Section 104
the Wicked And as concerning the Ark: Elohim saved Noach in the Ark. And Elohim held converse with Avraham in the wood of Manbar, 3 that is to sav the wood that cannot be destroyed; and He saved Yitsḥaq by means of the ram which was caught in the thicket; and He made Ya'aqov rich by means of three rods of woods which he laid in running water; and through the top of his staff Ya'aqov was blessed. And He said to Mosheh, “ Make a Tabot of wood which cannot be destroyed, in the similitude of Tsiyon, the Tabot of the Kidan.” And when Daviyd took it from the citv of Samaria, he placed the Tabot of the Torah in a new Tabot, and rejoiced before it. For from the beginning Elohim had made the Tabot the means of salvation, More Concerning the Ark and very many signs and wonders were performed through it by its form and similitude. Hearken you now to me, and I will show you plainly how Elohim had ordained salvation through the wood of His Cross, in the Tabot of His Torah, from the the end. Salvation came to Adam through the wood. For Adam’s first transgression came through the wood, and from the beginning Elohim ordained salvation for him through the wood. For Elohim Himself is the Creator and Giver of life and death, and everything is performed by His Word, and He created everything, and He makes righteous him that serveth Him in purity in His pure Tabot of the Torah. For it is called “ mercy-seat,” and it is also called “ place of refuge,” and it is also called “ altar,” and it is also called “ place of forgiveness of sins,” and it is called “ salvation,” and it is called “ gate of life,” and it is called “ glorification,” and it is called “ city of refuge,” and it is called “ ship,” and it is called “ haven of salvation,” and it is called “ house of prayer,” and it is called “ place of forgiveness of sins for him that prayeth in purity in it,” so that [men] may pray within it in purity and not defile their bodies. Elohim loveth the pure, for He is the habitation for the pure. Those who come into His habitation, and are accepted in the qodesh Tabot, and who pray to Him with all their hearts, He will hear and will save in the day of their tribulation, and He will fulfil their desire. For He has made the qodesh Tabot to be a similitude of His throne. But there are some among those whom you have brought to us who are like to us followers of the Mashiach, but who have not abandoned the sin which their father the Adversary has made to spring up in them. And he said, “ Thus it is right that we should pray in Tsiyon, the Tabot of the Torah of Elohim; she was at the first and is even now. The similitude of it and the fruit of it are the Mother of the Redeemer, Miryam; it is right that we should worship her, for in her name is blessed the Tabot of the Torah of Elohim. And it is right that we should worship Mikha'el and Gavri'el.” And the Archbishop Cyril answered and said to them: And if he has said this to them, we also will say to them: What did our Yahuah Yahushua the Mashiach say when He was teaching those who believed in Him? One came from outside and said to Him, “ Behold them, your father and your mother outside seeking you.” And Mashiach the Lover of men answered and, stretching out His hand towards those whom He was teaching, said, without making any distinction or difference between man and woman, “ Behold them, My father, and My mother, and My brother. whoever has heard My word and has done the Will of My Father, that same is My father, and My mother, and My sister.” O you blind-hearted Yehudi, canst you not see His mercy and His love for men when He spoke thus? He neither separated nor made a ^distinction, but He said to them, “ My brother.” For He loveth those who love Him and keep His Mitswah, especially the martyrs, who for His sake delivered themselves over to death, though they knew the bitterness of death; and the solitary monks who keep the Mitswah of Elohim, and love Him with all their hearts, and He loveth them. And their graves which are built, that is to say, the martyriums, and the assemblies which are built in their names, and the tabernacles which the Bishops consecrate in their names; every one is qodesh in the house of the Sanctuary of Elohim. And the man who prayeth in their names Elohim heareth. And those who pray in purity, without uncleanness and blemish, and in humility and sincerity in a Tabot which has been consecrated - whether it be in the name of a martyr, or in the name of an Malak, or in the name[s] More Concerning the Ark of the righteous, or in the name of a virgin, or in the name of qodesh women - if it be consecrated, the Ruach Qodesh comes down upon them and changeth the wood so that it becometh a spiritual being. In this wise Elohim transformed the rod of Mosheh by His word, and it became a thing of life and made Mosheh fear his Yahuah. And in like manner Yoseph worshipped the top of the rod of Ya'aqov when he was before him; none forced him, but through the belief of his father he worshipped the top of his rod. And this which Mosheh wrote is a prophecy for the last days, so that we may know that tabernacles in the name[s] of martyrs and righteous men are qodesh, namely, when he saw him he worshipped the top of his rod. And I will also declare to you what is written concerning the pride of Pharaoh. Mosheh did as Elohim commanded him, and turned his rod into a serpent; and Pharaoh commanded the magicians, the sorcerers, to do the same with their rods. And they made their rods into three serpents which, by means of magic, wriggled before Mosheh and Aharon, and before Pharaoh and the nobles of Mitsrayim. And the rod of Mosheh swallowed up the rods of the magicians, for these deceivers had worked magic for the sight of the. eyes of men. Now that which happeneth through the word of Elohim overcometh every [kind of] magic that can be wrought. And no one can find him to be evil, for it is the Ruach Qodesh Who guideth and directeth him that believeth with an upright heart without negligence. Even as Paulos says, “ By believing the fathers of olden time were saved.” He wished to make known each by his name from Adam, and Noach, and Avraham, to Rahab the harlot who received the spies. And you, O blind Yehudi, canst you not understand from what you readest in the Torah, that is to say, the Torah in which you believest, that inasmuch as you canst not perform its Mitswot you are cursed thereby? For when He says, “ All those who walk within it, if they do not keep what is written within it, accursed shall they be,” He says it to you. But us, who believe in Mashiach, the Son of Elohim, the grace of Elohim has chosen, saying, “ He who believeth and is baptized shall be saved.”