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My fear regarding the explanation of the church of Ezekiel, or rather, stubborn silence, was overcome by your prayers, virgin Eustochia, and the promises of the Lord, who says: ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, seek and it will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7; 21:22). What I used as an excuse when I said at the end of the previous book that “it is better not to say anything than to say little,” you turned into the opposite, believing that it was [better] to offer at least a little than to say nothing; because in the first case readiness and desire are expressed, and in the second there is despair in all the work; You also remind us of the property of people not so much to be grateful for what they are given, but to lament what they are denied. For we praise virtues less than we reproach for shortcomings, and even if there was a beautiful body, but with the irregularity and ugliness of one member it becomes more noticeable. Therefore I will follow your desire and, with the breath of the Holy Spirit, I will hoist my sails, not knowing on which shores I will land, and with the same prophet exclaiming: come from the four winds, Soul (above, Ezekiel 37:9), and to the captious reader, or rather to the one who will read our [work] with hostile intent, I declare with complete frankness regarding the interpretation of the church that if he desires the truth, then let him seek it from others. I sincerely express and dictate my guesses regarding this very difficult creation, giving thanks to the Lord for the fact that, if not regarding everything that is impossible, then in relation to very many things He has opened the door of knowledge for me. For, as the famous speaker says, “whoever strives to achieve the first in everything can stop at the second and third with honor.” Ezek. XL:1–4. In the twenty-fifth year after our migration (or captivity), at the beginning of the year (or in the first month), on the tenth [day] of the month, in the fourteenth year after the destruction (or capture) of the city, on this (or that) very day the hand of the Lord was on me and led me there. In visions of God (or in a vision of God), she brought me to the land of Israel and placed (or let me go) on a very high mountain, on which there was, as it were, the building of a city, facing (or directly) to the south, and she led me there. And behold a man whose appearance was like the appearance of brass (or bright brass), and a linen rope (or mason's rope) in his hand, and a measuring reed in his hand; he stood at the gate. And this man said to me: Son of man! look with your eyes and listen with your ears, and apply your heart to everything (or apply everything to your heart) that I show you; for you were brought (or came) here for this purpose, so that [this] could be shown to you, and everything that you see may be reported to the house of Israel. If in the fifth year after the captivity or exile of King Joachim, in the fourth month, on the fifth [day] of the month, the heavens were opened to the prophet Ezekiel at the river Chebar, and he saw visions of God, now it is said that in the twenty-fifth year after the exile of the same Jehoiachin 72, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth [day] of the month, the hand of the Lord was on him, and he was brought into the land of Israel, and placed on a very high mountain in order to see the structure of the city facing south; then there is no doubt that all his prophecy followed after the expiration of nineteen years and nine months and five days of the twentieth year. If we [read] according to Theodotion, who, in the place where we put it at the beginning of the year, translated into the new year, on the tenth [day] of the month (the Jews call the new year the seventh month, which they call Thesri, so that on the calends of the seventh month there is the sound of trumpets, and the tenth day of the same month serves as a day of fasting and propitiation, the fifteenth day, when the complete revolution of the moon ends, day of tabernacles); then it is made clear that on the tenth day of the Lord’s propitiation the structure of the city was shown to Ezekiel. And just as the Lord showed the restoration or, rather, the revitalization of the people under the image of the resurrection of bones on the field, so now through the description of the city He promises the restoration of that [city] that was destroyed by the fire of the Babylonians in fourteen years, so that through the authenticity of the past the truth of the prophecy about the future construction would be confirmed, just as the image of the cauldron being set on fire from the north side depicted captivity and destruction, and the truth of the prophecy would be confirmed through fulfillment. But it is said, contrary to the assertion of some of the ignorant Jews, not about the time when the church was built under Zerubbabel and the high priest Jesus, the son of Josedek, under the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. For now the church described, and the priestly order, and the division of the land, and the fertility [of it] are much more sacred than what Solomon built. The one that was built by Zerubbabel was so small and insignificant in comparison with the first that those who had seen the former church and now saw this one wept and expressed their grief in tears, and their cry was much louder than the sound of the trumpets. Read the book of Ezra. Further, the addition: in the fourteenth year after the destruction (or capture) of the city in a mysterious sense means fourteen generations, after the fulfillment of which from David to the birth of Christ the restoration of the city is promised by Him about whom it is written: This will build my city and bring back the captivity of my people (Is. 45:13). And again: He comes to preach release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, saying to those in chains: come out, and to those in darkness: open yourselves (Isa. 61:1; 49:9). The hand of the Lord was on him so that, being in the flesh in Babylon, he would come in spirit to the land of Israel and not in a vision, but in the visions of God, he would be placed on a very high mountain, about which Isaiah and Micah prophesy: ​​come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob (Isa. 2:3; Micah 4:2). This mountain is very high compared to other mountains, about which the prophet testifies, saying: I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, but from here my help will come (Ps. 120:1). And in another place: the mountains are around him and the Lord is around his people (Ps. 125:2). Isaiah also says about her: go up to a high mountain and preach the good news to Zion (Is. 40:9). On this mountain the structure of the city is shown, according to LXX and Aquila: directly and opposite the north, from where the prophet arrived in the land of Israel, according to Theodotion and Symmachus: facing the south, where there is fullness of light and the sun of truth, located at the height of heaven. Therefore, in the Song of Songs (Song. 4:16) it is said: Arise, O north, and come, O south, and blow into my hillside, and let its fragrances flow. For the harshest northern wind is driven out of the helicity of the Lord, so that ardent love does not cool and the flowers do not wither. When it is said: as if the structure of a city, then it is not the actual city that is depicted, but the likeness of the city, about which it is written: “Glorious was spoken of you, the city of God” (Ps. 86:2), - this is Jerusalem, built like a city, to which is its communion together (Ps. 122:3), and in which the Lord is great and greatly praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holy places (Ps. 47:2). And in the palaces of this city we know that God exists, and He always intervenes (Ps. 47:4). About him in another place [it is said]: the river's aspirations make glad the city of God (Ps. 46:5) and: the city cannot hide, standing on the top of the mountain (Matthew 5:14), which says in Isaiah (Is. 26:1): I am a strong city, a city at war. He did not say: conquered, but: fought, - which is built on a rock and does not shake from any storm. It follows: and she brought me there: the hand of God is implied; there - that is, as if to the structure of the city, to show me everything that was in it. And behold, he says, a man whose appearance or vision is like the appearance of shining brass, that is, the One about whom it is written: Behold the Man, His name is East (Zech. 6:12). He did not have the appearance of amber (elestri), as is said at the beginning of this book (Ezek. 1:5), and was not girded with a golden belt, as depicted in the Apocalypse of John (Rev. 1:13), but had the appearance of copper, according to the Hebrew [text]. For this substance is louder than all metals and its sound reverberates far into space. Therefore, in Daniel (Dan. 2:32) in an image made of gold, silver, copper and iron, the kingdom of Alexander and the Greeks is depicted under the image of copper, in order to indicate the eloquence of the Greek language, from which it is clear that those who have not yet fully learned the secrets of the spiritual creation of the church still need instruction. There was also a linen rope or a mason's rope in the hand of the One about whom it is written in Zechariah (Zechariah 2:1) that he had a surveying rope to measure the breadth and length of the city. By masons we mean either the angels who carried out the commands of God, or Moses and all the prophets and apostles who built the city of God, and co-workers or ministers of the will of the Lord. Therefore, the Apostle Paul said: “We are God’s field, God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:9). The following is then: and the reed of measurement in his hand signifies the gift of prophecy, about which in the forty-fourth psalm (Ps. 44:2) it is written: My tongue is the reed of a scribe, and about the prophet and baptist John: Why did you go out into the desert to see? Is the cane swayed by the wind? (Matthew 11:7). Those who constantly write lies and about whom the prophet prays: rebuke the reed beasts want to imitate this reed (Ps. 67:31). He stood at the gate. For through Him we come to the Father, and without Him we cannot enter the city of God, because He accepts the worthy and rejects the unworthy. Judgment also takes place at the gate. Therefore, the prophet says: “They hated those who rebuked at the gate” (Is. 29:21). And in another place: “he will not remain in shame when he speaks with enemies at the gate” (Ps. 126:5). This man spoke to the prophet, in whose hand was a rope, and whose appearance was like the appearance of copper, and who held a cane in his hand. The true builder spoke to Ezekiel, whom the Apostle Paul imitated, saying: For the architect is wise, he laid the foundation (1 Cor. 3:10). Calls the builder wise in contrast to the fool, who in Zechariah (Zechariah 11:15) is called the foolish shepherd. He said what follows: look with your eyes and listen with your ears - with the eyes not of the flesh, but of the spirit, and with the ears not of the body, but of the soul. Lift up your eyes, he says, and see the fields, as if they are already floating for harvest (John 4:35) and: if you have ears to hear, let him hear (Luke 8:8). He sees the structure of the city and hears the order of sacred rites, and the clergy, and the description of the land. And not only did He command us to look with our eyes and listen with our ears; but He added: and apply your heart to everything or: apply to your heart everything that I will show you. For there is no benefit to seeing and hearing if what is seen and heard is not contained in the treasury of memory. When he says: everything that I will show you, he makes the listener attentive and prepares the eyes of his heart so that he remembers what will be shown to him, because you were brought here so that everything would be shown to you. With these words, in particular, he shows that there is nothing more pleasant than to contemplate and know what the prophet desires when he says: I have asked one thing of the Lord, this I will require: that I may live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may behold the beauty of the Lord and visit His church (Ps. 26:4). Therefore he adds and says: Lord, I have loved the beauty of Your house and the dwelling place of Your glory (Ps. 25:8). Proclaim, he says, everything that you see to the House of Israel, so that those who themselves cannot see may learn through you what is being shown to you by the Lord. Under the house of Israel (of course) are those whose minds contemplate God, from among whom was Nathanael, who diligently sought Christ and was worthy to hear: Behold, truly an Israelite, in him there is no flattery (John 1:47). Ezek. XL:5–13. And from the outside there was a wall around the house on all sides, and in the husband’s hand was a cane measuring six cubits and a span, and he measured one cane in width and one cane in height in the building. And he went to the gate facing the east, and