Глава 43

Ezek.43:1–3. And he brought me to the gate that looks toward the east, and brought me out: and behold, the glory of the God of Israel coming along the way to the east, and the voice of an army, like the voice of many aggravating (in Hebrew and Syriac I found: “like the voice of many waters”): and the earth shone like the light of His glory around. And the vision, which I saw, according to the vision, which I saw, when I entered to anoint the city (and here again I found it in both Syrian and Hebrew: when I entered to destroy the city). The Prophet points to the second vision, in which he saw that they were bringing axes and beating the inhabitants of the city (Ezek. 9:2, 5), and one was scattering coals over the entire city (Ezek. 10: 2), and when he saw a sign placed on those groaning about the iniquities of the people (Ezek. 9:4). And probably seventy, having delved into the meaning of the speech, called the position of the sign on the forehead of those who were delivered from punishment with axes as anointing. and the vision of the chariot was like the vision seen on the Chebar River. And as soon as I saw, says the Prophet, “I fell.” Ezek.43:4. The glory of the Lord entered the church, along the path of the gates looking to the east. He did not say, “The Lord is below,” because the nature of God cannot be described, but he says, “The glory of the Lord is below,” that is, a vision that has appeared. Ezek.43:5–6. And he took my spirit, and brought me into the inner court: and behold, the house of the Lord was full of glory. And stunned, and behold a voice from the church speaking to me. Because when blessed Moses erected the tabernacle, the glory of the Lord filled it, and when Solomon, having completed the construction of the church, celebrated the feast of renewal, the glory of the Lord again filled the house, then in this building shown to the Prophet the Lord appears and fills the house with His glory, showing by this that the church will not only be built, but will also be filled with God’s power. This makes it clear that the one who measured and showed the building was an Angel, probably Saint Michael himself, for he was entrusted with the care of the people of Israel. Ezek.43:7. And he said to me (not an Angel, but a Master): Son of man, have you seen the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet? So blessed David calls the divine church the footstool of God, for he says: “Worship His footstool, for it is holy” (Ps. 99:5). God called the “place” of the “throne”, as one who rests in the church. To this he adds: Where my name will dwell in the midst of the house of Israel forever. He did not say: “has taken possession,” but “will take possession”; “he will dwell “for ever” among the saints, who are truly called Israel, and are able to see Him, as far as this is possible for a person, not in an image, but in reality itself. What was shown to the Prophet was an image of heavenly things, for it is said: “See that you create everything in the image shown to you on the mountain” (Ex. 25:40). Therefore, the promise is not false, and the Lord Christ, confirming it, said to the sacred apostles: “My Father has many mansions: if not, I would say: I will go and prepare a place for you: again I will come and take you to Myself, so that I am going and you too” (John 14:23). Therefore, in what was an image, God did not dwell and will not dwell forever, because he pronounced judgment on them, saying: “Behold, your house is left desolate” (Matthew 23:38). Therefore, one must ascend from images to the truth itself and wait for this Divine infusion. The following words agree with the interpretation now proposed: And no one will profane the name of My holy house of Israel, they and their elders in their asceticism, and in the murder of their elders among themselves. If anyone understands this simply about Israel, he will find it unjustly said, because both Ezra and the history of the Maccabees accuse them of great wickedness even after returning from captivity and not only the other Israelites, but even the priests and high priests. And does their fury against the Lord even leave room for more dishonest? Therefore, this befits not just Israel, but those who have a pure eye of mind, and who are able to see God, and have loved spiritual service. Ezek.43:8. I have always placed My vestibule in the vestibules of my own, and My praches near my praigas: and I have given My wall as if it were holding on to Me, and one: and I have profaned My holy name in the iniquities of my own, even as I have done them. All this lets us know that God’s church itself was not considered sacred by them, therefore they did everything in it that they did in their homes. For this, God says: And I died in My wrath and beating. I punished them for their iniquities and gave them beatings. Then he exhorts them to leave their former path and free themselves from wickedness, both to themselves and to their elders; and if they do this, he promises to dwell among them forever. And they would have been worthy of these promises if they had accepted the Lord who came to them. But since, having seen Him, they said to each other: “This is the heir; come, let us kill Him,” and the inheritance will be ours (Matthew 21:38), then God, having expelled them from the vineyard, scattered them throughout the universe, and gave the vineyard over to “another worker,” in order to dwell with them forever, receiving fruits from them in their time. Then (Ezek.43:10) the Prophet is commanded to show the people the building of the church, so that, ashamed of the greatness of the good deed and the hope of restoration to its former state, they would stop sinning and not honoring. The Prophet was commanded not only to draw and describe the building to the people, but also to show the statutes and regulations of the church, so that by observing them the Lord would be pleased. The Prophet says that he also saw the altar of incense; its height is two cubits, its length is one cubit, and its width is the same measure. He says that he saw two purifications of unequal measure, one smaller and the other larger. The question inevitably arises, why blessed Moses, according to the commandment of God, established one purification, and here the Prophet sees two? I think that the small is a prototype of the greater, because the Old Testament is a prototype of the New Testament, and that purification is a prototype of our purification; and our purification is Christ, as the divine Apostle says: “For whom God hath proposed purification in His blood, for the manifestation of His righteousness” (Rom. 3:25). The Prophet also says that between the two purgatory there were four cubits according to the number of the divine Gospels, because in the interval between the law and the hoped-for blessings, the grace of the Gospel was given to people. “Ariel is twelve lactays in length and breadth” evenly (Ezek.43:16). "Ariel" in Hebrew means: "mountain of God", or, according to another interpretation: "light of God." This is what the Prophet calls, as I think, the foundation of purification; and this number of cubits corresponds to the number of the sacred apostles, who became the foundations and ascensions of the grace of God, the support and affirmations of the Church. “You are Peter, and on seven stones I will build My Church,” said the Lord (Matthew 16:18); and also: “you are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). The purification itself, as the Prophet says, was two cubits larger than Ariel, both in length and breadth, for not only in Divinity, but also in perceived humanity, the Master is immeasurably higher than the slaves. Then the God of all kinds commands the Prophet to teach the priests the laws about sacrifices, how a bull should be brought and slaughtered as a sin offering, and where the sacred service should be stopped, how the horns of the breviary and the corners of the purification should be sprinkled, then goats that have no blemish should be brought as a sin offering, and also again the blood of the breviary should be sprinkled. When, as the Prophet says, this has been accomplished, and the cleansing for sin has been completed, then let them bring a bull and a ram, also without blemish, and let them make a sacrifice with salt. And salt is a sign of meaning, prudence and a pious way of thinking. For not simply, and not following custom, let them do it, but judiciously, with the decisive intention of becoming pious, and in the course of seven days let them make (I will not name each separately) such and such, but (Ezek. 43:27) “on the day and then” such and such sacrifices.