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1. Having just completed, with the greatest possible care, an explanation of the book of Genesis and ascending “from strength to strength,” as is sung in the psalms (Ps. 83:8), we do not consider it necessary to leave the slightly rested, so to speak, reed, already accustomed to praiseworthy labors. We proceed, with the help of God, who wills this and makes us wise, to explain those chapters in the book of Exodus that seem to have been omitted by us when compiling a moral exhortation, that is, when we, wanting to show how we should understand the image of worship in spirit and truth, tried to avoid the length of the conversation. For, having separated some of the chapters contained in the five books of Moses and very carefully examined the spiritual meaning contained in them, we at one time set forth what was necessary and most useful in them for moral instruction, and in such an order as was most appropriate to one or another chapter. And that in which the sacrament of Christ could naturally manifest itself, as if still in the shadow of the law, we have preserved for subsequent writing. And I know that you, beloved Palladius, will help us, who have now decided to work on this work, through prayer. This matter is very little accessible to people, but it can be partially accessible when Christ opens the way to this; because He is the “way” (John 14:6), He is the “door” (John 10:9) “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). In compiling this book, we will not explain everything in each chapter continuously and in order (since quite a lot, as I said recently, at least selected passages, can be found explained in the previous work); but whatever may seem useful for the goal before us, we will proceed to it, following the straight path of truth, examining it as carefully and in detail as possible. Since the purpose of this book is reduced to the redemption accomplished through Christ, it is quite necessary first of all to show that the human race has been exposed to the greatest danger and has been brought to the highest degree of misfortune. For in this way, and not otherwise, the word about help would be applicable in a proper manner: “For My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). I think that both the knowledgeable and the most famous of doctors, if they intended to deserve admiration for their wisdom in anything, should have before them a patient on whom they could show their skill. 2. We have already said that the Israelites, tormented and oppressed by unbearable hunger, crossed from the land of Canaan to Egypt among the number of “seventy-five souls,” as it is written (Exodus 1:5). Over time, their family spread to countless numbers. For it is written: “And the children of Israel were fruitful and multiplied, and grew and became exceedingly strong, and that land was filled with them” (Exodus 1:7). When the one who had received the lot to rule the country of Egypt began to consider such an increase in the number of Jews suspicious, he planned something bad against them, “and they appointed commanders of work over him to exhaust him with hard work” (Ex. 1:11). towers or so strong and great that in comparison with others they seemed completely invincible, of course, due to the multitude of inhabitants. These cities were: “Pitho, Ramessi” and others (Ex. 1, 11). humble" (Ex. 1:12), it is said (Exodus 1:12), those punished in excess were only more dangerous for him, and they "were the greatest" (Exodus 1:12), since God, through his very bitterness, wanted to benefit the unjustly insulted. Realizing this, the tormentor, in addition to his previous works, came up with other intrigues. He commanded the Jewish midwives to they, when they midwifed women in the throes of birth, looked vigilantly at the sex of those being born and would strangle the male sex, and give life to the female sex (Ex. 1, 15-16). "Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying: Every newborn son [of the Jews] shall be thrown into the river, and every daughter shall live" (Ex. 1:22). 3. But this is the historical meaning of the story. Now, turning our minds to the hidden meaning, we will say that since “the thoughts of the human heart are evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21), due to the lack of higher goods, then the entire, so to speak, race of those living on earth was damaged, and as if a certain famine of heavenly teachings was devouring us, as we can clearly see in what is described in the parable of the prodigal son, who spent his father’s property in someone else’s earth, and “I was glad to fill my belly with the horns that swine ate” (Luke 15:16). Therefore, we resort to earthly things, leaving behind the best and the desire for the most useful, through which we would naturally not move away from mercy from above and would be close to God. Thus, having fallen away from everything that can keep us in goodness and in union with God, we no longer have as the manager of our goods the One who is by nature and truly the Lord. On the contrary, having departed, as it were, from the holy land, from a God-loving life, and having passed into the most shameful and absurd, almost under the power of the devil, we are likened to those who crossed from Canaan to Egypt and were under the power of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who, foolishly indulging in demonic service and having every kind of depravity, could represent in themselves the image of Satan himself and his subordinates, whom and they called them gods, having withdrawn from the best thoughts and being afflicted by the darkness and gloom of ignorance. When we submitted to the terrible and lawless ruler, that is, Satan, we were exhausted