went up its steps, and measured the threshold of the gate in width with one reed, that is, (measured) in one threshold one reed of width, and in the room (thalamum) one reed of length and one reed of width, and between the rooms there were five cubits, and in the threshold of the gate at the porch of the gate inside one reed. And he measured in the porch of the gate eight cubits, and in the projection (frontem) two cubits of them; the porch was at the gate on the inside. Further, there are rooms at the gate towards the east, three on one side and three on the other; there is one measure in (all) three and one measure in the protrusions (frontium) on both sides. And he measured the width of the threshold of the gate to be ten cubits, and the length of the gate to be thirteen cubits, and the margin (marginem) in front of the rooms to be one cubit, and the end on each side one cubit. And he measured the width of the gate, from the roof of the room to the roof of it, to be twenty-five cubits wide; entry vs entry. LXX: And outside the house there was a wall around (it), and in the husband’s hand was a cane measuring six cubits and a span (et palaestes), and he measured the wall, the width equal to the cane, and the height of the same measure. And he entered into the gate toward the east by seven steps, and measured to the thee six on one side and six on the other side the elam at the gate, equal to a reed in length and equal to a reed in width, and the fir trees among theelath six cubits, and the second fairy, equal to a reed in breadth and equal to a reed in length, and the fir trees of five cubits. And the third fairy, equal to a reed, three in width, and equal to a reed in length, three, and the filament at the gate, which is at the elam of the gate, was eight cubits, and the filament was two cubits, and the filament at the gate on the inside, and the fairy at the gate on the opposite side, three on one side and with on the other side, and one measure in (all) three; Elam has one measure on both sides. He measured the width of the entrance of the gate to be ten cubits and the width of the gate to be thirteen cubits, and the vault was (redigebatur) one cubit before the fairy (theeri) of one cubit, and the limit of one cubit on each side, and the fairy was six cubits on one side and six cubits on the other side. And he measured the gate from the fairy wall to the fairy wall, the width being twenty-five cubits. This gate [was] against the gate. When I was in adolescence, I was in Rome and was studying the liberal sciences; then, together with his peers and comrades, he had the custom of visiting the tombs of the apostles and martyrs on Sundays, and often going to caves dug in the depths of the earth, in the walls of which on both sides lie the bodies of the buried and in which there is such darkness everywhere that this prophecy is almost fulfilled here: let them go down to hell and live (Ps. 54:16); occasionally the light let in from above moderates the horror of the darkness, so that the hole through which it enters can rather be recognized as a crack than a window. There they walk step by step, and in the dark night the famous verse of Virgil 73 comes to mind: Horror is everywhere and at the same time the silence frightens the spirit. I considered it necessary to say this so that the prudent reader would understand how I look at the explanation of the church of God in Ezekiel, about which it is written: clouds and darkness are under His feet (Ps. 97:2; 17:10). And one more thing: darkness is his refuge (Ps. 17). Therefore, Moses also entered the cloud and darkness in order to be able to contemplate the mysteries of the Lord, which the people who were at a distance and remained below could not see (Ex. 24:15; 34:5). Therefore, after forty days, the common people, due to the darkness of their eyes, could not look at the face of Moses, since the face of Moses was glorified or, as it is in the Hebrew [text], emitting rays (cornuta). The same thing happens to me when reading the description of the mysterious church (which, according to the literal understanding of the Jews, will be built at the coming of their Christ, whom we recognize as the Antichrist, but we attribute it to the Church of Christ and daily see its creation through His saints). As soon as the eye of the heart opens and it seems to me that I see something and hold the Bridegroom and say in joy: “I have found Him for whom my soul was looking for; I will hold Him and will not let Him go” (Song. 3:4), how the word of God again leaves me and my eyes are closed with blindness, so that I am forced to say: oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and understanding of God! for His judgment has not been tried and His ways have not been tried (Rom. 11:33), and written elsewhere: the destinies of the Lord are many in the deep (Ps. 35:7), and: from the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord, Lord, hear my voice (Ps. 129:1), and the words of Elisha, who with the eyes of his heart followed the teacher taken from him, saying: father, father, chariot Israel and his cavalry (2 Kings 2:12). So, one should frankly admit that I do not have a reckless desire to explain the church of blessed Ezekiel, about which they have been silent for all centuries, but I want to present my own assumption with faith and the fear of God. If I bring goat skins and wool to the Tabernacle of God, which protect from thorns and stings of sins, and protect from rains and storms; then another who is rich, let him, in accordance with the quality of his merits, bring either iron, or copper, or silver and gold and precious stones and not despise our [offering] as less, but let him be consoled by his own wealth. For if there were no lower, then there could not be a higher, and through comparison with the lesser the glory of the greater is exalted. So let us consider what Ezekiel first saw and then heard when he entered the building of the city facing the south. And so, he says, there is a wall around the house on all sides from the outside. Instead of a wall, as translated by Aquila and Theodotion, Symmachus and LXX erected a περι’βολον (fence). Thus, a wall or περι’βολος (fence) surrounded the house on all sides, that is, the church of the Lord, and the man, whose appearance was like the appearance of copper, not only had a rope of surveyors and masons, but also held in his hands a cane, the measure of which was not mentioned above, but now it is determined to be six cubits with a span, which in Greek is more correctly called παλαιστη’ and makes up the sixth part of a cubit. Also σπιθαμη’ means span (palmus), which some distinguish from palm (palma); but usually παλαιστη’ is translated through a span (palmus). With this reed he measured the width and height of the wall, and both of them, that is, the width and the height, had one reed each, that is, six cubits with one span. Since there were a lot of gates, he wished to enter not through other gates, but through those that were facing the eastern country. But since the place was uneven, for there was a wall on all sides and the very church of God was built on an elevated area; then he enters, or rather ascends, in steps, which only LXX calls seven, while in the Hebrew [text] and in other translators we read only about steps without [indicating] a number. Having entered the gate, he immediately measured the threshold of the gate, which LXX calls θεε’, instead of which in Hebrew it is written serh. I consider it necessary to warn the diligent and zealous reader, if, however, he has an attraction to the knowledge of the Scriptures, and not to empty oratorical declamations, - that he should know that all almost Hebrew words and names put in the Greek and Latin translation have been extremely distorted since ancient times, and since they are copied from the distorted ones in an even more distorted form, then from the Hebrew words they became Sarmatian or, or rather, not belonging to any people, having ceased to be Jewish and not become foreign. So, the threshold of the gate or θεε’, or rather seph, which Symmachus translated through οὐδο’ν (threshold), and Aquila and Theodotion through προ’θυρον (vestibule), had one cane, that is, six cubits with a span in width, instead of which LXX for some reason added from themselves: six on one side and six on the other side. After the threshold of the gate, he measured, according to the Hebrew [text], the room (thalamus) or bedroom (cubiculum), according to the translation of Symmachus παραστα’δας, that is, the pillars (postes) on both sides with one cane, both in length and in width. This LXX was translated through elam (αἰλα’μ), and Symmachus further translated the vestibule (anteliminare). Between the two rooms or bedrooms and the pillars (παραστα’δας) there were five cubits and in the other vestibule (prolimen) of the gate with the porch on the inside there was one cane. Also, the third porch of the gate had eight cubits and its front projection or platform two cubits. So that anyone would not consider this porch to be the same as the one mentioned above, he added: the porch was at the inner gate, instead of which LXX translated the first, second and third porch. The rooms, that is, bedrooms, built in the vestibule behind the eastern gate, were facing east. And so that we know how many rooms there were, it is added: three on one side and three on the other side, that is, facing north, south and east, and one measure was in the projections on both sides. He also measured the measure of the threshold of the gate in width, and found ten cubits, and thirteen cubits in length, and the rooms or, as Symmachus translated, pillars (παραστα’δες) ended with edges of one cubit and each projection had one cubit. The rooms or pillars (παραστα’δες) and, as LXX set up from themselves, θεηλα’θ on both sides had six cubits. And he measured the gate from the roof of the room or pillar ( παραστα’δος ) to the roof or to its wall and found between the roof and the roof twenty-five cubits in width. For there was so much distance between the entrance and the entrance, or between the gate and the gate. We said this briefly, more by guessing than by explaining, wanting, in relation to the literal meaning, to highlight the dark and almost invisible picture. However, in a condensed form and not without hesitation, we will present the little that we can assume. The Apostle Paul, desiring the Ephesians (Eph. 3) to know the mysteries, prays for them to be filled with the wisdom and love of the Lord, so that, having been rooted and established, they can know and comprehend the breadth, and length, and depth of His riches, and to them he says: For you are not strangers, but fellows with the saints and dreamed of God, who was created on the foundation of the Apostle and prophet, who is the cornerstone of Jesus Christ himself, in whom every creation is built together into a holy church in the Lord, in whom you also are created into a habitation of God by the Spirit (Eph. 2:19–22). Also, the Apostle Peter, in almost the same words - for through the same Spirit - says in his epistle: as long as you have believed, for the Lord is good. It comes to him, I am a living stone, humbled by man, but chosen by God, honorable, and you yourself, like living stone, are built into a spiritual church, a holy sanctuary, offering spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God, Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 2:3-5). From here it is clear that the Lord Savior, the true Builder, tests the stones: which stones can be placed at the foundation of the church, which in the middle, which in higher places, and which [stones] of a lower standard, or not so strong and hard, [can] be placed in the wall and outside the church, around the fence (τοῦ περιβο’λου). For it takes a lot of strength and hardness to withstand the [weight of] stones placed on top. Therefore, the apostle writes to believers: bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2). And elsewhere it is written: we should not take on a burden that we cannot bear. The reed of measurement, which had six cubits and one span, means that the way of our life, which consists of six days in which the world was created, is known to God, and the goal (ratio) of everyone’s actions is known, so that one relates to deeds, and the other to the mind. Therefore, breadth is equal to height, of which breadth, as we said, refers to deeds, and height to the spirit striving for the heavenly. But it will be enough to warn you once that we know that elbow (cubitum) and elbows (cubita) are neuter names, but for the sake of simplicity and ease of understanding and in relation to folk custom, we also put them in the masculine gender. For we should not be concerned about avoiding shortcomings of speech, but about using whatever words to explain the darkness of Holy Scripture. So, the man, whose name is East, enters through the eastern gate in order to enlighten those whom he finds at the first projection of the porch or at the very entrance of the gate - [enters] not through one, but through many steps, the number of which