified by both of the above. As the red color is interpreted: blood; so the hair: mortification; because the hair on the body is devoid of sensation, which is why it serves as a sign in the proper sense of deadness.

And so, this is what the Prophet sees in this, when he raises his gaze to the tabernacle above. But if anyone turns his gaze to the tabernacle below; then, since Paul often calls the Church Christ, he will do well to acknowledge that the ministers of the Divine sacrament, whom the Scriptures call the pillars of the Church, as well as the Apostles, teachers, and prophets, are called by the same names.

For it is not only Peter, but John and James who are the pillars of the Church; and not only John the Baptist "was a lamp burning and shining" (John 5:35): but all who served as the foundation of the Church, and according to their deeds became luminaries, are called both pillars and lamps. "Ye are the light of the world," says the Lord to the Apostles (Matt. 5:14). And the Divine Apostle also commands others to be pillars, saying: "Be strong and immovable" (1 Cor. 15:58)

, and he set Timothy into a beautiful pillar, making him, as he himself puts it, the pillar and foundation of the true Church (1 Tim. 3:15). In this tabernacle are always visible the sacrifices of praise and the incense of prayer, offered both in the morning and in the evening. And the great David gives this to be understood, correcting the incense of prayer before God "in the stench of fragrance," and with uplifted hands performing the sacramental sacrifice (Psalm 140:2).

And whoever hears about fonts will undoubtedly imagine in his mind the mysterious water of sins that wash away the filth: the font was John, washing in the Jordan with the baptism of repentance; the font was Peter, who once suddenly led three thousand to the water; the font was Philip for the eunuch of Candace. Fonts are also those that communicate grace to all who partake of this gift. It is not a sin against proper understanding who supposes that "opons" (Exodus 26:1)

, in mutual union enveloping the tabernacle around them, signify the unanimity of the faithful full of love and peace. For this is the interpretation of David, who says: "He establishes peace within thy boundaries" (Psalm 147:3). "And the scarlet skin" (14) and the "hairy skins" (7), which serve to adorn the tabernacle, will receive a corresponding meaning, that is, the mortification of sinful flesh, mysteriously depicted by scarlet skin, and the austere way of life according to abstinence, with which the tabernacle of the Church is especially adorned, because the skins, which do not have the vital force given by nature, are made beneficent by scarlet paint.

And this teaches us that the grace that blossoms in the Spirit is not in anyone else, but only in those who have mortified themselves to sin. If the scarlet color means chaste modesty in the word, then I readily agree to this judgment. But the braiding of the hair, producing a coarse and stiff fabric for touch, gives us the implication of severe abstinence, which exhausts the forces of the passions that are inseparable from us: all this is proved by the virginal life, which exhausts the flesh of those who live in this way.

But if the interior of the tabernacle, which is called the Holy of Holies, is inaccessible to many, then we do not consider this to be contrary to the sequence of our understandings. For the truth of those who are is indeed something holy, even the holy of holies, and for many inviolable and unapproachable. Since it dwells in the hidden and ineffable depths of the mysterious tabernacle, the knowledge of those who transcend the concept of beings must not be inquisitive.

One must believe that what is sought exists, yet it is not subject to the eyes of all, but remains unutterable in the innermost depths of thought. Having learned this and the like from the vision that in the tabernacle, having attained purity and raised to a height by such spectacles, this spiritual eye of Moses again ascends to the very top of other ideas, studying the vestments of the priesthood. To this belongs the "inner" robe (Exodus 28:31)

, the upper vestment, and this "breastplate" shining with the shine of various stones (4), and the bandage on the head, and above it the "diadem" (Exodus 29:6), the "nadragi" (Lev. 6:10), "apples, vertebrae" (28:33). Then, above all, there is the word and the appearance, and in both the truth is seen, and also on both sides the "shoulder plates" with the names of the patriarchs inscribed on them. The multitude of these vestments, and their very names, are such that it is impossible to accurately review them in detail.

For what are the names of bodily garments: appearance, word, truth? Of course, this clearly shows that history does not describe this, not sensual clothing, but the spiritual adornment woven by virtuous undertakings. The color of the podir is "blue" (28.32); but some of those who have explained this word before us say that this color signifies air.