by working on clay and bricks, that is, the most vile occupations carried out on earth and on earth, not without difficulty. For the entertainments of this life are not free from labor, although they are vain, of course. Satan placed unclean demons, or forces subordinate to him, as overseers, as it were, of the deeds most dear to him, over those who suffered offense from him, who, with the diverse power of passions, burden the mind of each of those living on earth, fearing, I think, that they, turning the idle gaze of the mind to God, would not free their neck from slavery to him; because human nature is very freedom-loving. And how much unclean demons and Satan himself impute our vain entertainments, carnal cares and worries about earthly goods into glory and wealth, as figuratively indicated by the construction of cities for Pharaoh by the Israelites, when they were exhausted by working clay and making bricks; so much Satan hates courageous, that is, those inclined to courage virtues. He almost strangles what is capable of struggle, plunging it into the mire of pleasures; he accepts what is powerless and, as useless, subjugates it to his yoke without a struggle. This is clearly indicated when it is said that the male sex should be cast into water, but the female sex should be preserved to life. For that which appears to the eye and is, as it were, accomplished in action, is the image of the invisible. So, when, afflicted by the sinful state we received from our ancestors and oppressed by the deprivation of goods, we, the unfortunate, perhaps unwittingly, fell under the yoke of the culprit of evil Satan and into submission to the enforcers of depravity, that is, unclean demons, and thus our being was already on the verge of destruction, and nothing could be added to make it the most pitiful and unfortunate - then God took pity on us, delivered and saved us. And how this happened, we learn from what follows and is closely related to the previous one. For we present what is written about the divine Moses as an image and pre-image of the salvation accomplished through Christ. 4. “A man from the tribe of Levi went and took for himself a wife from the same tribe. The wife conceived and gave birth to a son and, seeing that he was very handsome, hid him for three months; but, unable to hide it any longer, she took a basket made of reeds and tarred it with asphalt and tar, and, putting the baby in it, placed it in the reeds near the river bank, and his sister began to observe in the distance what would happen to him. And Pharaoh's daughter went out to the river to wash herself, and her maidens walked along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave to take it. She opened it and saw the baby; and behold, the child is crying...; and she took pity on him... and said: this is one of the Jewish children. And his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shouldn’t I go and call a Hebrew nurse to you, so that she can nurse your baby?” Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go down. The girl went and called the mother of the baby. Pharaoh's daughter said to her: Take this child and nurse him for me; I'll give you a fee. The woman took the baby and fed him. And the child grew up, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she had him instead of a son, and she called his name Moses, because, she said, I took him out of the water” (Ex. 2:1-10). When God and the Father finally had mercy on those in high places, who served the wicked tormentor and cruelest predator, “He did not spare His own Son,” according to what is written, “but gave Him up for us all” (Rom. 8:32). For “in this image” and in equality with Him, the Son, born of Him and existing in Him by nature, having brought Himself to the point of exhaustion, became like us (Phil. 2:6-7) and, as the wise Evangelist John says, “came to His own” (John 1:11), because He “was sent... was,” as He himself says in one place, “to to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 15:24); but "his own did not receive him" (John 1:11). Therefore, He strongly accused them through the mouth of Isaiah, saying: “Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth, for the Lord says: I have brought up and raised up sons, but they rebelled against Me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey does not know its master; My people do not understand [me]” (Isa. 1:2-3). Thus, when those descended from the tribe of Israel offended and did not know Him who was by nature and truly the Lord, then idolaters were called through faith, and the unclean and most vile society of atheists knew the Redeemer. And this was foretold to the Israelites through the mouth of the prophets: “And I set guards over you, saying: 'Listen to the sound of the trumpet.' But they said: “We will not listen.” Hear therefore, O nations, and know, O congregation, what will happen to them. Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring destruction upon this people, the fruit of their thoughts; for they did not listen to My words and rejected My law” (Jer. 6:17-19). So, see, clearly see the mystery of Christ also in what relates to Moses, as I have already said. The divine Moses came from the tribe and tribe of Levi. And Emmanuel himself is called a “venerable, gentle” Bishop, one who is all holy (Heb. 7:26), although he appears to have come from the tribe of Judah, so that they would believe in Him both as glorious and King, and so that the priesthood would belong to Him not according to the flesh, as it belonged to the Jewish teachers, but as God and King of all in sanctification and glory. So, the image appears in the flesh, so that the true thing above the flesh, that is, Christ, is understood as a newborn child because of the gentleness of the Divine, or because a “new creation” was made (2 Cor. 5:17). For we, having been put off from decay in corruption, have been brought forward in Him to newness of life. A baby is like a new creature. And that a newborn child is a sign of kindness - anyone who wants to can easily see this, and from the very words of the Savior. It was the wives who once approached Him and brought “babies, that He might lay His hand on them,” as it is written (Luke 18:15; Matt. 19:13). The disciples, considering this a burden for Him, removed them. And He responded to them: “Let the children come and do not hinder them from coming to Me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19:14; Luke 18:16). Likewise, when at one time a dispute arose between them about “who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven” (so the wise Evangelist tells us), then Jesus, taking it, it is said, “set him in the midst of them and said: Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 18:1-3). And what it means for us to turn and become like children, this was explained by Blessed Paul, who writes: “Brothers! Do not be children in your mind: be infants in evil, but be mature in your mind” (1 Cor. 14:20). So, there is no doubt that Christ, due to the gentleness of the Divinity, is, as it were, signified in the baby. Further, the scriptures are deliberately silent about the father of Moses. It should have been said: such and such “singed from the daughters of Levi”; and there it is said: “by someone else” (Ex. 2:1), since through this it is indirectly indicated that Christ in the flesh did not have a father, and Joseph, whose son He was considered, was only instead of a father. But the child was “blind,” it is said (Ex. 2:2). And Christ is named and is “fair in kindness more than the sons of men” (Ps. 44:3). The divine David also appeals to Him in another place: “Gird Your sword on Your thigh, the mighty one, with Your beauty and Your kindness” (Ps. 44:4-5). But no one can doubt that by beauty we must understand beauty in glory, I say, and in the nature of the Divinity that exceeds all; because it is not that anyone will attribute carnal beauty to Christ Himself and impute it to Him for glory; no it won't. For the whole mystery of the economy of the incarnation consists in His exhaustion and humiliation. The prophet Isaiah also writes about Him in one place: “And we saw Him, and not in appearance, nor in kindness: but His appearance was dishonorable, lower than the sons of men” (Is. 53:2-3). And we by no means say that the prophetic word depicts the beauties of the Divine, but that, on the contrary, it convinces us to think that the beauties of the flesh, compared with the glory of the Divine, are not worth any attention, no price. For the Son appeared in a very obscure form. Being God by nature, He became like us. But the human is immeasurably distant from God and, without any comparison, lower than the Divine. 5. See how the wife who gave birth to Moses, when Pharaoh ordered the execution of intrigues against all the male sex, hides the baby; then, putting it in a reed basket and closing it, he lowers it into the reliquary and throws it into the river; but he is immediately taken by the persecutor’s daughter, who happened to be near the same river, opens the reliquary and, having found a crying baby, obviously guesses that it is a Jewish baby, and gives him to be raised by the one who gave birth to him, promising a reward for his upbringing. What meaning do we give to these words? Or what sacrament should be seen in them? Before the coming of our Savior, the male sex on earth was subject to intrigues. And by the male sex we mean those who are gifted with spiritual courage, bearing fruits pleasing to God. So, the male sex is in danger, since Satan is ready to drown him in worldly lusts, as if in some swamp and mud, and is ready to strangle those who courageously refuse the pleasures of life and what is characteristic of the female sex, I mean in morals and way of life. That is why the spirit-bearing writers, struck, as I think, by the general seduction to the wrong path, said: “everyone has turned aside from the path, one and all are worthless; there is none who does good, no, not one” (Rom. 3:12; Ps. 13:3; Ps. 52:4). For the people of that time were completely incapable of doing good: the author of sin did not allow them the right to act. When Emmanuel appeared among us and was numbered among those subjected to the intrigues, this by nature and truly male child, who did not know bliss, since He was alien to the weakness of sin, then He at the very beginning hid from the prince of this age; for the child, that is, Moses, was hidden. And when He came of age, the synagogue that gave birth to Him, prompted by the enemy’s cunning of the devil to commit filth, since Christ came in the flesh from among the Jews, imprisoned Him in a tomb. And this is a clear image of Moses, who, as if by the hands of his own mother, was placed in the named ark and then taken out of it. For the synagogue of the Jews sent Immanuel away from them. But the daughter of Pharaoh, that is, the Church of the pagans, although it never had Satan as its father, finds Him through the waters, which show the image of holy Baptism, through which and in which Christ is found, and the reliquary is opened. That He did not remain among the dead, but, having trampled death, rose from the grave, this is truly believed by those who have found by faith the One who suffered death for us in order to rise to life for our sake. A crying child is found. And we find Christ telling about the wickedness of the Jews and what they did to Him and as if weeping. For with heavy sadness He says: “They pierced my hands and my feet. One could