is kept silent, so that the difficulty of the ascent is visible and so that you know that no matter how many of them you imagine, it will be less than what remains in doubt. I mean those gates about which it is sung in the Psalms: these are the gates of the Lord, the righteous shall enter into them (Ps. 117:20). He measured the threshold of the gate so that we could know that everything is open to the knowledge of God. It is said about this threshold that it was equal in width to one reed; but its height and length are kept silent. For this is the path and the entrance, and through it one must go to what is inside (although the LXX in this place unnecessarily spoke about the length or, as is the case in most manuscripts, about the height). Bedrooms, that is, rooms and παραστα’δες; (pillars), both in length and in width, had one cane each; but between room and room there are only five cubits, so that the bedrooms inside have the full measure of a cane, that is, six cubits with one span, when the affairs and the purpose of them (ratio) are in full accordance. And that which is outside, that is, between room and room, has only five cubits, as it has not yet reached the mysteries of Christ and cannot say: the King will bring me into his bed (Song. 1:3) and in another place: all the glory to the daughter of the King within (Ps. 44:14). But they, together with the disciples of Christ who are with Him in the house, cannot hear His mysteries and want the Word of God to come out to them, and therefore their measure is determined at five cubits, so that they learn to relate everything to the five senses. Also the threshold of the other gates or, as it stands at LXX, the second and third porches, has the same measure of one reed. After this vestibule, that is, the threshold of the gate, eight cubits are determined at the entrance, so that inside the vestibule there would not be a septenary number and six cubits with one span, but an osmiric one, relating to the sacrament of the resurrection and the resurrection day. And in the projection of the same porch, he says, there were two cubits, which relate either to the two covenants, or to the letter and spirit, or to the sacrament of tongs, with which in Isaiah (Isaiah 6:7) coal is taken from the altar and placed on the lips of the prophet to cleanse them. And so that we know what kind of porch this is, defined by eight and two cubits, he speaks more clearly: the porch of the gate was inside, through which we enter the church of God. Also, the rooms and bedrooms on the east side of the gate, instead of which LXX write elau, three on one side and three on the other, were of the same measure, that is, one cane, which had six cubits with one span, as was said above, and one cane in length and one cane in width, and between the rooms there were five cubits. Lest we think that there were only two rooms, he placed three on one side and the other, pointing to the sixfold number shown in the six gospel water pots (John 2:6), in which the water was turned into wine, and daily the Jewish moisture is turned into wine, gladdening the human heart and made sweet through the blood of Christ. He also measured the width of the threshold of the gate to be ten cubits, this is the perfect number contained either in the decalogue or in the sacrament of the four gospels. It starts from one and goes up to four, forming the decimal number 74. Its length was thirteen cubits, instead of which the LXX again put the width, which, it seems to me, was distorted due to the negligence of the copyists. For in the same place the Scripture would not speak about the width, and again about the width of ten or thirteen cubits. Under the gate of the threshold, which contains the sacred number of the Old and New Testaments, one can understand either the Lord himself, saying: I am the door (Jn. 10:9), or all the saints, through whom we come to the knowledge of God and from whom the Apostle Paul said: My mouth was opened to you, Corinthians, and you also will be spread out (2 Cor. 6:11, 13). Thirteen cubits after the osmirical number contain the mystery of the books of Moses; it is indicated both in the five loaves (Matthew 14:17) and in the Samaritan woman of the Gospel (John 4), who is exposed in the fact that she had five husbands and did not have the sixth, which she, in her opinion, had; and yet, the osmiric and fivefold number ends with one cubit, that is, the fourteenth (or thirteenth), for everything comes down to Christ. Therefore it is said: and the limit is one cubit on both sides. For both the Old and New Testaments are encompassed by one measure of Christ, and the ark of Noah, thirty cubits high, is completed by one cubit. The rooms, he says, or thau and thee, as the LXX put it, arbitrarily translating and changing the Hebrew words in each place, had six cubits on one side and the other, that is, from here and there, and in addition to this they were given neither an inch nor a mind (rationem), which would incline the present life to future bliss, but only six cubits. Therefore it follows further: and he measured the gate from the roof of the room to the roof or wall thereof, and found twenty-five cubits in width. Also this number, although it is square, relates to the [five] senses. For if five cubits are multiplied by five, the number obtained is twenty-five. It lies between the roof and the roof of the rooms; but both of them are located one opposite the other and, starting from the uppermost parts, have an entrance opposite the entrance. Let this not seem petty to the reader, although I myself, the speaker, do not like it, and I feel that I am knocking on a locked door. But this should be read with condescension: I could directly admit ignorance and suppress any desire of [people] zealous; but since I am far from perfect knowledge, I recognize that it is not such an important fault to say, at least a little, than to say nothing at all. Ezek. XL:14–16. And he counted (fecit) in the ledges sixty cubits, and on the ledge there was a courtyard at the gate on all sides. And in front of the front side of the gate, which extended to the front side of the porch at the inner gate, there were fifty cubits, and oblique windows in the rooms and in their projections, which were inside the gate all around on all sides. Also in the vestibules there were windows all around on the inside, and in front of the projections there were images of palm trees. LXX: And the open (sub divo) elam of the gate was sixty cubits long, and the fairies of the courtyard were around the gate. And the open court from the outside [to] the elam at the inner gate of fifty cubits, and the secret windows on the feim and on the elam inside the gate of the court all around. There is also elamoth, and windows around on the inside, and on elamoth there are palm trees on both sides. Symmachus translated this passage as follows: and he measured (fecit) περιστα’σεις, which we can express through circumstantiuas (standing around); instead, in Hebrew it is elim, which Aquila translated κρι’ωμα, and we - protrusions (frontes). Then, where LXX put theim, there in Hebrew there is el in the singular, which Symmachus translated: near the courtyard, Aquila - κρι’ωμα, that is, the ledge of the courtyard. Also, Aquila moved the open elam of the gate in front of the front side of the gate pillars, Symmachus: opposite the front side of the gate. Symmachus translated the secret windows, which in Hebrew are called atemoth, τοξικα’ς (lancet). And where LXX said: on theim and on Elam, there the same Symmachus placed: pillars and standing around (circumstantias), Aquila: rooms and their projections, instead of which in Hebrew it is written: theim and ele. Further, Elamoth LXX and Theodotion translated in the same way, Symmachus translated the standing around (circumstantias), Aquila: protrusions. Elam, instead of which in Hebrew it is written el (in manuscripts ul), is called the entrance (ostium) or gallery. Also, instead of palms, Hebrew says thamarim in the plural, because palm in the singular is called thamar. I know this will be boring for the discerning reader; but I wanted to briefly show how much, due to the length of time, or, rather, errors and, more frankly, the ignorance of the copyists, the ancient translation differs from the Hebrew original, especially in the Hebrew names, which we translated from other editions into Latin, not so much by explaining the expressions as simply expressing our assumption. I think that between the wall of the church on the outer side and the building itself in the courtyard, that is, in the middle, something was placed for the sake of decoration, which Symmachus translates as circumstantiae, that is, something standing and rising upward from the ground itself; and the place he occupied was sixty cubits. Then, if you leave the inner gate towards the porch facing the outer gate, then there was a place of fifty cubits where there were oblique windows, which LXX call secret, Symmachus τοξικα’ς. These windows were in the rooms, that is, in each bedroom, and in the galleries located in front of the bedrooms, occupying fifty cubits. These oblique or τοξικαὶ (lancet) windows received their name from the arrows, because they let a narrow [stripe of] light into the building like arrows, and expand on the inside; and everything around was filled with windows of this kind. In front of the projections of the galleries, he says, there was an image or sculpture (caelatura) of palm trees, which shows that at the entrance to the gate and immediately in front of those entering the wall there were sixty cubits with various decorations indicating the creation of the world, so that the Creator could be known from the creations and so that everything that happens in an orderly and reasonable manner would indicate the diversity of the world, which among the Greeks from decoration received the name κο’σμος and was created in six days, so that each day could be counted by a decimal number, which we spoke about above as a perfect number. If after this we enter the inner courtyard, then just before the porch of the inner gate we will meet rooms with slanting windows, occupying a space of fifty cubits - also this number is sacred. And after seven weeks, full of triumph and joy, the first day of Osmiritsa, the day of resurrection, begins, and introduces us to the parts adjacent to the church. For, having completed everything and repented of our previous error, we gain access and draw closer to God, so that in the outer court the order and harmony of creations teach us the knowledge of the Creator, and in the inner courtyard the true jubilee, in which all debts are forgiven us, instructs us in theology (θεολογι’αν) and introduces us to the Holy of Holies. It should also be noted that the inner courtyard had a lot of windows, not straight and even, but slanting and narrow on the outside, but expanding inward, so that through some kind of small openings we could penetrate inside and reach the fullness of the brightest light found in the church. Therefore, after sixty and fifty cubits, and rooms, and galleries, and projections of galleries, and very many windows on all sides, a statue or image of palm trees is shown to us, so that, having conquered the world, we will become worthy to see the palm trees of virtues. Ezek. XL:17–19. And He brought me out into the outer court, and behold the treasuries, and the floor paved with stones all around the court; thirty treasures were around the floor. And the floor at the front of the gate, corresponding to the length of the gate, was lower. And he measured the width from the front of the lower gate to the front of the inner courtyard to be one hundred cubits, to the east and to the north. LXX: And he led me into the courtyard, and there were rooms and intermediate pillars (intercolumnia) around the courtyard, thirty rooms between the pillars and a gallery behind the doors the length of the doors was lower in front of the pillars. And he measured the width of the court from the open place of the outer gate to the inside of the open place of the inner gate, facing outward and facing east, a hundred cubits. Instead of thirty rooms, as the LXX translated, or treasuries and storerooms, as Aquila translated, Symmachus put ἐξε’δρας 75. And instead of one hundred cubits of the outer place, extending to the eastern gate, the Hebrew speaks of the same number of cubits, but towards the north, while in LXX the word north is omitted. Thus, the man, who had in his hand a mason's rope and a measuring stick, and stood at the gate, by the way, shown to the prophet, after a courtyard of sixty cubits and another porch at the inner gate, which had fifty cubits, led the prophet to the outer court or, as the LXX says, led him into the inner court. With the literal understanding of the Seventy, I was not a little surprised at how the outer court, which has sixty and fifty cubits, is followed by an inner court, extending in width one hundred cubits, unless, in relation to the mysterious meaning and success of those entering, one understands as broader what is contained within the teachings. Entered