Temple and Contemplation brings together for the first ... - ImagoMundi

THE IMAGO TEMPLI IN CONFRONTATION
the idea that the eschatological Israel will be "like God". In a Qumran
document which has already been the subject of lengthy research, Melchizedek,
a priestly, messianic and eschatological figure, is designated as
one of the Elohim. 66 His precursor Abraham was the first "righteous
plant". All the righteous planted after him by God, from age to age, are
chosen from among the rest of the Jews and Gentiles, with the result that
the theme of the plant of justice is indissolubly linked to the idea of divine
election. By the same token, it appears to be inseparable from the idea of a
gnosis and of the divine plan in hierohistory.
The plant of justice receives nourishment, in fact, from the Water that is
knowledge, and this knowledge is the gnosis that unveils the secret of the
divine mystery to the righteous who are called upon to inaugurate the new
era. Thus the rise of these "plants of justice" is, if not the most important
event, certainly one of the most important in the divine plan of hierohistory,
whose secret meaning is registered on the "celestial tablets" so frequently
mentioned (I Enoch, The Book of Jubilees, Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs), 67
and which the Angels reveal only gradually to certain privileged men. We
may say that these "Tablets" are the "code of theocracy in History", 68 but
only if we specify that, as the setting of theocratic activity, History means
something other than what is understood by the word as it is currently
employed. This is why we said earlier that we would rather use the term
hierohistory, in order to avoid all ambiguity. For the same reason, it is not
enough to say that History has two dimensions—one vertical and one
horizontal—in the sense that it must be interpreted not merely in terms of
a "final end" (eschaton) but also in terms of an "up above". Precisely here
one must specify that a vision of History which acknowledges that the
events that constitute it possess a celestial archetype, confers on this
History a parabolic dimension, a dimension which elevates all events to the
level of parables. Eschatology cannot simply be an event which one fine
day puts an end to the rectilinear perspective of secular history. Equally,
66 The eschatological Israel that is "like God" involves the theme of imitatio Dei; cf.
ibid., p. 141 note 1. Here we may remember the sentence which recurs frequently in
the Islamic mystics: takhallaqu bi-akhlaq Allah, "model your ways on the divine
ways". The Qumran fragment about Melchizedek (p. 140 note 3) has already been
the subject of a considerable literature. We will return to it elsewhere in connection
with its implications for Ismaili Imamology.
67 Cf. Hans Bietenhard, Die himmlische Welt im Urchristentum und Sadtjudentum (Tubingen,
1951), pp. 231-254: 'Die himmlischen Bucher und Tafeln'.
68 Shozo Fujita, Temple Theology, pp. 142 ff.
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THE IMAGO TEMPLI IN CONFRONTATION
the latter is incapable of grasping the eschatological dimension. What it
offers is a caricature: a social messianism or popularized eschatology. We
will have occasion to recall, when speaking of Qumran, the connection
between realized eschatology and the mysterium liturgicum, between the
existential meaning of eschatology and liturgical time.
Only when there is such a connection does the Imago of the final Temple
acquire its authentic and existential significance, as the eternal theocratic
kingdom. The final Temple, built in the middle of "the eternal planting of
justice", will be the centre of the new world, where only the unique divine
sovereignty will be recognized. The synthesis of the theme of the "planting
of justice" and that of the restoration of the Temple—that is to say, the
new Temple as God's planting, in which the "plant of justice" flowers
eternally—establishes an Imago of the new world centred on the Temple,
an Imago Templi which is faithful to the vision of Ezekiel. By means of this
symbolism, the pact or alliance between God and men takes the form of
the Temple—a form which we, for our part, will certainly not define as
empirical, since it is a form which is par excellence the Temple's imaginal
form, and is therefore experienced on the imaginal level, at "the meetingplace
of the two seas". Thus, the Image of the future Temple {I Enoch and
the Book of Jubilees) is inseparable from the restoration of the primordial
Paradise. This fact is the root of all that is said below concerning the
symbolism of the Temple theology at Qumran. 69
4. The celestial Temple and the cosmic restoration. In this way we re-encounter
the theme which marks the climax of Ezekiel's templar theology, the
theme in which "the cosmic restoration and the Temple" are associated.
The start of our inquiry here is a Jewish tradition according to which the
Temple is destined to be "in Heaven" until the end of days. 70 What is this
celestial Temple? The reply to this question embraces three phases: a. the
celestial liturgy; b. the celestial Imago Templi; c. the link between the
celestial Temple and the eschatological Temple.
a. The Testament of Levi (3:4) contains an account of the vision that he
69 Ibid., pp. 148, 150—151.
70 Other traditions situate the celestial temple "between heaven and earth"; ibid., p.
152, note 1. (Cf. what is signified here by "the meeting-place of the two seas"). On
the celestial temple, cf. I Enoch 61:12.
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