Глава 13

Zechariah 13:1. However, every place will be opened to the house of David, and to those who dwell in Jerusalem, for the moving and the sprinkling. And Symmachus says: A fountain will be opened for the house of David. What kind of source is this that the Lord Himself teaches through the mouth of Jeremiah: “You have left me the fountain of living waters” (Jer. 2:13); and in the Holy Gospel he says: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37); and: “The water that I will give him, there will be in him a fountain of living waters flowing into an everlasting belly” (John 4:14). This fountain became open to the house of David; because from the kinship of David he received human nature; - became open to those living in Jerusalem “for the transition” that took place from the old covenant to the new covenant, and for the sprinkling of holy baptism, with which we received the remission of sins. Then, says the Lord of hosts, Zechariah 13:2–4. I will consume the names of idols from the earth, and no one will have their memory: I will remove false prophets and the unclean spirit from the earth. And it shall come to pass, if a man prophesy again, and his father and his mother, who begat him, say unto him, Thou shalt not live, because thou hast spoken a lie in the name of the Lord: and his father and his mother, who begat him, shall stifle him, when he begin to prophesy. And on that day the prophets will be ashamed to prophesy to them every time because of their vision, and they will be clothed in hair skin because they have lied. It is obvious that this was also accomplished by those who believed in Christ. Not only, says the Lord, will I destroy the lies of idols, but I will also free those who make prophecies and are possessed by an evil spirit from this delusion. To such an extent will piety prevail throughout the universe that neither father nor mother will spare a son who attempts to prophesy, but they will also put bonds on him, subject him to scourging, and threaten him with death. Even those who decide to predict false things, seeing the predominance of piety, will take on a deplorable appearance. This is what the words mean: “and they will put on hair skin.” And they will be so overcome with fear that they will renounce delusion, and instead will love agriculture, and will say to everyone: as soon as I was born, I learned this work from my fathers. Zechariah 13:5–6. And he says: I am not a prophet, for I am a man who made the earth, and I begat a man from my youth. And they said to him, “What are these wounds in the midst of your shoulders?” And he said, “In the same way I was wounded in the house of my beloved.” He will receive such ulcers from his parents that he will bear obvious signs of them for a long time, and when those who see them will ask, from whom did he receive these scabs? - he will openly say that his parents lovingly inflicted these wounds on him, Zechariah 13:7. Rise up the sword against My shepherd and against My citizen husband, says the Lord Almighty: Smite the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered, Since He said: “They will look upon Me, Who gave birth” (Zech. 12:10), then, in order not to give the thought that He endured saving suffering against His will, He teaches through the Prophet that He came voluntarily and “humbled Himself, being obedient even to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8). Therefore, the prophetic word depicts Divine consent, and shows that the sword first hears the permission of the Father, then rushes at the Shepherd, and after Him at the citizens, or, according to the translation of Aquila, at His fellow tribesmen; because after the Master it also rushed at the servants who were devoted to Him, I mean the holy Apostles and the preachers who succeeded them. The Lord also mentions this testimony in the divine Gospel. this night,” added: “For it is written: I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered” (Matthew 26:31). And I will lay My hand on the little shepherds, on those who have the name of shepherds, priests and teachers, but who are not such in reality. Zechariah 13:8–9. And on the day it will be over all the earth, says the Lord, two parts of it will be consumed and disappear, and the third will remain on it. And I will pass the third part through the fire, and I will kindle it as silver is liquefied, and I will tempt you as gold is tempted. At this time, after such bitterness, I will give two parts of the people to beating, and the third, like silver or gold, I will test with fire, subjecting them to all kinds of temptations, which, having neglected and having overcome all sorrows with patience, they will prove their pure and sincere disposition towards Me. For it is said: He will call on My name, and I will hear him, and the river: these are My people. And they say: The Lord is my God. This speaks of those who believed from the Jews; for in addition to the twelve Apostles he chose seventy others, and after the resurrection there were together “one hundred and twenty” (Acts 1:16); God-wise Paul said that the Lord “appeared” to the five hundred gathered together (1 Cor. 15:6); and the divine Peter, preaching to the people, brought to life either “three thousand” (Acts 2:41) or “five thousand” (Acts 4:4); and the great James says to blessed Paul: “Have you seen, brother, how many Jews there are who have believed?” (Acts 21:20). God predicted this through the mouth of the godly wise Zechariah, namely, that two parts would be destroyed for unbelief, while the third, having been burned in temptations and proving to be good, would be called His people, calling Him Lord and God. God says this through the mouth of another Prophet: “And if the number of the children of Israel is like the sand of the sea, their remains will be saved” (Is. 10:22). Blessed Zechariah said this again in the addendum.