Глава 48

Then he commands the tribe of Dan to take the first portion from the north, the second to Asher, the third to Naphtali, the fourth to Manasseh, the fifth to Ephraim, the sixth to Reuben, and the seventh to Judah. Following this follow the lot divided among the priests, twenty-five thousand in width, and ten thousand in length. You command that this lot be cast near the city itself; for My holy one will be in the midst of them (Ezek. 48:11) “a sanctified sacrifice for the son of Saduc, keeping watch over the guards of the church.” Then in the middle of the city he sets aside five hundred cubits for the church, and when the city is built, let the fruits of this land be given, it is said (Ezek. 48:18) to “those who make the city.” After this he commands Benjamin to take his lot, then Simeon, then Issachar, after him Zebulun, and finally Gad. He says that there will be twelve gates in the city, three on each country; and he determined the whole circumference of the city to be eighteen thousand cubits. “The name of the city,” it is said, “from it the day will be, will be its name” (Ezek. 48:35). This does not mean that the city took a different name after its construction (and after Zerubbabel it was called Jerusalem), but the Prophet makes it clear that it will become glorious again. For Scripture often calls glory by name, as, for example, this same Prophet on the behalf of God said to Jerusalem: and there was a name for you. Upon his return from Babylon, this construction of the city was the first to be completed by Zerubbabel, who had been building the church for a long time due to the war with neighboring nations; Nehemiah erected the walls after eighty years had passed from the completion of the church. And under the Maccabees the city was again renewed and brought into a much better condition, and after them Herod made it even more magnificent. But the lover of fables, Apollinaris, no different from the old women who tell fairy tales, promises us a different construction of Jerusalem and service according to the Jewish law, and while maintaining the law, faith in the Lord, then also mutually opposing churches, one of the pagans, living outside the law, and the other of the Jews, living according to the law. And this wise man did not understand the falsity of God’s definitions. For the Lord said about the Jews: “The wicked will destroy them with evil; and again: “I came in the name of My Father, and you do not accept Me; another will come in his name, him you accept” (John 5:43). About the church he says, firstly: “here there will not be left one stone upon another” (Matthew 24:2), and then: “behold, your house is left empty” (Matthew 23:38). Yes, and Isaiah cries: “Let not the city of the wicked be built forever” (Is. 25:2); and: “The house of Israel has fallen and will not rise” (Is. 24:20). But Apollinaris probably did not hear the teaching that Paul pronounced to the Galatians, saying: “Whoever is justified by the law has fallen away from grace” (Gal. 5:4). And again: “through the works of the law all flesh will not be justified, but through the faith of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 2:16). “For the law brings wrath: where there is no law, there is no transgression” (Rom. 4:15); and again: “the weakness of the law, in which the flesh was not powerful, God sent His Son in the likeness of the flesh, sin, and for sin, judge sin in the flesh, so that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk in the flesh, but in the Spirit” (Rom. 8:3, 4); and in another place: “having been justified by faith, peace be upon God our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). And to Peter, who, due to the weakness of the disciples, showed himself to be a guardian of the law, Paul said in front of everyone: “If you are a Jew, you live like a pagan, and not like a Jew, why should the tongues of yours live like a Jew” (Gal. 2:14)? Then he adds: “We are Jews by nature, and not from the tongue of a sinner. But knowing that man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the hearing of faith, we also may be justified by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 2:15, 16). So the Galatians, who accepted circumcision after accepting the faith, calls them “unwashed” (Gal. 3:1), and in the letter to the Philippians, he accused those who taught this, calling them dogs, saying: “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of cuttings. For we are the circumcision, who serve God in the Spirit, and do not have hope in the flesh” (Phil. 3:2, 3). And so that no one would think that he relies on the spiritual, not having a part in the flesh, he rightly added: “For I also have hope according to the flesh: if anyone thinks that he has hope in the flesh, I have more” (Phil. 3:4); and lists what the Jews boasted about: “circumcised the day before” (Phil. 3:5), that is, I received circumcision according to the law. And since it happened that the sons of strangers were circumcised after the same number of days, then, out of necessity, he added: “from the seed of Israel,” and is not content with the name of the patriarch, but as an indication of the celebrity he also says the name of the tribe: “tribe of Benjamin,” that is, I descend from the beloved Rachel, not only do I not belong to the number of half-slaves, but I am also among the free advantage, as coming from one who was previously betrothed, and especially loved. From here it goes back to the most ancient root: “Jew from Jew”, because Jews are named from Eber. Even to the heresy, he says, he belonged to the best: “according to the law, a Pharisee,” and did not bear the name of piety alone, but actually wanted to be adorned with it: “through zeal they persecuted the church” (Phil. 3:6). Thus, having listed everything that apparently served as praise, he added: “But even as I have taken gain, I have counted it as vanity for Christ’s sake, and I have counted all the knowledge of my existence, that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:7, 8). And what blessed Paul, comparing this with the spiritual, called vanity and skill, as the wise Apollinaris said, Elijah will preach to the Jews, and the Lord Christ himself will confirm. Let him tell us: why does he give those who are Jews to live according to the law, as if faith is not able to grant them salvation? Why did God give faith to all of us pagans, in order to provide them with perfect salvation? If God stopped keeping the law, because faith is enough to save us and bring us the kingdom of heaven, then why will He again restore the law for the Jews, which cannot save? That most of the law does not provide the slightest justification for those who observe it, God Himself taught us this through the mouth of this same Prophet; for he says: “Give them commandments that are not good, and there will be no justification in them” (Ezek. 20:25). Therefore, how can something that is not good and cannot bring life be placed again on the Jews when he wants to save them and not destroy them? But on the other hand, it is not difficult to understand the foolishness of those who expect this. For if what happened to the Jews is a prototype of what is happening to us, because the latter is in accordance with the first and does not contradict this, then what is the need for a one-year-old sheep after the sacrifice of the spotless Lamb, who takes away the sin of the world? What is the benefit of unleavened bread after the heavenly bread, or of the educational Passover after the spiritual Passover? But he does not hear the divine Apostle, who says: “Let us also celebrate, not in the brew of alcohol, nor in the leaven of malice and wickedness, but in the unleavened purity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:8); and: “For our Passover was devoured for us” (1 Cor. 5:7). Do you not hear the Lord, who teaches His disciples and says: “This is My body, which was broken for you: do this in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:24); and: “This is My blood, which is shed for you for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19). And in another case, having told the Jews: “your fathers ate manna in the desert and died,” he added: “This is the bread of life, and if anyone eats from it, he will not die” (John 6:49.50). And leaving behind countless other things, we see that even now in Jerusalem there is the Church of the Cross, the Resurrection, the Ascension, the Church of Zion, sacred Bethlehem and thousands of other places of prayer. Therefore, when the Jewish church is re-erected, will these places be destroyed, or will they remain venerated, retaining their former venerability, will they be venerated or not venerated by the Jews? If the Jews mock them and remain in their former madness, they will not gain any benefit from the preaching of the great Elijah. If they do, then which prayer church will be more venerated? Is it the Church of the Cross or the Church of the Resurrection? Or the one that will be built by them? If it is the latter, then they will act as if they do not have perfect knowledge, and if it is the former, then the construction of the latter is unnecessary. If they give equal honor to the first and the last, and make sacrifices in one, and perform sacred sacraments in the other, is it possible for them to participate in the divine sacraments together with the pagan believers, when the law prohibits communication with the pagans? Therefore, it remains for them to observe both evangelical and legal services together in the same church. And, of necessity, struggle and competition will occur again when we live according to our statutes, but they will begin to prefer service under the law. Where will be the truth of what Paul said: Christ “is our peace, having made both one, and having destroyed the enmity in His flesh, having abolished the law of the commandments, so that both,” that is, the Gentile and the Jew, “will create one new man, and will reconcile both in one” spirit to the Father (Eph. 2:14-16); and again: “there is neither Jew nor Greek” (Gal. 3:28); and in another place: “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, but Christ is all and in all” (Col. 3:11)? Yes, says this sage, and under the apostles in Jerusalem, the Jews who believed in the preaching retained ministry under the law, when other churches lived outside the law. And he does not understand that the holy apostles allowed the Jews to do this out of condescension for their weakness, while they themselves fearlessly violated the law, which they would not have agreed to break if the preservation of the law had been recognized as necessary. On the contrary, the apostles themselves, knowing that living according to the law was unnecessary, lived the life of the Gospel, while the weak Jews were allowed to keep the law, gradually raising them to perfection. So blessed Paul, having circumcised Timothy, appointed him a teacher of the life of the Gospel. But perhaps we too have joined in with Apollinaris’s nonsense, attempting to expose his not only false, but also unpleasant fables. Blessed Paul would rightly say about him: “Oh, so that those who corrupt you may be cut off” (Gal. 5:12)! Therefore, putting an end to the word here, we ask the readers of this book, if in these interpretations they find something worthy of diligence, to glorify the Lord of all, who has given the revelation of the hidden to the common good of all, and if the benefit does not correspond to expectation, and the fruit is not equal to the work, then excuse our natural weakness, accept diligence, and reward for the work with prayers, asking the Savior for everyone remission of sins. With Him be glory to the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and to the endless ages of ages! Amen.