18. The Heavenly Tabernacle (The Life of Moses, 377C-385
FROM GLORY TO GLORY
ration for the least of God's manifestations; for he does not admire God's holiness, nor even the glory of His holiness, but merely attempts to admire the magnificence of the glory of His holiness, and even here his powers fail. His mind, then, did not comprehend the ultimate limit of what he ad mired; and hence he says: Of the magnificence of the glory of His holiness there is no end.
Thus in speaking of God, when there is question of His essence, then is the time to keep silence. When, however, it is a question of His operation, a knowledge of which can come down even to us, that is the time to spea\ of His omnipotence by telling of His works and explaining His deeds, and to use words to this extent. In things, however, which go beyond this, the creature must not exceed the bounds of its nature, but must be content to know itself. For indeed, in my view, if the creature never comes to know itself, never understands the essence of the soul or the nature of the body, the cause of being, how beings arise from one another by generation, how being comes from non-being and is resolved into non-being, how the universe is harmoniously constructed out of contraries—if the creature does not know itself, how can it ever explain things that are beyond it? Of such things it is time to keep silence; here silence is surely better. There is, however, a time to spea\ of those things by which we can in our lives make progress in virtue.
18. The Heavenly Tabernacle (The Life of Moses, 377C-385 A; ed. Danielou, ii. 167-183) After this we come to the tabernacle not made by human hand. Who will follow Moses as he proceeds through these
GREGORY OF NYSSA
truths and raise his mind to such heights ? Passing as it were from one peak to another in his rise to the things above, he is ever rising higher than he was before. First he left the foot of the mountain, separating himself from all those who were too weak for the ascent. And carried away to the height of his ascent, he hears the sound of the trumpets (Exod. 19.1619); and then he enters into the hidden, invisible sanctuary of the knowledge of God. Yet he does not remain there, but he proceeds to the tabernacle not made by human hand. For here at last is the true goal which the soul reaches when it has been raised up by an ascent of this sort.
Now I think that the heavenly trumpet can be interpreted in another sense, that is, as a guide in our progress towards the spiritual. In this sense it would refer to the splendid harmony of the world, which proclaims the wisdom that shines forth in the universe and tells of the grandeur of God's glory reflected in things visible. Thus it is said: The heavens shew forth the glory of God (Ps. 18.2)—there is the loudsounding trumpet that speaks the divine message in clear and ringing tones, as one of the prophets says: The heavens trumpeted from above?1 When the hearing of the heart has been purified, then will a man hear this sound—and by that I mean the contemplation of the universe from which we derive our knowledge of the divine omnipotence—and by this he is led in spirit to penetrate to the realm where God exists. This realm the Scriptures call a dar\ cloud,22 And by this is meant the invisibility and incomprehensibility of God.
It is in this darkness that He sees the tabernacle not made by human hand, as I have said, later showing a material imitation to those below.
What then is the meaning of this spiritual tabernacle
FROM GLORY TO GLORY
shown to Moses on the Mount, which he was to look on as an archetype, that he might reproduce this marvel not made by human hand in a structure made of wood? Look, God tells him, you will build everything according to the model you were shown on the Mount. Here we have columns of gold resting on silver bases and decorated with capitals simi larly of silver;23 then more columns of silver with bases and capitals of bronze. Both sets of columns are set in founda tions of wood that does not rot; and the brilliance of the materials shines forth all around.
There is also an ark of acacia wood with a gleaming over lay of untarnished gold. Likewise there is a candlestick with a single stock for its base, dividing at the top into seven branches, holding seven lamps. The candlestick is completely of solid gold, not overlaid on wood. There is also an altar of sacrifice and the propitiatory and the so-called cherubim whose wings overshadow the ark. And all this was not merely an outward show of gold by means of an overlay, but all was made of gold through and through. In addition there were brilliant tapestries of the weaver's craft with vari ous colors woven together in textural beauty. These divided the Tabernacle into two sections: the one section was visible and could be entered by certain of the sacred ministers; the other was forbidden and inaccessible. The open part was called the Sanctuary, and the hidden part the Holy of Holies.
In addition there were lavers, braziers, a circuit of outer courts, tents of skins, skins dyed red, and all the other things mentioned in the sacred text.
How can our discourse accurately penetrate the meaning of all these things ? What spiritual realities do they represent ?
