Hugh Nibley tells in "The Early Christian Prayer Circle," how, Rabbi Ishmael recited his prayer just before passing through to the throne which was behind a curtain, and he also informs us that God "made for me a garment of glory," (This is made perfectly clear in Odeberg, 3 Enoch or the Hebrew Book of Enoch, chs. 10 and 12.) bearing the same markings as the veil and having the same cosmic significance, which reminds one of the close affinity between robe and veil in the very early Christian Hymn of the Pearl and also recalls how the bishop leading the prayer circle in the Syriac Testament of Our Lord "stands with upraised hands and offers a prayer at the veil," after which he proceeds "to make the sacrifice, the veil of the gate being drawn aside."
St. Augustine's version of the Priscillian prayer circle ends with the apparently incongruous statement, "I am the Gate for whoever knocks on me," which Augustine explains in terms of Psalms 24:7, referring to the veil of the temple.(Augustine, Letters 237, in PL 33:1037—38.)
Also See:
Admitted into God's Presence - The Temple Veil
Garments, the Veil and Gammadia Markings
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