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Zechariah 3:1–2. And the Lord showed Jesus the great priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and the devil standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said to the devil: May the Lord rebuke you the devil, and may the Lord rebuke you who has chosen Jerusalem. And this serves as an image of what we have. Just as Jesus, when he became a bishop and interceded before God for the people, was extremely opposed by the destructive and crafty devil, so this same enemy again opposed Jesus, the great Bishop, according to the order of Melchizedek, who takes away the sin of the world, intending to trample Him. But then it was not Jesus, the son of Joseph, who forbade him, but the Lord of Jesus. When he approached Jesus the Savior of the universe; from Himself, as from God and Master, He accepts prohibition and hears: “Follow Me Satan” (Matthew 4:10). Therefore, having delivered Jesus the son of Josedek from the devil, the Master, as God, added: Isn’t this the main thing that was plucked out of the fire? Since the Jews, having recently returned from captivity, still had on themselves the signs of captivity, poverty, poverty; then he rightly calls them “the main thing,” and the main thing is a half-burnt tree removed from the fire. After this, the Prophet again continues to describe that the Bishop was clothed in unclean and vile robes: The Angel, who patronized the people, commanded the other angels ahead to take off these clothes from him, and making it clear that something else was meant by robes, he added: Zechariah 3:4. And he said to him: Behold, I have taken away your iniquity from you. Although it is likely that he, as a person, had some sins; however, I think that, as the Bishop appropriated to himself the iniquity of the people, and offered prayers as one who had sinned along with the Jews; and therefore he accepts the remission of the iniquity of the Jews as the remission of his own sins. And thus, as the Prophet says, having freed himself from sad clothes, and having heard words, filled with joy, he also takes on priestly clothes; because he who spoke and did what was said above commands those present to clothe him with a podir, to place a miter and nidar on his head. When was this fulfilled? the holy angel testifies and says to him: Zechariah 3:7. To this the Lord Almighty says: If you walk in My ways, and if you keep My commandments, you will judge My church: and if you keep My court, I will give you converts among those who stand. Having assumed the priestly rank, lead your life according to the laws of the priesthood, keeping everything that I commanded you to do; By doing this, you yourself will retain honor until the end of your life, and you will pass this advantage on to your descendants, who, descending from you, will rule this people. This is expressed by the Prophet with the words: “I will give you converts among those who stand.” Zechariah 3:8. Listen to the great priest Jesus, you and your sincere ones who sit before you are men of wonder. The Prophet does not call bird-tellers and soothsayers “diviners,” as others thought (because the Prophet would not have expressed himself in such words about people like them, and Jesus himself, as a pious man, would not have loved such a crowd); but by this name it testifies to the knowledge and zeal of the sincere of Jesus to understand the divine; because, as pious people, they did not cease to delve into the wonders and signs revealed by the Prophets and wait for their fulfillment. Therefore, to them and to Jesus God addresses the added words: Behold, I am the leader of My servant; the east is His name: Zechariah 3:9. The stone which I gave before the face of Jesus was taken away; on one stone there are seven combs. Having adorned the priest, and taking off his sad clothes, putting on a priestly robe, indicating what he should do, and foretelling to his descendants, if they keep the divine laws, a very long existence, he passes on to the royal family, and Zerubbabel, who was a descendant of Jeconiah, and descended from David, promises to make him so glorious and famous that he will become like the most brilliant light of the east. He says that in front of the priest he gave this stone, adorned with seven eyes. But we should not, just as by eyes mean eyes, take the number seven as a definite number; because with the eyes he called the effectiveness of divine grace; He said that there are seven eyes, thereby signifying its abundance and greatness. So Anna says: “Bring forth seven unfruits” (1 Samuel 2:5), not expressing a specific number, but depicting a multitude. And blessed David, having said: “Reward our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom” (Ps. 79:12), means the following: let them suffer punishment many times greater than the insults they inflicted on us. The Prophet calls Zerubbabel a stone because of his hardness and insurmountability. And moreover, Zerubbabel was the image of the Lord Christ, Who in many places of the Holy Scriptures is called a stone. The Divine David said: “The stone that was built with carelessness, this became the head of the corner” (Ps. 118:22). And through the mouth of the God-wise Isaiah, the God of all says: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of great value, chosen, a cornerstone, an honorable stone, for its foundation, and whoever believes in it will not be put to shame” (Is. 28:16; cf. 1 Pet. 2:7). So blessed Daniel saw a stone that was cut off from the mountain without hands, struck the body, corrupted the substances, became a great mountain, and covered the world (Dan. 2:34, 45). And having been taught this, blessed Paul cries out: “For I drink from the spiritual stone that follows: but the stone is Christ” (1 Cor. 10:4); and again: “No one can lay other foundations than the one that lies, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11). Zerubbabel, carrying this stone within himself (because from him the Savior of the universe came in the flesh), is rightly himself, shining with many different gifts, called a stone. Thus, the Prophet, having shown the God-given grace in Zerubbabel, also predicts the victories won under his glorious military leadership. Behold, I will dig a ditch, says the Lord Almighty, and I will wipe away all the offense of this land in one day. God foretold this about Gog and Magog, whom he subjected to final destruction on the same day, and put them all together to death, allegorically called “the ditch.” After this, the Prophet says, all the warriors under the command of Zerubbabel, as victors, fearlessly calling each other to a feast (Zech. 3:10) “under the grapes and fig trees,” will share the feast meal, without fear of the invasion of enemies. The Prophet, hearing this, while contemplating so many and lofty revelations, renounced everything human, and delving into them in thought, became like a man extremely burdened and obsessed with sleep. Therefore, the holy Angel, who protects the people and guided me in all visions, speaks of himself as a Prophet.