Глава 44

The Lord showed me, says the Prophet, the gates facing the east, closed, and commanded that they always be closed and presented to Him, the Lord of all, not because He needs doors when He, the omnipresent and co-existent God, intends to enter. And how would He enter the closed gates if He usually entered through doors? On the contrary, condescending to our weak hearing, he presents this image, and in it, as likely, gives us insight into the virgin’s womb, through which no one entered or came out, except the Lord Himself. At this gate he commanded the “elder,” that is, the high priest, to eat food, but when entering and leaving, he passed through the porch, which he called “Elam.” And after this was spoken and shown to the Prophet, he again sees the glory of God in the gates “that are to the north”, and receives a command to say to the people who are “angry”, or “covetous”, or “stubborn” (as other interpreters have translated), “may they be satisfied with the former lawlessness, which he constantly dared to do, bringing foreigners into the church of God and uncircumcised; Their most important fault is that those introduced not only had their flesh uncircumcised, but what is more important than their flesh, their minds were also uncircumcised. From which it is clear that circumcision of the heart is progress in righteousness, and circumcision of the flesh is only a sign and seal of circumcision of the mind. Therefore, God commands everyone that those uncircumcised in soul, foreign and foreign in body, should remain far from the fences of God, the Levites, who participated in the iniquity of the people and loved the service of idols, should be cast out from their rank, should not stand at the gates of the church, would not sacrifice burnt offerings or sacrifices for sin, would not even approach the sacrificial, but by the fruit of their wickedness received dishonor, but one family of Zadok, abiding in paternal piety, performed sacred functions, guarded the church, and did everything else. It is proper for them, the Prophet said, not to use woolen fabrics at all, but during sacred services to put on only linen clothes; and let each one put a turban on his head, and let him girdle his loins. Go out to the people, let them take off their priestly vestments, and, having put on other clothes, let them go out to the gates, because it is not permissible for someone alien to the priesthood to approach the priestly vestments. “And let them not shave their heads,” for this is usually done by idolatry priests. “Let them not reveal their own hair” (Ezek. 44:20), and in Hebrew and Syriac it is said: “let them not grow” 23 . It is said that they should neither shave nor grow hair, but cut it slightly. For he meant this by saying: “They cover their heads with a covering.” During the sacred service they were to abstain from drinking wine, and when intending to marry, they were to marry not a widow or a wife abandoned by her husband, but a maiden. But if the former wife of a priest becomes widowed, and someone intends to marry her, such a marriage is not unlawful, because the priestly line remains undefiled if the one who was married to the priest is again united with the priest. The priest is also obliged to teach the people to distinguish between the sacred and the unsacred. Let them judge for murders, resolve other perplexities, honoring justice everywhere. Let them celebrate holidays according to the law, and honor the Sabbath with rest and everything else. “And they will not come to defile the soul of a person” (Ezek. 44:25), that is, they will not touch the dead: this is what it says in Hebrew and Syriac, “but rather to father and mother, son and daughter, brother and sister, who has not committed violence for her husband.” Then he prescribes how an unclean person should cleanse himself, and then proceed to sacred rites, not because seeing the dead is truly disgusting (if this were truly desecrating, then looking at a dead father, or mother, or brother would also be desecrated), but because God wanted through this to make the priest most honorable in the eyes of the Jews, who have learned to respect the unimportant. Then the priest, intending to enter the sanctuary, is commanded by God to make a sacrifice for himself and not to take shares with the children of Israel when dividing the land. For he says: “I am their inheritance and their possession” (Ezek. 44:28). For their benefit I give the firstborn and firstfruits offered to Me, and I also separate certain parts of the sacrifices for them, because I do not need anything. This is how it reads in the Slavic translation.