16. The Making Of The Cherubim
BOOK ONE
when they think soberly and justly and with piety on those things which they decide to do through these bodily senses.
16. THE MAKING OF THE CHERUBIM
16.1 (6:32) And he carved upon them figures of cherubim, and figures of palm-trees, and carvings in high relief, and he overlaid them with gold.' Anaglda in Greek are what are called celaturae in Latin. Now all these items, i.e. cherubim and palm-trees and carvings in the adornment of the temple walls, have been set forth and explained above2 according to our ability, and there is no need to go to the trouble of adding anything further because the works of virtue which the Church performs throughout the world in her holy and perfect members should be pursued with all diligence by those especially to whom the care of the faithful has been committed and the keys of the kingdom of heaven granted, so that to the extent that they rank higher than the rest, they should also excel them in merit of good actions. For they have the image of the cherubim engraved on them when they imitate, both in thought and action, the life of angels on earth insofar as mortals can. They resemble palm-trees when they keep their minds ever steadfastly intent on the gifts of their heavenly reward. For it is with the palm that the hand of a victor is adorned.
They have carvings in bold relief when they show to all who observe [I871 them the clearest proofs of good works, proofs which no one can misconstrue. And all these works are covered with sheets of gold3 when, as has often been said and must always be said, the brightness of love outshines the rest of the flowers of virtue especially in the eminent members of the Church.
16.2 That a veil also was added to these little doors the Chronicles tell us: He also made a veil of violet, pu'ple, scarlet and silk, and embroidered cherubim on it.4 This, of course, was done for decorative effect so that the all-silk hanging also might shimmer between the gilded walls, but with the same significance as the little doors. It was hung between the ark and the entrance of the oracle so that, as supra 14.2 **; infra 16.8 * * supra 14.2 cf. 3 K 6:35
2 paralip 3:14
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the little doors were opened at suitable hours, the veil too might be drawn back as often as those who had to enter the Holy of Holies arrived. Therefore, the constant drawing back of this veil according to the law signifies the opening of the heavenly kingdom which has been granted us through the incarnation of our Lord and saviour.
Hence on the one hand, the heavens were opened at his baptism5 to show that it was through the baptism which he himself hallowed for us that we must enter the door of our heavenly homeland, and on the other hand, at his death on the cross this same veil was rent in twofrom top to bottomG that it might be clearly taught that the figures of the law thereupon came to an end and the truth of the Gospel and the heavcnly mysteries and the very entrance to heaven were no longer a matter of prophecy or figurative meaning but were on the very point of being opened to all who from the beginning of the world to that moment of time had passed from the world in the true faith. For on the fortieth day after the Lord's resurrection they all repaired to heaven with him and with every veil removed they were each according to their merits allotted one of the manifold mansions in their Father's house. But for us too who were still to come, the entrance to that heavenly city and house of our Father was unlocked already at that same moment. Of course, one does not go up to this city exccpt through internal desires of eternal goods, through faith and the mysteries of the Lord's passion, through the fervour of pure love, through the mortification of carnal passion and through the daily assistance of the angels.
16.3 Hence it is appropriately recorded that this veil under which one entered the oracle was made of violet, purple, scarlet and silk, and that cherubim too were wrought in it. For violet which imitates the colour of the sky is aptly compared to the desires of heavenly thing^.^ Purple which is made from the blood of shellfish and has even the appearance of blood is justifiably taken as a figure of the mystery of the Lord's passion in which we ought to be initiated and which we ought to imitate by carrying our cross. By scarlet which is of a glowing red shade is expressed the virtue of love, of which the disciples who had walked with the Lord said in wonder, Was not our
Mt 3:16
Mt 2751; Lk 23:45 cf. Isid., Etymol. 19.22.11;28.1-4
BOOK ONE
heart burning within us while he spoke on the way and opened to us the scriptures?8 Silk which is produced from a seed which springs green from the earth and which, as a result of a lengthy process applied by silk-workers, sheds its natural greenness and is given a bleached appearance, fittingly suggests the chastening of our flesh. For the inborn moisture, as it were, of the flesh we are bidden to dry out by the Apostle when he says, Mortifi, therefore, your members that are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence and covetousness which is the service of to what a degree of brightness he wants this grace to be brought he shows elsewhere when he says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God; the worship you owe as sensible people.'0 They embroider cherubim on the veil and they are composed of these same four choice colours when in everything which we do devoutly, we are, by God's gift, shielded from the poisoned darts of the demons by the protection of the angels; they embroider cherubim on the veil when in the good things we do we unceasingly make use of the great store of knowledge, constantly turning to the words of God, and when we guide our steps by unbroken contemplation of these words lest we happen to stray from the path of virtue.
16.4 (6:33-34) And in the entrance to the temple he made quadrangular posts of olive-wood and two doors of cypress, one on either side. And each door was double, and so opened with folding leaves.
Just as the entrance to the oracle by which one reached the ark of the Lord and the cherubim signifies the entrance to the kingdom of heaven whereby we hope and desire to be introduced to the vision of our creator and the heavenly citizens, so the entrance into the temple shows in type the beginnings of our life oriented on God when we enter the Church of this present time. The latter entrance denotes our entry into the faith, the former our entry into vision. Hence the posts of this entrance were foursquare because of the four books of the holy Gospel by whose teaching we are instructed in the true faith, or because of the four cardinal virtues of prudence, fortitude, temperance and justice, on whose most firm foundation, as it were,
Lk 2432 COl35 lo Rm 12:l
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every edifice of good actions rests; prudence by which we learn what we ought to do and how we ought to live; fortitude through which we carry out what we have learnt must be done; and the prophet briefly sums up these virtues in one verse saying, the Lord is my light and my salvation", light, that is, to teach us the things we ought to do, salvation to strengthen us to do them; temperance by which we have discretion so as not to find ourselves giving more or less than the right amount of attention to prudence or fortitude; and since anyone who exercises prudence, fortitude and temperance will be proved beyond dispute to be just, the fourth virtue which follows after prudence, fortitude and temperance is justice.
16.5 The two doors which were made in this entrance are love of God and the neighbour. And they are appropriately said to have been made on either side because they face each other so that there is no question of having one without the other. Every one who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God, and every one who loves the parent loves the child;12 and as he says another time, he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?13 Hence the outer door is rightly to be understood as fraternal love, the inner one as love of God because the former is first in time, the latter is loftier in dignity and through the former one enters the latter because in love of the neighbour one learns how the creator ought to be loved. Each of the doors was double and was attached to the other when opened because in each of the two loves there are two things we must chiefly observe. For in the love of God we need to have true faith and the purity of good action, for without faith it is impossible to please God;14 and faith without works is dead. l5
But in love of the brethren patience and kindness must be observed as the Apostle says, love is patient, is i.e. patient in order to put up with annoyances and wrongs from neighbours, kind in order to forgive from the heart and do good to those from whom it suffers wrongs. This is the kind of love the Lord wanted us to have when
Ps26:l l 2 1 Jn 5:l l 3 1 Jn4:20 l4 Heb 11:6 l 5 Jm 2:26 l G 1 Co 13:4
BOOK ONE
he said, Forgive and you shall be forgiven, give and it shall be given to you;l7 forgive their wrongs to those who harm you, give the support of compassion to those whose wrongs you pardon; this is the kind of love he himself desires us to practise who has taught us to say in the prayer, Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.18 Each of the two doors was double because each of the two loves is perfected in a twofold order; each door was attached to the other as it was opened because the virtues are joined and cannot be separated from each other. For neither faith without works nor good works without faith can please
God, nor similarly does it suffice for one to endure wrongs, if he has thought it beneath him, even though able to do so, to give the one whom he puts up with the things he needs, nor is it enough for one with material wealth to give of this wealth to a needy neighbour unless he also condones with a sincere heart those annoyances which the person may have caused him.lg [I901 16.6 As for what is said about each of those doors being attached to each other while being opened, this opening does not denote a separation of spiritual virtues from each other but rather indicates that through the combination of these virtues our way into the holy
Church becomes wider and wider so that the richer we are in them the more truly we are associated with the company of the saints, just as the parting of the Red Sea, after the people of God had escaped the pursuing Egyptian, did not signify a division of the one and only baptism but rather signified the opening by which, after all our sins have been blotted out, we cross over to the shore and desert of the virtues. Or at all events the doors which were attached to each other are opened when through the ministry of a preacher one discerns what properly pertains to the knowledge of the faith and what pertains to purity of life. Yet, because of their connection, these two things cannot be separated to the same extent as the difference between putting up with the wrongs of neighbours and giving them the benefit of our goods, since these things are most certainly wont to remain inseparable in one and the same heart of the perfect. It is to be noted, of course, that in the entrance of the oracle there l7 Lk6:37-38 Mt 612; Lk 11:3 l9 cf. Greg., Horn in Ezech. PL 76:1013B
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are indeed said to have been two doors, but these double doors are not said to have been in the real entrance of the temple, i.e. of the first house; the two doors were such that each of the two was double, that is, because in the present Church we must enter and live a life of such a kind that we practise the love of God and our neighbour through faith and works, through patience and kindness. But in the life to come where we shall see the Lord and our neighbours in the light of eternal blessedness, we shall exercise the very same twofold love without the slightest hardship, and what is more we shall enjoy it in the great abundance of divine sweetness. Hence the entrance of the inner house had indeed two doors but this had single ones.
For faith is not necessary where we shall see in a clear light all that we now believe and hope for; the effort of performing works is not necessary where we shall be granted an everlasting reward for the things we toil at here; patience is not necessary where no one inflicts any harm, the generosity of kindness is not necessary where no one is in need.
(1911 16.7 We have thus discussed the figure of the gates according to our limited capacity, following in the footsteps of the Fathers. But, according to the form of the work for the purpose of adornment, provision was made that in one and the same entrance of the temple there should be two doors. For it was necessary that the walls of the house which were a hundred and twenty cubits high should also have some cubits of thickness and in the thickest part of this the doors were placed so that both doors should be flush with the wall, and whether one looked at the door from a position inside or outside the temple, the entire wall would appear to be one continuum throughout. Likewise the cedarwood wall also, since it was twenty cubits in length and height, had to be considerably thick. Wherefore in its entrance also two doors were made, in order, that is, that the door might appear flush with the wall on either side, i.e. inside or outside.
And since the door had the same representations on it as the wall, the wall would give the impression of being really one wall all the way along without a break, presenting one appearance for aesthetic reasons while prefiguring something different for the purposes of the mystery.
16.8 But the verse that follows the description of the doors of the temple, namely,
BOOK ONE
(6:35) And he carved cherubim and palm-trees, and did carving in high relief; and he overlaid the whole evenly with gold leaf in square work, has already been expounded above,20 because the same representations or carvings were wrought on the walls of the house and on the inner doors, and the meaning of the figure is obviously that the first door of the temple actually received the same representations and carvings and the same cherubim as the inner parts. The reason for this is that the same mysteries of faith, hope and charity which the sublime and the perfect each grasp in a sublime manner and which all the elect in heaven fully understand in the divine vision, are handed on also in the instruction of the unlettered for each one to learn and confess, in as much as those who have been initiated into the mysteries sometimes also succeed in understanding what they have devoutly believed.
2o supra 13.1 **; 16.1 **