into the inner court, or brought to the outer court, as the Hebrew text says, he immediately saw thirty rooms or treasuries, or, as Symmachus translated ἐξεδρας, prepared for the residence of the Levites and priests, and a floor paved with living stones, or intermediate pillars, to show that the inner or outer court had a row of pillars in front of the doors, and a floor in front of the gate or a gallery behind the gate. In these galleries, I believe, there was a row of pillars, so that in front of the treasuries there were galleries and at the front of the galleries there were pillars with which the galleries were supported. The floor, paved with stones and extending in front of the galleries of the courtyard, was lower when ascending to the galleries, and had the same width as the rooms. And the same man, who had a rope and a cane in his hand, measured from the front of the lower or, as they say in LXX, the outer gate to the front of the courtyard or the lower gate, a hundred cubits to the east and, as the Hebrew says, to the north. From here we see that the Gospel narrative of the Savior about the seed, which, having been sown on good soil, multiplies the fruits, in accordance with the difference in virtues, by thirtyfold, and by sixtyfold, and by a hundredfold, is consistent with this prophetic passage (Matthew 13:8). For here, too, the thirtieth, and the sixtieth, and the hundredth number are prescribed, so that through them, as through steps, we can achieve perfect knowledge, but in such a way that the pentecostal number introduces us into the Church, which, after the end of the Sabbath of seven weeks, ends with the day of resurrection. Treasures (gazophylacia) are things that are full of spiritual wealth, about which it is written: the deliverance of a man’s soul is wealth to him (Prov. 13:8), with which the Apostle Paul greets his disciples, since they were filled with every word and all knowledge (Phil. 1). Gaza in the Persian language means wealth. Or perhaps the rooms called in Greek παστοφο’ρια (chapels) signify the bedrooms prepared for the arrival of the groom, of which there were thirty in number, to indicate the perfect age of the occupants. And the floor was paved with stone, so that the feet of the inhabitants would not be desecrated by dirt, earth and the dust of sins, but so that they would walk on living stones, from which the church of God is built. Or in front of the doors of the rooms there were intermediate pillars that supported the building placed on them. These are the pillars about which the Apostle Paul writes: Peter and John gave their right hands to me and Barnabas, who became pillars (Gal. 2:10). And elsewhere: the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15). And in the Apocalypse of John (Rev. 3:12) we read: I will make him who overcomes as a pillar in the church of my God, and no one will come out. Thus, the floor that was in front of the gate, which we have already mentioned, or the galleries behind the gate, which protected the inhabitants of the rooms from the rain, were lower. For the lower is always placed higher, so that through ascension and steps we can reach the mysterious and hidden and full of spiritual riches. The decimal number of decades contains the complete and perfect number, through which Isaac also received a hundredfold increase in the fruit from the sowing (Gen. 26:12). But, since he was on earth and could not yet say: I am a stranger and a stranger, like all my fathers (Ps. 39:13); then it is said about him that he sowed barley and reaped the fruit from the harvest a hundredfold. For the grain of wheat on the earth has not yet died to bear much fruit (Matt. 13; John 12:24) and the hunger of hearing the word of God (Am. 8:11) among the Jewish people can be satisfied with the bread that comes down from heaven (John 6:33). But how one hundred cubits were not only at the eastern gate, but also at the northern gate, this will be clear from the following testimony Ezek. XL:20–23. He also measured the gate of the outer court, facing north, both in length and width, and its rooms, three on one side and three on the other, and its projection and porch, of the same measure as the first (prioris) gate, fifty cubits in length and twenty-five cubits in width. Their windows, the porch, and the statues were of the same size as the gates, facing east. There was an ascent to them of seven steps and a porch in front of them. And the courtyard gate is opposite the north and east gates. And he measured from gate to gate a hundred cubits. LXX: And he brought me north, and there was a gate facing the outer court. And he measured them in length and breadth; and their fairies, three on one side and three on the other side, and elav, and elamoth (and their palm, which is not in the Hebrew): and they were of the same measure with the gates facing the east: their length was fifty cubits and their width was twenty-five cubits. And their windows, and elamoth, and their palm trees are the same as those in the gates facing the east; and they went up to them by seven steps, and elamoth from the inside, and the gate of the inner court, facing the north gate (the same as the gate facing the east, which is not in Hebrew). And he measured the courtyard from gate to gate a hundred cubits. What the Hebrew words thee, and eluu and elamoth mean, we spoke about this in detail above, but now it will be clear from comparing them with our translation. The man who had the rope in his hand also measured the northern gate of the outer court, or he led the prophet through the northern gate into the outer court. In this case, it must be taken into account that it is first entered through the northern gate, then through the southern gate. after that through the eastern gate. For from the face of the north evil is kindled against all who dwell on the earth (Jer. 1:14). And it is wonderful that he who dwells on the earth, and not a stranger and a stranger, is exposed to the arrows of the one who comes from the north, whose fiery arrows, according to the Apostle, are quenched by the shield of faith (Eph. 6:16). Also on the north side the courtyard is called the outer courtyard, but from the noon, that is, on the south side, there was not an outer courtyard, but an inner courtyard. For the Scripture says: And he brought me into the inner court to the south gate, which is written in the same way about the eastern court. For he who comes to virtue first tramples the north underfoot, and through the pentecostal and twenty-fifth numbers reaches the height of the hundredth [number]; then he is brought to the south side and drives out the cold of the north, and after that he reaches perfect virtue, that is, the eastern gate, in which the sun of righteousness rises and through which only the high priest enters. And then it should be noted that although there are four countries of the world, it is silent about the gates from the west, about which at the beginning of the sixty-seventh psalm (Psalm 68:5) it is written: make a way for him who ascended into the west, the Lord is his name, so that after we have prepared the way for the Lord and after we have fulfilled what John the Baptist calls for in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord, make his right paths (Matthew 3:3 ), we could hear what is said in the last part of the same psalm (Ps. 67:33–34): sing to God, sing praises to the Lord, who ascended into the heavens to the east. What has been said about three rooms on one side and three on the other teaches that both the letter and the spirit, both understandings, both historical and allegorical, relate to the sacraments of the Trinity. The words: both their projection and the porch are of the same size as the first gate indicate the eastern gate, which is called first not by order, but by dignity. And they were, he says, fifty cubits long and twenty-five wide, pointing at fifty after seven weeks to eternal rest, striving through the day of resurrection to the kingdoms of heaven, in which true rest lies. In the number twenty-five, which we mentioned above, the measure of feelings is observed through five rows of the square, of which one corresponds to length, and the other to width, so that length indicates peace and pleasure in sacred knowledge, and width refers to the present, subject to external feelings. Through the addition: their windows, and porches and statues or, as LXX added, palm trees were of the same size with the gate facing east, a subtle indication is made that everyone who is at the entrance to the virtues, who entered the three and three rooms and became familiar with the ledge and the porch [of the same] size as the first gate, achieves that and sees what he will fully receive at the eastern gate. The following then: and in seven steps there was an ascent to them and a porch in front of them or the inner one has the meaning that through the seven steps of the week and the cauldron, kindled from the north and through the rites of the Jews, to whom God gave commandments that were not good and such regulations through which they could not live, we ascend to a higher one and to their porch, that is, the gate, instead of which the LXX translated elamoth. This porch was in front of the gate or internal. And not only are there one northern gates, which are called above the outer gates, but also others, internal ones, which have similarities with the eastern gates, as LXX clearly showed: and the inner gates of the courtyard, facing the north, were the same as the gates facing the east. And he measured from the outer gate from the north to the inner gate from the same north one hundred cubits, so that through them, as if through steps and measures, moving away from the outer gate, we could reach the inner. The mysterious meaning of this number was mentioned above. Ezek. XL:24–31. And he brought me out onto the southern path, and there was a gate facing the south. And he measured their projection (frontem) and their porch of the same measure as the previous ones, and their windows and porches around them were the same as the other windows: they were fifty cubits long and twenty-five wide, and they went up to them by seven steps, and the porch was in front of their doors, and palm trees were carved, one on one side and the other on the other on their projection. And into the inner court there was a gate on the south way; and he measured from gate to gate on the southern road a hundred cubits. And he brought me into the inner court at the south gate, and measured the gate with the same measure as the previous ones, its room, and its projection, and its porch, with the same measure, and the windows of the porches around, fifty cubits in length and twenty-five cubits in width. And the porch around was twenty-five cubits long and five cubits wide. And their porch was in the outer court, and their palm trees were on the ledge, and there were eight steps by them, along which they went up to them. The LXX translation is literally similar, except for the words fairy, and elav, and elamoth, and elam, instead of which in Hebrew it is ulam. Fee means a threshold or ledge, slav - around it or support, elamoth - vestibule or vestibule, ulam - προ’πυλον, that is, the vestibule. What we have erected according to the Hebrew [text]: and the porch or προ’πυλον around on all sides is twenty-five cubits long and five cubits wide in LXX. It should also be noted that regarding the southern gate at the Seventy there is no mention of the path, but simply: and he brought me to the south, and here is the gate facing the south. Thus Ezekiel, whom God strengthened - for this is what his name means - is led through each of the entrances and from the northern gate passes to the southern gate, whose projections and thresholds, προπυ’λαια, or porches and windows had the same measure, fifty cubits in length and twenty-five cubits in width, and through seven steps he ascended to them, that is, to the southern gate, and its porches, that is, Elamoth, their vestibules; two palm trees were also sculptured, which we spoke of as being on the gate on the north side. At the same time, we consider it sufficient to remind only that everything stated there, we understand in the lower, that is, in the literal sense, and what relates to the southern gate - in the spiritual sense. For both history and allegory (tropologia) move within the same boundaries; but that one is lower, and this one is higher; that one is tied to the earth, and this one soars to the sky. And everything around through the windows was filled with light. For each of the προβλη’ματα has its own boundaries and through them a corresponding light penetrates the soul of the believer, especially if the length of his life lasted until the fiftieth year, that is, until the sacrament of the jubilee, and if he could achieve the breadth of divine understanding. In this latitude and in the squares, wisdom fearlessly speaks and raises its voice, and climbs seven steps to reach the porch, and through the palms of its intentions and aspirations to win victory forever. And lest we think that there is one courtyard on