count all my bones; and they look and make a spectacle out of me; they divide my garments among themselves and cast lots for my clothing” (Ps. 21:17-19). Likewise in another place: “And they gave me gall for food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Ps. 68:22). And that Christ appeared from among the Jews, the Church of the pagans knew and believed this. The speech says, “Pharaoh’s daughter...: this is one of the Hebrew children” (Exodus 2:5–6). However, the fact that the Jewish synagogue will eventually receive Christ from the Church of the Gentiles, secretly led by Him, can easily be indicated by the acceptance of the child from the daughter by Pharaoh’s mother. For, as it were, the Jewish synagogue, which rejected Jesus and rejected Him with its unbelief, will receive Him in the last times, secretly led by the voice of the Church. It is even indicated that such acceptance will not be unprofitable for her, but will give great hope. For look how Pharaoh’s daughter promised a reward to the mother of Moses, who wished to raise the child born of her. So, the birth of Moses and what happened to him, for those who are sensible, very clearly points to the mystery of Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to God and the Father with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to endless ages. Amen. 6. Examining, to the best of our ability, the legend of the birth of Moses, we showed in it the mystery of Christ, since spiritual understanding, not without reason, depicted Him in a newborn baby, due to the gentleness of the Divine, perfect purity and innocence, or precisely because a new creation appeared in Him. Now we will consider in another respect how Emmanuel is depicted in it. “The end of the law is Christ, for the righteousness of everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:4; sn.: Matt. 5:17). “After a long time, when Moses grew up, it happened that he went out to his brothers [the children of Israel] and saw their hard work; and he saw that the Egyptian was beating one of his brothers... Looking here and there and seeing that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. And he went out the next day, and behold, two Jews were quarreling; and he said to the offender: Why do you beat your neighbor? And he said: Who made you a leader and a judge over us? aren't you thinking of killing me like you killed... the Egyptian? Moses was afraid and said: Surely, they learned about this matter. And Pharaoh heard about this matter and wanted to kill Moses; but Moses fled from Pharaoh and stopped in the land of Midian, and... sat down by a well. The priest of Midian [had] seven daughters... . They came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's sheep... . And the shepherds came and drove them away. Then Moses stood up and protected them... and watered their sheep. And they came to their father Raguel, and he said...: Why did you come so quickly today? They said: some Egyptian protected us from the shepherds, and even drew water for us and watered the sheep... . He said to his daughters: where is he? why did you leave him? call him and let him eat bread. Moses liked to live with this man; and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses. She... gave birth to a son, and [Moses] called his name: Gersham, because, he said, I have become a stranger in a strange land" (Exodus 2:11-22). This is the story of Moses. But we now again turn our speech to hidden contemplation, leaving to history what is most appropriate for it, and what can apparently serve in favor of spiritual interpretation, applying it to the economy in Christ. 7. You heard that when Moses grew old, he went out to his brothers. And the divine Paul is true, who writes: “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His (Only Begotten) Son, who was born of a woman, made subject to the law” (Gal. 4:4). It is necessary to consider what is the decent way to understand the image of the embassy opened here by the Apostle, or, what is the same, the one that came true. Shall we not agree that the Word, born of God the Father, became like us, that is, became a man, in some way came out of Himself, became outside of God’s glorious glory, if it is true that Christ “being rich, became poor” (2 Cor. 8:9) and “made Himself of no reputation” (Phil. 2:7)? That is why, after the completion of the economy of salvation, when He had already returned to the Father to sit at His right hand and sit above every throne, then even then He said: “Glorify Me, Father, with You, with the glory that I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5). Why couldn’t the Lord of heaven and earth, as God, who by nature has power over everything, come out of Himself, appearing in the form of a slave? The one, “for in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts. 17:28), even if he was seen among us naked and in the tomb, and if he came to life again (John 14:6), could he not, even for a short time, part with that which most befits Him? How could anyone doubt this? So, He went out to His brethren, that is, to the children of Israel. For “their promises are their fathers,” to whom the promises were given (Rom. 9:4–5). That is why He said: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). But when He saw them suffering terrible and truly intolerable violence (since Satan seemed to be attacking them, crushing them), He set out to free them and deliver them from every disease. Having killed in some way the one who wanted to offend them, He hid him in the earth, that is, he placed him in the underworld, confining him to hell. This, I suppose, means hiding the dead Egyptian in the sand. And that the God-hating and unclean crowds of demons were driven into hell by the ineffable