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Agg.1:1 . In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jozedek, the great priest: Since the people, rejoicing at the return from captivity, had not yet built a church and had not rebuilt the walls of the city and [the city] did not yet have the greatness of the former Jerusalem, and people lived in houses hewn out of the gorges, which is more clearly expressed in Greek by the word: χολοστάθμοις, i.e. located below: the word of God is addressed to those who ruled the people God was not under the authority of kings Hezekiah, Ammon, or Josiah, while Jerusalem existed, but under the authority of King Darius, ruler of the Persians, about whom Daniel mysteriously reports in his scroll. The word Darius in our language means: former birth, which in Greek is expressed by the words γενεαί γενέμεναι; and, indeed, a people who did not have a church, who lived here and there, did not deserve to have a king other than the one who zealously served the reproduction of offspring, loved the flesh and kept the commandment given to an uneducated man expelled from paradise: “Grow, multiply and fill the earth” (Gen. 1:28,9:1). And since Darius was a lover of the works of the flesh and an ally of the dragon, whose whole strength lies in the thighs (Job 11), the vision is sent to the people in the second year - the number is not pure, denoting leather clothes after the nakedness of paradise and after the unity of the virgin state; then in the book of Genesis, while on the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th days after the end of individual creations [it is said]: “And God saw that it was good,” on the 2nd day, according to the Hebrew text and the translations of Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, these words are not present. And in fact it is impossible for God to approve with thought the second day, which, having formed a number, violated the unity. The sixth month is also added, which, like the seventh, did not have the feasts of God, but has a relationship with the six days when the world was created, in which we bear heavy labor and eat bread by the sweat of our brow, and the earth grows thorns and thorny plants for us and, seeded with wheat, gives foliage and reeds. But since the altar had already been built, and despite the opposition of the enemies they wanted to build a temple, but had not yet built it, then on the first day of the sixth month the word of God was in the hand of the prophet Haggai, so that the people, leaving the second year of Darius the king - breaking unity - and the expiring [praeterierat] sixth month - the number of which is determined for labor - would return to unity with God and follow the odd and only number, which even among the pagan poet is recognized as pure: “God rejoices in odd numbers” (Virgil, Eclogue. VII). And the word of the Lord, seeking someone to come to and someone to teach, is in the hand of Haggai the prophet, who had good deeds, and in whose deeds the word of God could rest. But the word of God does not exist where hands are filled with blood, where Jesus is killed, and where the people hear the words: “His blood be on us and on our children” (Matthew 27:25). And to this day carnal Israel, having unclean hands, stretches them out to God; but since they are full of blood, it is said to them through the prophet: “If you stretch out your hands, I will turn away My eyes from you, for your hands are full of blood” (Is. 1:15). The word of the Lord was not in their hands, for they were full of blood; The Word of God did not come to them, for they killed Him within themselves. But at the same time, one should not think that the word of God was in the hand of only Haggai the prophet; and since the word Haggai means: one who celebrates joyfully, then everyone who can celebrate, not in the old leaven of malice and uncleanness, but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Cor. 5:8), can receive the word of God. Let us also have blameless hands and be called έορτάζοντες, that is, joyfully celebrating, then the word of God will come to us. Since the law is spiritual, let us set before our eyes the spiritual celebrations about which it is written: Three times a year you will celebrate Me. Observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread: You shall eat unleavened bread for seven days, as I commanded you in the month of new [fruits], for in this month you came out of Egypt. Do not appear before Me empty-handed. And the feast of the first fruits of the works of your labors [fruits], which you sowed in your field: and the feast at the end of the year after the harvest of the fruits of your labor in the field (Ex. 23:14-16 and Deut. 16:1-17) If we want the word of the Lord to be in us, then let us be Haggai, that is, those who celebrate the holidays, and let us not appear before the face of God empty-handed ( 2 Corinthians 9:6-12), and sowing in the spirit, so that we may reap from the spirit eternal life, to celebrate the feast of the end at the end of the year - [the feast of] the gathering of our works from the field, the feast of the first fruits of our labors - [fruits] sown in the field which the Lord has blessed. We will also be Haggai and throughout our entire life until the very end of the year, that is, until the end of this age, we will celebrate the holidays in our deeds that our field has brought us. There is much that is said about the celebration, [though] not pertaining to this time, to which the diligent reader can also adapt spiritual understanding from the whole of Scripture. To Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, the leader of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jozedek, the great priest, speaking. – In the book of Chronicles we read that Jehoiachin, who was taken to Babylon, had a son, Shealtiel, to whom Zerubbabel was born (1 Chronicles 3:16). Matthew also says the same thing, listing the Savior’s relationship: After the resettlement to Babylon, Jehoiachin begat Shealtiel, Shealathiel begat Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel begat Abihu (Matthew 1:12–13). This Zerubbabel, by descent from the tribe of Judah, that is, from the family of David, is a prototype of the Savior, who truly built the destroyed church, that is, the Church, and again led the people out of captivity. He created the Church, either from the old stones of the temple, or from new ones, which had not been dressed before, that is, He created the tabernacle for God the Father, either from the remnants of Israel, or from many pagan nations. According to the difference in stress in the Hebrew pronunciation [of the word Zerubbabel], it can mean either: a nearby stream - proposed by ῥ ε ΰ σις παρακειμενη, - or: born in Babylon, or: a prince from Babylon. The first meaning does not fit the stream that is denoted by the word Jezebel - a vain stream or menstrual flow, which, without a doubt, has the meaning of uncleanness; the same must be said about the word Zebulun - the outflow of the night. So, leaving the gloomy, vain and dirty stream of this world, let us follow to the source of Jesus, offered for drinking and overflowing in a wide stream, as it is said in the Gospel: Jesus stood in the church and began to cry out, saying: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37). But we will only have the opportunity to drink from Him when we ask from God the Father according to what is written: “Ask, and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7:7). And in fact, Salafiel means: asking God. And no one comes to Jesus unless the Father brings him (John 6:44). So a fountain will be born to us, offered [to us] through prayer before the Father; and He will be from the tribe of Judah, that is, the royal one, confessing or praising God, because Judah means both. Then the one born in Babylon is quite correctly historically applied to Zerubbabel, for he was born there. But in relation to a higher understanding, these words inspire the thought of our Lord Jesus Christ, for He too was born in confusion [i.e. e. Babylon] centuries and was near the famous river Chebar and saw that same great vision that his prototype Ezekiel contemplated, as he himself writes about this at the beginning of his book. And the meaning I indicated, prince from Babylon, was not used by me in the sense of actually a prince; and although according to the legend of the Jews this name consists of three completely independent words zo - that, rob - teacher, or: elder and babel - Babylonian, so the name Zerubbabel (זירבבל) means: this teacher from Babylon; however, to shorten the understanding, instead of these particulars, I decided to convey the name with the words prince from Babylon or in Babylon. And just as Joshua the son of Nun, who was also a prototype of the Savior, led the people from the desert into the land of promise, so this one was born in Babylon for this purpose, so that those who were in Babylon would be returned again to the land of promise, from which they were brought captives, and to those who were in bonds to say: come out, and to those sitting in darkness: Be enlightened [or: come into the light] (Is. 49:9). But the word of God, which was in the hand of Haggai the prophet, addresses not only Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, about whom we have already spoken, but also the great priest Jesus, the son of Josedek. In relation to history, one, Zerubbabel, is from the royal tribe, the other, Jesus, is from the priestly tribe, and in relation to spiritual understanding, here we mean one and the same Lord and Savior, our King and Great Priest, whose prototype in His royal service was borne by Zerubbabel, and in the high priestly service - the co-named Jesus, which means: salvation, Iao, i.e., the salvation of the Lord (והושע) he is also the son of Yosedek, which is translated into our language by the words Iao the righteous, i.e. the Lord is righteous (והושע). For God the Father and God the Son are righteous and holy, and there is no unrighteousness in Him, contrary to the teachings of Marcion and other heretics who claim that the Lord Savior is the Son of another - I don’t know which - good God, and not the [Son of] the Creator, whom they call righteous. And truly Jesus is the Great Priest, in comparison with Whom all [others] who stand before God are small and insignificant; and undoubtedly, if He is called the Great Priest, it is to distinguish Him from those who are less than Him. And less than Him are all those who stand outside Him and after Him. So, just as He is the Firstborn of all creation and the Firstborn from the dead, so He is the Lord and Great among all priests. Agg.1:2. Thus said the Lord of hosts: This people say: “The time has not yet come, it is not the time to build the house of the Lord.” Thus says the Lord of hosts: This people says: “The time has not yet come to build the house of the Lord.” - Think carefully about the fact that it is not Zerubbabel and not Jesus who say: “The time has not yet come to build the house of the Lord,” but the people, who, being under the authority of King Darius, have not yet thrown off the yoke of slavery. And those always kept in captivity and removed from Jerusalem put off and delay the work of building the church and say: “The time has not yet come for the building of the church of the Lord.” And you, therefore, when you see someone who has departed from [Jerusalem] - the church, given over to Satan “for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved” (1 Cor. 5:5), slowly considering building a church with modesty, which he previously destroyed with the shamelessness of lust, tell him: “Truly you are also one of the captives, and you say: The time has not yet come for building a church for the Lord.” For someone who has once decided to restore the church of the Lord, every time is convenient for the construction: they cannot hinder him: neither the ruler [of the world] the devil, nor the enemies around him, nor the feigned piety of parents, children, relatives: immediately as soon as you turn to God and call on His name, He will say: Here I am! Hag.1:3–4. And the word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet: Is it time for you to live in your adorned houses, while this house is desolate? And the word of God was in the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying: “Is it time for you to dwell in houses with ceilings, but this [Mine] house is empty” or as LXX translated: [to dwell in houses] with vaults (καλοστά ϐ μοίς). This vision is given to Haggai on the same day as the previous one. Since the prophet’s deeds prosper, the gifts of prophecy also increase, and after a short silence in response to the words of the people: The time has not yet come to build the church of the Lord, the answer from the Lord is given as if after reflection, and it is said to them: “So is it not time for you to live in the houses located down the valley, when My house on the mountain is desolate?” Or, as it is in the Hebrew text: that you should dwell in houses with [vaulted] ceilings, that is, in houses decorated and well-appointed, and designed not so much for the satisfaction of needs as for luxury, while My dwelling, in which was the Holy of Holies, cherubim and so many offerings of bread, is watered by rains, polluted from lack of [care] and exposed to the scorching rays of the sun. Then, in a mysterious sense [must be understood this way]: every time when we choose a valley as our home, or slavishly give ourselves over to pleasures, is useless time. Therefore, the Stoics, who set themselves the task of determining the meaning of individual words, said that time is appointed for correction or action, which is more clearly indicated in Greek by the words: χρόκον ε ἷ ναι κατορθ ὠ σεος. Indeed, any time when we serve not virtues, but vices, is wasted in vain and, as if it did not exist, is reduced to nothing. So, if one of us either lives in a valley, or builds his house in pleasure or worldly luxury, then such a person does not build the house of God, and the Lord does not have a place in him where he could lay his head; and since such a one builds a house for foxes, the dwelling that was once the [dwelling] of God turns out to be deserted. Hag.1:5. Therefore now thus saith the Lord of hosts: Turn your hearts unto your ways. And now this says the Lord of hosts: “Put your hearts in your ways.” – Do not let you have one time for words and another for action: carry out My commandments immediately; for the Lord who gives commands is omnipotent, and, of course, the command of the Lord omnipotent is not something unimportant. Until now, you have kept your hearts in slavery to vices, without a leader and in disorder, rushing to where your desires carried [you]. Now the Lord commands you to arouse love in yourself, to direct your hearts on your paths, and not to do anything without reflection and discussion, but so that the lamp of the law always precedes your feet and you can say: Your law is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths (Ps. 119:105). Or, without a doubt, the meaning is this: Since you say that it is not yet time to build the house of the Lord, but you yourselves live in dwellings built in the depths, while My house is desolate; then, according to My - the Lord's - commandment, think about and remember what you did and what you endured. Hag.1:6. You sow much and reap little; eat, but not to the point of satiety; drink, but don't get drunk; getting dressed, but not warming up; he who earns wages earns for a leaky wallet. “You have sown much and reaped little; they ate, but were not satisfied; they drank, but did not get enough; covered themselves with clothes, but did not keep warm, and the one who saved up the wages put them in a holey bag.” “No work of those who built their houses and were careless towards the house of God was successful. Indeed, you sowed more [than usual], but you harvested much less than was sown; and therefore you cannot say that the famine occurred because the farmer stopped cultivating the land. You also ate - and let none of you say that the fast was voluntary - but you were not satisfied because you collected little fruit from the barns. You drank wine from the vineyards, but not so much that your heart was glad and you could say: “And wine makes glad the heart of man” (Ps. 103:15). You also had a cloak, but one that could not withstand the cold and retain heat; If any of you accumulated money either by working for pay or by any enterprises, such labor was spent in vain and fruitlessly, for all the money slipped away, as if he had put it into a leaky wallet. – But also according to the spiritual understanding, those who returned from Babylon and had not yet built the church, but, postponing its construction, daily said: The time has not yet come to build the church of the Lord - although they are no longer captives, they are not yet endowed with complete freedom; they are placed, as it were, in some middle position: they sowed a lot, but collected little; they ate, but were not satisfied; they drank, but did not get enough; covered, but did not warm up; They collected wages, but lost them, as if they were putting them in a torn bag. If you ever see someone doing what is right among the many deeds of sinners, then [know that] God is not so unjust as to forget about a little good in view of the many evils; but He will allow only what [man] sowed in the good soil to be reaped, and only this to be collected into the granaries that belong to him. And whoever is a complete apostate (ἀποστάτης) will not eat at all, but will die of hunger. Further, whoever eats a lot and collects little, eats little and is not satisfied, just as God threatens the cursed Jews: “You will eat, but you will not be satisfied” (Lev. 26:26); but he who is holy will eat until he is satisfied, and what is written on him will be fulfilled: The righteous eats and fills his soul (Prov. 13:26). Likewise, whoever does not drink at all will perish from thirst, as it says in the book of Judith (if anyone wants to accept the book written by a woman): And the little children perished from thirst (Judith.7:22); and whoever drinks a little really drinks, but not to the point of intoxication. Then the one who can say to the Lord: How glorious is Your watering cup (Ps. 23:5) and gets drunk with Noah (Gen. 9:20-21) and who, although detained in Egypt, enjoys plenty of wine at the feast of Joseph with the patriarchs and brothers (Gen. 43:34); he, due to great joy and daily gladness, having turned into a state of admiration along with the Apostles, will be called drunk of new wine (Acts 2:13). And how this interpretation does not contradict the fact that the sons of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, did not drink wine and yet boasted in the Lord, it is more appropriate to discuss this in the interpretations of the book of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 35). After this, it is said to those who were negligent about the construction of the church of the Lord: You covered yourself [with clothing], but you were not warm; this place is clear from the words of the hundred and third Psalm: The deep covers it like a garment (Ps. 103:6). For although according to the Hebrew truth this refers to the whole earth, which is surrounded by the ocean, yet according to the translation of the LXX, which said: τὁ περιβόλαίον α ὔ τοῦ, that is, in the masculine, and not α ῖῆς in the feminine, we are encouraged to think that this is said about God, because His wisdom is unsearchable, and the Lord makes darkness His cover (Ps. 17:12) and His mysteries are not revealed to any unworthy people. Therefore, the righteous rejoices and says: I have hidden Your words in my heart, so as not to sin against You (Ps. 119:11). This cloak, woven from many different meanings and sayings of wisdom, does not allow those who are flaming in spirit to cool down and the warmth of love to cool under the influence of the north wind. And whoever is in an average state, although he has a veil, it is one with which he is not completely covered; just as he collected little into the granaries, ate and was not satisfied, drank, but not in sufficient quantity, so now, although he will cover himself with the cloak of his feelings and deeds, he will not warm himself. And the one who, due to the complete poverty of his soul, does not have a cloak; does not have it because with the increase of unrighteousness, love in him grew cold (Matthew 24:12). Therefore, about such a person whose cloak is taken by another, the law commands: Return his cloak before the sun sets, for he is poor and trusts in it (Deut. 24:15). Finally, with those who lived [or: live] in the valleys, or in houses with vaulted ceilings, and said: The time has not yet come to build the house of the Lord and it will happen that they will collect wages into a leaky wallet. If any of us does good worthy of the reward that the Lord has to give us - which is what it says: Behold the Lord, and His reward is in His hand, to give to everyone according to his works (Is. 40:10 and Is. 62:11; Matt. 26:27), and another from the Apostle: If whose work that he has created remains, then he will receive a reward (1 Cor. 3:13), - then he collects the reward, which must be preserved and remain, so that, constantly adding one virtue to others, he accumulates wealth in a bag that is not torn. And whoever, after good deeds, sins not only once or twice, but many times, and darkens and pollutes his former love with previous vices, collects money in a holey bag. But all this will happen to those who say: “The time has not yet come to build the church of the Lord,” and are indifferent to the fact that the house of the Lord remains empty, while they themselves dwelt in the valleys. Hag.1:7–8. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Turn your hearts to your ways. Go up the mountain and carry wood and build a church; and I will be pleased with him, and I will be glorified, says the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Turn your hearts to your ways, go up to the mountain, pull down the tree and build [My] house, and it will please Me, and I will be glorified, says the Lord. LXX: Thus says the Lord Almighty: Turn your hearts to your ways, go up to the mountain, chop down trees (the rest is similar to the Hebrew). “I, the Lord, who commanded you before, now command you again, that you turn your hearts to your ways and consider everything that you do and, leaving worries about your lowly homes, ascend to the mountain where there are no trees that can be burned, but there are only those that are suitable for work in My house; and so that you do this with great care, know that your work will be pleasing to Me. The Jews say that only wood was needed to lay the floor and ceiling [in the church], since the walls of the church remained intact after the fire. This is them. We receive the command to turn our hearts not past our ways, but along our paths to which we turned before, and, after we have done this, to ascend from the houses located in the gorges to the mountain, so that, upon reaching the height of the mountain [or speech], on which the trees necessary for building the church of the Lord are located, cut the trees from every holy mountain. Scripture, on which all kinds of trees of virtue and paradise are planted, and to build the church of the Lord from good deeds and the teachings of truth. When this church is built, it will please the Lord, and [or: so that] He will be glorified through it. Therefore, since we are commanded to turn our hearts to our ways, let us ascend the mountain of wisdom and, looking for suitable trees from the testimonies of Scripture for each individually difficult question, we will cut them and build in ourselves a house of wisdom; and after this dispensation, the end of our creation will be that the Lord will be glorified in us. Hag.1:9. You expect a lot, but little comes out; and whatever you bring home, I will scatter. - For what? says the Lord of hosts: For my house, which is desolate, while you flee, every one to his own house. Verse 9: You expected more, but less has happened; you brought it into the house, and I scattered it. LXX: You expected a lot, but it turned out to be little and you brought it into the house, but I dispelled it. “So that you, leaving behind sluggishness and putting aside all doubt, can build My house with great care, I say that because you have put off building My house, something else will happen to you - not what happened before [expressed in words]: You have sown a lot, but you have reaped little, since the earth did not reward the sower. But [it will happen to you that] when the fields are white and the time of harvest comes and you expect to have a lot of grain in your hands, you will reap [reaped] empty ears and gather [gathered] barren stalks without fruit in the ears. The fields were full: your eyes sowed with hope, and your hands moved joyfully; but by My power even that which you had barely collected from the [apparently] abundant harvest and endless piles and brought into your house was scattered. For I dispelled it and turned it into nothing, since dried grain and empty chaff, [usually] suitable for food, did not contain flour. The words: They brought it into the house, and I scattered it can also be understood in relation to the offerings on the altar, and God scattered them. But since He said: “They brought it into the house,” then we, of course, must say that this offering was made to the church, if by brought we mean offerings [to the altar]; however, this understanding is not suitable for us, for at that time the house of God had not yet been rebuilt. However, even to this day this applies to many who live in low houses and, as much as it depends on them, neglect the house of God and, although they could build it, do not care about it; but, as if seeing a ripe harvest, they count on abundant fruits from their deeds, and yet, deceived in their hopes, instead of a lot, they barely harvest a little. And this little, gathered into the house and granary of [their] mind, is scattered by the word of God, as unworthy of preservation and protection. How many times have I seen that some people expect very much from teaching and interview, but after the time has come for them to gather the harvest, i.e. to teach and set an example to the peoples with their lives, they were cast down from the heights and there was something much less in them than everyone expected. Therefore, what happens is that little by little, as they expressed disdain for themselves, they lost even the little that they apparently had. And they endured this because they lived carelessly in their former homes, did not ascend to the Mount of Scriptures, and did not build the house of the Lord within themselves daily; cutting down trees thereon to build the church of the Lord; and, despising its ruin, they lost even what they apparently had. The reason for the above disaster is stated as follows. Agg.1:10. Therefore the heaven is closed and does not give you dew, and the earth does not give its produce. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because My house is desolate, and you are hastening, each one to his own house. Therefore, the heavens above you are closed, so that they do not give dew, and the earth withheld [Vulg.: closed, so that it did not give] its sprout. “The heavens,” he says, “did not give not only rain, due to which the soil produces fruit, but even morning and evening dew to soften the dry fields with at least a little moisture.” Even more, the earth has swallowed up the crops and will not return them to the farmers, and what it usually produces by itself, now, like a miser, has kept in its bosom. I think that this is the dew that is spoken of in the blessing to Jacob: “May God give you of the dew of heaven” (Gen. 27:28) and then the dew of Hermon, descending on Mount Zion (Ps. 133:3) and descending not from the air in which many eagles, hawks and kites crash, but from heaven itself, since the one whose soul is ablaze with confusion and is struck with the arrow of the devil, he is cooled by this moisture and moderates his ardor. In the absence of it, even the earth does not sprout. For no soul can bear fruit without the dew of Christ. Hag.1:11. And I called drought on the land, on the mountains, on the bread, on the grape juice, on the oil, and on everything that the earth produces, both on man and on livestock, and on all manual labor. And I called drought on the land and on the mountains, and on the wheat, and on the wine, and on the oil, and on everything that the earth produces, and on people, and on livestock, and on all the work of [man’s] hands. – Instead of drought, LXX was translated: μαχαίραν, i.e. sword; however, in the Hebrew text we find here the three letters het, res and bet (ברה); if we read them hareb, then it means: sword, and if ogeb, then – καασωμα [καῦμα], which we translated drought, but what better can be conveyed by the words: scorching wind. And in fact, since we are talking about the earth and the barrenness of the fields, it seems to me that here we should mean a burning wind rather than a sword, although, however, every plague that befalls people for their sins can be called a sword. – Drought or sword are called upon the earth and the mountains so that these latter do not bring bread, wine and oil and everything that the earth produces by itself. And as a result of the previous famine, death already befalls people and livestock. The same sword or burning wind destroys everything that human hands have produced. So, the word of God is called or sent, living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12), so that the careless soul (which is meant by the parched earth and prefers to dwell in low places and not build the house of God) is struck by its edge and loses what seemed to it some of its fruit. The sword is also directed against the mountains that rise up, against the knowledge of God, and against bread, wine and oil, with which as if food and drink and a means for renewing strength, the assemblies of heretics give pleasure to the nations deceived [by them]. It will be quite fair [when] someone says that their bread is the bread of sorrow, and their wine is the wrath of dragons and the incurable rage of asps, and their oil is also [false] promises of heavenly blessings; With this oil they seem to anoint their disciples and promise them rewards for their labors, condemned by the prophet in the words: But the oil of a sinner will not anoint my head (Ps. 141:5). But the sword of God will also strike other things, arbitrarily invented and imagined, not on the basis of the obligatory meaning and evidence of Scripture, but supposedly on the basis of apostolic tradition. And by people and beasts we will understand either their thoughts (λογισμούς) and feelings (αίσθήσεις), or the rational and unreasonable between them, that is, the learned and the unlearned; likewise, under all their labor are their posts, their various actions and their beds on bare ground (χαμευνίας - chameunias). They - those who fast for three days a year, who humble their souls with dried foods (ξηροφαγίαις) or who feed mainly on the root of Tatian, will hear the words about exploits of this kind: This you have endured needlessly. – Everything that I have said here can be understood in relation to those rulers of the church who, building a carnal home for themselves and caring for the well-being of their children and their property, do not make efforts to either build the church of God within themselves, or restore the deprived and destroyed Church of the Lord. Often their indecent life and word seduce very many, push them away from the Church and turn the house of God into a desert. We say this not to blame everyone in general, but because in every ministry and degree there are people who build, and there are also those who destroy the church of God, and as a result of their vices, neither the sky gives moisture, nor the earth gives sprouts, and the soil dries up, the mountains heat up, bread, oil and everything produced by the earth, even people themselves and cattle and absolutely all the labor of human hands perish from being cut by the sword, drought or burning. by the wind. Hag.1:12. And Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jozedek, and all the rest of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as one sent by the Lord their God, and the people feared the Lord. And Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jozedek, the great priest, and all the remnant of the people, listened to the voice of God [Vulg. adds the Lord] to his own words and to the words of the prophet Haggai, since the Lord their God sent him to them, and the people feared because of the Lord. – Please pay diligent attention to the fact that, according to the double type of the Savior in the person of Zerubbabel, the leader, and Jesus, the priest (for He Himself is both the King and the High Priest), the book does not say: “Zerubbabel and Jesus were afraid,” but it says that although Zerubbabel, Jesus and the people listened to the words of the prophet Haggai, which are the words of the Lord, only the people were afraid of the face of the Lord, then there is only one crowd, which has not yet been converted into one perfect man and, as not bound by the spirit, does not deserve to be what the spirit is. The people feared from the presence of the Lord, for they knew that the face of the Lord is against those who do iniquity, to destroy their memory from the earth (Ps. 33:17). Hag.1:13. Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, sent from the Lord, said to the people: I am with you! says the Lord. And Haggai the messenger of the Lord, one of the messengers of the Lord, said to the people: I am with you, says the Lord. - Some think that John the Baptist, Malachi, whose name means Angel of the Lord, and Haggai, whose [book] we now have in our hands, were angels, but by the permission and command of God they took on human bodies and circulated among people. And it is not surprising to think this about angels, when even the Son of God took on a human body for our salvation; Therefore, even from the apocryphal books they take evidence, which says that Jacob, later renamed Israel, was also an angel and therefore held his brother in his mother’s womb (Gen. 25:26,32:28). Also, John, in response to the greeting of Mary, the Mother of the Lord, leaped in the womb of Elizabeth (Luke 1:41), for the nature of all rational creatures is one, and therefore people pleasing to God are equal to angels. Let them reason like that. And we will receive the word of the messenger of the Lord, i.e. angel, which in Hebrew is expressed by the word nialach (מלאך), used simply in the sense of a prophet, because he proclaimed the will of the Lord to the people or because he represented the face of the Savior, since in many places [of Scripture] our Lord and Savior is called the Angel of the Lord, for example, in the following: The Angel of the Great Council (Is. 9:6). Then, the words: Messenger of the Lord from among the messengers of the Lord mean the same as the words: prophet from among the prophets, if the writer had used them. [Finally] words; The messenger of the Lord, saying to the people: “I am with you, says the Lord,” he is not addressing Zerubbabel and Jesus, with whom and in whom the Lord was always present - we have already said that, according to the different meanings of their service, they are accepted as prototypes of different sides in the person of the Savior - but to the people who were afraid in the presence of the Lord. Since these were [simple] people, they had not yet reached that love for God, which casts out fear. However, for their fear of God, the people received a reward in that the Lord was with them, so the meaning of the passage is this: “I will be your helper; rebuild My house, which was destroyed among you: no one will be able to hinder you when I dwell among you.” Hag.1:14–15. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, ruler of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jozedek the great priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people, and they came and began to work in the house of the Lord of hosts their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, the leader of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jozedek the great priest, and the spirit of the rest of all the people, and they went in and did work in the house of the Lord of the hosts of their God on the twenty-fourth day of the month in the sixth month, in the second year of king Darius. - Instead of the leader of Judah, the Seventy were transferred: from the tribe of Judah, and instead of: work - work; the rest is according to [in both texts]. But wherever we use: Lord of hosts they translate differently, or: Lord Almighty, or: Lord of hosts, or: Lord of hosts. So the spirit of Zerubbabel and the spirit of Judah are stirred up, so that the royal and priestly authority build the house of the Lord; The spirit of the people, previously dormant within it, is also awakened; This is not a body or a soul, but, as we said, a spirit that knows better how to build a church for the Lord. And they entered, for until that time they had been outside, and they did work that was worthy of the interior parts of the house of God, [and they did it] in the same year of King Darius, which was already indicated before, and in the month about which it was said above, but not on the same day. For there is indicated one [i.e. e. the first] day of the month, and here is the twenty-fourth, so that in the interval between the first day, when the Lord spoke to the prophet, and the twenty-fourth day, when they entered and did the work in the house of the Lord, twenty-two days passed, [that is, as many] as the letters of the Jews. It was necessary for them to learn the basic principles of the speech of God, which would prevent them from saying: The time has not yet come to build the house of the Lord, which would not allow them to live in vaulted houses and plunge into the depths, as I said before. Then they are called to turn their hearts to their ways and remember all the disasters that they have suffered through negligence, and to go up the mountain, cut down trees and build the house of the Lord, so as not to suffer what they have suffered before. At the end of these twenty-two days the people feared because of the Lord, and they entered into the twenty-fourth day of the month, the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius, and did work in the house of the Lord of the hosts of their God. And in order for a spiritual house to be built for sacred service, for making spiritual sacrifices pleasing to God, we are commanded to be such that the Holy Spirit is awakened in you, so that we enter the house of the Lord and do the works of the Lord. Indeed, Zerubbabel of the line of David and Jesus the eternal High Priest have already been raised up in power according to the Spirit of holiness from the resurrection of the dead, to preside over [our] cause Himself. We will work with His help and under His guidance. However, we cannot do these works until we fear on behalf of God, begin to believe, enter the church of God and do work worthy of the house of God. And since we live in this world and the time of our creation passes under the control of King Darius, when the service of reproduction and carnal unions is performed; then during the number six, the number of days of the creation of the world, and in the second year, which divided the unity (for the matter in which the creation and growth of the world takes place loves the number two), we enter the house of the Lord and, having gathered both peoples, we build the church of God; in fact, the number twenty-four consists of twelve taken twice, [which is also seen in the reconstruction of the church of Christ], for the original church of Christ, which was destroyed, was rebuilt from both the circumcised and the uncircumcised. But we can also say that since the sacred number eight, recognized as the image of true circumcision, taken three times makes twenty-four, then we figuratively learn to build the house of God in the circumcision of the flesh and in cutting off vices, and to believe that true purity exists only in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Finally, another [interpreter] saw here four, repeated six times, and he attributes four to the elements of the world of which we are composed, and six to the time of the creation of the world, at which these elements are set in motion. He says that while still in matter, enclosed in a gross body and serving carnal births, we, however, build a church, enter the house of God and, as if from a heavy sleep, awaken our spirit, but we do this only on the twenty-fourth day.