And what advantage does this material reproduction of
GREGORY OF NYSSA
Moses' vision have for those who look upon it? As for the true meaning of it all, I think it better to leave that to those who by the Spirit have the power to search the deep things of God (1 Cor. 2.10), who can, as the Apostle says, speak mysteries by the Spirit (1 Cor. 14.2). For my own part, what
I have to say will come from my own speculations on the hidden meaning of these matters, and I shall leave it to the good judgment of my readers to accept or reject what I offer accordingly as they see fit.
Taking a small clue from Paul, who has partially revealed the mystery involved here, we shall say that by this symbol
Moses was instructed in anticipation of that Tabernacle which embraces the universe: and this is Christ, the Power and the Wisdom of God, Who being in His own nature not made by human hand, received a created existence when He was to build his tabernacle among us. Thus the same taber nacle is, in a certain sense, both created and uncreated: un created in His preexistence, He receives a created subsistence precisely in this material tabernacle.
This doctrine is not, of course, obscure to those who have received the authentic tradition of this mystery of our faith.
For unique above all is He Who existed before all ages and came at the end of all ages. He needed no existence in time; for how would He Who existed before all time and all the ages need a birth in time ? But it was for our sake that He accepted to be born among us, who had lost existence by the abuse of our freedom, that He might restore to existence all that had gone astray from it. It is God, then, the OnlyBegotten, Who encompasses in Himself the entire universe,
Who has built His own tabernacle among us.
And if I refer to so great a grace as a tabernacle, I hope
FROM GLORY TO GLORY 133
those who love Christ will not be disturbed, as though the meaning of this word diminished the grandeur of the divine nature. Indeed, none of the names we use of Him is worthy of Him; all of them equally fall short of accuracy, whether their meaning suggests something insignificant or great. It is the same with all the other terms which we may piously use according to certain aspects to express the divine power, as, for example, the term doctor, shepherd, champion, bread, vine, the way, the gate, mansion, water, the rock, the source, and all the others which are used of Him; in the same way, on a level of discourse which applies to the divine, we use the word tabernacle. For the power that encompasses the universe, in Whom dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead
(Col. 2.9), He Who shelters the universe, enveloping all things within Himself, is duly called the Tabernacle.
We ought then to interpret the entire vision in this sense, so that each detail may be in accord with a proper concept of the divinity. Now the great Apostle tells us that the veil of the lower tabernacle is the flesh of Christ (Heb. 10.20), because, as I believe, it is a texture of different weaves, that is, made of the four elements. And Paul himself doubtless had a vision of this Tabernacle when he entered into the secret sanctuary of heaven, where the mysteries of Paradise were revealed to him through the Spirit. Hence it would be well to begin with his partial interpretation, and extend it into a complete doctrine on the meaning of the Tabernacle.
Then we would have an explanation of the symbols con nected with the Tabernacle in accordance with the Apostle's own words. For he says somewhere of the Only-Begotten
(that is, as we know, the Tabernacle) that in him were all things created visible and invisible, whether thrones or
GREGORY OF NYSSA
powers or principalities or dominations or forces (Col. 1.16).
Thus the pillars glistening with silver, the golden poles and rings, and those cherubim who hide the ark with their wings, and all the other details which we find in the descrip tion of the Tabernacle's construction, if we fix our eyes on the things that are above, represent those other-worldly powers that are within the Tabernacle and support the uni verse according to the divine will.24 These are the true sup ports,25 sent to minister for them, who shall receive the in heritance of salvation (Heb. 1.14); for these, slipped through the souls of the elect as though they were rings, raised them up to the heights of virtue even though they lie on earth.
And the sacred text, in describing the cherubim as hiding the mysterious contents of the ark with their wings, confirms our interpretation of the tabernacle. For cherubim, we know, is the name given to those powers who surround the God head in the vision seen by Isaias and Ezechiel. Nor should our ears be surprised at the fact that they cover the ark with their wings. We find the same symbol of wings in Isaias: only in Isaias it is the Lord's face that is covered (Is. 6.2), and here it is the ark of the covenant. But in each case the mean ing is the same: it suggests, in my view, that the contempla tion of the divine mysteries is inaccessible to our minds.
Next, the candlesticks which rise from a single stock and divide into many branches, spreading their abundant light on all sides. You would be quite correct in understanding these as the many different types of brilliant rays which the Spirit causes to shine in our Tabernacle. And this is what Isaias says when he divides the illuminations of the Spirit into seven.26
I do not think that the propitiatory needs any explana-