the south side; then it is said about the second courtyard: and into the inner court there was a gate on the southern way; and he measured one hundred cubits from gate to gate on the southern route, so that after the sacraments of the week and the Old Testament we would reach the good land and the grace of the Gospel. And not only is the second courtyard located at the southern gate, but also the third, about which it is now said: And he brought me into the inner courtyard at the southern gate, and measured the gate of the same measure as the previous ones, and so on. For each of the courts has [its] measure and its own order, and in the same measure there is a different talent, since we perceive the same thing differently at the beginning, differently during improvement, and differently at the end. But those words that are not in the LXX: and the porch or προ’πυλον around is twenty-five cubits long and five cubits wide, apparently arouse bewilderment, as a result of which they are omitted in the ancient translation: how, after the improvement of the third degree, are twenty-five and five cubits determined? But the confusion is eliminated by the following words: and their porch is at the outer courtyard and their palm trees are on the ledge, from which it is clear that this courtyard, which was twenty-five cubits long and five wide, was not an inner courtyard, but an outer one, and that this outer courtyard had the length of the first courtyard, twenty-five cubits and a width of five cubits. We attribute these dimensions, that is, twenty-five and five, to the same senses, that is, to sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch, which we multiply five times, ascending higher, and from bodily ones we make spiritual, like this: lift up your eyes, and see the fields, as if they are floats for the harvest (John 4:35), and: having ears to hear, let him hear (Luke 8:8), and: taste and see that the Lord is sweet (Ps. 33:9), and: The fragrance of Christ is God in those who believe in Him (2 Cor. 2:15). And the epistle of John says: we have seen, and heard, and touched with our hands the Word of the living things (1 John 1:1). But at the end only seven steps, as on the north side, are not enough; but after seven the osmiric number is set, so that we move from the synagogue to the Church, from the Old Testament to the new, from the earthly to the heavenly. Ezek. XL:32–34. And he led me by the eastern way into the inner court, and measured the gate with the same measure, their room, and their projection, and their porch of the same measure, and their windows and porches all around, the length of fifty cubits and the width of twenty-five cubits, and the porch of it, that is, the outer courtyard (instead of which LXX and Symmachus put the inner one), and the palm trees sculptured on their projection on both sides, and the rise to them is eight cubits. From the northern side, from which one ascended into the courtyard by only seven steps, it proceeds to the southern gate and to the courtyard on the same side, into which one ascends not only seven, as above, but eight steps, that is, so that we pass through the old to the new and, speaking more clearly, through the patriarchs and prophets we pass to the apostles, so that in one there is a sevenfold, and in the other an eightfold. Now he moves on to the last or highest, and introduces the prophet by the inner gate or through the courtyard, which is entered by the eastern route. LXX speaks about the path only in this place, [about the path] from the northern and southern sides is completely silent, so that we can only understand by the eastern gate that Path that says: I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). For through Him we come to the Father, and about Him it is written: blessed are those who are blameless in the Path (Ps. 119:1), who do not think falsely about Christ, but their faith is pure and not tainted by the filth of heretics. The same [here] number of rooms, projections and porches, windows, and their lights and the same measure in length and width, that is, fifty and twenty-five cubits, preserving the mysterious meaning (sacramenta), and the porch of that gate or inner courtyard, which in the Hebrew [text] is called external, so that everything is enveloped by the eastern light, in accordance with what is written: there is none that will be covered with His warmth (Ps. 18:7). If we accept both the outer and the inner court, then this should be understood that everything is surrounded and permeated by God, who speaks through the prophet: who holds the heavens with an span and the earth with a handful (Isa. 40:12), so that everything appears as being encompassed by him. And again: heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool (Isa. 66:1), so that we recognize Him as being in everything, according to these Virgilian [verses]: The sky, as well as the earth, as well as the plains of water, And the brilliant ball of the moon, and the Titan stars, the Spirit nourishes within; and the soul, spilling over the members, moves the whole mass, mingling with the great body 80. And when, through the weapons of righteousness on the right and on the left, in honor and dishonor, with reproach and praise (2 Cor. 6:8), we achieve victory over this world, then we are given palm trees on both sides, like those that neither joy has changed, nor sorrow, nor happiness, nor misfortune have overcome, and which not through seven steps, as is said about the northern side, and not through seven and eight, as about the southern side, but only through eight steps we reach the height, because the octal number, that is, the Gospel sacrament, should be sufficient for us, so that we can say with the apostle: even though we understood according to the flesh of Christ, but now we do not understand (2 Cor. 5:16), which means: according to the flesh. Ezek. XL:35–43. And he brought me to the gate facing the north, and with the same measure he measured its room, its projection, its porch, and the windows around them, the length of fifty cubits and the width of twenty-five cubits. Their porch faced the outer courtyard, and there were statues of palm trees on their ledge on both sides, and an ascent to them of eight steps. And through each treasury (per singula gazophylacia) the entrance is in the door (Vulgate: in the projections) of the gate: there the burnt offerings will be washed. And in the porch by the gate there were two tables on one side and two tables on the other side; Burnt offerings will be slaughtered on them, both for sin and for guilt. And at the outer side, at the entrance to the gate facing north, there are two tables, and at the other side, in front of the porch at the gate, there are two tables. Four tables on one side and four tables on the other side; on the sides of the gate there were eight tables on which they would slaughter (Vulgate: slaughtered) [the victims]; The four burnt offering tables were built of square stones, one and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one cubit high; The vessels for slaughtering burnt offerings and [other] sacrifices will be placed on them. And the edges (labia) of them in one palm were turned inward in a circle; and on the tables was the meat of the offerings. In this testimony, the Hebrew original differs in many ways from the edition of the LXX interpreters. For what we said: there they will wash the burnt offerings, and in the porch at the gate there are two tables on one side and then: so that the burnt offerings and for sin will be slain on them, is not found in the LXX, but this is added in many copies from Theodotion. Then, where we said: and the edges (labia) of them in one palm were turned inward around, there LXX translated: and they have a gisum (γεισος fence or hook) hewn into [one] palm inward in a circle. Whether this word is Hebrew or Greek, we cannot know anything about this, except that instead of gisum Symmachus and Theodotion translated edges (labia), Aquila in the first edition ὲπιστα’σεις (enclosures) in the plural, in the second: edges (labia), instead of which in Hebrew there is asephathaim. And where we said: and there was meat of the offerings on the tables, there they placed LXX from themselves: and over the tables there was a roof to cover from the rain and heat (siccitate). As for the meaning of the Hebrew words they put: fairy, and elav, and elamoth, and elam, we mentioned this above and from the comparison of our translation one can see this, and there is no need to often remind the reader of this and not trust his wisdom and zeal. And so [the prophet] is again brought to the gate facing north, but not to the outer courtyard, as above, but to the inner one. For with the following words: their porch was facing the outer courtyard, it is clear that this courtyard was on the inside. This indicates the success of the one entering, for in each place there are special names and measures, and windows all around, showing that everything is filled with the light of knowledge, and through fifty and twenty-five cubits the sacraments of absolution and divine understanding are indicated, so that, being in the porch of the inner court, we see the external, so that, contemplating the knowledge of the past and present, we achieve through it the double palms and victories, and know the mysteries of the eight steps, entering the treasuries in which the wealth of the church lies and our prayers are cleansed from all sinful filth. And there were two tables on each side, so that first the burnt offering, which is completely consumed by the sacred fire, was slaughtered, then [the sacrifice] for sin and, finally, for ignorance - for what we did intentionally or out of ignorance. At the outer side there was also, according to LXX, a channel (rivus), skillfully constructed so that through it the ashes of burnt offerings and the stench of meat would come out, or there were two tables, and at the other side of the porch at the same gate there were two tables, that is, on each side four, four on one and four on the other side, and behind or next to them were other eight tables, so that in total there were sixteen tables, which number indicates the sacraments of the prophets, so that we confirmed that everything we proposed for the honoring (dignatio) of the gospel was predicted by their predictions. As for the addition of four tables made of square stones for sacrifices and burnt offerings, these are the living stones that roll on the ground and have with them the cornerstone on which the walls of the Old and New Testament are supported. The number four indicates the Gospel sacraments, having in length and width, that is, on each of the four sides (per quadrum), one and a half cubits, which in complexity form three cubits, and these three cubits have a height of one cubit, so that the measure of one cubit, that is, divine greatness, retains the mysterious meaning (mysteria) of the Trinity, in accordance with the words of the Lord to the disciples: go and teach all tongues, baptizing them in the name Father, and Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). The name of God serves as one cubit on high, which contains three properties and always accepts the burnt offerings of our offerings. On these four tables for burnt offerings, which are made of living stones and whose length, and width, and height (above) are described, are placed the vessels in which the sacrifice of the burnt offering of the martyrs is sacrificed, of which it is said: honorable before the Lord is the death of His saints (Ps. 115:6), and the sacrifices of those who, through abstinence and holiness of the body, sacrifice their souls to the Lord. The names of these tables, I believe, lie in the apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, whose crown, facing inward from above, surrounded the edges on all sides, in order to enclose the burnt offerings inside and not allow them to spread everywhere, and to contain the meat (carnes) of the offerings, or, as the LXX translated: and the tables themselves were covered on top for protection from heavy rains and from the excessive heat of the summer sun, so that the bodies (carnes) those above could say with the prophet: in the days the sun will not burn us, below the moon at night (Ps. 121:6). Of these, one scatters the offerings with strong rains and storms, and the other, with the excessive heat of persecution, dries up everything brought. Be lenient, reader, in [these] difficult passages, or, if you can find something better, teach: we readily learn what we do not know. Ezek. XL:44–49. And outside the inner gate were the treasuries (hazophylacia) of the singers in the inner court, which was in the side of the gate facing north, and their face was towards the south; one on the side of the east gate, facing north. And he said to me: This treasury, which faces south, is for the priests who watch over the church. Next, the treasury, facing north, will be for the priests who are awake at the service of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who [one of] the sons of Levi draw near to the Lord to serve Him. And he measured the courtyard to be a hundred cubits long and a hundred cubits wide, square, and the altar [was] in front of the church. And he brought me into the porch of the church, and measured the porch to be five cubits on one side and five cubits on the other side, and the width of the gate to be three cubits on one side and three cubits on the other side, and the length of the porch to be twenty cubits and the width to be eleven cubits, and eight steps went up to them, and they had pillars on their projections, one on one side and the other on the other side. Instead of the treasuries of LXX, rooms (exedras) were transferred. And what we translated: the rooms or treasuries of the singers was omitted by them. And again, after measuring the porch of five cubits on one side and five cubits on the other side, they added from themselves: and the width of the gate is fourteen cubits, although in Hebrew it is only stated: and the width of the gate is three cubits on one side and three cubits on the other side. I reminded the reader of this so that he would not be confused by the difference in translations, but so that in the present place, and especially in relation to the dimensions of the church, he should be content with the Hebrew original. So, after the wall, which LXX translated περι’βολον (fence) and which in the form of a quadrangle surrounded the church on all sides, we read that the prophet was brought into the inner court and then to the north, and to the south, and to the eastern gate and again to the north. We have spoken about this as best we could, and our opinion about the various names and measurements is clear from the previous speech. The meaning of [all] this is briefly expressed by the testimony of the Savior, who says: in My Father’s house are many mansions (John 14:2). After that, he enters the church, that is, the Holy of Holies, which is now spoken of, and into the inner gate, into the treasuries or chambers of the singers, to which this command applies: sing to the Lord a new song (Ps. 95:1) and who cry: glory in the highest to God, and on earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 2:14). This courtyard was located at the side of the gate facing north, south and east, so that the singers and those who performed the angelic service would always remember through what steps they reached the heights, and so that they would carefully learn the mysterious meaning of each place. Therefore, the man who had a cane and a rope in his hand, leading the prophet into the inner courtyard facing south, said this: this is a treasury or exedra (exedra) and, as Theodotion placed, a room (thalamus), designated for the dwelling of the priests who are vigilant on guard of the church. Next, the treasury, facing north, will be for the priests who are awake at the service of the altar. Moreover, it should be noted that those priests who were appointed to guard the church live in the treasury facing the south, on which is the fullest light, and those who are awake at the service of the altar on which sacrifices for sin are offered are in the treasury facing north, as desiring to receive and save those who come from the north and offer sacrifices for sins. Those and others who serve, in accordance with their duties, the Lord, are called the sons of Zadok, meaning righteous and justifying, that is, Almighty God, about whom it is written, the Lord is righteous and loves righteousness, righteousness is seen in His face (Ps. 10:7). And these sons of Zadok belong to the sons of Levi, meaning accepted, and they themselves are accepted by the Lord in order to draw closer to Him and so that it is not only about Moses that it is said: “Moses drew near to the Lord, but others did not draw near” (Ex. 24:2), but all who serve and work for Him are called those who draw near to the Lord. The man, who led Ezekiel into the inner court and, so to speak, into the Holy of Holies, measured the courtyard itself, in which there were two rooms or treasuries designated for the dwelling of the guards of the church or altar, and found one hundred cubits in length and width on four sides, so that the priests serving God and entering through the narrow and narrow way would have very spacious places to walk and would remain in a perfect and complete number of virtues. And in the courtyard itself there was an altar in front of the church, so that the prayer of the saints before God would never cease. The above-mentioned man also led Ezekiel into the vestibule, or vestibule, of the church, in which he measured five cubits on one side and five cubits on the other side; for whoever entered was instructed in divine thoughts and knew neither right nor left, but walked the royal path. The gate itself, through which there was an entrance to the vestibule of the church, was three cubits wide from here and there. At the same time, one should pay attention to the grace of the Holy Scripture, which does not say: on the right and on the left, so that it does not seem that in the Holy of Holies something is named on the left, but from here and from there, that is, on both sides. And immediately the prudent reader understands that the triple number refers to the mystery of the Trinity, which serves as the gate for those who come to God, because the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father, and the Holy Spirit is in both. This triple number serves as a single gate for those who, after baptism in [the name of] the Trinity, achieve salvation. Regarding the following: the length of the vestibule is twenty cubits and the width is eleven cubits, apparently, the question arises: why is it said that in the vestibule of the church there is a dual number, relating to two decades, and an eleventh, which, apparently, has one unit less in order to fully constitute the sacred number? This question is mostly resolved as follows: although the priests appointed to serve in the church and daily making sacrifices to Christ are holy, however, as being in a mortal and perishable body, and subject to sorrows and vices, they have the twentieth and eleventh numbers. Therefore, the apostle said: I am a damned man: who can deliver me from the body of this death (Rom. 7:24)? This is not in the sense that we, according to a very severe heretical teaching, recognize the destruction of bodies, but in the fact that we desire to be clothed, and not to be undressed, and to put on this mortal thing with immortality, and to put on this corruptible thing with incorruptibility (1 Cor. 15:53). The next thing: and they went up eight steps to them, that is, to the inner gate, presents a great difficulty for those who know the Hebrew language. Therefore, Symmachus, whom we followed in this place, put eight steps, LXX - ten, Theodotion and Aquila in the second edition eleven, in the first edition he did not put any number, but in general says: and according to the steps along which they ascended to them, so that either, according to the previous gates, it means eight steps, as Symmachus also understood, or, perhaps, as many as the inner gates had, the number of which [steps] is written in Scripture did not indicate. (In Hebrew, instead, urob is put, that is, width, aste, esre. If read this way, it means eleven; if instead of esre, that is, ten, one reads eser, then this does not mean ten, but the pronoun which). For those who do not know the Hebrew language, this may seem like trifles: but now we are not writing exercises in word debate and not speeches, in which there is usually a game with combinations of words, but explanations and interpretations of the books of the Jews. But let's go back to the beginning. By eight steps, forming a perfect number, or by eleven, which [number] we have already spoken about, they rise to the gate of the saints, in the projections of which there were pillars: one on one side and one on the other side. He did not say: two, so that there would be no dual number, but: one and one, which constitutes a perfect number and is likened to God by its unity. These were the two pillars about which the Apocalypse says: I will make the conquering pillar in the Church of my God, and it will come no more (Rev. 3:12). Both Peter and John are called the pillars of the Church (Gal. 2:9), through whom we enter the Holy of Holies and whose teaching serves as our door (introitus) to Christ. Ezek. XLI:1–2. And he brought me into the church, and measured the projections to be six cubits wide on one side, and six cubits wide on the other side, the width of the tabernacle. And the width of the gate was ten cubits, and the sides (or shoulders) of the gate were five cubits on one side, and five cubits on the other side. And he measured the length of it (or them) forty cubits and the width of twenty cubits. After many sacraments and various entrances and features of each place, the husband, who had in his hand the masons' rope and the measuring stick, finally brings the prophet Ezekiel into the church and measured the projection of the church, instead of which the LXX translated elam, Theodotion elim and Symmachus around. On both sides the width of the tabernacle was six cubits, which is the mystery of all creation, for in six days the world was created. Through knowledge of this and the causes and image of creation, we enter the church of God, and from the order and harmony of creation we know the Creator. The width of the church gates was ten cubits; This is a sacred and perfect number, as a result of which in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, there is fasting and propitiation. On the tenth day of the first month, called Nisan, a lamb is taken to slaughter and prepare the Passover. Therefore, in the seventh month, tithes are brought into the granaries of God, or, as Scripture usually calls them, into winepresses. Therefore, the apostle says, “Make yourself widely known” (2 Cor. 6:13); so that, after entering ten cubits into the church, the sides of the gate itself or, as they actually say in Hebrew, the shoulders, which always relate to business, are measured on both sides. Therefore, Issachar also desired good things, resting in the middle of the borders, and seeing the rest, as if it were good, and the land, as if it were fat, he laid down his frames for labor, and he became a husband and farmer (Gen. 49:14-15). And an amice with a breastplate (rationale) is attached to the clothing of the high priest, so that deeds may be combined with understanding (ratione) and so that the priest can say: I have understood from Your commandments (Ps. 119:104). These arms of the gate had five galleries on each side, so that through earthly and divine understanding, the difference of which we have often written about, we entered inside the church, the length of which was measured by the husband who was the guide of the prophet, at forty cubits and the width at twenty cubits, or, better, the length and width of the gate; for above he spoke only of their width and shoulders. And that forty multiplied by twenty forms the eight hundredth number, which is close to octal, there is no doubt about it. Therefore, in Ecclesiastes it is commanded: “give parts of seven, give also of eight” (Eccl. 11:2). As I am well aware, I have often spoken about the mysterious meaning of this number or about the fact that through the sorrows and calamities of this age we enter the sanctuary of the Lord; therefore the gate was forty cubits long, which number always signifies labor. Therefore, Moses and Elijah did not eat bread or drink water for forty days (Deut. 9:9; 1 Kings 19:8), and the people of Israel endured suffering and trials in the desert for forty years and after many labors entered the promised land, and the Lord and Savior, after taking mortal flesh, was tempted for forty days in the desert, so that after the victory angels would come and serve Him (Matthew 4:11). When, as a result of sorrows and oppression, we can say these apostolic words: in all things we are sorrowful, but not in cold (2 Cor. 4:8), and these prophetic words: you have spread me out in sorrow (Ps. 4:2); then a very wide entrance is opened to us, forty cubits in length, so that, having won victory in worldly and earthly battles, which is also a dual number, we enter inside the church and hear the command of the Lord to the disciples: be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world (John 16:33). Ezek. XLI:3–4. And having entered inside (or into the inner courtyard), he measured the projection (or elam) of the gate to be two cubits and the gate to be six (or ten) and the width of the gate to be seven cubits (or the shoulder of the gate to be seven cubits on one side and seven cubits on the other side). And he measured the length of them (or doors, ostiorum) to be twenty cubits and the width of twenty cubits in front of the church. And he said to me: this is the Holy of Holies. Even if we succeed, greater success always opens up for us. Therefore, after entering the church, we again enter inside or, as LXX translated, into the courtyard, in the projection of which or ael, instead of which Symmachus [translated] near the gate, Theodotion elam, in