power of our Savior, and that He condemned them to remain in the abyss, anyone can learn about this, and very easily, from the Gospel readings. For “they asked,” it is said, His demons “lest He command them to go into the abyss” (Luke 8:31). As if a great multitude of them had already been sent there before, those who remained, approaching Him, asked Him to delay for a long time in condemning them along with others. And that they received punishment for their cruelty towards us, anyone who wants can see, and without difficulty, hearing them exclaim: “Leave it!” What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? You came here before the time to torment us” (Mark 1:24; Matthew 8:29) So, when Christ saw that the Egyptian was unbearably attacking those living on earth, he imprisoned him in hell. The same thing, as if in shadows and types, was done by Joshua (Joshua), who led the children of Israel across the Jordan and was the leader after Moses. He bound the five kings of the Amorites in a cave (Josh. 10, 18, 23), whose prototype indirectly predicts to us that Emmanuel, declared King over us after the life of the law, will seal the princes of demons, as if in a deep cave, in the underworld of the earth. When the attacker and tormentor was killed in this way, “on the second day,” it is said, when “two... Jews" beat each other, Moses appeared among them as a mediator and as a reconciliator, who were unfriendly to each other (Ex. 2:13). He appeared between them during their dispute, saying to the one who wanted to use force against his brother: “Why do you beat your neighbor? And he said: who made you a leader and a judge over us? Are you not thinking of killing me as you killed... Egyptian? (Exodus 2:13-14.) For, as if having previously imprisoned Satan in hell, Emmanuel appeared as the decider of matters of justice between the Israelites and the teacher of mutual love, commanding them to cherish love for the brethren and not consider anything better than peace and unanimity. Therefore, he said: “My peace I give to you” (John 14:27). They, while they should have approved of this instruction and shown surprise at the reconciler, the giver of peace, the author of love, the leader of the best teachings for them, committed great wickedness against Him. They did not recognize Him as their leader. And despite the fact that He clearly spoke through the mouth of the Psalmist: “I have anointed My King over Zion, My holy mountain” (Ps. 2:6), they nevertheless, with the shamelessness that is only possible to imagine, cruelly and unlovingly objected to Him, saying in one case: “Who gave you such power?” (Matthew 21:23), in another case: “We know that God spoke to Moses; But we do not know where He comes from” (John 9:29). And thus, what they were saved by, they turned into an accusation against Him, the method of assistance they most insanely rejected. For the divine Moses was also accused as having killed an Egyptian, although the latter tormented and attacked, and burdened the Jewish communities with unbearable oppression. Christ, as it were, plunged the evil demons into the abyss and against their will kept them from the violence inflicted on us, that is, expelled them from those possessed by them; whereas for this he should have been surprised. He did not escape condemnation from those accustomed to censure. It was they who, turning His abundant miracles into accusations, dared to say: “He does not cast out demons except by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons” (Matthew 12:24). But note also that Moses, “looking this way and that... and not seeing anyone, hid... the slain Egyptian in the sand” (Ex. 2:12). Then, in passing, he advises his brothers by blood to be reconciled. For the Lord wages war against Amalek, but only with “a high hand,” as it is written (Ps. 135:12), and no one living on earth saw what unspeakable deeds He did through Christ. Likewise, who among those living on earth could see how or when the crowds of demons were condemned and received the command to live in the abyss? Thus, having driven Satan into hell and freed those living on earth from his violence, He finally called them to practice virtue. Christ Himself clearly speaks about this: “How can anyone enter the house of a strong man and plunder his things, unless he first binds the strong man? and then he will plunder his house” (Matthew 12:29.) For, as if having bound in advance the strong one, that is, Satan, He transfers through faith into Himself his vessels, that is, those who once acted under his authority and were counted as obscene vessels. But since He was wickedly ridiculed by them for what in justice should have been marveled at, He, of necessity, moved to another land, leaving Judea, in which He was born according to the flesh, although in truth He was not a Jew, like the Word, but was from above, from heaven and from the Father, just as the divine Moses was born in Egypt, but was a Jew from the Jews, having a noble and holy paternal root. Therefore, when his half-brothers reproached him and raised extreme slander for what he had done in favor of themselves, then he had already moved to the land of Midian and crossed over to the country of foreigners. Then, sitting down by the well, he protected the daughters of Jethro. These daughters, numbering seven, tended their father's flocks and drove the thirsty sheep to the troughs. But when they had already drawn water, and with great difficulty, some of the shepherds drove them away by force. Moses stood up for them and drew water with his own hands, “and watered the sheep,” as it is written (Ex. 2:17). So, we will take Jethro in the meaning of the world, because he was a priest of the Midianites, not to Him who is truly and by nature God, serving, but to creatures other than the Creator and Creator, or to idols made of stones and with the help of carpentry. The world also went astray, worshiping demons and not God. The very name Jethro is interpreted as excess or “superfluous.” Such is the world, which is all - excess, since those who decide to think about worldly things do nothing that is necessary, but seem to revel in vain entertainment and in some way pounce on indecent pleasures. There is no doubt that those who want to live, rightly, carnal excesses and thoughts about worldly things are removed from achieving what is useful and necessary, if it is true that “the carnal mind is enmity against God” (Rom. 8:7), and whoever thinks about worldly things “becomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4). So, the desire to think about worldly things, and the world itself, is truly an excess. For Christ said in one place: “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? or what ransom will a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26.) 8. Moses crossed from the land of Egypt to Midian; Likewise, Christ passed from Judea to Galilee. Note that one daughter of Levi gave birth to the holy Moses. But Jethro the Midianite had more daughters, that is, seven daughters in number. The Jewish society is also one, from which Christ was born according to the flesh, whose prototype was Moses. There are a lot of daughters, so to speak, of the world, that is, the societies of pagans inhabiting it. So Christ, leaving the synagogue from which he came in the flesh, withdrew to many communities of pagans, who were abused by the evil shepherds, that is, the rulers of this world. And He saved them. But now let’s talk about the method of this violence, adding an indication of the method of assistance. Divine Scripture usually likens to a storehouse the innate knowledge of God, which guides us in every matter; because the knowledge of every good thing flows into us, as if from the source of the mind, and the knowledge of the glory of God, as if in a mirror and fortune-telling (1 Cor. 13:12). Therefore, He accused those who despised the love of God and wickedly turned away to pay veneration to demons, saying through the mouth of Jeremiah: “Marvel at this, O heavens, and tremble and be horrified, says the Lord. For My people have committed two evils: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living waters, and have hewed out for themselves broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jer. 2:12-13). For false service is, as it were, a kind of broken treasure, since from it no one can draw a word strong for the revival of life; intact knowledge of God is truly the source of life. And thus, the storehouse can serve for us as an image of innate knowledge. But as long as we use a right and unforced mind to know about God, until then we will walk the straight path of truth. If someone is forcibly drawn by demonic seduction into doing what he pleases, then he will waste his efforts on demons. This, I think, fortune-tellingly signifies the drawing of water by the daughters of Jethro, while those who were stronger than them took this water from them by force. I believe that those who are mistaken are in the same weakness, since their innate knowledge has been corrupted into absurdity, that is, into error and into something useful for demons. But Christ provided protection. He drove away the lawless false shepherds and gave them to drink living water, that is, His Divine and heavenly preaching. That’s why he said: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37). So, we will take Jethro to mean a world full of excess and vanity. And by his seven daughters we mean the communities of the pagans located everywhere, as if each of Jethro’s daughters meant a community. By evil shepherds who act with great violence in justice we can understand aggregations of demons. The Protector is Christ, Who also infuses us with Divine streams. Further, when the young women escaped violence from the wicked shepherds, they returned to Raguel, their father, I mean Jethro. And when he asked them about the reason for the extraordinary speed of return, they immediately proclaimed the help of Moses. Then he immediately brings this man into his house and gives him Zipporah, the eldest and most beautiful of his daughters, to marry. She gave birth to Girsam. For when Christ provided help to pagan societies in the world, those saved by Him, secretly led from Him, knew that He was able to provide protection and easily remove them from the hands of those who decided to cause offense. So, finally, the world willingly accepts Him, just as Raguel did the most sacred Moses. He also brings, as it were, into kinship with Him, as if presenting to Him a certain most beautiful bride, the Church of the pagans, which of course is Zipporah. Zipporah means "visiting" or "beautiful" and also "pleasantness of breath." For “by whom the East from above visited us” (Luke 1:78) truly splendid and beautiful, I mean the Church, and gave her a heavenly gift, the gift of His breath, that is, the communion of the Holy Spirit. She bore Him Gersham, that is, a people truly sojourning; because those who are sealed by the Divine Spirit and worthy of visits from above and transformed into beauty, as it were, in the image of the Son, are truly strangers in this world. And it would be most fitting for them to exclaim and say: “For we do not have a permanent city here, but we are looking for the future, of which God is the artist and builder” (Heb. 13:14, 11:10). For, wandering on earth, they live in heaven and do not at all covet worldly objects, but intensely strive for what belongs to the future century. They learned the path of following, through a truly pure and excellent life, Christ, who for our sake became like us and came into this world. He did not think about worldly things; No; on the contrary, He showed us in Himself an example of a premium and completely lawful life. Pay attention also to how wisely the Holy Scripture named the father of the seven young women, first before Moses helped them, Jethro, and then, after that, Raguel. Jethro means "excess" or superfluous, as I said before; Raguel is “the flock of God.” I will use this meaning to my advantage. Imagining the world in his person, we said that worldly entertainment is truly unnecessary and vain. But this was so before the face of the young women received help from Christ. When they were delivered from violence and removed from the hands of wicked shepherds, then the name of their father had already changed into the name Raguel, which means “flock of God” or “flock,” according to the interpretation of the name. For then the world came under the leadership of the chief of all shepherds, that is, Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to God and the Father with the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. About the vision of Moses in the bush The blessed prophets, who cared a lot about what was before us, as spirit-bearers, and carried out an accurate consideration of matters, prayed that the Word of God would appear as an assistant and protector for those living on earth, to Him alone, as God, attributing the ability to save those who had reached the extreme degree of disaster. They were the best teachers, showing the path of salvation as wise and perspicacious. And what praiseworthy thing did they not have? For this they rightly deserved surprise. But they were not able to remove the cruel rule of Satan from us and drive away the nasty swarms of demons who plundered us unfortunates in various ways, almost in the position of prisoners of war, having us, and, burdening us with the yoke of slavery, wickedly forced us to think and do what pleased them. Like cruel and unforgiving tax collectors, they commanded to serve them and, as due, demanded defilement by earthly occupations, wanting nothing more and not caring for anything other than only the carnal. Therefore, the glorious deed of ineffable nature was to shake the proud and vile power of the devil, to deliver those living on earth from slavery so harmful and vile, and, finally, to reveal them as workers of virtue. And that this such a great and much-desired good had to happen in time for those living on earth, when the Only Begotten brought Himself to exhaustion and became a man (Phil. 2:7-8), we can no less learn from the Holy Scriptures. And it reads like this: “After a long time, the king of Egypt died. And the children of Israel groaned from their work and cried out, and their cry from their work went up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And God saw the children of Israel, and God looked upon them” (Ex. 2:23–25). The Egyptians carried out violence against the Israelites, placing on them the yoke of necessary slavery and assigning to them cruel and unmerciful overseers of the work, who “made their life bitter with hard work,” as it is written (Ex. 1:14). They, oppressed by such great violence, crying and sobbing, unfortunate, finally began to pray to be worthy of mercy from above. But God visited and it is said, “God saw the children of Israel, and God looked upon them” (Ex. 2:25). So, when we are ignorant of God, then we fall under the power of offenders and wallow in the mire of sin, having cruel and harsh agents for this, unclean demons. The knowledge of God will undoubtedly be followed by the grace of freedom. But this happened transformatively; “But it is written for our instruction,” as it is written (1 Cor. 10:11). And the type is found in one people, namely Israel; but he can teach us very well and clearly that the goal of unclean spirits and the devil is to encourage those who live on earth to work on vain things and to do the works of the flesh, so that, having a mind free from them and soaring to the highest, they do not begin to know the God of all, and thus finally turn to doing what is pleasing to Him and do not throw off the yoke of slavery to the devil himself. Since the love of freedom is innate in human nature, we sometimes do not praise passions; on the contrary, we often even abhor them, coming to our senses for a short time, we renounce the ugliness of carnal pleasures, we long for help from above and from God, and we mourn our involuntary slavery a lot. This, I think, means what was said, that “and the children of Israel groaned... to God" (Exodus 2:23). And since He is good, He sent from heaven as our Savior and Redeemer His Son, who was made like us, that is, appeared as a man. And this was again foreshadowed for us by the Holy Scripture. It says this: “Moses tended the sheep of Jethro, his father-in-law. his, the priest of Midian. One day he led the flock far into the desert and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a thorn bush. And he saw that the thorn bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not being burned. bush, and said: Moses! He said: Here I am!... And God said: Do not come here; take off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. And he said:... I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Moses covered his face because he was afraid to look at God” (Ex. 3:1-6). God gave the law to help, according to the word of the prophet (since he, according to God’s vision, proclaimed Moses a “nurser” (Gal. 3:24) and, so to speak, established the canopy as a sign of the most perfect, until, of course, the time when the truth had to shine. And the goal of nurture was the mystery of Christ, which was very clearly indicated in the vision. For the bush is a bushy plant, barren and small different from the thorns. A great flame engulfed it. The holy Angel appeared in the form of fire, and the flame rose very high, but did not in the least harm the bush in which it appeared. The fire embraced the thorns and only warmed them with its quiet touch, as if forgetting its natural power and completely calmly covering what it could destroy. That is why the divine Moses was struck by the vision. What is the meaning of this vision? The Holy Scripture likens the Divine nature to fire for the reason that it is omnipotent and can easily overcome everything; He likens man to the trees and grass of the field, who came from the earth. That is why he says in one case: “Our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29; sn.: Deut. 4:24); and in another case: “man’s days are like grass; like the flower of the field, so it blooms” (Ps. 102:15). But just as fire is unbearable for thorns, so is the Divine for humanity. However, in Christ it became bearable: “for in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,” as the wise Paul testified (Col. 2:9). And “Who dwells in the inaccessible light” (1 Tim. 6:16), that is, God dwelt in the church of the Virgin, condescending to the point of wondrous meekness and, as it were, softening the invincible power of his nature in order to be accessible to us, just as fire became accessible to thorns. But that which by its nature is susceptible to damage, that is, the flesh, He showed the highest corruption, destruction; This is transformatively indicated by the fire in the bush, which preserved the tree completely intact. And that the Word that came from God revived its own church and made it incorruptible and higher than death, being by nature Life (John 14:6), how could anyone doubt this? So, the fire spared the thorns, and the flame was bearable for a small and very weak tree; because the Divinity has become accessible to humanity. And this was a sacrament in Christ. And the Word of God indwelled us, not demanding punishment or inflicting judgment, but illuminating us with blissful and very quiet attacks. So It Himself says: “God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17). So, the bush did not burn, although it was engulfed in flames; because punishment for sins is not imposed on us, as I just said; on the contrary, Christ also illuminates us through the Holy Spirit and abides in us through Him, and in Him we can cry out: “Abba Father” (Rom. 8:15). Amazed by the vision, blessed Moses added the following, saying: “I will go and look at this great phenomenon, why the bush does not burn up” (Ex. 3:3). But the blessed Angel immediately prevents him from doing this, saying, as if on behalf of God: “Do not come here; take off your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground” (Ex. 3:5). He calls the waterless desert, growing only thorns, among which there was a bush, holy land. But every place where Christ is located is holy. It is also wise that this appears in the desert, which represents the image of the Church of the pagans, to which the word of Holy Scripture also applies: “The desert and the dry land will rejoice, and the uninhabited country will rejoice and blossom like a daffodil” (Is. 35:1). God also promises to create in another place “I will make the desert a lake and the dry land springs of water” (Is. 41:18). For the grace of the Savior has been poured out abundantly on us, who were called from the pagans, and it is as if some river pouring out streams from above flows abundantly. The divine David also tells us about this: “He turns rivers into deserts and springs of water into dry land, and fertile land into salty land, because of the wickedness of those who live on it” (Ps. 106:33-34). So, the bush is in the desert, and the land on which it was is holy and dedicated to God. And Moses, approaching it, encounters an obstacle and is commanded to take off his shoes. This is a sign of deadness and corruption, since all shoes are the remnant of an animal that has died and given over to decay. So Christ is not available to those who are under the law and under the teaching ministry. It is necessary first to wash away the filth and erase the impurity of sin. But “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Heb. 10:4); for “by the law no one is justified” (Gal. 3:11). And since sin has not yet been abolished, then it is necessary that corruption should have power, and death should still rule over the defiled. Thus, those who wish to see the mystery of Christ must first put aside service in types and shadows, which does not encourage either corruption or sin. For then they will understand and enter the holy land, that is, the Church. And that those who have not renounced service according to the law are subject to the power of corruption, this will be made clear by Christ Himself, who says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you will not have life in you” (John 6:53). This was the sacrament, not for those who lived according to the law, but for those who accepted the faith, were justified in Christ and received instruction higher than the law, I mean the Gospel. So, under the power of corruption and, as it were, in the law, there are those who have not yet cast off through faith the burden of the mother of death, that is, sin: and such are still far from Christ. When they take off their shoes, that is, corruption, which has no power for justification, and receive truly life-giving grace, then they will draw closer to the justifier of the wicked, that is, to Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to God and the Father with the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. You might be interested in: