The Holy Prophet Moses

The icon of the Holy Prophet Moses on the southwest pier in the Church of Saint Catherine, the Sinai metochion in Athens. He holds the two stone Tablets of the Law, surmounted by the golden pot that had manna, and an icon of the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child. Her hands are extended in prayer for all of creation.

Εἶχέν μὲν οὖν καὶ ἡ πρώτη σκηνή δικαιώματα λατρείας τό τε ἅγιον κοσμικόν σκηνὴ γὰρ κατεσκευάσθη ἡ πρώτη ἐν ᾗ ἥ τε λυχνία καὶ ἡ τράπεζα καὶ ἡ πρόθεσις τῶν ἄρτων ἥτις λέγεται Ἅγια· μετὰ δὲ τὸ δεύτερον καταπέτασμα σκηνὴ ἡ λεγομένη Ἅγια Ἁγίων χρυσοῦν ἔχουσα θυμιατήριον καὶ τὴν κιβωτὸν τῆς διαθήκης περικεκαλυμμένην πάντοθεν χρυσίῳ ἐν ᾗ στάμνος χρυσῆ ἔχουσα τὸ μάννα καὶ ἡ ῥάβδος Ἀαρὼν ἡ βλαστήσασα καὶ αἱ πλάκες τῆς διαθήκης ὑπεράνω δὲ αὐτῆς χερουβιμ δόξης κατασκιάζοντα τὸ ἱλαστήριον· περὶ ὧν οὐκ ἔστιν νῦν λέγειν κατὰ μέρος.

Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; and over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly. (Hebrews 9:1-5)

In writing ‘of which we cannot now speak particularly’, the author hints that to enter into the signification of each would have required a long discourse. For these were not physical objects only, as Saint John Chrysostom points out, but they were also certain αἰνίγματα, as he calls them, a word that means ‘figures, types, symbols, signs’. It remained to later writers to search out the significance of these objects.