Hebrew ul, Aquila door (ostium), and we translated the projection, there were two cubits, so that, according to the above meaning, we, through the dual number, come to the place where the Holy of Holies is located. Therefore, the gate itself was six cubits long, and having entered through it, we achieve eternal peace, which is indicated in the septenary number. Instead, the LXX translated: and the width of the gate is seven cubits on one side and seven cubits on the other side; in the Hebrew and in other editions only once it is stated seven cubits relative to the width of the gate. The following is then: and he measured the length of their doors, or, as LXX translated, the doors, at twenty cubits, instead of which in most of the lists of the LXX edition it is forty, and the width of twenty cubits in front of the church means that in front of the church and before entering it we always encounter the measure of previous labor and feat. For whatever meaning the dual number has in each number separately, so do the two decades. And then it should be taken into account that having entered inside through the gate, which has two cubits in the projection and six and seven cubits in width on both sides, and twenty cubits in length and the same number in the very doors of the church, the prophet learns what this place is or what it is called. For he said, he said, to me: this is the Holy of Holies. If in front of the church, or, as Scripture calls it, in front of the church, there is the Holy of Holies, then how much blessedness we must recognize in its hidden and inner parts! The prophet says about him: this work is before me, until I enter into the sanctuary of God, and I mean their last (Ps. 73:17). But it is also necessary to note that when describing the tabernacle, the holy of holies is called the holy of holies, in the plural, but here the holy of holies is singular, so that after the saints (santa) we come to the holy, just as after many songs we come to the Song of Songs, which is the song of all songs and singing which we, like the bride and groom, are united in embrace. Ezek. XLI:5–7. And he measured six cubits for the wall of the house and four cubits for the width of the sides on all sides around the church. The sides, side by side, were twice thirty-three, and there were projections (eminentia) that went in the direction (per) of the wall of the house on the sides in a circle to support, but not touch the wall of the church. And there was a courtyard (platea), turning into a rounded shape at the top; and he led up through the round staircase (cochleam) and into the upper room of the church in a circular manner. Therefore, the church was wider at the top, and from below they rose up to the middle [floor] and from the middle to three dwellings (ad tristega) and to the frael (thrael). The one standing in LXX: and from the middle in tristega, that is, in the three upper rooms, and in thrael in Hebrew is not present. Instead of thrael (I don’t know what this word means, because it is not in Hebrew) they [i.e. e. among the Jews] reads uraithi 81, which we and others translated: and I saw that the testimony then followed in this order: Ezek. XLI:8–12. And I saw the height of the house on all sides, the sides, which had the measure of a reed at the base, six cubits in length, and the width of the wall at the side on the outside was five cubits, and there was an inner house in the sides of the house and between the treasuries, the width of twenty cubits around the house on all sides. And there is a door at the side for prayer (this is not translated in LXX), one door to the north and one door to the south, and the width of the place for prayer (this is also not translated by LXX) is five cubits all around. And the building, which was separated and faced the path leading to the sea, was seventy cubits in width; The wall of the building is five cubits wide all around and its length is ninety cubits. Having reached the Holy of Holies, which we spoke about above, the venerable man measured the wall of the Holy of Holies, which, due to the structure of the world and the entire visible creation, created in six days, had six cubits, and the width of one side was four cubits - not on one side, but on all sides. The width of the house all around was four cubits in order to indicate the elements from which everything consists, and especially the human body, by fighting against which and submitting to the power of the soul, the saints are worthy to enter inside and learn the mysteries of the Lord. The very sides, which were around the house and separated by a gap of four cubits from the walls of the church, were in mutual connection, so that each side touched the other side. And its length was not thirty-three cubits, but twice thirty-three, that is, sixty-six. The Old Testament says in the book of Leviticus (Lev. 12) that at the birth of a male child, after one week, both the one who gave birth and the one who was born must purify themselves for thirty-three days. At the birth of a female child, a double number is observed, that is, sixty-six. And since in order to come into the Holy of Holies, we need not only the first, but also the second birth, so that, having been born in the flesh, we will be reborn in the spirit, then the number is put not sixty-six, but twice thirty-three, so that for both births we would be indebted to God, as the culprit, and to His goodness, and to surround the sides of the house with a double wall, which serves as a support for the building of the church. The following, according to the Hebrew [text], there were some projections that went in the direction of the wall of the house on the sides in a circle in order to support, but not touch the wall of the church, meaning that holy men act from the crowd of believers along the wall of the church, that is, on all sides on all sides, and support the foundations of the Church, and however, do not touch the wall of the church, being content only to see and from afar to worship the ineffable mysteries. For now we see like a mirror in fortune-telling and cannot touch and comprehend the truth in its full form. And that the courtyard (platea) was rounded in shape, rising up a round staircase (per cochleam), and leading to the upper room in a circular manner, and therefore the church at the top was wider, and thus they rose from the bottom up and into the middle [floor], then, I think, it is clear to the reader that what is always more cramped is what is below among fasting, and χαμευνι’αις (lying on the ground) and abstinence in food, and that when we little by little ascend to heights, a wider path opens up for us and what is written is fulfilled: You have spread me out in tribulation (Ps. 4:2). Through the rounding and through the round staircase we ascend to the upper room of the church. This form among all σχη’ματα is also recognized as more beautiful by the philosophers of this age, for the sky, the sun, the moon and other stars, and the center (punctum) of the earth, also in human bodies: the eyes, like other stars, and the figure of the head, which serves as a container for all feelings, and the rounded fingers, and hips and arms reveal this roundness. Further, the upper room of the church, into which we ascend from narrower places to higher ones, I consider to be the one that Elijah and Elisha had according to the book of Kings, and Tabitha had according to the Acts of the Apostles, that is, δο’ρκας; and in our opinion, a roe that through good deeds reached heights (1 Kings 17:19; 2 Kings 4:32; Acts 9:36). The Apostle Peter, on whom the Lord established the foundations of the Church, ascended into the upper room and came to the roof, which is more expressively called in Greek δώμα, that is, the terrace of the roof, and learned the mysteries of the Church, which were previously unknown to the world (Acts 10:9). Also, the Savior of the human race celebrated the Passover in the upper room, and moreover, in a large and spacious upper room, covered and cleansed from all uncleanness, and prepared for a spiritual meal, where He taught His disciples the sacrament of body and blood and left us the eternal celebration of the immaculate Lamb. Addition: and from the middle into three dwellings, that is, into the third upper room and into the frael, it seems to me that there should be a white mark in front [a dubious place]. For what is the need to talk about doubtful and unwritten things, when we must deal with what is contained in the books of the Jews? It follows: and I saw the height of the house on all sides, the sides, which had the measure of a reed at the base, six cubits in length, and the width of the wall at the side on the outside was five cubits, and between the treasuries (which Symmachus calls ἑξε’δρας) the width was twenty cubits around the house. These numbers show that from this world and from earthly feelings and from the dual number of two decades, related to twenty, we are worthy to enter not only the Holy of Holies, but also their upper chambers, and always have in our memory that through six days of our creation, and through five senses and through twenty cubits of width, we ascended to the upper chamber of the church and, leaving the earthly lowland and the meaning of the letter, we move to the height of the Church and we rejoice in the communion of the Holy Spirit. And the door, he says, is at the side for prayer to the north, from which disasters are kindled throughout the whole earth (Jer. 1:14) and the removal of which the Lord promises us, saying: I will take away from you those who are in the north (Joel 2:20). And beautifully in the door opposite the north there is a place of prayer, so that we, according to the Apostle (1 Thess. 5:17), pray unceasingly and say together with Jeremiah: let not the apple of your eye be silent (Pl. 2:18), either wanting to avoid present evils, or giving thanks for those that have previously happened. For, being in the church of this body, we sigh and say: I am a wretched man: who will deliver me from the body of this death (Rom. 7:24)? But there was also a door on the south and it, according to the Hebrew [text], also had a place for prayer, extending five cubits around. For after the cold north we move to the warmth of the south and, however, again we look for places to pray: at the northern door, to avoid dangers, at the southern door, to give thanks for what has happened before, and so that we can be assured of achieving victory. Five cubits in this place also indicate divine feelings, through which we ascend from the earthly to the highest. And the building, he says, which was set apart and facing the path leading to the sea, seventy cubits wide, so that, after the labors and dangers, and waves and wrecks of this age and seventy years, about which Jeremiah (Jer. 25:12; 29:10), and Daniel (Dan. 9:2) and Zechariah (Zech. 1:12) write, we reached the true and legal Sabbath of the seven decades, so that there would be eternal rest for us, and so that through a width of five cubits we would reach a length of ninety cubits, at which age Sarah, who was ninety years old, that is, nine decades, gave birth to a son according to the promise, gave birth to Isaac, uniting with the hundred-year-old Abraham (Gen. 21:5), that is, with the mysterious number of ten decades. What this number means will be clear from the following words of Scripture. Ezek. XLI:13–22. And he measured the house to be a hundred cubits long, and the separate building and its walls to be a hundred cubits long. And the width of the house on the front side and the separate [building] on the east is one hundred cubits. And he measured from the front side the length of the building, which stood separately behind, ἐκθε’τας 82 (that is, projections) on both sides at one hundred cubits, and the inner church and the porches of the courtyard. Roads and slanting windows all around on three sides, opposite each threshold, and a wooden platform all around on all sides; the platform (terra) was up to the windows; and the windows were closed. From the top of the doors to the inside and outside of the house, along the entire wall all around from the inside and outside [everything was] proportionate (ad mensuram). And cherubs and palm trees were carved, and a palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and [each] cherub had two faces: on one side the face of a man towards the palm tree, and on the other side towards the palm tree the face of a lion; [this] was done all around the house. From the floor (terra) to the top of the doors, cherubs and palm trees were carved along the church wall. The threshold was quadrangular, and the front side of the sanctuary was facing the view of a wooden altar; its height is three cubits and its length is two cubits; and the corners thereof, and the length thereof, and the walls thereof are of wood. LXX: And he measured against the house the length of a hundred cubits, and so on, and the space (separantia) and the walls thereof, a hundred cubits in length. And the width along the front side of the church, etc., is one hundred cubits. And he measured the length of the gap on the front side of the rest that was behind that house, and the rest on both sides, the length of a hundred cubits. Both the church and the corners and the outer elam were covered with wood, and three windows were made like a net for light to look through. And the house, and what was near the house, was covered with wood all around, and the floor from the floor to the windows - the windows opened in three ways to look through them - and to the inner and outer house itself, and along the entire wall around from the inside and outside [its own] measure, and carved cherubs were made, and palm trees between cherub and cherub. [Each] cherub had two faces: on one side the face of a man towards the palm tree and on the other side towards the palm tree the face of a lion; There were carved cherubs and palm trees all around the wall from floor to ceiling. And the sanctuary and church were opened at the four corners before the front of the [holy] of saints; the appearance was like that of a wooden altar; its height was three cubits, its length was two cubits, and its width was two cubits, and it had horns, and its bases and walls were of wood. The word against, which LXX translated at the beginning of that testimony, where it is written: and measured against the house, is not in the Hebrew. The Holy of Holies and the inner part of the church are described, about which it is said that after ninety cubits it has one hundred cubits on three sides, that is, the perfect number of ten decades, so that we serve the Lord in thought, word, and deed, remembering that apostolic example, regarding which it is said: let us be able to understand what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height (Eph. 3:18). As for the separate building, which is spoken of in the Hebrew [text], and its walls, the LXX translated this through the rest and the interval (separantia), which are not adjacent to the walls of the church, but have their own special walls nearby. Also, the church itself, and its corners, and elam, that is, προ’πυλον or the outer porch, were covered with wood, that is, with wisdom, which tree of life, according to Scripture (Gen. 2:9), was in paradise. Also, the windows were made like a network, like bars, so that the windows were closed not with transparent glass, but with lattice and pieced wood, instead of which in the Hebrew text there are oblique windows, which were only on three sides of the church, namely on the right, left and back, that is, on the south, north and west. The eastern side had no windows; for the very entrance let bright light into the interior, and the entire interior of the church was filled with light from the doors, so that one could look inside through every window and through the openings of the bars. And not only were the outer parts covered with wood, but there was such an abundance of wood on all sides that the floor and everything from the floor to the windows was covered with wood. These windows, according to the Seventy, opened three times, so that their opening would indicate the threefold mind of God in the church, in accordance with what was written elsewhere: but you write threefold (Proverbs 22:21). We can look through them not only inside, but also outside, so that we know that what is inside is invisible, and what is outside is visible, so that one points to the mind, another to the flesh, one to spiritual understanding, and another to simple historical understanding, and all the walls around, both on the inside and on the outside, have their own measure. For in the church of God, and especially in the Holy of Holies, nothing was done by God without reason and measure. Also carved cherubs were made, no doubt from wood, reaching from the floor to the windows, and their figures (caelaturae) were so made that they seemed not to be carved, but to be attached. Cherubim signify abundance of knowledge. Thus, inside, in the inner parts of the church, after much knowledge, palm trees are also cut out, serving as a sign of victory according to the words of the apostle: I am pursuing for the honor of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14). These palms were between cherub and cherub, so that each cherub was covered by the sides of two palms; This cherub did not have four faces, as we read at the beginning of this prophet, that is, [the face of] a man, and a lion, and a calf and an eagle, but only two, that is, a man and a lion, of which the first relates to reason, and the second to excitement (furorem), which in Greek is more expressively called θυμο’ς. We call excitement not that which is close to passion and vice, but that which strengthens a weak mind and strengthens the spirit of a struggling one. For we first obey the desire that belongs to the calf, because of earthly affairs, and one is carnal, and the other spiritual, of which the latter is attributed to the eagle. Having entered the Holy of Holies and occupied the interior of the church, we do not need anything else except reason and strength, of which one refers to intelligence and wisdom, and the other to strength of spirit. So, the entire wall on all sides of the church from floor to ceiling had cherubim and palm trees, beautifully sculptured, behind them the sanctuary and the church opened from the four corners in front of the front side of the [holy] of holies. For first we have a wealth of knowledge, through which we achieve victory over the enemy, and then a sanctuary and a church are revealed to us, having four corners and a very firm position, without deviation in any direction. For the measure of a quadrilateral has the property that it stands on a stable basis and, in a mysterious number, clear to the wise reader, contains four solid and constant elements from which everything is composed. And everything was facing the front of the sanctuary; In front of this sanctuary or in this sanctuary there was a type of wooden altar, three cubits high, two cubits long, and two cubits wide, which together made seven cubits. This altar had horns, and both its foundations and its walls, that is, its sides, were wooden, and human words cannot explain the mysteries of Holy Scripture: how the altar on which fire was kindled, that is, the incense table, does not suffer anything from the fire, but, so to speak, becomes purer from the fire. For like the works of the saints, about which the apostle writes: “Everyone’s work, as he is, will be tested by fire” (1 Cor. 3:13) do not perish, but through fire they become purer; so the wood of the altar, which was from the trees of paradise, is not burned by the proximity of the fire and becomes purer. And it is quite natural to recognize this regarding the sanctuary and the interior of the church and the altar of incense, when also amianth (ἀμι’αντον) 83 being a kind of flax or having a resemblance to flax, the more it burns, the more pure it becomes. Forgive, reader, for the sake of difficulty and show mercy to meager understanding. For through the slanting windows, made like a net and always closed, we can hardly penetrate with our eyes into the very interior of the house of our heart, so that everything that we see, we see in shadow and in image, and we exclaim with the Apostle: O the depth of the wealth, wisdom and mind of God! for His judgment was untested and His ways were unsearchable (Rom. 11:33), and; who understands the mind of the Lord (Isa. 40:13), besides the one who is the Angel of great counsel and can reveal his secrets to the worthy? As for ἐκθε’τας, in Rome they call it solaria, rising above the walls of the upper rooms, or meniana, which are called so after the name of the first inventor and which some of the Greeks call ἐξω’στρας 84. Ezek. XLI:22–26. And he said to me: This is the table before the Lord. And there were two doors in the church and in the sanctuary, and in the two doors on each side there were two doors, which closed one on the other. For there were two doors on each side of the doors, and on the very doors of the church were carved cherubs and statues of palm trees, just as they were also depicted on the walls. Therefore, thicker trees were on the front side of the porch outside; above them there were slanting windows and the likeness of palm trees on both sides on the shoulders (in humerulis) of the porch, on the sides of the house and along the width of the walls. At this point the LXX edition differs greatly from the Hebrew original. Therefore, I will only point out that instead of thicker trees they translated σπουδαῖα, that is, necessary or worthy of care, and instead of slanting windows, hidden ones, and that at the end of the certificate is placed: and measured on both sides the covers (laquearia) of the upper jamb or porch and the sides of the house connected or conjugated, which they expressed through ἐζυγωμε’να and instead of which we can translate the same weight . So, that man who led the prophet into the hidden part of the church and, by the way, showed him a wooden altar, which had corners and horns according to LXX, and wooden walls, said to him: this altar that you see is a table before the Lord, which, like a thorn bush (Ex. 3:2), burns and is not consumed, and about which the saint speaks to God: You have prepared there is a table before me to resist those who are cold to me (Ps. 22:5). There were also two doors in the church and in the sanctuary itself, through which the sacraments of the two covenants are indicated, and in the two doors on each side there were two doors that closed with one another, so that in history you would have a spiritual meaning, and in allegory, historical truth, of which each one needs the other, and if one is lacking, then there is no perfect knowledge. The next thing then: there were two doors on each side of the doors, which is clear when taken literally. For in large dining rooms (tricliniis) there are usually two [doors] adjacent to one another and connected, so that the larger entrance is closed and opened not through two large, but through four smaller doors. On these doors of the temple or holy of holies were carved the cherubim, which we mentioned above, and images of palm trees, so that after much knowledge, victory was presented to those entering. This image of palm trees was also on the walls of the church. And he points out the reasons why cherubs were carved on the very doors and the likeness of palm trees was depicted. For this reason, the trees in the porch at the gate on the outside were thicker, so that they were strong and could accommodate the carvings. And beautifully in the spiritual sense the doors were strong and carved, so that they possessed strength and beauty, so that no one, like Uzziah, could invade the Holy of Holies and usurp the priesthood for himself (2 Chron. 26:18). Above these doors there were slanting or secret windows, so that the light penetrating inside would not have perfect knowledge and would not be clear and accessible to everyone, but so that for the majority it would be partly hidden. For now we see in fortune telling (1 Cor. 13:12) and yet we do not yet know as we should know; When that which is perfect has come, then that which is part will be done away with (ibid., 1 Cor. 13:10). And there was a semblance of palm trees on both sides. He did not place the right and left sides beautifully inside the church and in the Holy of Holies, so that it would not seem that he was calling something left in that which is great and mysterious; but [said]: on both sides, just as it is written in the Gospel: if someone strikes you on the right side of the cheek, turn to him the other side too (Matthew 5:39). Couldn't it have been said: and the left? But when they strike on the right, then another right is substituted, for in a holy man both are right, both are perfect. And on the shoulders of the vestibule, on the sides of the house and along the width of the walls: instead, LXX translated: on the covers of the elam, that is, the vestibule (προπυ’λον), and the sides of the house of the same weight or measure, through which it is shown covertly that the pillars of the upper jamb or vestibule (for this, apparently, means shoulders), and the sides of the house, and the width of the walls - everything is full of reason and measure, and that in the church of the Lord there is nothing that was built without measure and wisdom. He also bore the name Joachim. According to Victoria's explanation, if you add together the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4, which are part of 4, you get the number 10. This word, in fact, means a semicircular niche of a portico in gymnasiums, equipped with seats, or a vaulted hall in private houses. Virgil. Aen. lib. VI, v. 724–727. LXX interpreters, probably by mistake, due to the similarity of the letters, read thrael instead of uraithi. Some lists read ecthetas and ethecas. Solaria or meniana, according to the explanation of Blessed. Jerome, flat roofs supported by cross beams (Creative Blessed Jerome in the Russian translation, part II p. 423) and fenced at the edges for safety with elevations or railings, they corresponded to our balconies. You might be interested in: